The first story is called The Perfect Life. This tale is about Rene Carter and two of her closest friends. Rene is a well respected Baltimore City police officer who is very good at her job. She is married and her husband is a well known attorney who loves her dearly and worships the ground she walks on. Rene is living the perfect life, but she has a dark side. The only people who know her secret are Tonya Lewis and Rhonda Harris who are also police officers. Rhonda resents everything about her and would love to see her fall flat on her face. The second story is called Imitation. Stacie Sims is an up and coming emergency room physician. She has a loving fiancé named Billy Addams. Billy is the son of a wealthy business man. He is the perfect man for Stacie, but he is hiding a dark secret from her. So sit back and enjoy the worlds of Rene and Stacie who both quickly learn that life can get tangled like a spider’s web.

    Samuel Johnson The History of the Necronomicon The Complete Juvenilia The Alchemist The Beast in the Cave The Little Glass Bottle The Mysterious Ship The Mystery of the Grave-Yard The Secret Cave The Complete Poetry Part I. - Juvenilia (1887-1905) Poemata Minora, Volume II Part II. - Fantasy and Horror Nemesis Astrophobos The Poe-eta-s Nightmare Despair Revelation The House The City To Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Eighteenth Baron Dunsany The Nightmare Lake On Reading Lord Dunsanya-s Book of Wonder The Cats Festival Hallowea-en in a Suburb aka a¬In a Suburba(R) The Wood The Outpost The Ancient Track The Messenger Nathicana Fungi from Yuggoth In a Sequestera-d Providence Churchyard Where Once Poe Walka-d To Clark Ashton Smith, Esq., upon His Phantastick Tales, Verses, Pictures, and Sculptures Part III. - Occasional Verse On Receiving a Picture of Swans Fact and Fancy Laeta; a Lament Part IV. - Satire Unda; or, The Bride of the Sea Pacifist War Songa31917 Waste Paper Dead Passiona-s Flame Arcadia Lifea-s Mystery Part V. - Seasonal and Topographical A Garden Sunset Providence Christmas Christmas Greetings Part VI. - Politics and Society An American to Mother England Lines on Gen.

    AS they pass sweet yet hazardous hours in a china tree, The Grass Harp manages to convey all the pleasures and responsibilities of freedom. But most of all it teaches us about the sacredness of love, "that love is a chain of love, as nature is a chain of life."This volume also includes Capote's A Tree of Night and Other Stories, which the Washington Post called "unobstrusively beautiful...a superlative book."

    Thirteen darkly comic stories, Dangerous Laughter is a mesmerizing journey that stretches the boundaries of the ordinary world.

    These pieces illustrate how our possessions act as proxies for ourselves, and how tussles over ownership articulate the power dynamics of our relationships. In Lionel Shriver’s world, we may possess people and objects and places, but in turn they possess us.In the stunning novella "The Standing Chandelier," a woman with a history of attracting other women’s antagonism creates a deeply personal wedding present for her best friend and his fiancée—only to discover that the jealous fiancée wants to cut her out of their lives. In "Domestic Terrorism," a thirty-something son refuses to leave home, resulting in a standoff that renders him a millennial cause célèbre. In "The ChapStick," a middle-aged man subjugated by service to his elderly father discovers that the last place you should finally assert yourself is airport security. In "Vermin," an artistic Brooklyn couple’s purchase of a ramshackle house destroys their once-passionate relationship. In "The Subletter," two women, both foreign conflict junkies, fight over a claim to a territory that doesn’t belong to either.Exhibiting a satisfying thematic unity unusual for a collection, this masterful work showcases the biting insight that has made Shriver one of the most acclaimed writers of our time.

    As these units join their RAF cousins during the Battle of Britain, famous woman aviator Amelia Earhart (who survived her world-circling flight) emerges as a rallying point for those willing to stand against fascism.

