It features the very best stories from the ‘Revelation Space’ universe alongside thrilling hard science fiction stories, environmental SF tales and thought-provoking shorts. Table of Contents: • Great Wall of Mars • Weather • Beyond the Aquila Rift • Minla's Flowers • Zima Blue • Fury • The Star Surgeon's Apprentice • The Sledge-Maker's Daughter • Diamond Dogs • Thousandth Night • Troika • Sleepover • Vainglory • Trauma Pod • The Last Log of the Lachrymosa • The Water Thief • The Old Man and the Martian Sea • In Babelsberg • Story Notes

    The book contains well-known works by the author, including the book that is considered by many as his best, War and Peace. Some of his other stories that are covered in this book include Ivan the Fool, How Much Land Does A Man Need?, A Prisoner in the Caucasus, and God Sees The Truth, But Waits. His story, War and Peace, focuses on the French Invasion of Russia, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the revolution, narrated from the point of view of the Tsars. While Ivan the Fool is a parable, How Much Land Does A Man Need? focuses on a greedy peasant. Tolstoy’s stories are very humorous, with an underlying political or philosophical message.Leo Tolstoy was born in the year 1828 and died in the year 1910, at the age of 82. A writer from Russia, he mainly wrote short stories and novels. He also wrote essays and plays later in life. His most popular novels are Anna Karenina and War and Peace, and these are regarded as some of the best novels in the field of literature. He is often honored as one of the best novelists of all time. His book on the non-violent form of resistance, The Kingdom of God is Within You, inspired great reformers like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. He is also well known for his criticism of William Shakespeare. (From Flipkart.com)

    Some of Howard’s best-known characters–Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, and sailor Steve Costigan among them–roam the forbidding locales of the author’s fevered imagination, from the swamps and bayous of the Deep South to the fiend-haunted woods outside Paris to remote jungles in Africa.The collection includes Howard’s masterpiece “Pigeons from Hell,” which Stephen King calls “one of the finest horror stories of [the twentieth] century,” a tale of two travelers who stumble upon the ruins of a Southern plantation–and into the maw of its fatal secret. In “Black Canaan” even the best warrior has little chance of taking down the evil voodoo man with unholy powers–and none at all against his wily mistress, the diabolical High Priestess of Damballah. In these and other lavishly illustrated classics, such as the revenge nightmare “Worms of the Earth” and “The Cairn on the Headland,” Howard spins tales of unrelenting terror, the legacy of one of the world’s great masters of the macabre.

    They are: 1 The Actress2 Girl in the Train3 While the Light Lasts4 Red Signal4 Blue Jar6 Jane in Search of a Job7 Mr Farnsworth's Adventure8 Philomel College9 Manhood of Edward Robinson10 Witness for the Prosecution11 Wireless12 Within a Wall13 Listerdale14 Fourth Man15 House of Dreams16 S.O.S.17 Magnolia Blossom18 Lonely God19 Rajah's Emerald20 Swan Song21 Last Séance22 Edge23 Tuesday Night Club24 Idol House of Astarte25 Ingots of Gold26 Bloodstained Pavement27 Motive v. Opportunity28 Thumb Mark of St Peter29 Fruitful Sunday30 Golden Ball31 Accident32 Next to a Dog33 Sing a Song of Sixpence34 Blue Geranium35 Companion36 Four Suspects37 Christmas Tragedy38 Herb of Death39 Affair at the Bungalow40 Manx Gold41 Death by Drowning42 Hound of Death43 Gypsy44 Lamp45 Sir Arthur Carmichael46 Call of Wings47 In a Glass Darkly48 Miss Marple Tells a Story49 Strange Jest50 Tape-Measure51 Caretaker52 Perfect Maid53 Sanctuary54 Greenshaw's Folly, and55 Dressmaker's Doll.Librarian's note: this is the entry for the collection: "Miss Marple and Mystery: Over 50 Stories." Individual entries for each short story can be found elsewhere on Goodreads.

