Hempel, fiercely admired by writers and reviewers, has a sterling reputation that is based on four very short collections of stories, roughly fifteen thousand stunning sentences, written over a period of nearly three decades. These are stories about people who make choices that seem inevitable, whose longings and misgivings evoke eternal human experience. With compassion, wit, and the acutest eye, Hempel observes the marriages, minor disasters, and moments of revelation in an uneasy America. When "Reasons to Live, " Hempel's first collection, was published in 1985, readers encountered a pitch-perfect voice in fiction and an unsettling assessment of the culture. That collection includes "San Francisco," which Alan Cheuse in "The Chicago Tribune" called "arguably the finest short story composed by any living writer." In "At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom, " her second collection, frequently compared to the work of Raymond Carver, Hempel refined and developed her unique grace and style and her unerring instinct for the moment that defines a character. Also included here, in their entirety, are the collections "Tumble Home" and "The Dog of the Marriage." As Rick Moody says of the title novella in Tumble Home, "the leap in mastery, in seriousness, and sheer literary purpose was inspiring to behold.... And yet," he continues, ""The Dog of the Marriage, " the fourth collection, is even better than the other three...a triumph, in fact." "The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel" is the perfect opportunity for readers of contemporary American fiction to catch up to one of its masters. Moody's passionate and illuminating introduction celebrates both the appeal and the importance of Hempel's work.

    Find out what happens when the Third Doctor meets Jackie Tyler, the Seventh Doctor and Ace encounter an alien at Macy's department store, and the Ninth Doctor tries to get Rose a red bicycle for Christmas.With stories by Jacqueline Rayner, Colin Brake, Richard Dungworth, Mike Tucker, Gary Russell and Scott Handcock, plus twelve original illustrations by artists including the award-winning Rob Biddulph.

     And that’s just a quarter of the thrills. Edited and compiled by Amazon bestselling author Dan Alatorre, this anthology of scary tales brings together the minds and pens of twenty authors, including bestseller Allison Maruska (The Fourth Descendant), bestselling author Jenifer Ruff (Everett), Lucy Brazier (PorterGirl), J. A. Allen, Juliet Nubel, TA Henry, Ann Marie Andrus, Heather Hackett, Barbara Anne Helberg, Scott Skipper, Joanne R. Larner, Christine Valentor, Adele Marie Park, Curtis Bausse, Annette Robinson, Frank Parker, Eric Daniel Clarke, and Maribel C. Pagan. Perfect for Halloween or any time, these stories will make you think twice before walking alone on the beach at night, reading a diary, or innocently watching a train from your car. Consider yourselves warned. NOTE: Warning! American and British spelling ahead. A few stories words are olde English, too. The story The Death Of Mrs. Billen by Mr. Alatorre is from his novel An Angel On Her Shoulder, used with permission.

    As in her acclaimed novels The Siege and A Spell of Winter, world-class storyteller Helen Dunmore shows us with subtlety and humor precisely who her characters are and why we should care for them. In each taut, agile tale, they grow to surprise, concern, and move us as they negotiate situations that are often both mundane and bizarre: a cafeteria cook confronts her Polish pen pal in a meeting that is unexpectedly intense; a divorced mother gains insight from a parking meter; a boastful writer is put in his place in spectacular fashion; and in a chilling future, conception is ruthlessly controlled by the government. In several stories a soulful, curious woman named Ulli takes up residence in the reader's imagination -- stumbling across a strangely magnetic collector of religious icons, contemplating a youthful pregnancy, and remembering a troubled lover. In Ice Cream, Dunmore reveals both her poet's ear for the concise and piercing potentialities of language and the novelist's ambition of scope, proving her status as "a master of the shorter form" (The Sunday Telegraph). "Spellbinding ... She captures a moment in time and leaves us reeling at the echoes." -- Michael McLoughlin, The Irish News "Cool, elegant, and beautifully controlled, the stories collected in Ice Cream display Dunmore's virtuosity of language." -- Pamela Norris, The Independent on Sunday "All the senses are vibrantly alive in these stories." -- Katie Owen, The Sunday Telegraph

