And we're proud to be able to reprint the whole story, right here at io9. Here's your chance to find out what all the excitement is about, and discover one of science fiction's fastest rising stars.

    The debut collection from the vibrant voice of Roxane Gay is a unique blend of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, all interwoven to represent the Haitian diaspora experience.

    The grim death known as the plague roams a masquerade ball dressed in red....A dwarf seeks his final revenge on his captors....A sister calls to her beloved twin from beyond the grave....Prepare yourself. You are about to enter a world where you will be shocked, terrified, and, though you'll be too scared to admit it at first, secretly thrilled. Here are four tales -- "The Black Cat, The Masque of the Red Death, Hop-Frog, " and "The Fall of the House of Usher" -- by the master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. The original tales have been ever so slightly dismembered -- but, of course, Poe understood dismemberment very well. And he would shriek in ghoulish delight at Gris Grimly's gruesomely delectable illustrations that adorn every page. So prepare yourself. And keep the lights on.

    It isn't easy to take over the world. First you need the scheme. Then you need the muscle. Then you need to come up with a system for ruling six billion people and keeping them fron revolting. It takes a certain kind of man to take over the world. Scaramouch Van Dreg, however, is not that man. But he has one thing going for him. He has his arch enemy, Skulduggery Pleasant, chained in his dungeon, and the only person who is coming to save him is the skeleton detective's 13 year old sidekick. What could possibly go wrong?

    Unlikely associates, this cynical thief and idealist swordsman, were just learning how to work together as a team. In this standalone short story of The Riyria Chronicles, Royce is determined to teach his naive partner a lesson about good deeds. Join Royce and Hadrian in this short story (5,400 words).This is now a chapter in Ryria Chronicles # 2: The Rose and the Thorn, so for those looking to read the entire series in order, reading this short story on its own isn't necessary.

    Her novellas and short stories contain all the elements fans have come to love from the Raksura books: courtly intrigue and politics, unfolding mysteries that reveal an increasingly strange wider world, and threats both mundane and magical.“The Dead City” is a tale of Moon before he came to the Indigo Court. As Moon is fleeing the ruins of Saraseil, a groundling city destroyed by the Fell, he flies right into another potential disaster when a friendly caravanserai finds itself under attack by a strange force. In “The Dark Earth Below,” Moon and Jade face their biggest adventure yet; their first clutch. But even as Moon tries to prepare for impending fatherhood, members of the Kek village in the colony tree’s roots go missing, and searching for them only leads to more mysteries as the court is stalked by an unknown enemy.Stories of Moon and the shape changers of Raksura have delighted readers for years. This world is a dangerous place full of strange mysteries, where the future can never be taken for granted and must always be fought for with wits and ingenuity, and often tooth and claw. With these two new novellas, Martha Wells shows that the world of the Raksura has many more stories to tell…Contains: The Dead City #0.3Mimesis #3.4 Trading Lesson #3.5 The Almost Last Voyage of the Wind-ship Escarpment #3.8The Dark Earth Below #3.7Appendices

    Written in Derek's POV.

    A failed wunderkind steals a golden cross from an Orthodox church. A boy meets his cousin (the love of his life) once every five years in the river that divides their village into east and west. These are Miroslav Penkov's strange, unexpectedly moving visions of his home country, Bulgaria, and they are the stories that make up his beguiling and deeply felt debut.In East of the West, Penkov writes with great empathy of centuries of tumult; his characters mourn the way things were and long for things that will never be. But even as they wrestle with the weight of history, with the debt to family, with the pangs of exile, the stories in East of the West are always light on their feet, animated by Penkov's unmatched eye for the absurd.

    A quintessential Premchand story.

    King reveals an unforgettable new twist in the adventure that led supersleuth Sherlock Holmes to discover his first (and finest) apprentice, Mary Russell. Sherlock Holmes is fending off a particularly dark mood as he roams the Sussex Downs, in search of wild bees. The Great War may be raging across the Channel, but on the Downs, the great detective nears terminal melancholia—only to be saved by an encounter with headstrong, yellow-haired young Mary Russell, who soon becomes the Master’s apprentice not only in beekeeping but in detection. Holmes instantly spots her remarkable ability, but his sharp eyes also see troubling problems. Why is this wealthy orphan who lives with her aunt so shabbily dressed? Why is she so prone to illness and accident? Is she herself the center of a mystery? These are questions that the great detective must answer quickly lest his protégée, and his own new lease on life, meet a sudden, tragic end.The tale of their meeting has been told from Russell’s point of view, but even those who have never met the famed Russell-Holmes pair will read this tale with delight—and, as its climax builds, with breathless excitement.

    Valkyrie Cain approaches an old, ramshackle church to make a delicate deal with a trio of ugly, hairy goblins. To her absolute non-surprise, the goblins have no intention of honouring that deal- but not to worry. Skulduggery Pleasant is standing by to deliver a surprise of their own.Things, however, don’t go exactly according to plan. Not least because the goblins have a sister. A very big, very strong sister. Who might just have a TINY crush on one of our heroes…All the following Skulduggery Pleasant novels are available in ebook now:• Skulduggery Pleasant• Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire• Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones• Skulduggery Pleasant: Dark Days• Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil

    Now a druid, an ill-tempered raven and an adventurous young woman are drawn together as the time approaches for the evil magic to be undone. Fans of the Sevenwaters series will love this new episode, which fleshes out the history of druid Ciaran and his constant companion Fiacha.

    Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack! "One of the all-time great characters in one of the all-time great series." — Lee Child“Repairman Jack is one of my favorite characters—I’m full of happy anticipation every time I hold a new RJ novel in my hands.” — Charlaine Harris, creator of True Blood“The Tomb is one of the best all-out adventure stories I’ve read in years.” — Stephen KingRepairman Jack is one of the most original and intriguing to arise out of contemporary fiction in ages. His adventures are hugely entertaining. — Dean KoontzF. Paul Wilson is a hot writer, and his hottest and my favorite creation is Repairman Jack. — Joe R. LansdaleF. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack is a cultural icon. If you haven’t crossed paths with him you’re out of the loop. Get with the program. — David Morrell, creator of Rambo.Repairman Jack is one of the greatest fictional characters created by any thriller writer in the past half century. If you haven't discovered him and his world yet, what a fabulous, extraordinary, and electric reading experience awaits you. — Douglas Preston, co-creator of the Pendergast novelsI'm a Repairman Jack addict. Be warned: Read one book and you'll become one, too. If you've got an impossible problem to solve, he's the one guy you want in your corner: flawed, conflicted, and oh-so-wonderfully brutal. Each book is a sweet hit of pure adrenaline. Pick up a copy and get hooked today. — James Rollins, New York Times bestseller of The Doomsday KeyJack is righteous!” — Andrew VachssFinally! All the Repairman Jack short fiction - many hard to find, one nigh impossible - collected for the first time.QUICK FIXES includes:"A Day in the Life""The Last Rakosh""Home Repairs""The Long Way Home""The Wringer""Interlude at Duane’s""Do-Gooder""Piney Power"plus author introductions to each storyfrom the author's Foreword:I compiled this collection at the insistence of Repairman Jack fans, especially the completists. A number of small presses have approached me to do a signed, limited first edition, but I'm not comfortable with charging a premium price for previously published material.