    With an African American and Asian mix of sexy characters, Zane picks the most clever and bold male and female writers to deliver a collection like no other. Stories like Geisha Girl and Pins and Needles give tea and acupuncture a whole new meaning, and the word "Master" is a term of endearment in The Meaning of Zhuren. In tantalizing portraits of some of the hottest — and sweetest — scenes you'll ever want to experience, Honey Flava will take you to a sensual paradise of no return. Zane delivers a new and special taste, proving that passion and sensuality have truly universal meaning.

    M. Montgomery, (1874-1942) was a Canadian author, best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables (1908). In 1893, following the completion of her grade school education in Cavendish, she attended Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown. Completing a two year program in one year, she obtained her teaching certificate. In 1895 and 1896 she studied literature at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After working as a teacher in various island schools, in 1898 Montgomery moved back to Cavendish. For a short time in 1901 and 1902 she worked in Halifax for the newspapers Chronicle and Echo. She returned to live with and care for her grandmother in 1902. Montgomery was inspired to write her first books during this time on Prince Edward Island. Her works include: The Story Girl (1911), Chronicles of Avonlea (1912), The Golden Road (1913), Anne of the Island (1915), Anne's House of Dreams (1917), Rainbow Valley (1919), Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920) and Rilla of Ingleside (1921).

    But you don't want to read them.So if you're looking to laugh, gasp, gag, or do all three at the same time, making sort of a weird sound that hurts your lungs and elicits odd glances from nearby pedestrians, don't miss Gleefully Macabre Tales!

    The four chapbooks collected in A PECULIAR FEELING OF RESTLESSNESS, three of them finalists and one of them the winner of the Rose Metal Press first annual short short chapbook contest, all revel in the succinctness of their form, the underlying tension anchored beneath each story of 1,000 words or less. These stories are peculiar; they resonate with restlessness. They are deft, they are gritty, and they are lyrical. Laughter, Applause. Laughter, Music, Applause by Kathy Fish, Wanting by Amy L. Clark, Sixteen Miles Outside of Phoenix by Elizabeth Ellen, and The Sky Is a Well by Claudia Smith combine four multi-layered portrayals of beautiful uneasiness into a collection rich with wit, grace, and originality.

    Winner of the 2009 World Fantasy AwardWinner of the 2008 Asimov’s magazine Readers Award for best short storyFinalist, 2008 Nebula AwardFinalist, 2008 Hugo AwardScience Fiction World has accepted Guo Jianzhong’s translationRead by Diane Severson as a charming audio reading at StarShipSofa.com

    M. Montgomery, (1874-1942) was a Canadian author, best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables (1908). In 1893, following the completion of her grade school education in Cavendish, she attended Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown. Completing a two year program in one year, she obtained her teaching certificate. In 1895 and 1896 she studied literature at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After working as a teacher in various island schools, in 1898 Montgomery moved back to Cavendish. For a short time in 1901 and 1902 she worked in Halifax for the newspapers Chronicle and Echo. She returned to live with and care for her grandmother in 1902. Montgomery was inspired to write her first books during this time on Prince Edward Island. Her works include: The Story Girl (1911), Chronicles of Avonlea (1912), The Golden Road (1913), Anne of the Island (1915), Anne's House of Dreams (1917), Rainbow Valley (1919), Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920) and Rilla of Ingleside (1921).

    M. Montgomery, (1874-1942) was a Canadian author, best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables (1908). In 1893, following the completion of her grade school education in Cavendish, she attended Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown. Completing a two year program in one year, she obtained her teaching certificate. In 1895 and 1896 she studied literature at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After working as a teacher in various island schools, in 1898 Montgomery moved back to Cavendish. For a short time in 1901 and 1902 she worked in Halifax for the newspapers Chronicle and Echo. She returned to live with and care for her grandmother in 1902. Montgomery was inspired to write her first books during this time on Prince Edward Island. Her works include: The Story Girl (1911), Chronicles of Avonlea (1912), The Golden Road (1913), Anne of the Island (1915), Anne's House of Dreams (1917), Rainbow Valley (1919), Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920) and Rilla of Ingleside (1921).

