Henry originated the humorous, energetic tale that ends with an ironic, even shocking twist. In "After Twenty Years," for example, two boys agree to meet at a particular spot exactly twenty years later. Both are faithful, but in the intervening years one boy has turned into a criminal, the other into a policeman. Behind the rendezvous lurks a powerful dramatic situation with a fascinating moral dilemma--all in a few brief pages. This is just one of the many literary gems in Selected Stories of O. Henry, a collection of forty-five of O. Henry's most renowned and entertaining short stories. Each one offers insights into human nature and the ways it is affected by love, jealousy, poverty, gentility, and the all-pervading reality of people conning people--themes that ran through the author's own life. Born William Sidney Porter, O. Henry started writing while in prison for embezzlement. Later he moved to New York, and his tales romanticizing the commonplace, particularly the life of ordinary New Yorkers, became highly popular. The most widely read author of his time, O. Henry died penniless but left behind a wealth of short stories that endure as hallmarks of the genre.

    Chilling and witty, prescient and personal, delectable and tart, these highly imaginative, vintage Atwoodian mini-fictions speak on a broad range of subjects, reflecting the times we live in with deadly accuracy and knife-edge precision.In pieces ranging in length from a mere paragraph to several pages, Atwood gives a sly pep talk to the ambitious young; writes about the disconcerting experience of looking at old photos of ourselves; gives us Horatio's real views on Hamlet; and examines the boons and banes of orphanhood. Bring Back Mom: An Invocation; explores what life was really like for the "perfect" homemakers of days gone by, and in The Animals Reject Their Names she runs history backward, with surprising results.Chilling and witty, prescient and personal, delectable and tart, The Tent is vintage Atwood, enhanced by the author's delightful drawings.

    In The Space Between Jamie Fraser's step-daughter Joan is on her way to an abbey in Paris to become a nun - but when she meets the Comte St Germain, a wealthy French aristocrat rumoured to to deal in the occult - she discovers her destiny lies on a quite different path.In The Custom of the Army Lord John Grey is summoned as a witness in a court martial in the wilds of Acadia, only to find himself playing a crucial role in the Battle of Quebec. In A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows a WW2 Spitfire pilot called Jerry MacKenzie crashes near a stone circle and wakes up in the eighteenth century. Can the strange man he meets - who impossibly seems to know him - help him return to his wife and baby son before a terrible fate overtakes them?

    Robb:Eve and Roarke return to investigate a series of murders connected to a brilliant young surgeon in Chaos in Death.From Mary Blayney:A shopkeeper's solitude is complicated by a magic coin, a daring rogue, and dreams of her late husband, who whispers but one word...wish.From Patricia Gaffney:A lonely woman and a hotline psychic turn their astonishing connection to the other side into an unexpected romance.From Ruth Ryan Langan:The shattered soul of an angry spirit imprisoned in a Scottish manor house could be a young widow's only salvation.From Mary Kay McComas:A young ghost eases his brother's pain and guilt by inviting him into the dreams of an imaginative author of children's books.

    Lansdale - “Neighbors” by Megan Lindholm - “I Know How to Pick ’Em” by Lawrence Block - “Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell” by Brandon Sanderson - A Cosmere story - “A Queen in Exile” by Sharon Kay Penman - “The Girl in the Mirror” by Lev Grossman - A Magicians story - “Second Arabesque, Very Slowly” by Nancy Kress - “City Lazarus” by Diana Rowland - “Virgins” by Diana Gabaldon - An Outlander story - “Hell Hath No Fury” by Sherilynn Kenyon - “Pronouncing Doom” by S.M. Stirling - An Emberverse story - “Name the Beast” by Sam Sykes - “Caretakers” by Pat Cadigan - “Lies My Mother Told Me” by Caroline Spector - A Wild Cards story - “The Princess and the Queen” by George R.R. Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire story

    1 The Bastard Stepchild - George R.R. Martin 2 Death by Dahlia - Charlaine Harris 3 The Bleeding Shadow - Joe R. Lansdale 4 Hungry Heart - Simon R. Green 5 Styx and Stones - Steven Saylor 6 Pain and Suffering - S.M. Stirling 7 It's Still the Same Old Story - Carrie Vaughn8 The Lady is a Screamer - Conn Iggulden 9 Hellbender - Laurie R. King 10 Shadow Thieves - Glen Cook 11 No Mystery, No Miracle - Melinda M. Snodgrass 12 The Difference Between a Puzzle and a Mystery - M.L.N. Hanover13 The Curious Affair of the Deodand - Lisa Tuttle 14 Lord John and the Plague of Zombies - Diana Gabaldon15 Beware the Snake - John Maddox Roberts 16 In Red, with Pearls - Patricia Briggs 17 The Adakian Eagle - Bradley Denton

