The Coming and Going of Strangers


Simon Van Booy - 2009
    On the verge of giving up—anchored to dreams that never came true and to people who have long since disappeared from their lives—Van Booy's characters walk the streets of these stark and beautiful stories until chance meetings with strangers force them to face responsibility for lives they thought had continued on without them.

Freaks


Tess Gerritsen - 2007
    Homicide cop Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles have seen their fair share of mortal crimes, but the death of Kimberly Rayner may qualify as inhuman in more ways than one. When corpse of the emaciated seventeen-year-old girl is discovered next to an empty coffin in an abandoned church, mysterious bruises around the throat suggest foul play. Caught fleeing the scene is the victim’s closest friend, Lucas Henry, an equally skeletal, pale teenager who claims he’s guilty only of having a taste for blood—a craving he shared with Kimberly. But the victim’s distraught father doesn’t believe in vampires, only vengeance. And now, another life may be at risk unless Rizzoli and Isles can uncover the astonishing truth. Includes a special preview of Tess Gerritsen’s new Rizzoli & Isles novel, The Silent Girl, on sale July 5 And don’t miss the season premiere of TNT’s hit series Rizzoli & Isles on July 11

Until Again


Lou Aronica - 2011
    UNTIL AGAIN tells of a decidedly real-world event: the final weekend in the breakup of a marriage. For Chris Astor, the divorce is not something he wants, primarily because of the distance it will put between his ten-year-old daughter Becky and himself. Juxtaposed against this is a critical event in Tamarisk, the bedtime-story fantasy world that Chris and Becky created when Becky was much younger. Miea, the university-age princess of Tamarisk fears that her world has become a terribly dangerous place...but she could not possibly have imagined where that danger will lead her and the people she loves. These parallel stories converge, in a most unusual way, in a tale of change and new tomorrows. A powerful revelation for those who have read BLUE, and an emotionally charged introduction to these deeply relatable characters for those who haven’t, UNTIL AGAIN is a warm, engaging, and bittersweet work that promises to speak to your heart.

The Future of Work: Compulsory


NOT A BOOK - 2018
    “My risk-assessment module predicts a 53 percent chance of a human-on-human massacre before the end of the contract.”A short story published in Wired.com magazine as part of a series "The Future of Work" on December 17, 2018.

Anything for You: A Coming Home Short Story


Jessica Scott - 2013
    A year spent in the arms of the woman of his dreams. But loving Jen comes with a price: every time he touches her, he faces the uncertain fear that loving her might mean losing her forever.  Jen is a breast cancer survivor and with Shane, she’s found a man who loves her despite her scars. But her scars may be too much for their love to survive. As their love grows, so does the risk to Jen’s life. And Shane must make the toughest decision any man can make to save the woman he loves.

Einstein's Monsters


Martin Amis - 1987
    A collection of stories about a frightening world inhabited by people dehumanized by the daily threat of nuclear war and postwar survivors deformed by its results.

Witches of Lychford


Paul Cornell - 2015
    A supermarket wants to build a major branch on their border. Some welcome the employment opportunities, while some object to the modernization of the local environment.Judith Mawson (local crank) knows the truth -- that Lychford lies on the boundary between two worlds, and that the destruction of the border will open wide the gateways to malevolent beings beyond imagination.But if she is to have her voice heard, she's going to need the assistance of some unlikely allies...

The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God and Other Stories


Etgar Keret - 2001
    The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God gathers his daring and provocative short stories for the first time in English. Brief, intense, painfully funny, and shockingly honest, Keret's stories are snapshots that illuminate with intelligence and wit the hidden truths of life. As with the best comic authors, hilarity and anguish are the twin pillars of his work. Keret covers a remarkable emotional and narrative terrain-from a father's first lesson to his boy to a standoff between soldiers caught in the Middle East conflict to a slice of life where nothing much happens. Bus Driver includes stories from Keret's bestselling collections in Israel, Pipelines and Missing Kissinger, as well as Keret's major new novella, "Kneller's Happy Campers," a bitingly satirical yet wistful road trip set in the afterlife for suicides.

Harry Potter: The Prequel


J.K. Rowling - 2008
    K. Rowling, and was published online on June 11th, 2008. Set three years before the birth of Harry Potter, the story recounts an adventure had by Sirius Black and James Potter.J.K. Rowling announced on May 28, 2008 that she was writing a prequel story for English PEN, the writers' association, and the Dyslexia Society. The story, handwritten on a card, would then be auctioned off alongside similar cards from other authors on June 11th, 2008, with the proceeds going to charity. A book of facsimiles was published in August 2008, allowing fans to own and read the story. The story can be found online.

Six Earlier Days


David Levithan - 2012
    A must never get too attached, must never be noticed, must never interfere.  The novel Every Day starts on Day 5994 of A’s life. In this digital-only collection Six Earlier Days, Levithan gives readers a glimpse at a handful of the other 5993 stories yet to be told that inform how A navigates the complexities of a life lived anew each day.  In Every Day, readers discover if you can truly love someone who is destined to change every day. In Six Earlier Days, readers will discover a little bit more about how A became that someone. Fans of Levithan’s books such as Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, co-written with Rachel Cohn, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson, co-written with John Green, will not want to miss A’s adventures in Every Day and Six Earlier Days.

The Last Rail-Rider


Jason Gurley - 2014
    The empty towns. The rusted-out cars. The corpses, everywhere.He doesn't know why he rides the rails. He just does. The trains never take him away from the ruin. The trains never take him anywhere.Until one day they carry him to a little town called Black Hole, Kentucky, and he meets a strange woman who knows him.Who knows everything.

The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All


Laird Barron - 2013
    Melding supernatural horror with hardboiled noir, espionage, and a scientific backbone, Barron’s stories have garnered critical acclaim and have been reprinted in numerous year’s best anthologies and nominated for multiple awards, including the Crawford, International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy awards.Barron returns with his third collection, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All. Collecting interlinking tales of sublime cosmic horror, including “Blackwood’s Baby”, “The Carrion Gods in Their Heaven”, and “The Men from Porlock”, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All delivers enough spine-chilling horror to satisfy even the most jaded reader.

Polly's Haven


A.I. Nasser - 2016
    A woman tries to come to terms with repressed childhood memories while keeping the nightmare that has plagued her family for generations at bay.

If It Ain't Love


Tamara Allen - 2011
    In the darkest days of the Great Depression, New York Times reporter Whit Stoddard has lost the heart to do his job and lives a lonely hand-to-mouth existence with little hope of recovery, until he meets Peter, a man in even greater need of new hope.

High & Tight


Abigail Roux - 2014
    Takes place between Shock & Awe (Sidewinder Story 1) and Cross & Crown (Sidewinder Story 2) that may be read at tumblr at this time.