    Heather Masri, editor of Science Fiction: Stories and Contexts, has prepared an anthology that recognizes, and is designed to meet, the needs of students and instructors in an introductory survey course in science fiction.Grouped into major themes, her comprehensive selection of fiction — enjoyable and captivating stories, notable for their literary, philosophical, and cultural richness — are by classic and emerging writers from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. The stories are uniquely complemented by contextual documents that suggest the scholarly, theoretical, and historical currents that drove the development of the genre, and informative editorial matter that contributes to the book’s flexibility for instructors and usefulness for students.

    M. Montgomery, (1874-1942) was a Canadian author, best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables (1908). In 1893, following the completion of her grade school education in Cavendish, she attended Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown. Completing a two year program in one year, she obtained her teaching certificate. In 1895 and 1896 she studied literature at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After working as a teacher in various island schools, in 1898 Montgomery moved back to Cavendish. For a short time in 1901 and 1902 she worked in Halifax for the newspapers Chronicle and Echo. She returned to live with and care for her grandmother in 1902. Montgomery was inspired to write her first books during this time on Prince Edward Island. Her works include: The Story Girl (1911), Chronicles of Avonlea (1912), The Golden Road (1913), Anne of the Island (1915), Anne's House of Dreams (1917), Rainbow Valley (1919), Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920) and Rilla of Ingleside (1921).

    This special collection gathers for the first time a number of obscure and unpublished children's story by master storyteller Charles de Lint, each story featuring a brand new illustration.

    With the Gothic style of Flannery O’Connor, the urgent lyricism of Jayne Anne Phillips, and the quirky humor of Sam Lipsyte and George Saunders, Zumas blends a lyrical, poetic voice with remarkably original storytelling. A teenage boy finds his blind mother making a pass at his new best friend; a lonely woman works in a pillow factory by day and at night tends to a menagerie of sick animals; an aspiring witch is disillusioned by her spiritual shortcomings; a girl from a town so small it doesn’t exist on any map runs away with a rock band. The odds stacked against them, these lovingly rendered outsiders find redemption in the unlikeliest of circumstances. Zumas so skillfully intertwines the utterly fantastic with the absolutely believable that the reader has no choice but to follow in fascination and wonder. Even the most surreal moments take on a surprising familiarity, and the bleakest moments are imbued with unexpected hope. To become engrossed in Zumas’s world is a strange and beautiful delight.Farewell navigator --Dragons may be the way forward --The everything hater --Heart sockets --How he was a wicked son --Thieves and mapmakers --Waste no time if this method fails --Handfasting --Blotilla takes the cake --Leopard arms

    Includes The Ghoul, Hunters from Beyond, Ubbo-Sathla, Vulthoom, The Infernal Star, and others. Selected and introduced by Robert M. Price. This book is part of an expanding collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction and related topics. Call of Cthulhu fiction focuses on single entities, concepts, or authors significant to readers and fans of H.P. Lovecraft.

    The Second Edition newly includes A Prisoner in the Caucasus, Father Sergius, and After the Ball, in addition to Michael Katz 's new translation of Alyosha Gorshok. Together these stories represent the best of the author 's short fiction before War and Peace and after Anna Karenina. Backgrounds and Sources includes two Tolstoy memoirs, A History of Yesterday (1851) and The Memoirs of a Madman (1884), as well as entries expanded in the Second Edition from Tolstoy 's Diary for 1855 and selected letters (1858 95) that shed light on the author 's creative process.Criticism collects twenty-three essays by Russian and western scholars, six of which are new to this Second Edition. Interpretations focus both on Tolstoy 's language and art and on specific themes and motifs in individual stories. Contributors include John M. Kopper, Gary Saul Morson, N. G. Chernyshevsky, Mikhail Bakhtin, Harsha Ram, John Bayley, Vladimir Nabokov, Ruth Rischin, Margaret Ziolkowski, and Donald Barthelme.A Chronology of Tolstoy 's life and work and an updated Selected Bibliography are also included.

