It is a riveting commentary on the way we live now by a spectacular prose artist.Ann Beattie published her first short story in The New Yorker in 1972. Twenty-eight years later, she received the 2000 PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. She is, as the Washington Post Book World said, "one of our era's most vital masters of the short form." The eleven stories in her new work are peopled by characters coming to terms with the legacies of long-held family myths or confronting altered circumstances -- new frailty or sudden, unlikely success. Beattie's ear for language, her complex and subtle wit, and her profound compassion are unparalleled. From the elegiac story "The Famous Poet, Amid Bougainvillea," in which two men trade ruminations on illness, art, and servitude, to "The Big-Breasted Pilgrim," wherein a famous chef gets a series of bewildering phone calls from George Stephanopoulos, Perfect Recall comprises Beattie's strongest work in years. It is a riveting commentary on the way we live now by a spectacular prose artist.

    When first hardship and then nuclear war devastate a suburban neighborhood one woman is the key for survival of the community.

    With exquisite grace and eloquence, Tóibín writes of men and women bound by convention, by unspoken emotions, by the stronghold of the past. Many are trapped in lives they would not choose again, if they ever chose at all. A man buries his mother and converts his grief to desire in one night. A famous singer captivates an audience, yet cannot beguile her own estranged son. And in "A Long Winter," Colm Tóibín's finest piece of fiction to date, a young man searches for his mother in the snow-covered mountains where she has sought escape from the husband who controls and confines her. Winner of numerous awards for his fifth novel, iThe Master/i -- including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award -- Tóibín brings to this stunning first collection an acute understanding of human frailty and longing. These are haunting, profoundly moving stories by a writer who is himself a master.

    What happens when a man lives his life backwards, or a family owns a diamond as big as the Ritz Hotel?How can a boring girl become more popular, a careless young woman become more sensible, or a cut-glass bowl destroy a married woman's life?What does a young man do to save the girl that he likes from an evil ghost, or to forget old feelings for a woman when she marries another man?Read this collection of short stories by one of America's finest storytellers to find out.

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

    A collection of short stories by the author of Transactions in a Foreign Currency features a tale of a two childhood friends who renew old ties and recall old wounds, and a suburban dinner party that uncovers dark truths.

    They are stories about the woods, houses hidden in the gaps between mountains. Behind them, the skeletons of old and powerful machines rust into the slate and leaves. Water red with iron leeches from the empty mines and pools near a stone foundation. The boy there plays in the bones because he is a child and this will be his childhood. He watches while winter comes falling slowly down over the road. Sometimes he remembers a girl, her hair and the perfume she wore. These are stories about her and where she might have gone. He waits for sleep because in the next story he will leave. The boy watches an airplane blink red past his window. From here, you can't hear its violence.

    He's confused, he's disoriented. He asks himself what's going on. But he doesn't know. It's not like anyone's alive to tell him anyway. Just a short trip to the bathroom, a welcome break from the geology class that puts him to sleep and his world is turned upside down. He sees things that defy explanation: His classmate eating his professor, his professor getting up, shrugging off fatal injuries and coming for him.Zack knows he must get out of this nightmare. But when he's inadvertently trapped in the faculty building by a fellow survivor, he soon discovers that the living may be even more dangerous than the monstrous undead.

    There's Luke Williams, a young American who's been left in a wheelchair by a drunk driver. Then there's Brian Tully, a wise-cracking bully with connections in Vegas, together with his sheepish family. And finally there's Dan Borowski, an Australian security analyst. Trouble is, Dan isn't there to relax, and though they don't yet know it, nor are any of the others... This short story first appeared in "Storyglossia" in May 2008. Dan Borowski first appeared as a character in "For the Dogs", and this is one of two short stories (the other is "Retrospective") to feature him.

    From the author of A Bell For Adano and Hiroshima comes this final collections of stories.

    She’s fell for veterinarian Cameron McKenzie’s good looks, caring nature and especially his devotion to his young daughter. For months Cameron’s pushed away all thoughts of taking Rina in his arms and kissing her, unwilling to risk their friendship. But when a kiss under the mistletoe unlocks the simmering passion between them, Rina and Cameron may just find love for the holidays after all...YOURS FOR CHRISTMASFamous former NFL stars don’t date single working moms like Bailey Voss. She’ll allow herself to daydream about Kenny Scott’s muscles and killer smile, but wanting more would lead to post-holiday regret. Then Kenny volunteers to run a toy drive with Bailey, and she learns that he’s not just hot…he’s also generous, funny, nice. And as festive spirit spreads, Kenny gets wrapped up in Bailey’s kisses — and decides to make this the first of many Christmases together…Previously published.

    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.

    It changes things inside of you.Joyce Faulkner, Author of "In the Shadow of Suribachi," "Losing Patience," "For Shrieking Out Loud," and "USERNAME."There is so much love echoing through these stories -- love of family and love of nature -- they are a joy to read.Barbara Alfaro author of "Mirror Talk"This is a book you will want to read again and again, particularly aloud to those who are important in your life.Inge Meldgaard author of "A death in the Making" and "The Cicada"R. Garcia, the writer who is also known by his pen name "Phantomimic," brings you "The Sun Zebra", which is best described as a children's book for grownups. Its aim is to encourage us to discover (or rediscover) the amazing things that children and their magical carefree world can teach us, even as we try to teach them about the harsh realities of our own. The book is a collection of five stories that follow the "adventures in living" of an unusual little girl named Nell, her mother Rhonda, and Nell's father who is the narrator of the stories.I loved these stories because they are a reminder of what's important in life: the bonds we have with our family and friends and the incredible magic of children.Ingrid Ricks author of "Hippie Boy"The stories are pleasant, funny, and delightful to read, but you quickly discover that they go much deeper than you anticipated when you first began reading them.Robert David McNeil author of "Iona Portal"Buy this book and you too will feel the sun shine on you in a new and different way. I promise.Laura Novak author of "Finding Clarity"

     Days after losing her child while giving birth, Rachel, and her husband, David, are haunted by the incessant cries of a baby. It is their stillborn, Adam, and he wants something from Rachel... something deadly.

    Not everyone can. Who decides? Desperate to save his daughter from a mysterious sickness, Daniel applies for the Methuselah Treatment. If she gets it, his daughter won’t just recover, she’ll live forever. But the drug is tightly controlled, and only the special, the talented, and the truly deserving ever receive it. There is nothing special about Daniel’s destitute ten- year-old girl—or is there?