Now readers can enjoy all three of Carol Shields’s short story collections – Various Miracles, The Orange Fish and Dressing Up for the Carnival – in one volume, along with the previously unpublished story, “Segue,” her last.With an eye for the smallest of telling details – a woman applying her lipstick so “the shape of pale raspberry fits perfectly the face she knows by heart” – and a willingness to explore the most fundamental relationships and the wildest of coincidences, Shields illuminates the absurdities and miracles that grace all our lives. From a couple who experiences a world without weather, to the gentle humor of an elderly widow mowing her lawn while looking back on a life of passion, to a young woman abandoned by love and clinging to a “slender handrail of hope,” Shields’s enormous sympathy for her characters permeates her fiction.Playful, charming, acutely observed and generous of spirit, this collection of stories will delight and enchant Carol Shields fans everywhere.Excerpt from The Collected Stories of Carol ShieldsLet me say it: I am an aging woman of despairing good cheer — just look into the imaginary camera lens and watch me as I make the Sunday morning transaction over the bread, then the flowers, my straw tote from our recent holiday in Jamaica, my smile, my upturned sixty-seven-year-old voice, a voice so crying-out and clad with familiarity that, in fact, I can’t hear it anymore myself, thank God; my ears are blocked. Lately everything to do with my essence has become transparent, neutral: Good morning, Jane Sexton smiles to one and all (such a friendly, down-to-earth woman). “What a perfect fall day.” “What glorious blooms!” “Why Mr. Henning, this bread is still warm! Can this be true?”From the Hardcover edition.

    Among the things I do pretty well at this point I’d have to list darts, re-closing Stay-Fresh boxes, and staying out of the way. This is the self-eulogy offered early on by the unwilling hero of the opening story in this collection, a dazzling array of work in short fiction from a master of the form. The stories in Love and Hydrogen—familiar to readers from publications ranging from McSweeney’s to The New Yorker to Harper’s to Tin House—encompass in theme and compassion what an ordinary writer would seem to need several lifetimes to imagine.A frustrated wife makes use of an enterprising illegal-gun salesman to hold her husband hostage; two hapless adult-education students botch their attempts at rudimentary piano but succeed in a halting, awkward romance; a fascinated and murderous Creature welcomes the first human visitors to his Black Lagoon; and in the title story, the stupefyingly huge airship Hindenburg flies to its doom, representing in 1937 mankind's greatest yearning as well as its titanic failure. Generous in scope and astonishing in ambition, Shepard’s voice never falters; the virtuosity of Love and Hydrogen cements his reputation as, in the words of Rick Bass, “a passionate writer with a razor-sharp wit and an elephantine heart”—in short, one of the most powerful talents at work today.

    Grouped in sections that follow the cycle of life, these stories explore the varied aspects of human existence and, cumulatively, form the satisfying dramatic arc of a novel. The authors range from the acknowledged masters of short fiction - Anton Chekhov, Dorothy Parker, John Cheever, Raymond Carver, T.C. Boyle, Jhumpa Lahiri - to the very best of today's emerging writers. As a bonus, the anthology includes interviews with T.C. Boyle and Jhumpa Lahiri, in which they illuminate the process of creating a short story. Aspiring writers who enjoyed Gotham Writers' Workshop previous book, Writing Fiction, will also find this anthology an invaluable source of inspiration and instruction. Praise for Writing Fiction: "The writing is fresh and full of concrete advice."-Publishers' Weekly " It's an incredible book, not just for the aspiring writer but for the ardent reader as well." - Michael Ray, Senior Editor, Zoetrope: All-Story "This book has a vividness that somehow captures the excitement and fellowship in good writers' workshops. I've clearly found a new book to use in my own writing classes. A fine guide."-Chuck Kinder, Writing Program Director, University of Pittsburgh "The strength of this book is its accessibility: It explains all the basics of writing fiction in a simple, easy-to-understand manner that doesn't intimidate."-The Writer Magazine Gotham Writers' Workshop is America's leading private creative writing school, offering classes in New York City and on the web at www.WritingClasses.com. The school's interactive online classes, selected "Best of the Web" by Forbes, have attracted thousands of aspiring writers from across the United States and more than sixty countries. Also available:

    In the tradition of Defoe, Stevenson, Hawthorne, Coleridge, Poe, and other master writers, these frightful stories conjure the creaks and shadows of the very places where they came to life: haunted St. Andrews, the Isle of Eigg, Kellie Castle, Balcarres House, Durie House ("which has the most persistent of all country-house spectres"), and Kirk's own ancestral spooky house in Mecosta, Michigan.