    Richly illustrated with original art, they capture a wide range of belief systems and wisdom from the Cherokee, Cheyenne, Hopi, Lenape, Maidu, Seminole, Seneca, and other tribes. The beautifully retold tales, all with informative introductions, range from creation myths to animal fables to stirring accounts of bravery and sacrifice. Find out how stories first came to be, and how the People came to the upper world. Meet Rabbit, the clever and irresistible Creek trickster. See how the buffalo saved the Lakota people, and why the Pawnee continue to do the Bear Dance to this very day.Stefano Vitale’s art showcases a stunning array of animal figures, masks, totems, and Navajo-style rug patterns, all done in nature’s palette of brilliant turquoises, earth browns, shimmering sun-yellow, vivid fire-orange, and the deep blues of a dark night.

    From best friends who find romance to time travel to a bit of Christmas magic, step into the realm of hearts on fire and love everlasting. Authors: Gwen Hayes, M.E. Ellis, Maryann Miller, Adelle Laudan, K. Starling, Trinity Blacio, Debbie Gould, Ava James, Faith Bicknell-Brown, Savannah Chase, Lisa Alexander Griffin, Kensana Darnell, Nicolette Zamora, Kathleen MacIver, Missy Lyons, and Jambrea Jo Jones

    And that's a scary place to be. Volume One consists of 15 stories.

    Over 590 pages long, this collection features all of Shea’s best award-winning horror, fantasy, science fiction, and Cthulhu Mythos tales, with two complete novels and several stories that have never been collected.Laird Barron’s insightful introduction provides a unique look at this remarkable, visionary storyteller. Combined with the illustrations of John Stewart, as well as several color photographs and devices, this marks the most important collection yet from an undisputed master of the short story.

    Pleasure. The sensation of touch.we feel everything through our skin, that delicate membrane separating "I" from "other," protecting the very essence of self.Until it breaks. Or changes. Or burns.What would you do if you were the one called on to save humanity, and the price you had to pay was becoming something other than human? Or if healing your body meant losing the only person you've ever loved?Wander through worlds where a woman craves even a poisonous touch.a man's deformities become a society's fashion.genetic regeneration keeps the fires of Hell away.and painted lovers risk everything to break the boundaries of their caste system down. Separate your mind from your flesh and come in. Welcome.

    Collects 7 longer pieces by this aclaimed writer."

    The author and activist Thomas Glave has gathered outstanding fiction, nonfiction, memoir, and poetry by little-known writers together with selections by internationally celebrated figures such as José Alcántara Almánzar, Reinaldo Arenas, Dionne Brand, Michelle Cliff, Audre Lorde, Achy Obejas, and Assotto Saint. The result is an unprecedented literary conversation on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered experiences throughout the Caribbean and its far-flung diaspora. Many selections were originally published in Spanish, Dutch, or creole languages; some are translated into English here for the first time.The thirty-seven authors hail from the Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Puerto Rico, St. Vincent, St. Kitts, Suriname, and Trinidad. Many have lived outside the Caribbean, and their writing depicts histories of voluntary migration as well as exile from repressive governments, communities, and families. Many pieces have a political urgency that reflects their authors’ work as activists, teachers, community organizers, and performers. Desire commingles with ostracism and alienation throughout: in the evocative portrayals of same-sex love and longing, and in the selections addressing religion, family, race, and class. From the poem “Saturday Night in San Juan with the Right Sailors” to the poignant narrative “We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?” to an eloquent call for the embrace of difference that appeared in the Nassau Daily Tribune on the eve of an anti-gay protest, Our Caribbean is a brave and necessary book.Contributors: José Alcántara Almánzar, Aldo Alvarez, Reinaldo Arenas, Rane Arroyo, Jesús J. Barquet, Marilyn Bobes, Dionne Brand, Timothy S. Chin, Michelle Cliff, Wesley E. A. Crichlow, Mabel Rodríguez Cuesta, Ochy Curiel, Faizal Deen, Pedro de Jesús, R. Erica Doyle, Thomas Glave,Rosamond S. King, Helen Klonaris, Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes, Audre Lorde, Shani Mootoo,Anton Nimblett, Achy Obejas, Leonardo Padura Fuentes, Virgilio Piñera, Patricia Powell, Kevin Everod Quashie, Juanita Ramos, Colin Robinson, Assotto Saint, Andrew Salkey, Lawrence Scott,Makeda Silvera, H. Nigel Thomas, Rinaldo Walcott, Gloria Wekker, Lawson Williams