    With the help of the entire creative collective, Gordon-Levitt culled, edited and curated over 8,500 contributions into this finely tuned collection of original art from 67 contributors. Reminiscent of the 6-Word Memoir series, The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1 brings together art and voices from around the world to unite and tell stories that defy size.

    Subtly honed with her hallmark precision, grace, and compassion, these stories illuminate the quotidian yet extraordinary particularity in the lives of men and women, parents and children, friends and lovers as they discover sex, fall in love, part, quarrel, suffer defeat, set off into the unknown, or find a way to be in the world.Peopled with characters as real to us as we are to ourselves, Munro’s stories encompass the fullness of human experience—from the wild exhilaration of first love, in “Passion,” to the lengths a once-straying husband will go to make his wife happy as her memory fades, in “The Bear Came Over the Mountain.” Other stories suggest the punishing consequences of leaving home (“Runaway”) or leaving a marriage (“The Children Stay”). The part romantic love plays in one’s existence is explored in “Too Much Happiness,” based on the life of the noted nineteenth-century mathematician, Sophia Kovalevsky. And in stories that Munro has described as “closer to the truth than usual”—“Dear Life,” “Working for a Living,” and “Home” among them—we glimpse the author’s own life.As the Nobel Prize presentation speech says in part: “Reading one of Alice Munro’s texts is like watching a cat walk across a laid dinner table. A brief short story can often cover decades, summarizing a life, as she moves deftly between different periods. No wonder Alice Munro is often able to say more in thirty pages than an ordinary novelist is capable of in three hundred. She is a virtuoso of the elliptical and the master of the contemporary short story.”

    Written in the 1890s, during a period of relative isolation, his best stories—included in this selection—recreate vivid images of life and landscapes. They depict the human condition in its many forms: innocence and childhood; love and loss; the city and the village; the natural and the supernatural. Tagore is ’s great Romantic. These stories reflect his profoundly modern, original vision.

    This is nothing compared to how she feels when a strange girl named Jessica tells Samantha that she’s actually an imaginary friend. Tracy has outgrown Samantha, and it’s time for Samantha to help another child who needs her. But will Samantha be able to move on and fulfill her duty as an imaginary friend?

    In "Cielo Azul," Bosch is haunted by a long-ago closed case -- the murder of a teenage girl who was never identified. As her killer sits on death row, Bosch tries one last time to get the answers he has sought for years. In "One Dollar Jackpot," Bosch works the murder of a professional poker player whose skills have made her more than one enemy. Whether investigating a cold case or fresh blood, Bosch relentlessly pursues his quarry, always on the lookout for the "tell." In this first collection of Harry Bosch stories, Michael Connelly once again demonstrates that he is the master of "fast-paced, brilliantly plotted crime fiction.... Harry Bosch is back on the case, and not a moment too soon" (Chicago Sun Times).

    The ensemble includes Tutu the monkey who is fond of troubling the no-nonsense Aunt Ruby, a pet python who makes sudden appearances at the most unusual places, a troublesome Pret who enjoys stirring up the household he resides in, three young children stranded on the Haunted Hill, Himalayan bears who feast on pumpkins, plums and apricots, a crafty thief who has a change of heart, and Ruskin Bond himself who meets a ghost at a resort in the middle of the night ...

    In "Father's Day," Bosch investigates a young boy's seemingly accidental death and confronts his own fears as a father. In "Angle of Investigation," Bosch delves into one of the first homicides he ever worked back as a uniformed rookie patrolman, a case that was left unsolved for decades.Together, these gripping stories span Bosch's controversial career at the LAPD, and show the evolution of the haunted, legendary investigator he would become. Utterly unputdownable, they are proof that "Connelly never stops doling out the suspense....Once it grabs you in those first few pages, it won't let go of you" (Boston Globe).

    This eBook-only title features seven tales from Scott's six years of free audiobook podcasts, including the Parsec Award-winning "Red Man," plus the brand-new novella "Hunter Hunterson & Sons."Scott still gives away his audio stories -- for free -- every week at scottsigler.com

    Initially created by H. P. Lovecraft and a group of his amorphous contemporaries (the so-called "Lovecraft Circle"), The Cthulhu Mythos story cycle has taken on a convoluted, cyclopean life of its own. Some of the most prodigious writers of the 20th century, and some of the most astounding writers of the 21st century have planted their seeds in this fertile soil. The Book of Cthulhu harvests the weirdest and most corpulent crop of these modern mythos tales. From weird fiction masters to enigmatic rising stars, The Book of Cthulhu demonstrates how Mythos fiction has been a major cultural meme throughout the 20th century, and how this type of story is still salient, and terribly powerful today.Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

    Valente takes on the folklore of artificial intelligence in this brand new, original novella of technology, identity, and an uncertain mechanized future.Neva is dreaming. But she is not alone. A mysterious machine entity called Elefsis haunts her and the members of her family, back through the generations to her great-great-grandmother—a gifted computer programmer who changed the world. Together Neva and Elefsis navigate their history and their future, an uneasy, unwilling symbiote.But what they discover in their dreamworld might change them forever . . .

    29 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more – everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Naked. This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion and a Free Quiz on Naked by David Sedaris.

    And he is besotted with Christina - even though she is seemingly a key perpetrator of the slander. Told through a series of poignant letters written by Benjamin to his estranged father the rabbi, this is a tender, heart-wrenching and ultimately devastating tale of first love - and final promises.

    John Mortimer died in 2009, but will never be forgotten. While still a practicing barrister, Mortimer took up the pen, and the rest is literary history. His stories featuring the cigar-chomping, cheap- winetippling Rumpole and his wife, Hilda (aka "She Who Must Be Obeyed"), have justly earned their place in the pantheon of mystery fiction legends. The stories became a very successful PBS television series starring Leo McKern as Rumpole.Forever Rumpole brings together fourteen of Rumpole's most entertaining adventures, together with a fragment of a new story. Rumpole is never less than delightful and this new collection is a fitting tribute to an indelible character and his remarkable creator.