    Storylines both conventional and outlandish reveal humdrum routines as menacing, or imaginary worlds as perfectly familiar. Allusions to authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and Jules Verne reinforce the fantasy tradition in these tales, while understated humor and moments of sadness add a quirky unpredictability. Also included is the previously unpublished novella, "Botch Town," a coming-of-age story about a boy on Long Island whose family and friends live ordinary lives under threats both real and imagined. Each story is followed by a brief afterword that details its genesis.ContentsIntroduction by Jonathan CarrollThe Annals of Eelin-Ok + Story NotesJupiter's Skull + Story NotesA Night in the Tropics + Story NotesThe Empire of Ice Cream + Story NotesThe Beautiful Gelreesh + Story NotesBoatman's Holiday + Story NotesBotch Town + Story NotesA Man of Light + Story NotesThe Green Word + Story NotesGiant Land + Story NotesCoffins on the River + Story NotesSummer Afternoon + Story NotesThe Weight of Words + Story NotesThe Trentino Kid + Story Notes

    In Corpus Christi, Texas—a town often hit by hurricanes— parents, children, and lovers come together and fall apart, bonded and battered by memories of loss that they feel as acutely as physical pain. A car accident joins strangers linked by an intimate knowledge of madness. A teenage boy remembers his father’s act of sudden and self-righteous violence. A “hurricane party” reunites a couple whom tragedy parted. And, in an unforgettable three-story cycle, an illness sets in profound relief a man’s relationship with his mother and the odd, shifting fidelity of truth to love.Told in fresh, lyrical voices and taut, inventive styles, these narratives explore the complex volatility of love and intimacy, sorrow and renewal—and expose how often these experiences feel like the opposite of themselves. From the woman whose young son’s uncanny rapport with snakes illuminates her own missed opportunities to the man confronting his wife and her lover in a house full of illegal exotic birds, all the characters here face moments of profound decision and recognition in which no choice is clearly or completely right.Writing with tough humor, deep humanity, and a keen eye for the natural environment, Bret Anthony Johnston creates a world where where cataclysmic events cut people loose from their “regular lives, floating and spiraling away from where we had been the day before.” Corpus Christi is a extraordinarily ambitious debut. It marks the arrival of an important, exquisitely talented voice to American fiction.From the Hardcover edition.

    Their lessons have seeped into the very fabric of our language, as evidenced by expressions such as "sour grapes" and "a wolf in sheep's clothing." Through the centuries many artists have risen to the challenge of interpreting their favorite tales. In this magnificent edition, award-winning illustrator Helen Ward has chosen a dozen of her favorite fables, painstakingly creating with words and breathtaking watercolors a dazzling new collection destined to become a classic.

    Originally available only in limited-edition hardcover, these tales run the gamut from devilish fantasy to twisted courtroom drama to vampire-robot western. Each story has an introduction in which the author relates the background of and inspiration for the story, whether it was drawn from history, literature, or pure imagination. The title story, about a serial killer in Texas in the 1930s, won the 1999 Bram Stoker Horror Award for long fiction.

    A masseuse breaks her rich client's wrist bone, a friend visits at the hospital long after she is welcome, and a woman surrenders her husband to a creepily adoring student. From one of our most acclaimed writers, Honored Guest is a rich examination of our capacity for transformation and salvation.

    Cherryh's short fiction in trade paperback Featuring the short stories, novellas, and novelettes-including the award-winning story, Cassandra, and a new novella written specifically for this book-of the multiple award-winning author, this volume is a must-have for fans and newcomers alike.

    Collins. Dead Man's Hand collects the novellas "Walking Wolf" and "Lynch," the short stories "Calaverada" and "The Tortuga Hill Gang's Last Ride," and completes the five-card draw with the all-new vampire Western novella "Hell Come Sundown." The West has never been better or weirder. About the Author Nancy A. Collins is the author of Sunglasses After Dark , Darkest Heart and Dead Roses for a Blue Lady . She is a past recipient of the Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Iecarus Awards, and a nominee for the 2003 Stoker and International Horror Guild Awards.

    A brand new short story collection from Kage Baker, including an original novella set in her ongoing series of The Company, "Mother Aegypt." The Company novels are being released by Tor, and include The Graveyard Game and The Life of the World to Come.

