The Monkey's Paw The Lady of the Barge and Others Part 2


W.W. Jacobs - 2012
    

Kissed by a Cowboy


Lacy Williams - 2014
    She thinks she’s ready for this homecoming. She’s spent years escaping her perpetual shyness and being Katie Michaels’ tag-along friend, but being back in her hometown brings back a lot of old memories, especially when she is faced with the cowboy she never forgot — Katie’s older brother, Maddox. Twelve years ago, Maddox Michaels was supposed to be somebody. He had everything. A football scholarship. A Division I team scouting him. Maybe even a chance at the pros. Now, he’s a burned-out cowboy working day and night to stay ahead of his brother’s medical bills and keep their family farm from going bankrupt. And trying to be a father-figure for his niece, Olivia. When Haley and Olivia start spending time together, Maddox can’t help remembering those dreams that died alongside his sister. Will being with Haley open his heart to new dreams?

The Most Dangerous Game


Richard Connell - 1924
    The Most Dangerous Game features a big-game hunter from New York who becomes shipwrecked on an isolated island in the Caribbean and is hunted by a Russian aristocrat.

To Be Devoured


Sara Tantlinger - 2019
    The vultures circling outside her home taunt and invite her to come understand the secrets hiding in their banquet of decay. Fascination morphs into an obsessive need to know what the vultures know. Andi turns to Dr. Fawning, but even the therapist cannot help her comprehend the secrets she’s buried beneath anger-induced blackouts.Her girlfriend, Luna, tries to help Andi battle her inner darkness and infatuation with the vultures. However, the desire to taste dead flesh, to stitch together wings of her own and become one with the flock sends Andi down a twisted, unforgivable path. Once she understands the secrets the vultures conceal, she must decide between abandoning the birds of prey or risk turning her loved ones into nothing more than meals to be devoured.

Firstborn


Brandon Sanderson - 2008
    And expected. And still expected, despite endless proof that young Dennison Crestmar has no talent whatsoever for war. But the life Dennison is forced to live will have its surprising lessons to impart.

The Last Conversation


Paul Tremblay - 2019
    All you have is the disconnected voice of an attentive caretaker. Dr. Kuhn is there to help you—physically, emotionally, and psychologically. She’ll help you remember everything. She’ll make sure you reclaim your lost identity. Now answer one question: Are you sure you want to?Paul Tremblay’s The Last Conversationis part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.

Gilded Ashes


Rosamund Hodge - 2014
    And though her family has turned her into a despised servant, Maia must always pretend to be happy, or else they'll all be struck dead by the curse.Anax, heir to the Duke of Sardis, doesn't believe in love either—not since he discovered that his childhood sweetheart was only using him for his noble title. What's the point of pretending to fall in love with a girl just so she'll pretend to fall in love with him back? But when his father invites all the suitable girls in the kingdom to a masked ball, Anax must finally give in and select a wife.As fate would have it, the preparations for the masquerade bring him Maia, who was asked by her eldest stepsister to deliver letters to Anax. Despite a prickly first encounter, he is charmed and intrigued by this mysterious girl who doesn't believe in love. Anax can't help wishing to see her again—and when he does, he can't help falling in love with her. Against her will, Maia starts to fall in love with him too. But how can she be with him when every moment his life is in danger from her mother's deadly bargain?

Ponies


Kij Johnson - 2010
    If you want to be friends with TheOtherGirls, you're going to have to give something up; this is the way it's always been, as long as there have been Ponies.

Witches of Lychford


Paul Cornell - 2015
    A supermarket wants to build a major branch on their border. Some welcome the employment opportunities, while some object to the modernization of the local environment.Judith Mawson (local crank) knows the truth -- that Lychford lies on the boundary between two worlds, and that the destruction of the border will open wide the gateways to malevolent beings beyond imagination.But if she is to have her voice heard, she's going to need the assistance of some unlikely allies...

In the Heart of the Fire


Dean Koontz - 2019
    Until Nameless arrives—a vigilante whose past is a mystery and whose future is written in blood.Anyone who crosses Sheriff Russell Soakes is dead, missing, or warned. One of them is a single mother trying to protect her children but bracing herself for the worst. Nameless fears the outcome. He’s seen it in his visions. Now it’s time to teach the depraved Soakes a lesson in fear. But in turning predators into prey, will Nameless unearth a few secrets of his own?From #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz comes In the Heart of the Fire, part of Nameless, a riveting collection of short stories about a vigilante nomad, stripped of his memories and commissioned to kill. Follow him in each story, which can be read or listened to in a single sitting.