    Whether through the falsified historical record of the uniquely weird Swedish creature known as the “Pyret” or the title story, “Jagannath,” about a biological ark in the far future, Tidbeck’s unique imagination will enthrall, amuse, and unsettle you. How else to describe a collection that includes “Cloudberry Jam,” a story that opens with the line “I made you in a tin can”? Marvels, quirky character studies, and outright surreal monstrosities await you in what is likely to be one of the most talked-about short story collections of the year.Tidbeck is a rising star in her native country, having published a collection there in Swedish, won a prestigious literary grant, and just sold her first novel to Sweden’s largest publisher. A graduate of the iconic Clarion Writer’s Workshop at the University of California, San Diego, in 2010, her publication history includes Weird Tales, Shimmer Magazine, Unstuck Annual and the anthology Odd.

    It is only possible to witness it once from the same perspective, because the process eats up the record. The inventor and her husband draw attention to the atrocities of Unit 731 during WWII. They hope that eyewitnesses will shut down denialists. But Chinese versus Japanese, and U.S. politics start their own games.

    When Richelle first sat down to write Bloodlines each chapter was narrated by a different Character.This is Adrian's lost story.

    Stine turned being the "funny guy" into the best defense against the bullies in his class.Today's top authors for teens come together to share their stories about bullying—as silent observers on the sidelines of high school, as victims, and as perpetrators—in a collection at turns moving and self-effacing, but always deeply personal.

    Thousands of children have been inspired to weave their own stories to go with his intriguingly titled pictures. And now, some of our most imaginative storytellers attempt to solve the perplexing mysteries of Harris Burdick. Enter The Chronicles of Harris Burdick to read this incredible compendium of stories: magical, funny, creepy, poignant, inscrutable, these are tales you won't soon forget.(front flap)

    From the top of the Berlin Wall to the depths of the darkest seas, gods and monsters battle their enemies and innermost fears, yet mere mortals make the truly difficult choices. A slightly regretful author and a vengeful-but-dilapidated dragon square off over an abandoned narrative; the children of the Shark God demand painful truths from their chronically absent father; and a bereaved women sacrifices herself to change one terrible moment, effortlessly reversed by a shuffle of the deck. Whether melancholic, comedic, or deeply tragic, each new tale is suffused with misdirection and discovery, expressed in the rich and mesmerizing voice of a masterful storyteller.“The Rock in the Park"“Sleight of Hand” “The Children of the Shark God” “The Best Worst Monster” “What Tune the Enchantress Plays” “La Lune T’Attend” “Up the Down Beanstalk: A Wife Remembers” “The Rabbi’s Hobby” “Oakland Dragon Blues” “The Bridge Partner” “Dirae” “Vanishing""The Woman Who Married the Man in the Moon” (A Schmendrick Tale)

    In 'Caste-Off', Jamwal & Nisha fall in love while waiting for a traffic light to turn green in Delhi, and in 'Don't drink the water', a company chairman tries to poison his wife while on a trip to St.Petersburg - with unexpected consequences...

    A short story in The Iron Druid series that occurs two weeks before the events of the first book.*Short story bundled with "Clan Rathskeller" (another short story) at the back of the ebook "Hounded," Iron Druid Chronicles Book 1.

    Someone had to be a bagger at a grocery store and fantasize about hitting children in the head with wine bottles. Someone had to fear a puddle floating at him from across the street. Someone had to celebrate beating up a pregnant woman. Someone just HAD to be a nanny, and stare at giant motorized spiders. Jeez oh man! Don't ask why a teenager in a Chicago Bulls overcoat is feeding baby rabbits to a toad. Don't ask why someone had to run around the backyard with a bedsheet cape after drinking moonshine. And don't ask why jumping down stairs feels like success.Just sit back, drink a piss-infused Bloody Mary, and learn to hurt others.

    A collection of Matthew Scudder short stories with an introduction by Brian Koppelman and an afterword by Block about the stories.Contents: Growing up with Matt Scudder / by Brian Koppelman --Out the window --A candle for the bag lady --By the dawn's early light --Batman's helpers --The merciful angel of death --The night and the music --Looking for David --Let's get lost --A moment of wrong thinking --Mick Ballou looks at the blank screen --One last night at Grogan's.

    In the densely forested mountains of Belgium one of the conflict’s most brutal battles is raging. Cut off from the front, a ragtag group of young British and American soldiers finds itself being hunted by a patrol of elite German Special Forces, including a newly commissioned officer called Kreuz—a teenage boy who will grow up to become Warden Cross (the fearsome prison director who will one day rule Furnace Penitentiary, the terrifying underground prison specially built for teen offenders).As both sides fight for their lives in the unforgiving terrain, however, they start to realize that there are worse things hiding in the snow than soldiers. There are creatures out there with gas masks and piggy eyes (ancestors of Furnace prison’s “wheezers”)—demonic entities that cannot be killed by guns and grenades, monsters who do not care what uniforms their victims are wearing so long as they bleed, and so long as they scream…

    It features the title story “May Day Eve” as well as “Three Generations,” “Doña Jeronima,” “The Legend of the Dying Wanton,” and “Guardia de Honor.”Set during the Spanish colonial period, these narratives tap into the qualities of magic realism, romance, and historical fiction, as only the master Nick Joaquin can.

    Kiernan’s short fiction was first published in 1995. Over the intervening decade and a half, she has proven not only one of dark fantasy and science fiction’s most prolific and versatile authors, but, to quote Ramsey Campbell, “One of the most accomplished writers in the field, and very possibly the most lyrical.” S. T. Joshi has written, “Kiernan’s witchery of words creates a mesmerizing effect that we haven’t seen since the days of Lovecraft and Bradbury.”Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan (Volume One) presents a stunning retrospective of the first ten years of her work, a compilation of more than two hundred thousand words of short fiction, including many of her most acclaimed stories, as well as some of the author’s personal favorites, several previously uncollected, hard-to-find pieces, and her sf novella, The Dry Salvages, and a rare collaboration with Poppy Z. Brite. Destined to become the definitive look at the early development of Kiernan’s work, Two Worlds and In Between is a must for fans and collectors alike, as well as an unprecedented introduction to an author who, over the course of her career, has earned the praise of such luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, Charles De Lint, and Clive Barker.

    His extraordinary imagination spawned both the Elder God Cthulhu and his eldritch cohorts, and the strangely compelling town of Innsmouth, all of which feature within these pages. Stephen Jones, one of the world's foremost editors of dark fiction, will complete the Lovecraft story in his extensive afterword, and award-winning artist Les Edwards will provide numerous illustrations for this must-have collection.

    Watching. Waiting for your empires to fall. It won't be long now. We are the fear of death that drives you and the terrible hunger that reshapes you in its name. We are the vengeance born from senseless slaughter and the pulsing reptile desire that negates your consciousness. We are the lie on your lips, the collapsing star in your heart, and the still-warm gun in your shaking hands. The illusion of control is all we'll allow you, and no matter what you do...WE LIVE INSIDE YOU

    Dropping back into the world of former Baltimore cop Joe Ledger, the Department of Military Sciences, and flesh-eating zombies, fans of the series will finally see the tying up of a few loose ends.

