This short story by Amal El-Mohtar is beautiful coming of age story that deals with identity, loss, magic, and owls.

    He heads out of the hustle and bustle of the big city and arrives in picturesque Black River in Northern California, seeking relaxation and artistic inspiration. In small, idyllic Black River, nearly everyone is happy, contented, and welcoming of strangers. But despite the beautiful setting, Bo begins to feel unsettled after several disturbing incidents. He discovers that all of his money has been transferred to a bank account in Black River, and a house has been purchased for him by someone on "his" instructions.Troubled by various, peculiar twists of fate, Bo decides to leave Black River. As he becomes entangled in a nightmarish plot, preventing his return home, it suddenly seems clear to Bo that his perfect little hideaway captures more than just the imagination of its visitors."Black River" appeared in print in Mystery Scene Magazine #63 in 2000.©1999 Dean Koontz; (P)2007 Audible Inc.

    A real Choice.”Who would you be if you had a choice? What would you do?Early in her life, Sudha's fate was divined to be a lonely, fruitless future of young widowhood. So, it was considered a blessing when she was brought to the Hastinapur harem to become a vishakanya--a weapon, an assassin, a poison maiden whose very touch is toxic. Sudha has never had a choice, has never known anything except the cold beauty of the harem's stone walls.After years of living in isolation with her vishakanya sisters, Sudha is given her first mission: to end the life of a great man. Someone who, unlike her, leads a life full of glittering Choices fit for an emperor.In their fateful encounter, a vishakanya meets a conqueror and a weapon creates a legend.

    An FBI agent falls in love with a robot built for a suicide mission. A young woman unintentionally cheats on her husband when she is transformed, nightly, into a deer. Two strangers become lovers and find themselves somehow responsible for the resurrection of a dog. A woman tries to start her life anew after the loss of a child but cannot help riddling that new life with lies. Thirteen pregnant teenagers develop a strange relationship with the Founding Fathers of American history. A lonely woman’s fertility treatments become the stuff of science fiction.Magic intrudes. Technology betrays and disappoints. Infidelities lead us beyond the usual conflict. Our bodies change, reproduce, decay, and surprise. With her characteristic unguarded gaze and offbeat humor, Hunt has conjured stories that urge an understanding of youth and mortality, magnification and loss, and hold out the hope that we can know one another more deeply or at least stand side by side to observe the mystery of the world.

    Le Guin, an icon in American literature, collected for the first time in one breathtaking volume.Ursula K. Le Guin has won multiple prizes and accolades from the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to the Newbery Honor, the Nebula, Hugo, World Fantasy, and PEN/Malamud Awards. She has had her work collected over the years, but never as a complete retrospective of her longer works as represented in the wonderful The Found and the Lost.CONTENT "Vaster Than Empires And More Slow" "Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight" "Hernes" by Ursula K. Le Guin "The Matter Of Seggri" "Another Story Or A Fisherman Of The Inland Sea" "Forgiveness Day" "A Man Of The People" "A Woman’s Liberation" "Old Music And The Slave Women" "The Finder" "On The High Marsh" "Dragonfly" "Paradises Lost"This collection is a literary treasure chest that belongs in every home library.