    Written in the author's wry and masterful voice, these evocative stories are infused with all the peculiar customs, ironies and humor so special to the South.The twelve stories in this collection include "Red Clay," which won an Edgar Allen Poe Award, in which a local girl from Thermopylae becomes a movie star who moves back to her sleepy North Carolina home town and is tried for murdering her unfaithful husband. Her trial causes the town and one man in particular to look back with longing and nostalgia at this exquisite Southern belle who captivated-and sometimes manipulated-every man she met."Fast Love," the recipient of an O. Henry Award, is the story of a man who chases down his future wife after seeing her jog past. As he gets closer to his quarry, he also gains the courage to stand up for what he wants and to champion what he believes.In "Blue Cadillac," Marie, blonde and beautiful, shares dinner and her love of Elvis with a high-tech sales rep on his way home to Memphis. Along the way and on the road, they have exquisite sex and decide to part, Marie in her blue Cadillac. As he rings the bell at his mother's house, the young man discovers that he has been robbed of his wallet and his whole life on cards.Self-contained masterpieces, each of these short stories has the impact and power of a full-length novel.Stella : red clay --Marie : blue Cadillac --Precious : winners and losers --Charmain : white trash noir --Lucy : maniac loose --Flonnie : the rising of the South and Flonnie Rogers --Patty : love and other crimes --Meredith : fast love --Angie : the power --Mona : Miss mona's bank --Betty : a deer on the lawn --Mattie : invitation to the ball

    Trigger Warning includes previously published pieces of short fiction--stories, verse, and a very special Doctor Who story that was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved series in 2013--as well "Black Dog," a new tale that revisits the world of American Gods, exclusive to this collection.Trigger Warning explores the masks we all wear and the people we are beneath them to reveal our vulnerabilities and our truest selves. Here is a rich cornucopia of horror and ghosts stories, science fiction and fairy tales, fabulism and poetry that explore the realm of experience and emotion. In "Adventure Story"--a thematic companion to The Ocean at the End of the Lane--Gaiman ponders death and the way people take their stories with them when they die. His social media experience "A Calendar of Tales" are short takes inspired by replies to fan tweets about the months of the year--stories of pirates and the March winds, an igloo made of books, and a Mother's Day card that portends disturbances in the universe. Gaiman offers his own ingenious spin on Sherlock Holmes in his award-nominated mystery tale "The Case of Death and Honey". And "Click-Clack the Rattlebag" explains the creaks and clatter we hear when we're all alone in the darkness.A sophisticated writer whose creative genius is unparalleled, Gaiman entrances with his literary alchemy, transporting us deep into the realm of imagination, where the fantastical becomes real and the everyday incandescent. Full of wonder and terror, surprises and amusements, Trigger Warning is a treasury of delights that engage the mind, stir the heart, and shake the soul from one of the most unique and popular literary artists of our day.

    A rich and emotionally resonant collection of twelve stories of hope, momentary joy, and powerful endurance.

    Having lost faith in the most magical part of the year, her father, Jim, desperately tries to bring back the magic she has lost. When an unforeseen change of events takes over their little family on the morning of Christmas Eve, Jim's faith and spirits are really put to the test. Will the magic of Christmas be enough to bring back the joy to their family once more? Or will they really depend on a Christmas miracle?

    It springs spontaneously from the lofty hearts and makes its own way to unite with its generous reciprocators. At times, it becomes dry and seeks the abundance of a big-hearted lover. In other scenarios, the river gets frozen and looks for the warmth of a passionate soul. And in some cases, it may just be ready and waiting to leap forth from its humble abode. All it takes is just a little stroke of fate for that river to unleash itself and flow in its full glory.'Unleash That River' is an anthology of six short stories of love and contemporary romance.1) Keys: When Dhyey returns home to meet his mother after several months, he discovers that she has started sharing the house with a beautiful tenant, Nishita who not only holds the key to his house, but to his locked heart as well.2) Dot Every 'i' And Cross Every 't':Varun and Puja met for the first time through an arranged marriage proposal. However, in order to make sure that they are the ones who can really complement each other for the rest of their lives, they must take a step out of their comfort zones, and do something unprecedented and outright crazy.3) Why Not:Neel and Rashi both have miserably failed at their first romantic endeavor. Will they keep cursing their rotten luck and ask why? Or will they reclaim the charge of their lives to embrace the second chance and say why not?4) Immeasurable Nouns:Aditi and Kartik are the academic stars of their class and each other’s arch rivals. Aditi hates boys. But Kartik secretly loves her. To win her heart, he must wait for the right moment and make every move cautiously. One day, during an English class, that moment presents itself in its full bloom.5) Madly In Marriage:Swayam and Soniya have not left any stone unturned to avoid marrying each other. But their families see this union as a match made in heaven and are hellbent to see it through. 6) Hearts And Ice-creams:Tushar is obsessed with finding his childhood crush who disappeared out of his life without a clue. Fifteen years later, will he be able to move on or destiny has yet to play its last trick?