    Two-time Parsec Award-winning author teams with Apex Publications for a new collection of 12 short stories and one novella. With characters as gritty as Sam Spade but as real as your next-door neighbor, The Next Fix cooks up a cocktail of futuristic trips that range from haunting to comedic to don't-turn-out-the-lights. From Wallace's introduction to The Next Fix: You're in my own little chimerical sphere now, but I'm no different than you. I don't shoot, snort, or roll, but I'm my own kind of fiend with my own kind of jones. You can simplify it, call it a fiction addiction. It's much more than that. Part of it's that whole "art is not a mirror, it's a hammer" thing. It's powerful. Wallace's quest for the next great high of the imagination takes the reader through the cannibalistic noir of "The End of Flesh," the haunting beauty of endless seekers in "The Losting Corridor," and on an action packed ride-along with offworld postal workers in "Another Man's Run." If you like a chaser of tech with your horror, humor with your darkness, and beauty with your grit, The Next Fix is your next high. Blurbs"Matt Wallace possesses a supercharged hard boiled voice that rumbles and rocks as he delivers stories that rip the reader across landscapes of personal apocalypse. The tales from his first collection, The Next Fix, range easily and effectively from the gritty to the surreal, the far reaches of space to individual hells, often in the space of a few pages. With a storytelling style born from podcasting, he knows how to grab and hold a reader's attention - that crackle and hiss you hear isn't interference, but energy and joy as his love of language and story stretches bandwidth to accommodate his vision." --Gerard Houarner, Road From Hell "Matt Wallace serves up two-fisted action -if your fists are half-cybernetic, the size of hamhocks, and covered in broken glass." --Scott Sigler, Infected and Ancestor"Visceral and raw-Matt Wallace takes hold of you and doesn't let go!" --R.D. Hall, Heroes writer, creator of American Wasteland About the AuthorA proponent of open media, Matt Wallace (www.matt-wallace.net) has won awards for his freely distributed podcast fiction and has sold several film scripts in the Australian and U.S. markets. He also serves as contributing co-editor for Murky Depths magazine

    Short stories.FREE Goodreads downloads.

    Witty and dark, Owens’ spare prose shocks and delights. Her talent for pithy, unsettling tales is as sharp as ever, confirming her place as one of Scotland’s finest contemporary writers.’A terrific collection,’ - The Times ’Her black humour and piercing observation bear comparison with the work of Muriel Spark,’ - Guardian’It’s almost impossible to pick up this substantial collection and find anything more worthwhile to do for the rest of the day than read it cover to cover,’- Rosemary Goring, The Herald’The woman is a genius,’ - Daily Mail'Essential reading. It is Agnes Owens at her subtle, concise best - truthful, humane and quite brilliant' - Times Literary Supplement’Her stories...carry the emotional clout of a knockout punch,’ - Observer’Owens is a rare treasure,’ - Allan Massie, The Scotsman’Acerbic, wicked, utterly honest, sly, gothic, brilliantly black deadpan funny,’ - Liz Lochead, Sunday Herald

