I grew up in a small town, dated my high school sweetheart all the way through college, and married him. I even waited until our wedding night for my first time. Yeah, that kind of good girl. Finding my husband in bed with the church secretary came as quite a shock, needless to say. Finding out he'd slept with just about every female in town was an even bigger shock.Discovering those dirty little secrets is what sent me on a journey that I will never forget. ** This erotic romance novella is for adults only! Contains super hot, one-on-one sex between two great characters.**

    . . ." The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question: "And then what happened?" The true hallmark of great literature is great imagination, and as Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio prove with this outstanding collection, when it comes to great fiction, all genres are equal. Stories is a groundbreaking anthology that reinvigorates, expands, and redefines the limits of imaginative fiction and affords some of the best writers in the world—from Peter Straub and Chuck Palahniuk to Roddy Doyle and Diana Wynne Jones, Stewart O'Nan and Joyce Carol Oates to Walter Mosley and Jodi Picoult—the opportunity to work together, defend their craft, and realign misconceptions. Gaiman, a literary magician whose acclaimed work defies easy categorization and transcends all boundaries, and "master anthologist" (Booklist) Sarrantonio personally invited, read, and selected all the stories in this collection, and their standard for this "new literature of the imagination" is high. "We wanted to read stories that used a lightning-flash of magic as a way of showing us something we have already seen a thousand times as if we have never seen it at all." Joe Hill boldly aligns theme and form in his disturbing tale of a man's descent into evil in "Devil on the Staircase." In "Catch and Release," Lawrence Block tells of a seasoned fisherman with a talent for catching a bite of another sort. Carolyn Parkhurst adds a dark twist to sibling rivalry in "Unwell." Joanne Harris weaves a tale of ancient gods in modern New York in "Wildfire in Manhattan." Vengeance is the heart of Richard Adams's "The Knife." Jeffery Deaver introduces a dedicated psychologist whose mission in life is to save people in "The Therapist." A chilling punishment befitting an unspeakable crime is at the dark heart of Neil Gaiman's novelette "The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains." As it transforms your view of the world, this brilliant and visionary volume—sure to become a classic—will ignite a new appreciation for the limitless realm of exceptional fiction.

    In these stories of doubt, delusion, and paranoia, no belief, no claim to objectivity, is immune to the distortions of human perception. Here, self-deception is a means of justifying our most inhuman impulses--whether we know it or not.

    In Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth, Zelazny's rare ability to mix the dream-like, disturbing imagery of fantasy with the real-life hardware of science fiction is on full display. His vivid imagination and fine prose made him one of the most highly acclaimed writers in his field.Contents:· The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth · nv F&SF Mar ’65 · The Keys to December · nv New Worlds Aug ’66 · Devil Car [Sam Nurdock] · ss Galaxy Jun ’65 · A Rose for Ecclesiastes · nv F&SF Nov ’63 · The Monster and the Maiden · vi Galaxy Dec ’64 · Collector’s Fever · vi Galaxy Jun ’64 · This Mortal Mountain · nv If Mar ’67 · This Moment of the Storm · nv F&SF Jun ’66 · The Great Slow Kings · ss Worlds of Tomorrow Dec ’63 · A Museum Piece · ss Fantastic Jun ’63 · Divine Madness · ss Magazine of Horror Sum ’66 · Corrida · ss Anubis v1 #3 ’68 · Love Is an Imaginary Number · ss New Worlds Jan ’66 · The Man Who Loved the Faioli · ss Galaxy Jun ’67 · Lucifer · ss Worlds of Tomorrow Jun ’64

    Released as one of a limited number of digital shorts released to celebrate the publication of Jeffrey Archer’s magnificent seventh short-story collection, Tell Tale. Taken from And Thereby Hangs a Tale, Jeffrey Archer's magnificent sixth collection of short stories, The Luck of the Irish is a captivating, witty and entertaining short read. Liam Casey is an enterprising young estate agent from Cork and while on holiday in Majorca he meets a fellow Irishman, Patrick O’Donovan, who offers him the opportunity to join him permanently on the island as a partner in his real estate business. Liam hastily accepts, but it is only when Patrick meets his untimely demise does the business take-off. Liam has one last project to complete; a deal that will make him rich beyond his wildest dreams, so long as everything goes to plan . . .

    We were inundated with thousands of disgusterous entries! To discover our winners, we waded through burps, farts and rotten eggs; bogies, vile stew and goo to find the funniest and most revolting specimens. This eBook contains the crème de la phlegm-hand picked by children's author, songwriter and McFly frontman, Tom Fletcher, and Wales's Children's Poet Laureate, Anni Llyn.A huge thank you to our revolting partners Puffin Books, the National Literacy Trust, Literature Wales, Magic Light, and the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre for all their help and support!

    Frederick Barthelme creates an unforgettably wistful cast of characters, ordinary people moving carefully and curiously through a gently painful world.

    Together these stories form The Weird, and its practitioners include some of the greatest names in twentieth and twenty-first century literature.Exotic and esoteric, The Weird plunges you into dark domains and brings you face to face with surreal monstrosities. You won't find any elves or wizards here... but you will find the biggest, boldest, and downright most peculiar stories from the last hundred years bound together in the biggest Weird collection ever assembled. The Weird features 110 stories by an all-star cast, from literary legends to international bestsellers to Booker Prize winners: including William Gibson, George R. R. Martin, Stephen King, Angela Carter, Kelly Link, Franz Kafka, China Miéville, Clive Barker, Haruki Murakami, M. R. James, Neil Gaiman, Mervyn Peake, and Michael Chabon.