    The search for Ellen's errant husband leads Elvis into the seamier side of Hollywood. He soon learns that Mort Lang is a down-on-his-luck talent agent who associates with a schlocky movie producer, and the last place he was spotted was at a party thrown by a famous and very well-connected ex-Matador. But no one has seen him since - including his B-movie girlfriend. At the same time the police find Mort in his parked car with four gunshots in his chest - and no kid in sight - Ellen disappears. Now nothing is what it seems, and the heat is on. It's up to Elvis Cole and his partner Joe Pike to find the connection between sleazy Hollywood players and an ex-Matador. FREE FALL Read by James Daniels (Sandra Burr, Jill Sovis) Elvis Cole is just a detective who can't say no, especially to a girl in a terrible fix. And Jennifer Sheridan qualifies: Her fiance, Mark Thurman, is a decorated LA cop with an elite plainclothes unit, but Jennifer's sure he's in trouble - the kind of serious trouble that only Elvis Cole can help him out of. Five minutes after his new client leaves his office, Elvis and his partner, the enigmatic Joe Pike, are hip-deep in a deadly situation as they plummet into a world of South Central gangs, corrupt cops, and conspiracies of silence. And before the case is through, every cop in the LAPD will be gunning for a pair of escaped armed-and-dangerous killers - Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. LULLABY TOWN Read by James Daniels (Joyce Bean, Russell Byers) Hollywood's newest wunderkind is Peter Alan Nelson, the brilliant, erratic director known as the King of Adventure. His films make billions, but his manners make enemies. What the boy king wants, he gets, and what Nelson wants is for Elvis to comb the country for the airhead wife and infant child the film-school flunkout dumped en route to becoming the third biggest filmmaker in America. It's the kind of case Cole can handle in his sleep - until it turns out to be a nightmare. For when Cole finds Nelson's wife in a small Conneticut town, she's nothing like what he expects. The lady has some unwanted - and very nasty - mob connections, which means Elvis could be opening the East Coast branch of his P.I. office . . .at the bottom of the Hudson River.

     In Magical Mr. Goat, a young girl's imaginary friend yearns to become "more than friends." In Unprotected, an unused prophylactic recalls his years spent trapped inside a teen boy's wallet. The stories in Simon Rich's new book are bizarre, funny, and yet...relatable. Rich explores love's many complications-losing it, finding it, breaking it, and making it-and turns the ordinary into the absurd. With razor-sharp humor and illustrations, and just in time for Valentine's Day, Rich takes readers for an exhilarating, hilarious ride on the rollercoaster of love.

    In his singular universe, televisions talk (and sometimes sing), animals live in small apartments where their nephews visit from the sea, and men and women and boys and girls fall down wells and fly through space and find love on Ferris wheels. In a voice full of fable, myth, and dream, Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day draws us into a world of delightfully wicked recognitions, and introduces us to a writer of uncommon talent and imagination.Contains 40 stories, including "The Duck," "The Man and the Moose," and "Death and the Fruits of the Tree," as heard on NPR's This American Life, "The Book," as heard on Selected Shorts, and "The TV," as found in The New Yorker.A selection of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Program and the Starbucks Coffee Bookish Reading Club.Winner of the 2011 Nobbie Award for Best Book of the Year."This guy can write!" –Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451

    Now they are on the brink of the inevitable.Sally Rooney is one of the most acclaimed young talents of recent years. With her minute attention to the power dynamics in everyday speech, she builds up sexual tension and throws a deceptively low-key glance at love and death.

    With all the heartbreaking earnestness of a Wilco song, these eighteen stories by Chad Simpson roam the small-town playgrounds, blue-collar neighborhoods, and rural highways of Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky to find people who’ve lost someone or something they love and have not yet found ways to move forward. Simpson’s remarkable voice masterfully moves between male and female and adolescent and adult characters. He embraces their helplessness and shares their sad, strange, and sometimes creepy slices of life with grace, humor, and mounds of empathy. In “Peloma,” a steelworker grapples with his preteen daughter’s feeble suicide attempts while the aftermath of his wife’s death and the politics of factory life vie to hem him in.  The narrator of “Fostering” struggles to determine the ramifications of his foster child’s past now that he and his wife are expecting their first biological child. In just two pages, “Let x” negotiates the yearnings and regrets of childhood through mathematical variables and the summertime interactions of two fifth-graders. Poignant, fresh, and convincing, these are stories of women who smell of hairspray and beer and of landscapers who worry about their livers, of flooded basements and loud trucks, of bad exes and horrible jobs, of people who remain loyal to sports teams that always lose. Displaced by circumstances both in and out of their control, the characters who populate Tell Everyone I Said Hi are lost in their own surroundings, thwarted by misguided aspirations and long-buried disappointments, but fully open to the possibility that they will again find their way.

