It’s a contract that follows him throughout his days, a contract he can’t escape. Or can he? One night on the road, he must decide whether to keep running or surrender. . . Either choice has its price.A short story.

    A perfume made from some very unusual ingredients becomes more effective than expected. A remarkable change in a woman's life leaves her family to make a decision. The secret and danger of high intelligence are revealed to a university student. A teacher discovers a way of making time stand still. And a book tells a young manager more than he wants to know.

    In Susan Perabo's world, nothing can be taken for granted: here, a retired grocer takes up jewel theft in his twilight years; a data processor squanders her inheritance on one of Princess Diana's gowns; a mugging victim feigns amnesia to win back his wife. In the tradition of Lorrie Moore, Susan Perabo's slightly off-center lens looks hard at the banal and the bizarre, and at the human condition, where she finds extraordinary magic within the smallest of gestures. Sharply written and overlaid with a mischievous wit, Who I Was Supposed to Be is an unforgettable homage to laughter, love, and wonder.

    But when Li posts a one-star review of a novel on her book blog, the results are far more frightening than she could ever have imagined. Not every story was meant to have a happy ending.ONE STAR is a previously unpublished horror short story, being released in The Behrg's upcoming short story collection--"The Passengers You Cannot See." It is the author's love letter to book bloggers and reviewers, and thus is being offered as a free download to any book reviewer in part to thank all those who have been a part of the author's journey. And if you haven't yet been a part, there's no better time than now to jump in that car and ride along. Oh, the vistas you will see.

    Adopted at birth, Claire is convinced she has some unknown genetic flaw that may be causing her miscarriages. She must find a way to deal with the guilt she harbors. But exoneration will come with a price. With her marriage in dire straits and her father refusing to discuss her adoption, Claire leaves everything she’s ever known, determined to find the answers she needs. But what if the woman who gave her life doesn’t want to be found?

    Matt is ready to reform his brawling ways, but the group he joins doesn’t turn out to be a typical 12-step program, in “The Taskmasters.” “Protecting the Innocent” features Nick, who fails to heed the warnings of his girlfriend’s possessive brother. And with “A Gun in the House,” Leah refuses to move from her beloved home, leading to protective measures with disastrous results. These and six others send out the invitation for disaster—one that’s gladly accepted.The ten taut tales in this collection from award-winning crime-fiction author Simon Wood are rife with good intentions gone bad—and bad intentions gone worse. Filled with jaw-dropping twists and turns, Asking for Trouble is a wild ride that will leave readers clamoring for more.

    As a service and convenience for their customers, Bertie set up a 'read-n-return' section in the book area. Customers can check out books for free, and return the books when they've finished reading them. Books are disappearing, but no one is checking them out at the front register as customer are supposed to do. What's happening to the books? As Wanda noted, 'they aren't leaving the store under their own steam that's for sure!' The sisters live in a small town; their customers are good people who help each other, they care for their neighbors and they'd never do harm on purpose. Can the two elderly sisters solve the mystery…?

    A town of spilled peaches fields its own game show. A mosquito fogger finds an unlikely friend. The stories in Mike Young's debut collection Look! Look! Feathers tap into the surreal and sad, the absurd and ragged dreams scratching at the edge of the American heart. Punks drive auctioned police cars, and necklaces of bluebird bones are sold from a roadside van. In these tales of the Pacific Northwest, Young finds magic burrowed under the moss of ordinary life.

    Right isn’t quite as easy as Amy first thought.Following in the footsteps of her favourite New York movies Amy is determined to have that romantic Manhattan moment. But like all good romances – love often turns up in the most unexpected of places…A heart-warming, 23 page short story from best-selling author, Claudia Carroll, this is the perfect read for Valentine’s Day.

    Can the magic of the Emerald Isle and the Lady reunite these two wounded hearts?

    These people tell us the truth–not only about themselves, their relationships, and their lives, but about ourselves as well. A Perfect Stranger powerfully and affectingly examines the complex, intricate network of experiences that binds us to one another. These stories are tender, raw, lovely, fine–and they reaffirm Roxana Robinson’s place at the forefront of modern literature.

    Now the Governor General’s Award finalist is back with The Fearsome Particles, a brilliantly observed comic tragedy about the widening cracks in a family’s picture-perfect veneer. Gerald Woodlore, a window screen executive, wakes one morning to find, to his utter dismay, that he has reached the limits of what he can control. The company he works for is rapidly losing market share and a junior assistant seems to be the only one with an idea how to fix it. His wife, Vicki, a luxury real-estate dresser, appears to be bending under the pressures of constructing an image of perfect happiness both at work and at home. But most worrying of all is Gerald and Vicki’s twenty-year-old son, Kyle, who quit school to volunteer with the military’s civilian support staff in Afghanistan. Now he has returned early and retreated to his room in the wake of a mysterious and traumatic event. With his trademark wit and strong emotional insight, Trevor Cole has created a compelling, tender story that captures a family at a crucial turning point.The Fearsome Particles has recently been optioned for film.

    But if she can't find a way to bring more money into the struggling shelter, the sacrifices she's made will all be for nothing.Then her brother leaves her with an inheritance, with two stipulations: she must work with her estranged mother to host a successful charity event and find a loving home for Peter's dog, Kiwi.But Leslie's not sure she can forgive the woman who cowered in a corner while Leslie's father hit her.Kiwi was severely abused before Peter adopted her. No matter where Leslie places Kiwi, the nervous cockapoo keeps showing up on her doorstep. She seems determined to stay with Leslie, no matter what.Even though Kiwi is terrified of everything, the sweet little dog makes Leslie feel braver. With Kiwi by her side, can Leslie save the shelter, face down the demons of her past, and take the risk of forgiving the mother who let her down when Leslie needed her most?The Kiwi To My Heart is the sixth and final book in the Soul Mutts series, heartwarming stories of lost dogs finding new homes with the humans they were born to heal.

    Bewildered by the demands of motherhood and dissatisfied by her work, she has also grown understandably resentful of her husband: Mark has serious difficulties of his own and whilst harsh self-reliance has kept him sane, it has alienated his wife.When Lucy falls in love with Angus, a pianist in his sixties, her shock is extreme. Adamant that she will not deceive her husband, she instead asks his advice. Mark’s reaction, however, is startlingly unorthodox, leaving Lucy to steer an impossible course between duty and desire, adventure and security. As her marriage falters and Angus presses for commitment, she is forced to choose between family and self, with lifelong consequences for everyone. Infused with her trademark precision, clarity and dark humour, Mary Loudon’s searing, highly-charged novel My House is Falling Down is a fearless exploration of what infidelity means when no one is lying, and how brutal honesty may yet prove the biggest taboo in our relationships.

    She works as a tarot reader during the day and plays open mics at night. Her simple utopia is shattered when the attractive Roland Stokes sits at her table. She is elated at his sudden interest in her, but soon discovers his true motivation.Roland reveals that she is the Air Singer, one of four people in this generation who can control the elements. He is her paladin, a warrior sent to protect her from those who would cause her harm.Tally is quickly thrown into a battle between two ancient societies. The Cadence want to protect her. The Spina want to kill her. All over a power she never asked for.