     Suspenseful, surprising, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous-these all-new stories will ensure that readers never think of vampires (or birthdays) in quite the same way again. In New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris's "Dracula Night," Sookie Stackhouse is the only human at the annual commemoration of Dracula's birth. But this year, the Prince of Darkness actually shows up-and finds Sookie to be a tasty-looking present. New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher's crime-solving wizard Harry Dresden, of the Dresden Files novels, heads to a role-playing party to give his vampire brother a birthday present in "It's My Birthday Too," only to discover there are some bloodthirsty party crashers who don't share their brotherly love. In "Twilight," Cassandra DuCharme, who appeared in New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's Dime Store Magic, knows she has to kill to live as a vampire another year-but finds herself disturbingly disinterested in the hunt. Plus ten more bloody good birthday stories that take the cake.Contents xi • Preface: A Few Words (Many Bloody Returns) • (2007) • essay by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner1 • Dracula Night • [Sookie Stackhouse 4.3] • shortstory by Charlaine Harris21 • The Mournful Cry of Owls • novelette by Christopher Golden50 • I Was a Teenage Vampire • novelette by Bill Crider73 • Twilight • [Women of the Otherworld Short Fiction 7.2] • novelette by Kelley Armstrong100 • It's My Birthday, Too • [The Dresden Files 9.2] • novella by Jim Butcher146 • Grave-Robbed • [Vampire Files] • novelette by P. N. Elrod176 • The First Day of the Rest of Your Life • [The Morganville Vampires: Extras 2.5] • novelette by Rachel Caine201 • The Witch and the Wicked • novelette by Jeanne C. Stein230 • Blood Wrapped • [Henry Fitzroy] • novelette by Tanya Huff254 • The Wish • shortstory by Carolyn Haines265 • Fire Ice and Linguini for Two • [Garnet Lacey 2.5] • novelette by Lyda Morehouse [as by Tate Hallaway ]290 • Vampire Hours • novelette by Elaine Viets318 • How Stella Got Her Grave Back • novelette by Toni L. P. Kelner

    A must for this counterculture idol's legion of fans.

    John never dreamed his epic summer as a smokejumper would end with a harrowing plane crash and turn him into an invalid. He wouldn’t have survived without brave fellow smokejumper Hannah Butcher. In fact, he probably fell in love with her that night. Hannah Butcher knows that without CJ, she would have failed her rookie summer. She admired him long before the crash, but lost her heart to him during their terrifying survival.A winter storm awakens their memories—and fears…Six months later, a mutual friend’s wedding throws Hannah and CJ together again, and their romance is stirred to life. But when a blizzard detours them, and they run off the road, they’ll have to face their darkest fears to survive. A Christmas story about the miracles that happen when the weather outside becomes frightful.Deadly Night, Silent Nightby USA Today Bestselling Author Margaret DaleyRevenge. Sabotage. Second Chances. Widow Rebecca Howard runs a successful store chain that is being targeted during the holiday season. Detective Alex Kincaid, best friends with Rebecca’s twin brother, is investigating the hacking of the store’s computer system. When the attacks become personal, Alex must find the assailant before Rebecca, the woman he’s falling in love with, is murdered.The Wonder of His Loveby USA Today Bestselling Author Kimberly Rae JordanNoella Crawford knows exactly what she wants in a man, and it’s not Finlay Kinnaird. But in spite of Noella’s best efforts to keep Finn at arm’s length, the man is determined to prove he’s the one she needs. As the Christmas season approaches, will Noella let her heart lead the way? Or will past hurts keep her from experiencing the wonder of love?Calm and Brightby USA Today Bestselling Author Autumn MacarthurMaddie Hughes knows her charming but unreliable ex-husband will once again disappoint their son with broken promises this Christmas. But Brad’s changed. He’ll do whatever it takes to win her back. Even working in her grandmother’s quirky Huckleberry Lake gift shop. Can they allow God to heal their broken marriage and broken hearts before his career tears them apart?Heavenly Peaceby USA Today Bestselling Author Lesley Ann McDanielChristmas is just around the corner, but widowed mom Valerie is too stressed to enjoy it. When the tag her son picks off a Giving Tree leads her to a handsome stranger named Jake, a request for a miracle might be just what they both need to restore their joy.Wish You Joyby USA Today Bestselling Author Jan ThompsonChristmastown USA has a new CEO. But owning a majority share of the holiday-decorating company makes no difference for Cyrus Theroux if the other 49 percent hates Christmas. Cyrus prays for a miracle to get through Christmas with his reluctant business partner…A Husband for Hollyby USA Today Bestselling Author Marion UeckermannHolly Blume loves decorating people’s homes, but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to play house. Believing a house is not a home without a woman’s touch, there’s nothing Reverend Christopher Stewart would like more than a wife. But what woman would consider him marriage material, with an aging widowed father suffering from Alzheimer’s to look after? Can Christopher reform Holly’s heart while she redesigns his home?Maid for Marriageby Bestselling Author Susette WilliamsHer parents disinherited Zelina Zervos after she refused to honor their arranged marriage to a man she hadn’t seen since they were children. Drake Giannopoulos had his own reservations about marrying a virtual stranger, but his wounded ego isn’t about to let him take no for an answer.