    She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. In Glitches, a short prequel story to Cinder, we see the results of that illness play out, and the emotional toll that takes on Cinder. Something that may, or may not, be a glitch…

    Readers cannot resist journeying with her into realms-dangerously dark or illuminatingly revelatory-they could never imagine without her as their guide. From ghost stories in the tradition of M. R. James to darkly poetic tales to moving fictional examinations of the most basic of human emotion-fear, love, hate, loneliness-Monette's pen produces stories that are invariably unforgettable . . .

    Humour, nostalgia, love, friendship, trust and betrayal – Bond captures every mood that makes childhood worth remembering. From the nostalgia of country life revisited in When the Tress Walked, to the beautiful bond of friendship formed between an old widow and a young boy owing to their shared love of flowers in A Bouquet of Love, from a mischievous ghost in Pret in the House to a little boy craving for sweets in The Wild Fruit – this collection encapsulates the magic of extraordinary emotions seen in ordinary lives. Every story is delicately woven into a memorable vignette set in the backdrop of the countryside or the middle class urban life. The many shades of childhood and a rich cast of characters make it a fascinating read, especially for young readers.

    Adapted for television, it appeared as an episode of Showtime’s Masters of Horror series.

    By day, he teaches literature. At night, he steals it. Adam is a plagiarist, an expert reader with an eye for great works. He prowls simulated worlds perusing virtual texts, looking for the next big thing. And when he finds it, he memorizes it page by page, line by line, word for word. And then he brings it back to his world. But what happens when these virtual worlds begin to seem more real than his own? What happens when the people within them mean more to him than flesh and blood? What happens when a living thing falls in love with someone who does not actually exist?

    Peter Hamilton takes us on a journey from a murder mystery in an alternative Oxford in the 1800s to a story featuring Paula Myo, Deputy Director of the Intersolar Commonwealth's Serious Crimes Directorate.

    It wasn’t until the 1970s, however, that contemporary queer Native literature gained any public notice. Even now, only a handful of books address it specifically, most notably the 1988 collection Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology. Since that book’s publication twenty-three years ago, there has not been another collection published that focuses explicitly on the writing and art of Indigenous Two-Spirit and Queer people. This landmark collection strives to reflect the complexity of identities within Native Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Two-Spirit (GLBTQ2) communities. Gathering together the work of established writers and talented new voices, this anthology spans genres (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and essay) and themes (memory, history, sexuality, indigeneity, friendship, family, love, and loss) and represents a watershed moment in Native American and Indigenous literatures, Queer studies, and the intersections between the two.Collaboratively, the pieces in Sovereign Erotics demonstrate not only the radical diversity among the voices of today’s Indigenous GLBTQ2 writers but also the beauty, strength, and resilience of Indigenous GLBTQ2 people in the twenty-first century. Contributors:, Indira Allegra, Louise Esme Cruz, Paula Gunn Allen, Qwo-Li Driskill, Laura Furlan, Janice Gould, Carrie House, Daniel Heath Justice, Maurice Kenny, Michael Koby, M. Carmen Lane, Jaynie Lara, Chip Livingston, Luna Maia, Janet McAdams, Deborah Miranda, Daniel David Moses, D. M. O’Brien, Malea Powell, Cheryl Savageau, Kim Shuck, Sarah Tsigeyu Sharp, James Thomas Stevens, Dan Taulapapa McMullin, William Raymond Taylor, Joel Waters, and Craig Womack

    . . Yet too few of these tales are known and read today. Alternative Alamat gathers stories, by contemporary authors of Philippine fantasy, which make innovative use of elements of Philippine mythology. None of these stories are straight re-tellings of the old tales: they build on those stories, or question underlying assumptions; use ancient names as catalysts, or play within the spaces where the myths are silent. What you will find in common in these eleven stories is a love for the myths, epics, and legends which reflect us, contain us, call to us-and it is our hope that, in reading our stories, you may catch a glimpse of, and develop a hunger for, those venerable tales.Alternative Alamat also features a cover and interior illustrations by Mervin Malonzo, a short list of notable Philippine deities, tips for online and offline research, and in-depth interviews with two people who have devoted much of their careers to the study of Philippine folklore and anthropology, Professors Herminia Meñez Coben ("Explorations in Philippine Folklore" and "Verbal Arts in Philippine Indigenous Communities: Poetics, Society, and History") and Fernando N. Zialcita ("The Soul Book" and "Authentic but Not Exotic").

    To access each part you must click the corresponding item within Margot's Room.

    Over the course of eight books she’s fought evil vampires, were-creatures, and some serious black magic. She’s done it all with a sharp wit and the help of a memorable cast of werewolf hunters, psychics, and if-notgood- then-neutral vampires by her side. Kitty’s Greatest Hits not only gives readers some of Kitty’s further adventures, it offers longtime fans a window into the origins of some of their favorite characters. In “Conquistador de la Noche,” we learn the origin story of Denver’s Master vampire, Rick; with “Wild Ride,” we find out how Kitty’s friend T.J. became a werewolf; and in “Life is the Teacher,” we revisit Emma, the human-turned-unwilling-vampire who serves the aloof vampire Master of Washington, D.C. This entertaining collection includes two brand-new works: “You’re On the Air,” about one of Kitty’s callers after he hangs up the phone; and the eagerly awaited “Long Time Waiting,” the novella that finally reveals just what happened to Cormac in prison, something every Kitty fan wants to know.Contents:Il Est NeA Princess of SpainConquistador de la NocheThe Book of DanielThe Temptation of Robin Green Looking After FamilyGod's CreaturesWild RideWinnowing the HerdKitty and the Mosh Pit of the Damned Kitty's Zombie New YearLife is the TeacherYou're on the AirLong Time Waiting

    It was selected by Deb Olin Unferth as the winner of the 2010 Caketrain Chapbook Competition and is currently available from Caketrain Press.

    a flaming spider who must help stop a goddess from conquering a science fiction convention ... a goblin nursery worker who finds herself trapped in the middle of a war. This collection features five humorous short stories that explore the fantasy realm from the perspective of the lowest of the low, the unlikeliest of unheroes: the goblins.Includes the following stories from the author of the GOBLIN QUEST trilogy:Goblin LullabyThe Haunting of Jig's EarGoblin HunterSchool SpiritMightier than the SwordEach story includes an afterward by the author.

    "Robin Hobb" and "Megan Lindholm" are both pseudonyms used by California-born Margaret Ogden, who from 1983 to 1992, published exclusively as Lindholm. This generous, 400-page hardcover original brings together short stories and novellas penned under both authorial bylines. As Hobb herself notes, "their" writing and styles differ in significant ways. (P.S. This collection includes stories previously unpublished in the United States.)