    With acute psychological insight, Dávila follows her characters to the limits of desire, paranoia, insomnia, and fear. She is a writer obsessed with obsession, who makes nightmares come to life through the everyday: loneliness sinks in easily like a razor-sharp knife, some sort of evil lurks in every shadow, delusion takes the form of strange and very real creatures. After reading The Houseguest—Dávila’s debut collection in English—you’ll wonder how this secret was kept for so long.

    They've come up with a plan to lure the criminal out of hiding, but everything goes terribly wrong during the mission when each agent becomes compromised and sent to the principal's office. The worst part is that Nolan himself has been labeled as the cheater! Now the only way he can clear his name is to find the real cheater, but with the entire school hunting after him, it's not going to be so easy. Join Nolan as he unravels the mystery with a jaw dropping twist at the end.6th Grade Spy is a 7500 word exciting mystery that's entertaining for kids and adults (who never grew up).

    For Hemingway fans The Complete Short Stories is an invaluable treasury.

    Now this former editor of The Harvard Lampoon and current writer for Saturday Night Live has returned to mine more comedy from our hopelessly terrifying world.In the nostalgic opening chapter, Rich recalls his fear of the Tooth Fairy (“Is there a face fairy?â€) and his initial reaction to the “Got-your-nose†game (“Please just kill me. Better to die than to live the rest of my life as a monsterâ€). He goes on to present Count Dracula’s desperate Match.com profile (“I am normal human looking for human woman to come to castle. I am normal, regular humanâ€). Later, he gets inside the heads of two firehouse Dalmatians who can’t understand their masters’ compulsion to drive off to horrible fires every day. And in the final chapter, he tackles some of life’s biggest questions: Does God really have a plan for us? Yes, it turns out. Now if only He could remember what it was. . . . Praise for Simon Rich’s Ant Farm “Ant Farm has an imaginative power that can trigger snort-fests. . . . Ferociously creative, this book is for readers craving both smart humor and belly laughs.â€â€“People (four stars)“Savagely funny.â€â€“The New York Times“Hilarious. Open this book anywhere, begin reading, and you will laugh.â€â€“Jon Stewart“Ant Farm is what all humor books should be: full of brief, high-concept musings that you wish you’d thought of yourself.â€â€“Time Out New York“A satirical salmagundi that bites back . . . Imaginative premises abound. . . . As unpredictable as YouTube, as in your face as MySpace.â€â€“Publishers Weekly

     Follow them on their nautical adventures aboard the versatile sailboat, Leakin' Lena. The story titles include: - North by What? - Man Overboard! - Lights Out! Great for kids in preschool to 4th grade. Download it now!

    Panchantantra is part of Indian folklore for over 400 years now and has delighted people all over the world. This volume contains 40 more enchanting Panchatantra stories.The stories revolve around the five strategies of Panchantantra:- The Gain of Friends, Discord amongst friends, Of Crows and Owls, Loss of Gains and Imprudence. The illustrated stories in this volume are:- PANCHATANTRA INTRODUCTIONTHE GIANT AND THE HELPLESS BRAHMINTHE RICH MAN AND THE POOR MANTHE MONKEY AND THE LOGTHE LION, THE CAT AND THE MOUSETHE ROOSTER AND THE FOXSHANDILI AND THE SESAME SEEDSTHE COWS AND THE LIONTWO FISHES AND A FROGTHE GOLDEN BIRD AND THE GOLDEN SWANSTHE MOUSE AND THE BULLLORD INDRA’S PARROTTHE JACKAL AND THE ARROWTHE THIEF AND THE SANYASITHE THIRSTY CROWTHE LION’S BAD BREATHTHE THIEF AND THE DIAMONDSTHE KING AND THE FOOLISH MONKEYTHE GOLDEN RAMWHEN THE TIGER CAME BACK TO LIFETHE THREE FISHES AND THE FISHERMENTHE BLIND VULTURETHE TALE OF TWO SNAKESTHE GOLDEN BIRD AND THE KINGTHE MERCHANT AND THE BARBERTHE DONKEY IN THE TIGER’S SKINTHE WEAVER’S STORYTHE BRAHMIN AND THE SNAKETHE CUNNING SNAKETHE MICE THAT ATE IRONTHE WOLF AND THE LAMBDHARMABUDDHI AND PAAPBUDDHITHE BIRD PAIR AND THE SEATHE BRAHMIN , THE CRAB AND THE SNAKETHE FOOLISH JACKALTHE TIGER AND THE GOLD BRACELETTHE MONKEYS AND THE BELLTHE SUN AND THE WINDTHE MONKEYS AND THE BIRDTHE POTTER’S TRUTH

    “I am looking for the artful way any given story is conveyed,” writes Roxane Gay in her introduction to The Best American Short Stories 2018, “but I also love when a story has a powerful message, when a story teaches me something about the world.” The artful, profound, and sometimes funny stories Gay chose for the collection transport readers from a fraught family reunion to an immigration detention center, from a psychiatric hospital to a coed class sleepover in a natural history museum. We meet a rebellious summer camper, a Twitter addict, and an Appalachian preacher—all characters and circumstances that show us what we “need to know about the lives of others.”