These are but a few of the curiosities collected in this volume of short stories by three acclaimed practitioners of paranormal fiction.But The Curiosities is more than the stories. Since 2008, Maggie, Tessa, and Brenna have posted more than 250 works of short fiction to their website merryfates.com. Their goal was simple: create a space for experimentation and improvisation in their writing—all in public and without a backspace key. In that spirit, The Curiosities includes the stories and each author's comments, critiques, and kudos in the margins. Think of it as a guided tour of the creative processes of three acclaimed authors.So, are you curious now?

    The book is filled with actual letters to his three fiance's, his literary contemporaries (Longfellow, Irving, and Hawthorne), and his bitter enemies. The characters are brought to life by interactive dialogue that may have taken place given what history teaches us. Read about the life of America's most haunting and mysterious author today and see Edgar Allan Poe brought to life like never before! - Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Expert Reviewer

    . .It’s 1981. Eleven-year-old Sadie adores her beautiful and vibrant mother, Connie, whose dreams of making it big as a singer fill their tiny house in Leeds. It’s always been just the two of them. Until the unthinkable happens.Jean hasn’t seen her good-for-nothing daughter Connie since she ran away from the family home in Harlow – or Pram Town as its inhabitants affectionately call it – aged seventeen and pregnant.But in the wake of the Royal Wedding, Jean gets a life-changing call: could she please come and collect the granddaughter she’s never met?We all know how Charles and Diana turned out, and Jean and Sadie are hardly a match made in heaven – but is there hope of a happy ending for them?Written in Joanna Nadin’s trademark dazzling prose, The Talk of Pram Town tells the story of three generations of Earnshaws and asks whether it always has to be like mother, like daughter . .

    In a large, romantic house in Amherst, Massachusetts, Leslie Garis, her two brothers, and their parents and grandparents aimed to live a life that mirrored the idyllic world the elder Garises created nonstop. But inside The Dell--where Robert Frost often sat in conversation over sherry, and stories appeared to spring from the very air--all was not right. Roger Garis's inability to match his parents' success in his own work as playwright, novelist, and magazine writer led to his conviction that he was a failure as father, husband, and son, and eventually deepened into mental illness characterized by raging mood swings, drug abuse, and bouts of debilitating and destructive depression. "House of Happy Endings "is Leslie Garis's mesmerizing, tender, and harrowing account of coming of age in a wildly imaginative, loving, but fatally wounded family.

    The saga is set on Cumberland Island during plantation-era Georgia and centers around a remarkable woman known as Elisabeth Bernardey. Zabette, as she is called, was born the illegitimate daughter of a planter and a slave and was raised as the planter's daughter, so she finds herself neither completely free nor totally in bondage. Plum Orchard chronicles her journey through the Antebellum South as she strives to live in two worlds while belonging totally to neither. This epic tale spans a large portion of the nineteenth century and is a narrative that explores both the darkness that was slavery and the light that lives within the human heart.

    The Spring House is the first of five seasonal titles from BrocanteHome.Net’s best-selling Seasonal House series.This pocket-sized book is a cornucopia of Springtime homemaking inspiration, with ideas for preparing for the change of the season, Spring puttery treats, cleaning recipes, decorative touches, journal prompts, a book list and an essay on living well in Springtime, written with all the same charm Alison May has been bringing to the world of vintage housekeeping for over twelve years now...

    While it will greatly enhance your enjoyment and understanding of the book, it is not intended to stand in its place.* "Me Before You" by Jojo Moyes is a New York Times bestselling novel that chronicles the utterly boring life of Louisa Clark. She has a close-knit family, a steady boyfriend, and a desire to stretch beyond the boundaries of her sleepy little village. This sidekick breaks down each chapter into easy-to-digest nuggets of analysis, as you watch Lou fall for the wheelchair-bound Will Traynor. He lived large and played hard: traveling, enjoying extreme sports, and doing anything else that got his motor running. Now he sits idle, certain that there is no more point to living. In this sidekick to "Me Before You," you'll read about the novel's conflicting themes of the right to die and the courage to start over. Will chooses to exercise his right to die. Will his budding love with Lou change his mind? Can she give him the courage to start over? They have so little in common, yet each would do anything just to see the other happy. How far would you go to make the one you love happy? What if it meant breaking that person's heart? This expert sidekick discusses each side of the equation in "Me Before You" a love story for a generation.

    Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Half of a Yellow Sun. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Half of a Yellow Sun is a novel that was written by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It was first published in 2006 by Knopf/Anchor and tells the story of two sisters Olanna and Kainene during the Biafran War. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel Half of a Yellow Sun takes place in Nigeria during the Nigerian-Biafran War in 1967-1970. The effect of the war is shown through the dynamic relationships of five peoples lives ranging from high ranking political figures, a professor, a British citizen, and a houseboy. After the British left Nigeria and stopped ruling, conflicts arose over what government would rule over the land. The land split and the Nigeria-Biafra war started. The lives of the main characters drastically changed and were torn apart by the war and decisions in their personal life. The book jumps between events that took place during the early 1960s and the late 1960s, when the war was on. In the early 1960s, the main characters are introduced: Ugwu, a 13 year old village boy who moves in with Odenigbo, to work as his houseboy. Odenigbo frequently entertains intellectuals to discuss the political turmoil in Nigeria. Life changes for Ugwu when Odenigbos girlfriend, Olanna, moves in with them. Ugwu forms a strong bond with both of them, and is extremely loyal. Olanna has a twin sister, Kainene, who is a woman with a dry sense of humour, tired by the pompous company she is forced to keep. Her lover Richard is an Englishman come to Nigeria to study the art. Jumping four years ahead, trouble is brewing between the Hausa and the Igbo people and hundreds of people die in the massacres, including Olanna's beloved auntie and uncle. A new republic is crea...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=1859812

    Follow the author as she takes you on a personal journey disclosing a hard-scrabble life in the coal camps nestled in the beautiful mountains of West Virginia.

