Culling over 300 pages of some of today's most thrilling writers, The Best of 2.13.61 Publications hallmarks our company's ten year existence. Excerpts include new material from Henry Rollins and Hubert Selby, Jr, as well as excerpts from Henry Miller's love letters, Nick Zedd's hilarious nihilistic New York urban spelunkings, Ian Shoales' undeniably witty social commentaries and so much more.

    Bingham's strange sense of morbid fancy collides with a gutsy realism; the result is splendid wreckage: a young man is seduced by his first cousin (or maybe it's the other way around) at her brother's wake ("The Other Family"); a bored couple plot to kill a man during their ski-resort honeymoon ("Marriage Is Murder"); a yuppie banker risks his whole perfect life for an affair with a junkie ("The Fixers"); an insurance-company bounty hunter tracks down walk-aways from drug and alcohol rehab ("Preexisting Condition"); and in the title story, an eleven-year-old boy is caught at the exquisitely uneasy intersection of the safety of childhood play and the pain of grown-up love and longing.These lean, potent stories are utterly original, and yet by turns recall Salinger, in their intellectual acuity, emotional depth, and wicked, dark humor; Fitzgerald, in their vivid chronicling of a new, restless social elite; and the work of "transgressive" writers, in their pervasive sense of the imminent possibility of danger and violence, even in the most civilized surroundings. Above all, the stories in Pure Slaughter Value mark the debut of a striking new literary voice--unsparing, bold, ironic, and true--that will haunt us for a long time to come.

    There's Walter, newly abandoned by his wife; there's Edith, a fiftyish virgin; there's Bunny, taking care of her mother and her mother's boyfriend; and there's Belle, whose married lover dies in the hallway wearing her dead husband Herb's pajama top. Blindly, they encounter one another in ways the reader recognizes are profound even as the characters themselves are unaware. The genius and the art in this collection derives from the possibility that these ships might actually find each other by daylight. If only these four could get together--they'd be so good for each other. "Written with an expert touch, and a wise and tender sensibility. The effect is subtle, strong, and comic."--Charles Baxter, author of BELIEVERS and BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE; "It's hard to think she is capable of writing anything that isn't immediately engaging and a joy to read. Probably someone should publish her shopping lists."--Elizabeth Berg, author of TALK BEFORE SLEEP. A BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB SELECTION

    But what of its opposite -- the moment when it becomes clear that things are indisputably over? Dumped is a survey of every type of romantic crack-up, a group of stories full of the hilarity, wisdom, insight, and sometimes, yes, fierce revenges of some of the most memorable broken hearts in recent literature. Dumped sheds light on what can be the toughest part of human relations -- whether newly elucidating the misery we've all endured, or merely reminding us that others have had it far worse -- from the mother in Elizabeth Berg's Open House absurdly attempting to tell her son his father has left, to the betrayed wife in Roald Dahl's "Lamb to Slaughter," who beats her husband to death with a leg of lamb, then cooks it for the police. With contributions from such notable authors as Will Self, Saul Bellow, Alice Munro, Raymond Carver, Lorrie Moore, Dorothy Parker, Andre Dubus, and Tobias Wolff, as well as rising stars like Lucinda Rosenfeld and Steve Almond, Dumped spans every variety of romantic catastrophe and every possible response to it; from the wise to the hilarious, the bitter to the bittersweet. This book is the panacea for problems of the heart.

    And it is just this ordinariness that makes them special.In The H Street Sledding Record, a man throws horse manure on his roof every Christmas Eve to keep the myth of Santa alive. Bigfoot Stole My Wife is the claim of another man whose wife has disappeared without a trace, the only clue is that the kitchen smells funny: hairy. A third man finds that The Uses of Videotape are many: he uses a VCR to explain some mysterious goings-on in his bedroom while he and his wife are sleeping.While these wonderful stories seem to concern the people we see on the street or in the supermarket, they are quietly proving that nothing is normal, but all is well.

    From the author of A Bell For Adano and Hiroshima comes this final collections of stories.

     At last, Steve has started his new journey in the world of Minecraft. Steve is your everyday normal Minecraft player; He is just trying to start his new life in the world of Minecraft when very peculiar events started to take place. There were trees without leaves, buildings on fire and the only clue Steve had was a mysterious name, Herobrine. Steve and his trusty pig friend, Pigphelas must now forsake their home in order to search for answers about what was going on. Who will they meet on this new journey? What obstacles will they have to overcome? Only one thing can be said for sure, the person or thing that was destroying the world had their eye on Steve and was making sure he would not be successful on his journey for answers. What will become of Steve and this... Herobrine? In Search of Herobrine

    A cute tale about how a housewife gets her groove back...Indu and Madan Nambiar have lead a well-settled, almost-perfect life for many years — and then, Madan retires.As their seemingly content coexistence is threatened, will they be able to strike a new balance? Will Indu be able to accept this new reality? Or will retirement be a new beginning for both Mr and Mrs Nambiar?Read this funny take on the repercussions of retirement.