The Wedding Dress


Ellie Keaton - 2012
    And nothing would stop her. Not the fact that she’d be the youngest one in the history of the company. Or the fact that she’d be the first female Director. And especially not a man.Then she met Tyler, and everything changed. It was like they were destined to be together. The attraction was immediate, and the follow-through was more passionate and amazing than she could have ever hoped for.But Tyler was gone now. She could barely bring herself to think about their brief time together. As she stared at her wedding dress, she reflected on the fact that almost everything would be in place: a perfect gown, a perfect venue, a perfect ceremony. But not her perfect groom.15% of profits donated to Tuesdayschildren.org to help kids affected by 9/11 and other acts of terrorism.

Occultation and Other Stories


Laird Barron - 2010
    P. Lovecraft, Peter Straub, and Thomas Ligotti. His stories have garnered critical acclaim and have been reprinted in numerous year’s best anthologies and nominated for multiple awards, including the Crawford, International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy awards. His debut collection, The Imago Sequence and Other Stories, was the inaugural winner of the Shirley Jackson Award.He returns with his second collection, Occultation. Pitting ordinary men and women against a carnivorous, chaotic cosmos, Occultation’s nine tales of terror (two published here for the first time) were nominated for just as many Shirley Jackson awards, winning for the novella “Mysterium Tremendum” and the collection as a whole. Occultation brings more of the spine-chillingly sublime cosmic horror Laird Barron’s fans have come to expect. Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

WhiteSpace: Episode 1


Sean Platt - 2012
    Hamilton Island seems like the perfect home.The Puget Sound bedroom community has it all — beautiful homes with white picket fences, a thriving tech sector, and one of the best school systems in the state.But not everything is as it seems.And on the morning of September 1, the veil is lifted in a school shooting that will shake the island to its core, and expose an evil dynasty and a dark conspiracy that threatens the future of our species.

The Boy


Erika Johansen - 2016
    She spins a tale of one physically strong, but emotionally vulnerable boy who's ultimately destined for greatness.

Rogues


George R.R. MartinCarrie Vaughn - 2014
    Martin and award-winning editor Gardner Dozois is filled with subtle shades of gray. Twenty-one all-original stories, by an all-star list of contributors, will delight and astonish you in equal measure with their cunning twists and dazzling reversals. And George R.R. Martin himself offers a brand-new A Game of Thrones tale chronicling one of the biggest rogues in the entire history of Ice and Fire.Follow along with the likes of Gillian Flynn, Joe Abercrombie, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, Cherie Priest, Garth Nix, and Connie Willis, as well as other masters of literary sleight-of-hand, in this rogues gallery of stories that will plunder your heart — and yet leave you all the richer for it.Contents:- Tough Times All Over by Joe Abercrombie (a Red Country story)- What Do You Do? (aka The Grownup) by Gillian Flynn- The Inn of the Seven Blessings by Matthew Hughes- Bent Twig by Joe R. Lansdale (a Hap and Leonard story)- Tawny Petticoats by Michael Swanwick- Provenance by David Ball- The Roaring Twenties by Carrie Vaughn- A Year and a Day in Old Theradane by Scott Lynch- Bad Brass by Bradley Denton- Heavy Metal by Cherie Priest- The Meaning of Love by Daniel Abraham- A Better Way to Die by Paul Cornell (a Jonathan Hamilton story)- Ill Seen in Tyre by Steven Saylor- A Cargo of Ivories by Garth Nix (a Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz story)- Diamonds From Tequila by Walter Jon Williams (a Dagmar story)- The Caravan to Nowhere by Phyllis Eisenstein (a Tales of Alaric the Minstrel story)- The Curious Affair of the Dead Wives by Lisa Tuttle- How the Marquis Got His Coat Back by Neil Gaiman (a Neverwhere story)- Now Showing by Connie Willis- The Lightning Tree by Patrick Rothfuss (a Kingkiller Chronicle story)- The Rogue Prince, or, A King’s Brother by George R.R. Martin (a Song of Ice and Fire story)