    They're just the right size, so you'll find time for love and good cheer between trimming the tree and hanging the stockings. Tidings of Love is guaranteed to put you in the mood to ring in the holidays at any time of the year. Nickolai's Noel: A chance meeting and a snowy ice storm bring together an unlikely pair - Russian hockey player Nickolai Glaznov and artisan quilt maker Noel Verden - on the most enchanting day of the year. A special connection flares between them despite his lack of roots and her overly involved family. But when the ice melts, will the magic disappear too? Her Secret Santa: Neighbors and co-workers at Morgan Confectioners, Rebecca Sinclair and Ben Redding have been best friends since grad school. When their feelings turn more than friendly, will they be able to get past their fear of ruining their friendship? A holiday gift exchange might just bring the best present of all - Christmas love. His Hawaiian Christmas: Humbug in Hawaii? When Clara O'Fallen gets a promotion to paradise, she can't help feeling homesick for her Wisconsin winters, complete with real snow, family traditions, and Christmas festivities. But smiling surfer Kai Schmitt might just show this scrooge how to hang loose and catch the spirit of the season - the aloha spirit! Gavin Fever: A sudden snowstorm unexpectedly strands Julia Winthrop with her ex, reality TV star Gavin Beckett, at a cozy mountain cabin for the holidays. Trapped till the weather lets up, their attraction resurfaces. It's not long before they realize their fling might've been the real thing and this surprise reunion might just be a Christmas miracle. A Man for All Seasons: There are crazier ways to spend a holiday. At least that's what journalist Janey Turner keeps telling herself when she agrees to spend Thanksgiving with the editor she's never met in person before. But the chemistry that flares between her and Joe Argenti is as hot and unexpected as the lightning strike that soon ignites Casper Mountain. Will her professional dreams cost her a merry Christmas? Lights, Latkes, and Love: Non-profit CEO David Shay can't get enough of the December festivities. As a manager of a large retail store, Hannah Jenkins, on the other hand, turns into a jaded Scrooge every year on Black Friday. Can a nice Jewish boy - with the help of some Christmas lights, a little girl, and a latke party - teach Hannah the true meaning of the season and guarantee them both a New Year's Eve kiss to remember? Winter Fairy: Recuperating ballerina Penelope Glazier can enchant the young girls in her Fairy Dreams class, but will her magic work on Carson Langley, the sexy but straight-laced single father of her most talented student? Or will she dance out of their lives when her big break arrives? Sensuality Level: Sensual

    With Zach's mom in Bali and the woman of his dreams gone AWOL, he's facing a Christmas alone with Ringo—until Tessa the cute veterinarian appears at his door with an offer he and Ringo can't refuse.It's a Christmas he'll never forget....

    Five thrillers. No holds barred.including: DEAD MAN'S GIFT MP Tim Horton arrives home to find his seven-year-old son has been abducted – and the nanny brutally murdered. The kidnapping gang’s demands are simple: Tim must sacrifice his own life to save his son’s.A dead man’s gift… ONE BY ONE Six former school-friends have been reunited on a remote island.Separated since a fateful night twenty-one years ago, when their friend Rachel was killed, they're afraid for their lives – because the man arrested for Rachel's murder has been released.They think he's coming for them. They're almost right.Plus three more thrillers guaranteed to keep you gripped to the page. Can you withstand five full-strength doses of Simon Kernick?