    “It was Nabokov’s gift to bring paradise wherever he alighted.” —John Updike, The New York Review of BooksNovelist, poet, critic, translator, and, above all, a peerless imaginer, Vladimir Nabokov was arguably the most dazzling prose stylist of the twentieth century. In novels like Lolita, Pale Fire, and Ada, or Ardor, he turned language into an instrument of ecstasy.Vintage Nabokov includes sections 1-10 of his most famous and controversial novel, Lolita; the stories “The Return of Chorb,” “The Aurelian,” “A Forgotten Poet,” “Time and Ebb,” “Signs and Symbols,” “The Vane Sisters,” and “Lance”; and chapter 12 from his memoir Speak, Memory.

    Today it's impossible to imagine modern sketch shows without them. If you're a fan of Monty Python, The Comic Strip or The Fast Show, then you're a fan of Cook and Moore. This collection of their works is a comprehensive compilation of the finest sketches that Cook and Moore ever wrote together - from the beginning of their partnership, in the groundbreaking stage show, Beyond The Fringe, to the notorious taboo busting Derek and Clive LPs that captured the spirit of punk rock, and inspired the scantological anarchy of Alternative Comedy. Featuring transcripts of one night stands long since almost forgotten, such as their Royal Variety performance, as well as a wealth of virtually unknown material, including previously unpublished scripts for Not Only But Also, Goodbye Again promises to be a revelation.

    An old man ends up in a high-speed car chase with the cops after stealing the car that blocks the garbage bin at his apartment building. A stranger gets a job at a sandwich shop and fixes everything in sight: a manual mustard dispenser, a mouthful of crooked teeth, thirty-two parking tickets, and a sexual-identity problem.Percival Everett is a master storyteller who ingeniously addresses issues of race and prejudice by simultaneously satirizing and celebrating the human condition.

    Nimbu, the caterpillar, resolves to go on a diet inspired by the stick insect. Cheeni Chor, the ant, discovers a refrigerator stuffed with goodies and is driven to rebellion. Ladoo Gulabjamun, one of the resident cockroaches of the famous Golden Thali Restaurant, decides to take on the management to impress his ladylove. You will also meet the body-building cricket, the dung beetles who like to party and a host of other insects who reveal their inner lives as never before and are true to both the insect and human world. Lal's mastery of the world of birds and beasts, as captured in Crow Chronicles and The Life and Times of Altu Faltu, also extends to the world of insects, and this is perhaps his most enchanting and comical book to date. Rahul Dutta's unusual and striking illustrations capture the magic of worlds Lal reveals.

    A construction worker discovers a pleasant distraction in the surgical locker room; two friends share a walk on the wild side in Amsterdam's Red Light district; a femme top welcomes her lover home from the road; a woman enjoys a lazy summer afternoon with solo pleasures; a missed flight leads to a memorable limo ride for two women stranded in the fog on Cape Cod...and more than twenty other hot-wired encounters guaranteed to spark more than just your imagination.

    Each story is illustrated by Erik Wilson and the book is signed by all contributors.

    

    Howard's best historical fiction, including Treasures of Tartary, Son of the White Wolf, Black Vulmea's Vengeance, Boot Hill Payoff and The Vultures of Whapeton.

    Regarded as brilliant, but known to be an alcoholic and often depressed, Parker’s work pushes all buttons at once: humor, anger, love, pity and everything in between…she pulled no punches, writing with pure, unadulterated passion; her work is timeless and as pertinent to today’s society as it was to that of the time she wrote.Among the gems included in this collection are her first published short story, Such a Pretty Little Picture and her O. Henry Award winner Big Blonde, several other short stories, and, unlike other audio collections, some of her work, including her 1918 New Yorker piece on Tolstoy’s play Redemption and a 1927 Vanity Fair review of Emily Post’s Ettiquette./

    Maron has a sensitivity about how time and place influence people and events. In Maron�s work the mystery story is as concerned with people as well as with puzzles. Suitable for Hanging contains twenty of Margaret Maron�s best uncollected short stories, beginning with an early tale of a hitman trying to escape from the mob, to her newest stories about Deborah Knott and other mysteries set on Knott�s Colleton County. And one, featuring Roman Tramegra from the Lt. Sigrid Harald novels, takes place in Venice. The book includes two new short stories, and an introduction and prefaces to each story by the author as well as a complete checklist of Margaret Maron's writings in the mystery field. Cover painting, illustrating"The Dog That Didn't Bark," by Carol Heyer.