    All the tales contain some science fiction or fantasy element, and all remain true to the spirit and personality of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous and enduring creation.Contents; * Introduction: The Detective Who Refused to Die (Sherlock Holmes in Orbit) • essay by Mike Resnick * The Musgrave Version (1995) / short story by George Alec Effinger * The Case of the Detective's Smile / short story by Mark Bourne * The Adventure of the Russian Grave / short story by William Barton and Michael Capobianco * The Adventure of the Field Theorems / novelette by Vonda N. McIntyre * The Adventure of the Missing Coffin / short story by Laura Resnick * The Adventure of the Second Scarf / short story by Mark Aronson * The Phantom of the Barbary Coast / novelette by Frank M. Robinson * Mouse and the Master / short story by Brian M. Thomsen * Two Roads, No Choices / short story by Dean Wesley Smith *The Richmond Enigma / short story by John DeChancie * A Study in Sussex / short story by Leah A. Zeldes * The Holmes Team Advantage / short story by Gary Alan Ruse * Alimentary, My Dear Watson / short story by Lawrence Schimel * The Future Engine / novelette by Byron Tetrick * Holmes Ex Machina (1995) / short story by Susan Casper * The Sherlock Solution / short story by Craig Shaw Gardner * T he Fan Who Molded Himself / short story by David Gerrold * Second Fiddle / short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch * Moriarty by Modem (1995) / short story by Jack Nimersheim * The Greatest Detective of All Time / short story by Ralph Roberts * The Case of the Purloined L'Isitek / short story by Josepha Sherman * The Adventure of the Illegal Alien / short story by Anthony R. Lewis * Dogs, Masques, Love, Death: Flowers / short story by Barry N. Malzberg * You See But You Do Not Observe / short story by Robert J. Sawyer * Illusions / short story by Janni Lee Simner *The Adventure of the Pearly Gates / short story by Mike Resnick.

    Each begins in a quietly factual way, making all the more dramatic the crescendo of fear and puzzlement that ensues as each new circumstance is revealed. Even without his supremely logical brain child, Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle shows that his tales are unbeatable for thrills and excitement.Contents:Tales of terror:The horror of the heightsThe leather funnelThe new catacombThe case of Lady SannoxThe terror of Blue John GapThe Brazilian catTales of mystery:The lost specialThe beetle-hunterThe man with the watchesThe japanned boxThe black doctorThe Jew's breastplateThe nightmare room.

    Whether the stories are familiar to readers or discovered for the first time, readers will revel in Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tales, and how they’ve been brought to life in 13 unique and unforgettable ways.Contributors include Kendare Blake (reimagining “Metzengerstein”), Rin Chupeco (“The Murders in the Rue Morge”), Lamar Giles (“The Oval Portrait”), Tessa Gratton (“Annabel Lee”), Tiffany D. Jackson (“The Cask of Amontillado”), Stephanie Kuehn (“The Tell-Tale Heart”), Emily Lloyd-Jones (“The Purloined Letter”), Hillary Monahan (“The Masque of the Red Death”), Marieke Nijkamp (“Hop-Frog”), Caleb Roehrig (“The Pit and the Pendulum”), and Fran Wilde (“The Fall of the House of Usher”).

    . . or not.Joining these haunting works are stories linked to Tremblay’s previous novels. The tour de force metafictional novella Notes from the Dog Walkers deconstructs horror and publishing, possibly bringing in a character from A Head Full of Ghosts, all while serving as a prequel to Disappearance at Devil’s Rock. “The Thirteenth Temple” follows another character from A Head Full of Ghosts—Merry, who has published a tell-all memoir written years after the events of the novel. And the title story, Growing Things, a shivery tale loosely shared between the sisters in A Head Full of Ghosts, is told here in full.From global catastrophe to the demons inside our heads, Tremblay illuminates our primal fears and darkest dreams in startlingly original fiction that leaves us unmoored. As he lowers the sky and yanks the ground from beneath our feet, we are compelled to contemplate the darkness inside our own hearts and minds.Growing things --Swim wants to know if it's as bad as swim thinks --Something about birds --The getaway --Nineteen snapshots of Dennisport --Where we all will be --The teacher --Notes for "The Barn in the Wild" --_______ --Our town's monster --A haunted house is a wheel upon which some are broken --It won't go away --Notes from the dog walkers --Further questions for the somnambulist --The ice tower --The society of the monsterhood --Her red right hand --It's against the law to feed the ducks --The thirteenth temple --Notes --Acknowledgments --Credits

