The first few chapters are available as 'The Chronicles of Engella Rhys (Preview).' Would you sacrifice your future to save your past? Engella Rhys is alone, adrift and on the run. Pursued by a secret agency, known only as the Hunters, she must stay ahead to stay alive. As she travels through space-time using dangerously experimental technology, she only has one wish: to be reunited with her lost parents. After a close shave with a Hunter on the streets of New Shanghai, Engella escapes to find herself on a deserted beach. When she meets a kind stranger, who offers her food and shelter, Engella feels safe and protected for the first time in years. But who is this woman? And why did their paths cross at the most convenient of times? Engella soon discovers their lives are intertwined in more ways than she could ever imagine.

    And despite all of the above, the absolute necessity of it, no matter its consequences. Whether it’s a college student undone by the boy who leaves her, or the boyfriend intent on leveling old scores from high school for his lover, or the husband who discovers—in the grocery store—the woman he should have been with all along, every character, no matter how off track, wants to believe in debt and credit and payback and making the messy world—and the messy world of love—turn out neatly.

    These stories span characters and emotional states with canny details that touch the depths of your soul. Picturing the complexities of love, misery and mystery, the stories try to gnaw your heart like never before.• What does a flower teach us we often fail to see?• “The belly is an ungrateful wretch.” Is it true?• Ever wondered about the sparseness and illusions in life?• Does death put an end to true love?• Have all the ascetics won over their emotions?With the power of simple language, this book transports the readers to a world scarcely thought of in our bustling lives. The allegories maintain an intense rhythm of life prompting the readers to perceive things from a unique angle.“A whole bookful to make you think, cry, think again and move on.”

    Making a selection is just the beginning - these ladies are more than mere images, and getting to know them is the really fun part. But just like most things, looks can be deceiving. And while the guys who take this plunge think they're in for the adventure of a lifetime, some of them are headed for their worst nightmare.Featuring five dramatically different voices, these stories travel the tantalizing crossroads between romance and cyberspace.

    Stacey Tanner flees a stalking psychopathic ex-boyfriend and confronts all of her worst fears in one fateful evening.

    He's got everything he ever wanted, except his health. The knives are out. His rivals sense blood. Their time is now. But Thompson's not going down without a fight. Violence in the Blood documents Thompson's rise to power from the backstreets of Glasgow to the industrial heartland of the Midlands. Join the rampage as Malkie and his crew blaze a trail of mayhem and destruction north and south of the border.

    When not plying his trade, he passes his time managing a jazz club in the City of Light. To make ends meet, he freelances by offering his services to help rid the earth of the world's worst criminals. Max is enjoying his ritual post-job vodka when he meets a stunning woman; a haunting visage of his former fiancé. Suddenly, he finds himself the target of an assassination plot in his beloved city of Paris. Fighting for his life, Max must overcome his own demons to stay alive.

    For the special edition slipcase please go here.You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America. This year's slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.

    These are stories of ordinary people whom you have met - at work, during the daily commute, in your friend circles, or on social media. However, the stories have a twist or an element of thrill to them. They rip open the sheath of mundane lives and present you with raw, poignant, and profound vignettes of urban life. These stories attempt to capture the dramatic flipside of the banal existence of everyday people. As the editor defines them… The stories are the perfect mix of sensationalism out of the mundane, exhibitionism of what has been undercover, and the simple refinement of human thought perspectives. The words sway and dance, tantalizingly just out of reach, trying to entice the reader into that false lull of security until a twist comes that makes them wonder, ‘What did I just read?’

    These fourteen tales map a very particular world—Jews whose lives are anchored in Chicago—in rich, revealing detail even as they brim with universal longings: complex love affairs and unspoken rivalries, family triumphs and private disappointments. Epstein, who “happens to possess a standup comic’s gift for punch lines” (New York Times Book Review), brings his emphatically grown-up characters to witty, rueful, and charming life. The Love Song of A. Jerome Minkoff is a marvelous collection from a master of the short form and one of the most distinctive writers working in America today.

    Written in a lucid, simple style, the stories are narrated in a manner that the reader, himself will be transported into the world of great men, artists, philosophers. Spanning a vast territory of topics, the tales are crafted in a manner that they will create psychological awareness in life. Latent emotions of anger, greed, love, inferiority complex are woven into the intricate fabric of the stories and readers will find themselves inspired by interesting stories from the lives of Vincent Van Gogh, Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, Helen Keller and other great people—who had through their work radicalised not only their own lives, but also the lives and thoughts of the human race. The profound wisdom of great philosophers like Buddha, Socrates, Ramanand Paramhansa, King Janaka, Sufi Saint Rabia, the captivating antics of the eccentric Mullah Nasruddin, Christ’s message to the earthlings, Ghalib’s passion, Walt Disney’s dreams, Vincent Van Gogh’s art and much more will urge us to relook at our concepts and philosophies of life. This story book is a must-read for people of all age groups. They will greatly benefit from these stories, thereby transforming their thinking and way of living and instilling hope and confidence that it is possible to lead a happy and stress-free life. The pithy morals at the end of each story, shall help re-strengthen faith in yourself and help you to look at the world in a different light.This book is available in English, Hindi and Gujarati.

     As usual, Maupin’s tone is both bittersweet and achingly funny in this tale of a post-catastrophic San Francisco and a young man’s resilient love for his mother. Cover Design by Darryl Vance

    If you enjoy small 'bite-size' stories, or are a fan of micro-fiction and flash fiction, you'll appreciate these sharply written, miniature creations from a "masterful wordsmith."

    A date in suburbia has dramatic results. A seamstress takes revenge on an unsuspecting customer, while in France, a mother is promised 'fantastic news' - and lets her imagination run away with her. With each story, Jenny Eclair introduces a fascinating new character. And behind each woman lies a gripping tale - of betrayal, of love, of hope and defiance. Funny, heart-breaking, inspiring - and packed with wicked one liners - this wonderful collection shows Jenny Eclair's exceptional talent for observation at its very best.Based on the BBC Radio 4 series Little Lifetimes.

    The walking wounded. These are the stories of ordinary people.