    What she doesn't expect is to find him in her suite. Naked. Greg Ellington wished he'd made a move on that gorgeous blonde he'd seen in the lounge of the hotel. After enjoying a hot shower, he steps out to find that very same blonde in his suite - wearing nothing but a red thong and bra. When the power goes out, they find themselves in one another's arms, and Alyson makes the decision of her life - to enjoy this stranger to the hilt. Forever, Blue Eyes by Daisy Dexter Dobbs: Betsy knew better than to get mixed up with a serviceman during wartime. But she lost all rational thought when she met Johnny and the charming Army private turned her world upside down. The few precious days they shared before he shipped out on Christmas Eve were infused with more passion than most couples experience in a lifetime. One final night of sizzling hot sex bound their hearts together forever. Johnny promised Betsy he'd come back to her and he will keep that vow...somehow...in some way. Pictures of You by Shelby Reed: Still picking up the pieces of a broken heart, the last thing Keira Hanson wants to do is fall in lust again, especially with Thad Warner, the gorgeous - and frequently nude - figure model for her drawing class. But Keir is a woman in her prime, and Thad is warm, funny and beguiling. Their friendship and subtle flirtations slide under her defenses, awakening sultry fantasies she'd thought safely tucked away. Soon their provocative give-and-take is no longer just the stuff of fantasies, but filled with erotic promise...and all Keir has to do is say the word. Will she turn aside the chance for sheer ecstasy to protect her fragile heart, or let down her guard and see what awaits her in Thad Warner's arms? Naughty & Spice by Titania Ladley: Ginger Blair now follows the cookbook by the rules. Hide behind closed doors, mail chocolate-dipped vibrators to customers and never - repeat, never - get involved with another cop. Well, except to bribe him into not arresting her. Burly policeman and former nerd Stuart Nixon's got his own formula. Pretend to arrest the woman he's been infatuated with forever, let her seduce him and put all those iron bars and handcuffs to good use. Now that's the recipe for true love. Nutcracker Prince by Katherine Cross: It's Christmas Eve and Claire Jacobs has come to see the annual performance of The Nutcracker. Lulled by the familiar music and choreography, she has no idea that she will soon be swept out of her world and into one like nothing she has ever known...and into the arms of two very different men. Erik and Adam have been members of the Company for decades. As immortal muses, it is their job to inspire others through magic and dance. One look at Claire, however, and they are inspired themselves - to put aside their long feud and convince her to join them forever. They have one evening to seduce Claire body and soul through tender touches and hard commands. But Claire has a few ideas of her own and plans to get all three of them on equal footing...both in bed and out.

    A magical world, which reminds me painfully how America has fallen from grace.”—Josip NovakovichThis novel in stories follows an Iowa farm girl’s maturity to womanhood as she is raised by her father after her mother’s desertion. Brigid O’Conner grows up to the sounds of rock and roll and distant voices as her father grows into understanding both Brigid and himself.Tricia Currans-Sheehan teaches at Briar Cliff University, where she edits the Briar Cliff Review. This book is the sequel to her first book, The Egg Lady and Other Neighbors (New Rivers Press, 2004).  River Road was recently awarded Honorable Mention in the 2009 Nashville Book Festival.

    For them, saying yes (or a bratty, defiant "no" for which they'll be duly punished) is as powerful as a good, hard smack on the bottom. Playing at "Sir," let's these players take their kinky to a whole new level.

    Packed with a cast of traditional favorites and original characters, it is perfect for both reading together and reading alone.

    The two dozen stories chosen for this book by award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan carefully maps this evolution, giving readers a captivating and always-entertaining look at the very best the genre has to offer.A Baghdad merchant encounters an alchemist who may have conquered time; a socialite, a miniature elephant, and a butler attempt to survive a coup masquerading as a wild soiree; a pair of scientists, their species altered in order that they may perform research on an alien world, find themselves embroiled in an interplanetary conflict; a young man begins to question his faith in God when he encounters the remains of a race of tool-using hominids; a warrior treads a grisly path as he strives to stop a rogue wizard's influence; a woman born with her heart outside her body finds solace in the arms of a heartless man; the messiah returns to earth, with disappointing news about the afterlife; figures out of myth and legend do battle with an enemy armed with a frightening weapon...the ability to steal away language itself; a girl and her fortune-teller mother travel the countryside, collecting ghosts.

    Come greet the Song Mages, the denizens of Camelot, the Vampire Order, The Undead, the Second World and various other characters.