A lonely teenage girl falls in love with an older, married neighbor. A woman attends a party at the home of her boyfriend’s ex-wife. A schoolteacher gets fired for teaching time incorrectly to grade-school students. And a young woman recovering from a breakup receives guidance from a drunk therapist. Poignant and sharply rendered, Otis’s stories seek answers to the questions of whom we love and why, how we search for love, lose it, or find it—sometimes at the last moment and in the most unlikely places. Quirky and hilarious, these stories display a knowing affection for human strangeness.

    Tom Clancy brings a chilling ring of truth to these enduring masterpieces, proving why his gripping novels have sold in excess of 38 million copies.

    Replaying the perfect night over and over and thinking about what could've been.Now I'm back in her town, and it could be my one chance to claim what should have been mine forever and not for just one night.I've got it all figured out. But as soon as I see her, I come to a screeching halt.What's with the anger in her eyes? And whose baby is she carrying?Am I too late to make her mine?This collection features Baby Daddy, Duty, and Alpha's Baby. Three secret baby romances. Also includes a special exclusive peak at Racing Hearts, releasing August 8th. Available for a very limited time.

    Written to be read over a long commute or a short journey, they are original and exclusively in digital form. This is a poignant novella from Anita Brookner. 'I rather hope I shall die at the hairdresser's, for they are bound to know what to do. At least that is what I tell myself.' Solitude is a familiar burden for Elizabeth Warner. She lives in a basement flat near Victoria and leaves the house only to go shopping and to have her hair done - until a chance encounter at the hairdresser's brings unexpected change. At the Hairdresser's is a deeply moving, unflinchingly observed story about trust and betrayal by one of the greatest writers of contemporary fiction.

    Also included are two back-up stories featuring Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Sgt. Rock and others, as well as behind-the-scenes bonus material from the movie!

    An Alternate Cover Edition for this.In the 1940s, Scrawny teen STEVE ROGERS volunteered for a government experiment that turned his body into the peak of physical perfection...CAPTAIN AMERICA! Cap busted heads during World War II, but then mysteriously disappeared...only to be found decades later, still young and ready to whup up on some bad guys!

    Now, available for the first time in one volume, science fiction grand master Robert Silverberg presents seven tales that chronicle thousands of years of Majipoor’s history, from the arrival of the settlers of Old Earth, to the expansion of vast cities, to the extraordinary life of Lord Valentine. Within these stories lie the secrets of Majipoor, a wondrous world of incredible imagination...

    Those trapped inside the castle are used to dealing with the volatile mix of light-fingered teens and obnoxious tourists; less so a truckload of explosives and a hidden agenda. For Catherine and her team, it's a recipe for a potentially deadly day off. Tense, twisted and laugh-out-loud funny, Siege Mentality is a day-trip you won't forget. For more from Catherine McLeod, read the Jasmine Sharp trilogy, beginning with Where the Bodies are Buried , a sample from which is included with this short story.

     I lost my husband to a tragic car accident two years ago. Since then, I've floated through life. The only thing keeping me going is my faith in a higher power. I prayed for answers and release from my grief. One warm autumn day the Lord delivered in the form of Tex, a NASCAR driver looking for a quiet small town to settle down in. I resisted Tex's advances, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. Just when I was warming up to the idea of a new life with Tex, life through me a curveball. Questions about my husband's death left me reeling. The more I discovered the more convinced I became that I didn't really know him at all. Through the power of God, love, faith and redemption I will figure out how to mend my broken heart, even if it kills me.

    A female officer who is attacked in the line of duty must protect her own husband from his worst impulses in this short story, first published in The Blue Religion (Michael Connelly, ed.) and recognized as one of 2009's Best American Mystery Stories (Jeffery Deaver, ed.).

    Like the flaming projectiles his protagonists often launch into the sky, these stories crackle with energy and violence and a furious beauty. Benjamin Percy is a force. -- Anthony Doerr

    

    Then the desperados came. They raped her and killed her husband, leaving her for dead. But she hunted them down and, along the way, found an inner strength and relentless determination that no man can match. Ellie thought the killing was over...that she'd put her guns away for good to run a ranch that she'd inherited from a legendary Texas Ranger. She was wrong. TEXAS VIGILANTE A prison wagon is on its way to Huntsville when one of the prisoners, ruthless killer Angel Ware, engineers a bold escape. Now free, and blaming his sister Sue for his arrest, Angel and a gang of three other escaped murderers track her and her family down to Ellie's ranch. Angel and his gang mount a bloody attack and take Sue's young child with them. There's a posse on its way, but Ellie Taine isn't going to wait. She saddles her horse and loads her guns, prepared to enforce the only justice she can rely on...her own. "As clean and sharp as a fine Bowie knife. Crider's prose slices through conventions and expectations," -Booklist

    Abby may not admit to needing some alone time with her husband and Dominant, but Nathaniel knows better. He sees the desires and needs she too often brushes aside in order to care for their family, and the sacrifices she makes to mentor the members of their BDSM club.Though she denies it, Nathaniel’s certain taking her away for a week is what they both need. He doesn’t even mind when she continues to argue about it with him. After all, he knows exactly how to handle a naughty submissive...

    His body of work constitutes a great and varied contribution to modern popular culture.This astonishing novella, Infernal Parade, perfectly encapsulates Barker’s unique abilities. Like the earlier Tortured Souls, an account of bizarre–and agonizing–transformations, Infernal Parade is tightly focused, intensely imagined, and utterly unlike anything else you will ever read. It begins with the tale of a convicted criminal, Tom Requiem, who returns from the brink of death to restore both fear and a touch of awe to a complacent world. Tom becomes the leader of the eponymous “parade,” which ranges from the familiar precincts of North Dakota to the mythical city of Karantica. Golems, vengeful humans both living and dead, and assorted impossible creatures parade across these pages. The result is a series of highly compressed, interrelated narratives that are memorable, disturbing, and impossible to set aside.Infernal Parade is quintessential Barker: witty, elegantly composed, filled with dark and often savage wonders. It proves once again that, in Barker’s hands, the Fantastique is not only alive and well, but flourishing. This is vital, visionary fiction by a modern master of the form.