    Sometimes things are not always what they seem and the heart can often blind us to the truth. Gitte is a forty-something successful French lawyer in Paris. Beautiful, intelligent, captivating and athletic. Who wouldn't fall in love with her? But...often we only see that which we want to see.

    For readers who love billionaire romances with secret babies, hot daddies, and single moms. Family dramas and friendships will keep your kindle burning all night long!The Billionaire’s Secret RegretRule #1 Hands off Samantha. My best friend’s little sister.I knew that… Then how do I explain to him she’s pregnant with my baby?When I was young and stupid, I broke the heart of the only girl I’d ever loved, Sam Jenkins. We had a hot and wild summer romp that completely blew my mind, but everything changed when she told me she was pregnant.I was scared and I told her to get rid of it... I’ve never regretted anything more.We parted ways and I thought I’d lost my chance of a happy ending with Sam. At least, I felt that way until she showed up out of the blue after three years of total silence. I knew I couldn’t waste this opportunity.I had to win her back, but how on Earth could I make up for what I had done?The Billionaire Returns HomeHe’s back in town. Filthy Rich, a Single Dad.And gorgeous as Hell!We were inseparable as kids.When he left, he took a piece of my heart.Now he’s back and needs my help.And I begin to school his little girl.We soon discover the spark is still alive.When he takes me on the front room sofa I’m lost in the pits of lust.I’m in heaven and life is a dream.We are lovers - until he leaves me again!!!Turns out he doesn’t think my family is good enough for him!I have to let him go. Family blood is stronger than childhood romances.So why does it feel like my heart has stopped beating?Do we get to have a Happy Ever After?The Billionaire’s Surprise HeirI’m FURIOUS that she kept this from me!A secret she had NO right to keep…Do I destroy her or make her mine?Every redhead turns my head. It’s my greatest weakness.Why?Tiffany…that was her name, a redhead hottie from my college days.Imagine my shock when I meet up with her again on a blind date!Now, I’m not the kinda guy to go on blind dates, but I’m glad I did.This woman rocks my boat and now she’s in my life again I won’t let her go.Yet, she always pushes me away.Talk about a she-devil in disguise. She’s dodging me and lying too.What game is she playing?I WILL find out, even if it means stalking her!Will Tiffany’s secret blow up in her face and destroy her Happy Ever After?-with the only man she has ever loved.A collection of three steamy standalone romance novels. No cliffhanger, no cheating and a guaranteed HEA.

    These are but some of the men and women who fill this searingly imaginative and emotionally taut collection of short stories by Mark Haddon, that weaves through time and space to showcase the author's incredible versatility.     Yet the collection achieves a sum that is greater than its parts, proving itself a meditation not only on isolation and loneliness but also on the tenuous and unseen connections that link individuals to each other, often despite themselves. In its titular story, the narrator describes with fluid precision a catastrophe that will collectively define its victims as much as it will disperse them—and brilliantly lays bare the reader's appetite for spectacle alongside its characters'. Cut with lean prose and drawing inventively from history, myth, fairy tales, and, above all, the deep well of empathy that made his three novels so compelling, The Pier Falls reveals a previously unseen side of the celebrated author.

    Short, sardonic, and dark, these six brief fiction stories and one non-fiction piece are consummate Vonnegut with piercing satire and an eye for life’s obscene inanity. Also available for the first time is an unfinished science-fiction short story, included in the appendix. These stories trace trivial human lives and mundane desires, which is precisely where Vonnegut’s inimitable perspective as a humanist shines, illuminating his alternating hopeful and dismal outlook, although undoubtedly focusing on the latter. Here as in his greatest novels, Vonnegut’s writing takes us to the darkest corners of the human soul and with wit and humor, manages to remind us of our potential to be something greater.