    And if you follow the guidelines of this proven system of sacrifice and discipline, you can be debt free, and begin to enjoy your life like never before. I want to make a promise to you today, if you follow this system and these guidelines. You can be debt free, begin saving, and invest like you never have before. You will build amazing wealth. However all of this is up to you, do you want all of that? Well take the first step today. "If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else." Here Is A Preview Of the Book... Don’t be in denial Beware of credit cards Start with baby steps Cure your debt fast Investing for retirement and college The three good things with money Much, Much more

    The most unexpected consequences.When Anna’s husband cheats on her, she’s sure she’ll never be happy again. But then she meets 94-year-old Grace. Despite an age gap of more than fifty years, the pair set out together on a life-changing journey halfway across the country in search of some answers. Sometimes the only way to move on is to revisit the past. But will Anna and Grace be prepared for what they find? A story about love, female friendship, heartbreak and learning to forgive.

    No slow burn, no filler. This couple gets right to the point.Nova Bradford and Mikhail Luther have a long history. They've known each other since they were students at Blythe T. Young Magnet High School. Mikhail was the handsome high school jock with the pretty homecoming queen on his arm and Nova, well Nova was the ugly duckling no one cared about. After years of working on her self-confidence thanks to a friend and therapy, she finally decides albeit reluctantly, to embark on a school reunion cruise to tropical paradise where she will come face to face with her former classmates that taunted her every day.What she doesn't expect to find is Mikhail, alone and not the same young man from school. What follows seems unlikely, but it's also the thing they both need ...

    In her case, there's Nick Matthews, who's the town flirt and thinks she's the next notch on his bedpost. Then there's Ian Matthews, who's supposed to be the easygoing brother. Except there's nothing easygoing about his charm, or the way he looks at her, or the way he kisses her.And there's nothing easygoing about his secret...NickRose Newark thinks she landed the chance of a lifetime when she gets her first interior decorating solo project, and she can't wait to get started. All her excitement goes down the drain, however, when she meets her new client: Nick Matthews, aka the town's playboy.Aka the most potently charming man she's ever met.She's unfazed by that charm, of course--until she starts getting to know the man beneath the glamorous lifestyle. On paper, Nick has it easy and has it all. But the closer she gets to him, the more Rose finds out about his secrets: and they're secrets that make him all the more attractive--and all the more dangerous... Ara Tom Anderson has worked at Coolio's all his life, so selling the place and packing up feels like the best break he can get. Having no responsibilities for the first time ever seems like a solid plan--one that's broken when he finds himself responsible for the safety of Ara Matthews' one night.Things soon start unravelling when he keeps getting her out of trouble and starts realizing that maybe there's more to her than meets the eye. Ara has deep, dark secrets--and they're secrets that he soon finds himself entangled in, much as he finds himself entangled in her hot, brazen kisses...SamuelBeing the healer of four very powerful, very supernatural siblings might seem like the coolest job in the world--but for Natalie Hill, it's just a job, and one that's ending soon. Now she's down to the last person she's supposed to protect: Samuel Matthews, who never really needed help from her, considering he's already a cop and the town's greatest protector.But danger comes in many forms, and Samuel's beast nature is testament to that: a volatile creature that's a contrast to Samuel's usual calm self, one that fascinates her all the more. Natalie knows it's a mistake to get too close to him. But when tension forms and sexual attraction takes shape, it's too late to back out--and all she can do is try to fight for their lives...Adult Content.

    But she never tackled the role of teacher.Offered the opportunity to teach creative writing at the University of Arkansas, she took up the challenge and ventured into unknown territory. In the process of teaching more than two hundred students since her first class in 2000, she has found inspiration in their lives and ambitions and in the challenge of conveying to them the lessons she has learned from living and writing.The Writing Life brings together fifty essays and vignettes centered on the transforming magic of literature and the teaching and writing of it. A portion of the collection discusses the delicate balance between an artistic life and family commitments, especially the daily pressures and frequent compromises faced by a young mother. Gilchrist next focuses on the process of writing itself with essays ranging from "How I Wrote a Book of Short Stories in Three Months" to "Why Is Rewriting so Hard?"Several essays discuss her appreciation of other writers, from Shakespeare to Larry McMurtry, and the lessons she learned from them. Eudora Welty made an indelible impact on Gilchrist's work. When Gilchrist takes on the task of teaching, her essays reveal an enriched understanding of the role writing plays in any life devoted to the craft. Humorous and insightful, she assesses her own abilities as an instructor and confronts the challenge of inspiring students to attain the discipline and courage to pursue the sullen art. Some of these pieces have been previously published in magazines, but most are unpublished and all appear here in book form for the first time.

    Return to the ruined pier at the farthest, darkest edge of the Internet and accompany Mike Bennett back into the Hall of Mirrors.This time around we have hell and damnation in 'Salvation'; a petty criminal in a tight spot in 'Give Me a Hundred'; something in the woods in 'The Green Man'; a revolting comedy featuring two men and a dog in 'Dessert'; a cockroach problem in 'The Exterminators; humiliation and horror in 'Wet Velvet'; and a ship bound for bloodshed in 'Night Crossing'.So, dust off your ticket stub and roll up once again for Hall of Mirrors Volume 2 – More Tales of Horror and the Grotesque.