    Not just any bridge—but a special one because it has always been known as The Lucky Bridge. In olden days it was said that to walk over it during a marriage ceremony, or at the beginning of the New Year would bring the traveler good luck. Because of its reputation, over the years it has also become a popular place for young mothers to abandon their children. What to some may seem cruel is in reality their final gift to their offspring—one last chance to send them off to their new destinies with luck on their side. Jing, an old woman, is the unofficial and often reluctant guardian of the bridge. When no one else will, Jing steps in to prevent the children from frostbite, abuse and hunger, and then she delivers them safely to the orphanage. This has been her routine for many years, but what does Jing do when the latest child, a blind boy, burrows deep into her heart? Read ‘The Bridge’ to see how Fei Fei’s life is changed by the love of a lonely old woman. The Bridge is a short story of 17,000 words, approximately 72 pages. Fei Fei’s character is based on a real orphaned boy that Kay Bratt met during her time in China. Don't miss these other great books by Kay Bratt! Full length books currently available on Kindle "Silent Tears; A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage” and “Chasing China; A Daughter’s Quest for Truth”.

    In stories as darkly comic as they are unflinching, people isolated by geography, emotion, or circumstance cut imperfect paths to peace—they have no other choice. A Russian mail-order bride in Finland is rendered silent by her dislocation and loss of language, the mother of a severely disabled boy writes him postcards he'll never read on a cruise ship held hostage by pirates, and an Iowa actuary wanders among the reincarnations of those she's known in her 127 lives. Horrocks' women find no simple escapes, and their acts of faith and acts of imagination in making do are as shrewd as they are surprising.

    Short flashback that occurs between "The Scorch Trials" and "The Death Cure."

    A collection of 23 big, fierce stories by xTx.

    Fortunately, his personal surgeon is sick enough to take the extra steps necessary to make Charles's dream come true.The Grave: Jack starts a series of increasingly unpleasant events when hemakes a pass at suspected "wrong boy", Dave.The Haslet Technique: Lottery winner, Jim Haslet finds himself caught up in a bizarre nightmare when he and his wife are kidnapped by people even weirder than Jim is."Hall of Mirrors is a refreshingly fun experience ... you'll love every strange and grotesque moment!" - Michael A. Arnzen, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of, "Proverbs for Monsters".

    Dog-ear it until all the pages are folded. Read it in the bath, teach it, store it in your bag, recite it on street corners. When people stop to ask you what you are doing, tell them that you are reading aloud from a collection by the best flash fiction writer in America." ~ Amelia Gray, Author of AM/PM and Museum of The Weird“People often say the purpose of flash fiction is to shine a spotlight, to illuminate, to light up our lives, a flash of insight. This to me has always seemed a dull reason to do anything, much less write or read flash fiction. And I think Kathy Fish proves the point, here in this book. Who cares what she may teach us, in flashes of blinding light or otherwise, in these stories so carefully built, so wonderfully turned of phrase. What Kathy does is expose us not to insight but to mystery. She puts us in the middle of these worlds she’s made and says, Look what I’ve seen. And then when we do, when we come to these stories’ ends, we shudder with confusion and love.” ~ Joseph Young, Author of Easter Rabbit and Name

    A boy with one wing seeks the secret to flight. A girl with a mirror for a face, adored by all, longs to simply eat. A pregnant girl reflects on the effects of metamorphoses. The stories of boysgirls are modern myths: tales that exist within our present time but also outside it, in a place as eternal as Shangri-La or Middle Earth. An unforgettable book of Ovidian imagination, boysgirls testifies that Katie Farris is one of the most talented prose stylists of a new generation. "boysgirls is one for the classic fairy-tale shelves, joining Borges/Lispector, Calvino/Carter, Andersen/d'Aulnoy with its spectral powers. Katie Farris's spare and lyrical language levitates here--she is a haunting and new revelation"--Kate Bernheimer.

    and reprint of some of Tagore's most famous stories

    He continued to write the column for almost 20 years, using it as a workshop in which to develop ideas for his later books. Yet over the course of this time, the prolific writer allowed many uncollected gems to fade into obscurity. More Notes of a Dirty Old Man: The Uncollected Columns gathers many of these fugitive pieces, unseen in decades, into a single volume. Filled with his usual obsessions—sex, booze, gambling—More Notes features Bukowski's offbeat insights into politics and literature, his tortured relationships with women, and his lurid escapades on the poetry circuit. Highlighting his versatility, the book ranges from thinly veiled autobiography to fictional tales of dysfunctional suburbanites, disgraced politicians, and down-and-out sports promoters, climaxing with a long, hilarious adventure among French filmmakers, "My Friend, The Gambler," based on his experiences making the movie Barfly. From his days at the post office through his later fame, More Notes follows the entire arc of Bukowski's career, making it a valuable addition to his oeuvre.

    And, as Maura scanned her own memories, it was a time that not a single other generation would ever fully understand. It was their time."Short Stories from 1929 is the first set of short stories woven from the threads of the novel, 1929. More than forty years after the Great Crash, Maura gathers friends and family for an evening of storytelling. From the tales she crafts a book for Jonathan, who has suffered a stroke and is now bedridden. Loved ones narrate accounts from long ago, moments mentioned but never fully explained in the novel, 1929 by M.L. Gardner. The Night of the Big Wind in IrelandThe Voyage to America The Last Christmas.

    Futuristic in outlook, up-to-the-minute in setting and sophisticated in influence, these are stories for those who feel that literature has not caught up with the 21st century.

    A Jewish immigrant soldier and the German POWs he is assigned to supervise. A refugee returning to Europe for the first time and the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. A son of survivors and technology's potential to reveal long-held family secrets. These are some of the characters and conflicts that emerge in QUIET AMERICANS, in stories that reframe familiar questions about what is right and wrong, remembered and repressed, resolved and unending.

    All feature her ex-Special Forces soldier turned self-defence expert and bodyguard, Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Fox.In A Bridge Too Far, we meet Charlie before she’s become a professional in the world of close protection. When she agrees to hang out with the local Dangerous Sports Club, she has no idea it will soon live up to its name.Postcards From Another Country has Charlie guarding the ultra-rich Dempsey family against attempted assassination – no matter where the danger lies.A finalist for the CWA Short Story Dagger, Served Cold puts another tough woman centre stage – the mysterious Layla, with betrayal in her past and murder in her heart.Off Duty finds Charlie taking time away from close protection after injury. She still finds trouble, even in an out-of-season health spa in the Catskill Mountains.And finally, Truth And Lies puts all Charlie’s skills and ingenuity to the test as she has to single-handedly extract a news team from a rapidly escalating war zone.Also included: Excerpt from KILLER INSTINCT: Charlie Fox book one, Meet Charlie Fox, Meet Zoë Sharp, info on the other books in the Charlie Fox series.