    The beloved Gus wouldn't hurt a fly, so when he ends up in the hospital after being attacked, no one quite knows where to point the finger.With the restaurant hanging on by a thread and a criminal on the loose, Charlotte knows she will have to solve this crime with a soup ladle in one hand and a cupcake pan in the other. When it becomes clear that there is more to the coveted soup recipes than meets the eye, Charlotte is certain that the person who attacked Gus won't stop until Gus is silenced once and for all."Red Velvet Villainy" is filled with layered clues and cozy moments, written by Molly Maple, which is a pen name for a USA Today bestselling author.

    They are locked up in his store because of an earthquake and by morning he knows that he can’t let them both go. Elizabeth Donovan can’t believe that her baby is about to be born on Christmas Eve, and in a small alley behind a department store at that. When the owner rescues her and helps her bring her baby into the world, she knows that she has received a Christmas miracle in more ways than one. Christmas Bride - A Very Special Christmas Baby is part of the Brides For All Seasons series - a festive collection of historical holiday romance guaranteed to warm your heart and fill your season with romantic cheer. Buy it today and enjoy the timeless gift of love!

    There's Luke Williams, a young American who's been left in a wheelchair by a drunk driver. Then there's Brian Tully, a wise-cracking bully with connections in Vegas, together with his sheepish family. And finally there's Dan Borowski, an Australian security analyst. Trouble is, Dan isn't there to relax, and though they don't yet know it, nor are any of the others... This short story first appeared in "Storyglossia" in May 2008. Dan Borowski first appeared as a character in "For the Dogs", and this is one of two short stories (the other is "Retrospective") to feature him.

    This collection-- dazzling, diverse, sophisticated-- demonstrates the enormous range of her talent between two camps-- alongside such contemporary issues as mortgage debt and medical error.

    Henry, Jack London, and Stephen Crane. Includes multiple stories per author, their most famous short works, along with biographical notes.Complete contents:YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN, by Nathaniel HawthorneTHE CELESTIAL RAILROAD, by Nathaniel HawthorneTHE GREAT STONE FACE, by Nathaniel HawthorneETHAN BRAND, by Nathaniel HawthorneRIP VAN WINKLE, by Washington IrvingTHE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW, by Washington IrvingAUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A POCKET-HANDKERCHIEF by James Fenimore CooperTHE DAMNED THING, by Ambrose BierceAN OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK, by Ambrose BierceTHE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, by Edgar Allan PoeTHE CASK OF AMONTILLADO, by Edgar Allan PoeTHE PURLOINED LETTER, by Edgar Allan PoeTHE PIT AND THE PENDULUM, by Edgar Allan PoeTHE PREMATURE BURIAL, by Edgar Allan PoeTHE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, by Edgar Allan PoeTHE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP, by Bret HarteTHE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT, by Bret HartevHANDS, by Sherwood AndersonI’M A FOOL, by Sherwood AndersonTHE MAN THAT CORRUPTED HADLEYBURG, by Mark TwainTHE CELEBRATED JUMPING FROG OF CALAVERAS COUNTY, by Mark TwainTHE GIFT OF THE MAGI, by O. HenryTHE RANSOM OF RED CHIEF, by O. HenryTHE COP AND THE ANTHEM, by O. HenryA RETRIEVED REFORMATION, by O. HenryTHE DUPLICITY OF HARGRAVES, by O. HenryTO BUILD A FIRE, by Jack LondonAN ODYSSEY OF THE NORTH, by Jack LondonLOVE OF LIFE, by Jack LondonTHE HEATHEN, by Jack LondonTHE PEARLS OF PARLAY, by Jack LondonTHE BRIDE COMES TO YELLOW SKY, by Stephen CraneTHE MONSTER, by Stephen CraneTHE BLUE HOTEL, by Stephen CraneAnd don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for Megapack to see the other great entries in this series -- covering science fiction, fantasy, horror, mysteries, westerns, children's literature, and much, much more!

    Subtle horror unexpected is many times more chilling and terrifying than horror that smacks you in the face.

    Her job will be to carefully hand propagate the seeds that Monsanto crippled, helping plants to do what they can't do for themselves. So that the people of Poseidon can eat. So they can breathe. The dandelion seed is one of three, sent from Earth. Scientific treasure.And then one day, seed meets girl - and everything changes forever.Dandelion Kisses is a short story. It's science fiction, and it's life, and it's what happens when a writer's little girl used to have a love affair with a certain yellow weed. :)