    S. Lewis’s adult religious books, a repackaged edition of the revered author’s definitive collection of short fiction, which explores enduring spiritual and science fiction themes such as space, time, reality, fantasy, God, and the fate of humankind.From C.S. Lewis—the great British writer, scholar, lay theologian, broadcaster, Christian apologist, and author of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other beloved classics—comes a collection of his dazzling short fiction.This collection of futuristic fiction includes a breathtaking science fiction story written early in his career in which Cambridge intellectuals witness the breach of space-time through a chronoscope—a telescope that looks not just into another world, but into another time. As powerful, inventive, and profound as his theological and philosophical works, The Dark Tower reveals another side of Lewis’s creative mind and his longtime fascination with reality and spirituality. It is ideal reading for fans of J. R. R. Tolkien, Lewis’s longtime friend and colleague.

    Whether its tales of murderous pirates who stalk the waters in search of treasure and blood, creatures that haunt the depths below―ones we’ve only seen in our nightmares, or storms that can swallow you whole, the open water can be a dangerous and terrifying place.With new stories from New York Times-bestsellers and award-winning authors such as Seanan McGuire, Christopher Golden, Stephen Graham Jones, and more, Devil and the Deep guarantees you’ll think twice before going back into the water.

    Pull up a chair, grab a glass of your favorite, and listen to the stories spun by time travelers, cybernetic aliens, telepaths...and a bunch of regular folks on a mission to save the world, one customer at a time.Callahan's Crosstime Saloon contains the following stories, virtually all of which were published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact: * "The Guy With the Eyes" * "The Time-Traveler" * "The Centipede's Dilemma" * "Two Heads Are Better Than One" * "The Law Of Conservation of Pain" * "Just Dessert" * "A Voice is Heard in Ramah..." * "Unnatural Causes" * "The Wonderful Conspiracy"

    This collection of classic and newly reprinted stories provides readers with more of her unsettling, dark tales, including the "The Possibility of Evil" and "The Summer People." In these deliciously dark stories, the daily commute turns into a nightmarish game of hide and seek, the loving wife hides homicidal thoughts and the concerned citizen might just be an infamous serial killer. In the haunting world of Shirley Jackson, nothing is as it seems and nowhere is safe, from the city streets to the crumbling country pile, and from the small-town apartment to the dark, dark woods. There's something sinister in suburbia.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

    Evidently, we have an enduring hunger for this infinite onslaught of the ever-hungry dead. Hoards of readers are now devouring zombie fiction faster than armies of the undead could chow down their brains. It's a sick job, but somebody had to do it: explore the innumerable necrotic nightmares of the latest, greatest, most fervent devotion in the history of humankind and ferret out the best of new millenial zombie stories: Zombies: The Recent Dead.Contents ix • Preshamble • (2010) • essay by Paula Guranxii • The Meat of the Matter • (2004) • essay by David J. Schowxxii • Deaditorial Note • (2010) • essay by Paula Guran29 • Twisted • (2009) • novelette by Kevin Veale54 • The Things He Said • (2007) • shortstory by Michael Marshall Smith64 • Naming of Parts • (2000) • novella by Tim Lebbon128 • Dating Secrets of the Dead • (2002) • shortstory by David Prill142 • Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed • (2007) • shortstory by Steve Duffy171 • The Great Wall: A Story from the Zombie War • (2007) • shortstory by Max Brooks178 • First Kisses from Beyond the Grave • (2006) • novelette by Nik Houser218 • Zora and the Zombie • (2004) • novelette by Andy Duncan239 • Obsequy • (2006) • novelette by David J. Schow267 • Deadman's Road • [Reverend Jedidiah Mercer] • (2007) • novelette by Joe R. Lansdale293 • Bitter Grounds • (2003) • novelette by Neil Gaiman334 • Glorietta • (2009) • shortfiction by Gary A. Braunbeck334 • Beautiful White Bodies • (2009) • novelette by Alice Sola Kim342 • Farewell, My Zombie • (2009) • shortfiction by Francesca Lia Block354 • Trinkets • (2001) • shortfiction by Tobias S. Buckell [as by Tobias Buckell ]362 • Dead Man's Land • (2009) • shortfiction by David Wellington378 • Disarmed and Dangerous • (2009) • novelette by Tim Waggoner395 • The Zombie Prince • (2004) • shortstory by Kit Reed409 • Three Scenes from the End of the World • (2009) • shortfiction by Brian Keene420 • The Hortlak • (2003) • novelette by Kelly Link445 • Dead to the World • (2009) • shortstory by Gary McMahon458 • The Last Supper • (2003) • shortstory by Scott Edelman