    But how exactly did she find out about her most troubling recruit just days before the new school year? How did she find out about King Henry Price?This story is set in the world of THE KING HENRY TAPES:Book 1 - The Foul Mouth and the Fanged Lady (released)Book 2 - The Foul Mouth and the Cat Killing Coyotes (released)Book 3 - Forthcoming

    Freud's Todestrieb, his statement that ''libido has the task of making the destroying instinct innocuous, and it fulfils the task by diverting that instinct to a great extent outwards....The instinct is then called the destructive instinct, the instinct for mastery, or the will to power.'' Few authors have spun stories of Thanatos and Eros as skillfully and powerfully as Livia Llewellyn. In his introduction to this volume, Laird Barron writes ''Scant difference exists between exquisite pleasure and pain.'' An orphan girl with a mind for anthracite falls into the hands of a cult worshipping an entombed god. In the Pacific Northwest, evergreens lull prepubescent girls into their trunks to serve as wombs. A suburban housewife troubled by her present encounters the sixteen year-old girl she ached to touch in her dreams. These ten stories promise to indulge a reader's sensibilities, their fears and desires.

    Originally published in Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 61, the story is now also available online at tor.com as an excerpt of Liu's story collection The Hidden Girl and Other Stories.

    DIVORCER is a collection of seven harrowing and hyperprecise short stories about ruinous relationships and their aftershocks.

    A robbery and its dramatic consequences lead a Spokane Indian to rethink his entire life in Alexie’s "Breaking and Entering," dynamically performed by B. D. Wong. A young Nigerian woman tackles adventure by taking a Greyhound bus to the end of the line and starting a new life in Hartford in Adichie’s longing-filled story "The Thing Around Your Neck," performed by Condola Rashad. Tony winner Boyd Gaines performs Hemon’s heartfelt tale "Good Living," in which a Bosnian emigrant seeks the American dream while selling magazines door to door in Chicago. Lastly, Rita Wolf gives a breathtaking performance of "Hell-Heaven," Lahiri’s story of passions and tensions in a Bengali family in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from her acclaimed collection Unaccustomed Earth. This CD is sure to delight listeners while providing an opportunity for artists and audiences to connect.

    It had not imbued her with magical powers, gained her exotic new friends, or even done anything for her acne.Free epub download.

    It’s told from the point of view of Fletcher Lane, Gin’s assas­sin men­tor, and focuses on Gin’s first solo job as the assas­sin the Spi­der.

    400 copies. Contains: "Mrs Midnight", "Countess Otho", "Meeting with Mike", "The Dancer in the Dark", "Mr Pigsny", "The Brighton Redemption", "You Have Nothing to Fear", "The Philosophy of the Damned", "The Mortlake Manuscript", "The Look", "The Giacometti Crucifixion","A Piece of Elsewhere", "Minos or Rhadamanthus".A TV reality show host helps to restore an East End music hall and uncovers the dreadful secret of Mrs Midnight and her Animal Comedians. . . . A historian travels to Switzerland to ghost the autobiography of an exiled Balkan king and encounters a sinister cult. . . . The Master of an Oxford college tries to introduce a dubious piece of modern sculpture into his college chapel with dire consequences. . . . A strange meeting takes place on a playing field between an officer on leave from the trenches and his former headmaster. . . .The settings and characters in Reggie Oliver’s fifth collection of ‘strange’ stories are as varied and unusual as ever, though, as in previous volumes, the theatre forms the milieu of a number of his tales. But the theatres are not just English ones, in the provinces and the West End: one is on the Black Sea; another in post-colonial Kenya. Themes are equally varied, but underlying all is a deep sense of the spiritual under-currents just below the surface of everyday existence, and the precariousness of ‘normality’.Reggie Oliver is an English playwright, biographer and writer of ghost stories. His work has appeared in a number of anthologies, including the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror.

    Essential reading for young and old alike.Among the stories collected here are:• Kate Crackernuts• Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree• Yallery Brown

    It is ideal for personal devotions or to read as a community.

    16 stories by international writers.

    Set during the trek through the Sea of Sorrows, this is the story of Kallandras’ youth, in the labyrinths of the Brotherhood of Assassins.

    They are weird and fun and often bewildering, like sex itself.

    Konrath: "Crouch is one of the best thriller short story writers I know. He uses words like an artist uses a paintbrush; to hurt, to stun, to shock, to provoke, to touch. This collection also features my very favorite short story of all time. Not just my favorite by Crouch, but the best one I've ever read by anyone. It's called "Unconditional." It is flat-out brilliant and unforgettable, and that one tale is worth the price of this entire collection." From the author of DESERT PLACES and LOCKED DOORS comes this complete collection of short stories and novellas. *69 - Tim and Laura West receive a bizarre voicemail on their answering machine that seems to have unintentionally recorded a brutal murder. But what happens when the killer realizes their mistake? This story develops over one terrifying evening, and this young couple will never be the same. REMAKING - Tragic events unfold in a snowy, sleepy Colorado town. From the first scene, in which a man sits alone in the cold, watching a father and son in a diner, you know something is about to go horribly wrong. You may think you know what's happening, but in this thrilling, heartbreaking story, nothing is as it seems. ON THE GOOD, RED ROAD - A group of four hard men trying to reach a remote 19th Century mining town become stranded in an early blizzard and resort to drastic, terrifying measures, to stay alive. SHINING ROCK - An older couple encounter a strange and menacing visitor during a camping trip in the North Carolina mountains. Friendly at first, this stranger seems to know them, seems to know their secrets, and as things escalate, they become convinced that they may never leave these mountains alive. PERFECT LITTLE TOWN - Ron and Jessica Stahl are a power couple from California, on a Christmas holiday in Colorado. When they stop for the afternoon in sleepy Lone Cone, they're charmed by the quaint tourist town. But the folksy hospitality will vanish as the sun drops behind the mountains. The Stahls couldn't have picked a worse night of the year to get snowed into this perfect little town with a dark, dark secret. SERIAL - The classic horror short I wrote with J.A. Konrath, in which we turn our attention to the twin golden rules of hitchhiking: # 1: Don't go hitchhiking, because the driver who picks you up could be certifiably crazy. # 2: Don't pick up hitchhikers, because the traveler you pick up could be a raving nutcase. So what if, on some dark, isolated road, Crazy #1 offered a ride to Nutcase #2? THE NEWTON BOYS' LAST PHOTOGRAPH - At 25 words, the shortest story I ever wrote. But it packs a wallop. THE METEOROLOGIST - Peter, a disgraced meteorologist and chronic wanderer, has traveled the country for years in his Winnebago, in search of the only thing that gives his life meaning. He's just arrived in the middle of nowhere-Hokie, Kansas-for the same purpose, but when he meets a waitress named Melanie, another sufferer, he's faced not only with his first real human contact in years, but perhaps someone who can save him. UNCONDITIONAL - A conversation between two people-devastating, tragic, and beautiful. THE PAIN OF OTHERS - Letty Dobesh, a gorgeous, degenerate thief, is fresh out of the clink and back to her old tricks-in this case, burglarizing suites at a luxury hotel in Asheville, North Carolina. But when she's surprised by returning guests on her last room of the day, she's forced to hide in the closet to avoid getting caught, and inadvertently overhears a hitman being contracted to murder the wife of a wealthy lawyer. This 60,000-word short story collection also contains a foreword by J.A. Konrath and introductions to each story by the author. BLAKE CROUCH is the author of four novels and numerous short stories, including "Serial" which he co-wrote with J.A. Konrath and has been downloaded more than 300,000 times. He lives in southwest Colorado, where he is at work on a new book. His website is www.blakecrouch.co

    The document was lost, or destroyed, almost immediately.(It included more monsters than you might think.)Hundreds of years ago, Fanny and Mary ran away from London with a debauched poet and his sister.(If it was the poet you are thinking of, the story would have ended far more happily, and with fewer people having their throats bitten out.)Sometime in the near future, a community will live in a replica Roman city built in the Australian bush. It’s a sight to behold.(Shame about the manticores.)Further in the future, the last man who guards the secret history of the world will discover that the past has a way of coming around to bite you.(He didn’t even know she had a thing for pointy teeth.)The world is in greater danger than you ever suspected. Women named Julia are stronger than they appear. Don’t let your little brother make out with silver-eyed blondes. Immortal heroes really don’t fancy teenage girls. When love dies, there’s still opera. Family is everything. Monsters are everywhere. Yes, you do have to wear the damned toga.History is not what you think it is.LOVE AND ROMANPUNK.TABLE OF CONTENTSIntroductionJulia Agrippina’s Secret Family BestiaryLamia VictorianaThe PatricianRomanpunksAfterword

    A prolific journalist who made himself a dominant figure in the emerging literary culture of postwar san Francisco, Bierce developed a style of slashing sarcasm that made him a feared antagonist. As a short story writer—whether drawing on wartime experiences or exploring realms of supernatural and psychological horror—he used extreme situations to give voice to his uniquely engrossing brand of pessimism.This volume gathers the most celebrated and significant of Bierce’s writings. In the Midst of Life (Tales of Soldiers and Civilians), his collection of short fiction about the Civil War, which includes the masterpieces “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and “Chickamauga,” is suffused with a fiercely ironic sense of the horror and randomness of war. Close-up portraits of life in camp and on the battlefield offer unique, often startling, perspectives on the war whose after-echoes pervade Bierce’s writing.Can Such Things Be? brings together “The Death of Halpin Frayser,” “The Damned Thing,” “The Moonlit Road,” and other tales of terror that make Bierce the genre’s most significant American practitioner between Poe and Lovecraft. These tales are notable, in editor S. T. Joshi’s words, for “the meticulous etching of the precise effects of the supernatural upon the sensitive consciousness of his fear-raddled protagonists.”The Devil’s Dictionary, the brilliant lexicon of subversively cynical definitions on which Bierce worked for decades, displays to the full his corrosive wit.In Bits of Autobiography, the series of memoirs that includes the memorable “What I Saw of Shiloh,” he recreates his experiences in the war and its aftermath. The volume is rounded out with a selection of the best stories not gathered in the two major collections. Acclaimed Bierce scholar Joshi provides detailed notes and a newly researched chronology of Bierce’s life and mysterious disappearance.

    KiernanFiction: The Tomb of the Pontifex Dvorn by Robert SilverbergFiction: A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong by K. J. ParkerFiction: The Artists by Larry NivenAudio: The Tricks of London by Elizabeth BearReview: The Silent Land by Graham JoyceReview: What I Didn’t See and Other Stories by Karen Joy FowlerReview: When the Killing’s Done by T. C. BoyleFiction: King and Mrs. Kong: A Lucifer Jones Story by Mike Resnick

    2011 Whiting Writers' Award WinnerThe debut collection of ten short stories from Ryan Call, including stories originally published in Keyhole, The Lifted Brow, Lo-Ball, The Collagist, The Los Angeles Review, Hobart and Web Conjunctions.

    Getting it out into the world will be my next project after finishing the Warm Bodies sequel.--A man and a woman on their first date discover they have amazing powers.A Tyrannosaurus Rex enjoys modern life as the guardian and spiritual mentor of Seattle.An angry stoplight manages traffic for the lawless humans it despises.An immortal and indestructible man discovers the horror and beauty of living forever.A serpent exchanges emails with government agencies, confessing to a lifelong murder spree.A feral cat sends psychic postcards to the family dog he left behind.A child abandoned into foster care grows into a very, very hungry man.A boy competes with his older brother for the affections of a girl before discovering a mysterious hole in the bottom of a lake.An old man reminisces on his career as a disease engineer for a shadowy world organization.A teenage girl and her kid brother make their way through a post-apocalyptic Seattle while being pursued by a large, lonely zombie.The black hole at the center of our galaxy delivers a fierce and final soliloquy.From the author of WARM BODIES, a collection of strange stories about strange people, strange creatures, and strange objects experiencing joys and hungers that are not strange at all.20 stories, including "Grass Through The Concerete" a novella set in the world of WARM BODIES.Limited Edition designed and published by the author. Only 500 copies will be made. All copies are signed.

    

    Search for "Tommy Orange Reads Louise Erdrich".

    "There is a sureness to these stories that arises from an intimate and absolute understanding of the landscape from which they arise. The characters are true and wholly realized, their conflicts as urgent and as current as the daily news. Not sensationalized but forthrightly told, these stories are of the times as well the region. Here is contemporary Appalachia." - Chris Holbrook, author of Upheaval

    "The brew master of flash" (Sean Lovelace), Pokrass writes "like a brain looking for a body" (Frederick Barthelme), making her the "new monarch of the delightful and enigmatic tiny kingdom of mirco- and flash fiction" (Brad Watson). This collection of eighty-four tales is sure to "ruin your waking hours the way you'll want them ruined" (Kyle Minor).

    Magic and myth collide in Peter S. Beagle’s “The Woman Who Married the Man in the Moon.” When two children bring home a wandering magician named Schmendrick, their mother and the stranger spin stories all night...stories that hide and reveal remarkable truths. Jonathan L. Howard has written several stories and novels featuring Johannes Cabal, necromancer extraordinaire. But in the tale “House of Gears,” Cabal’s expertise in the dark arts offers little help when he faces down a mad scientist with a thirst for immortality. Music boxes and robotic dogs are the vestiges of a long tradition of mechanical wonders. Hunting unicorns is a lucrative business for the right team of hunter and bait. In Carrie Vaughn’s “The Hunter’s Ode to His Bait,” one hunter and his maiden assistant decide to wrap up their careers in a dangerous quest for the ultimate unicorn.

    So what is making the strange thumping noises up there? And why is there a toy rabbit under the kitchen table? Margaret's Ghost is just one of a collection of short stories consisting mainly of horror and science fiction, ranging from a classic gothic tale-Jack Trevellyn-to the Wyndhamesque Victim of Fortune, and the modern Waiting for Daddy, with its spine-chilling twist. There is also the occasional excursion into romance with A Castle in Spain and Jess's Girl. But most of these tales take you to a place which is not quite as it seems. It's bedtime now. Time to go upstairs. Time to take a look. Just one look.

    All of it. Its wars, its empires. Each and every one of its decline-and-falls. It's really terribly simple. It's the story of a bunch of mediocrities who are trying to look special. And it is my duty, it is my pleasure, to expose the lot of them.A little boy who betrays his father to the mercies of Santa Claus. An assassin whose personality is so insipid he erases people with his very presence. A kitty cat that likes to hunt only endangered species. Camel marriages, killer angels, and conjuring tricks that cause worldwide plague.The history of mankind. As told through twenty-one tales of the comic and the macabre. Frightening and funny. Heartbreaking and wise.Robert Shearman's stories have won the World and British Fantasy Awards, the Edge Hill Reader's Prize, and the Shirley Jackson Award

    Michelle Latiolais has given us the rarest item, a splendidly articulated masterpiece.” —William Kittredge“In this luminous collection of stories, the gifted Michelle Latiolais writes of loss in all its surprising manifestations. Widow is a devastation and a wonder.” —Christine Schutt“There is something mysterious about this book, as there always is in the writing that matters most. It eludes explanation. It illumines terrifying realities. Only because these pages seem nakedly willing to take the imprint of every emotion, no matter how ugly, do they possess this great beauty.” —Elizabeth TallentThe stories of Widow conjure the nuances of inner sensations as if hitting the notes of a song, deftly played across human memory. These meditations bravely explore the physiology of grief through a masterful interweaving of tender insight and unflinching detail—reminding us that the inner life is best understood through the medium of storytelling. Among these stories of loss are interwoven other tales, creating a bridge to the ineffable pleasures and follies of life before the catastrophe. Throughout this collection, Latiolais captures the longing, humor, and strange grace that accompany life’s most transformative chapters.Michelle Latiolais is the author of Widow: Stories, a New York Times Editor's Choice selection, and two previous novels, including A Proper Knowledge, also published by Bellevue Literary Press. She is the recipient of the Gold Medal for Fiction from the Commonwealth Club of California and an English professor and co-director of the Programs in Writing at the University of California at Irvine.

    Howard, creator of Conan the Cimmerian, continues with this latest compendium of Howard’s fiction and poetry. These adventures, set in medieval-era Europe and the Near East, are among the most gripping Howard ever wrote, full of pageantry, romance, and battle scenes worthy of Tolstoy himself. Most of all, they feature some of Howard’s most unusual and memorable characters, including Cormac FitzGeoffrey, a half-Irish, half-Norman man of war who follows Richard the Lion-hearted to twelfth-century Palestine—or, as it was known to the Crusaders, Outremer; Diego de Guzman, a Spaniard who visits Cairo in the guise of a Muslim on a mission of revenge; and the legendary sword woman Dark Agnès, who, faced with an arranged marriage to a brutal husband in sixteenth-century France, cuts the ceremony short with a dagger thrust and flees to forge a new identity on the battlefield.Lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist John Watkiss and featuring miscellanea, informative essays, and a fascinating introduction by acclaimed historical author Scott Oden, Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures is a must-have for every fan of Robert E. Howard, who, in a career spanning just twelve years, won a place in the pantheon of great American writers.

    To find eternal rest, the ghost rock star must make peace with his brother Mickey, before his guilt over Logan’s death drives him to suicide.Krista sees ghosts everywhere, but never the one she needs most. A chance boardwalk encounter with Logan turns her Senior Week party into a rescue mission. Can her own grief give her the strength to save Mickey’s life?Loaded with bonus material, the “Bridge” ebook is the perfect introduction to the young-adult Shade trilogy—a tale of ghosts, music, and everlasting love.---"Bridge" was originally published in the YA paranormal anthology Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions, edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong. "Bridge" the ebook will include Lots o" Logan in one place: •The story "Bridge"•Lyrics to "Forever," the song he wrote and sang for Aura on the tear-jerkingest page of Shade (listed on GR as Shade #1.5)•Logan's deleted interludes from Shift (listed on GR as Shade 2.1), including an EXCLUSIVE "Outro" that shows what Logan thought of Zachary when they met.•BRAND NEW BONUS MATERIAL: 1. Heart-to-heart interview with Logan and his brother Mickey, the other major character in "Bridge." The brooding, tortured Mickey has never before spoken in public, and this interview will be EXCLUSIVELY available in this ebook.2. Actual scanned images of Logan's songwriting journal as he was writing "Forever.""Bridge" is the first in what has been dubbed the "SHADEboys Trifecta of Awesome," continuing with "Shattered" (Zachary's novella, listed on GR as Shade #3.5) in May 2013 and Martin's as-yet-untitled short story in August 2013 (listed on GR but not numbered yet).

    This speculative fiction compilation, lyrical and tender, quirky and cutting, weaves the fantastic and the horrific alongside the touchingly human. Perplexing and absorbing, the stories lift the veil of reality to expose the realms of what lies beyond with creatures that shed their skin and roam the night, vampires in Mexico City that struggle with disenchantment, an apocalypse with giant penguins, legends of magic scorpions, and tales of a ceiba tree surrounded by human skulls.

    While it’s fun to believe that this is how things were for Jocelyn, this excerpt has to be considered non-canon or alternate universe, so don’t be surprised if things in future Shadowhunters books contradict this version of events, or if it contradicts things in City of Glass.

    But since Rusty’s rarely in town, instead of buying you lunch, he’d like to give you a huge bargain price on a few of his stories so you can sample the crazy and mysterious world of Bigfoot. These great stories were collected by Rusty from his flyfishing clients around the campfire—and they’re stories you’ll never forget—even if you’d like to!This little ebook has three new tales and two bonus ones from Rusty’s previous books, plus a special sample from a cool Bigfoot mystery—all in all, the equivalent of a 60-page print book.So, even though Rusty’s trying to be generous here, read only if you dare! Or if you want to jump in with both feet and get his full-length books, Rusty has books available as ebooks and also as print books, just do a search on Rusty Wilson Bigfoot. And check out his blog at http://rustybigfoot.blogspot.com/, which also has links to his books.