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Collected Stories, Vol. 1


Richard Matheson - 1989
    We will be publishing it in 3 volumes, the first in 2003 and one each year following.RICHARD MATHESON: COLLECTED STORIES is the gathering together of 86 Richard Matheson short stories, beginning with Born of Man and Woman from 1950 and ending with Duel from 1971. The stories were arranged by Matheson himself roughly in chronological order of original publication. There are also several tributes to Richard Matheson throughout the volumes from admirers such as Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, William F. Nolan, and others. Finally, Matheson wrote a deeply revealing Introduction for the collection. As Matheson himself states in this Introduction, "A twenty-year period of creativity reduced to the psychological background of my output of fantasy and science-fiction stories. If this were a thesis, that would be my premise".For the Volume One, editor Stanley Wiater has included:> A "bibliophile" at the end of each story containing Matheson's very own commentary on the behind-the-scenes details of each story. Each story is also listed with it's original publication date and place of publication.> A brand new introduction written expressly for this version of the bookEach subsequent volume of RICHARD MATHESON: COLLECTED STORIES that we publish will include the Matheson bibliophiles with each story.

The Big Blow


Joe R. Lansdale - 2000
    September 4, 1900. A giant hurricane—destined to be remembered as the storm of the century—is brewing offshore. Fighter John McBride has arrived from Chicago to challenge the local heavyweight champion, a 22 year-old Jack Johnson, as-yet unknown to the broader boxing world. Problem is, Johnson is black and the local Sporting Club doesn’t want him to leave the ring alive. Around this central story, Lansdale weaves a compelling historical tale, filled with prostitutes and gamblers, storm-tossed sailors and everyday citizens. His unflinching dialog recreates a time when racism and violence were facts of life.

Complete Plays 1932–1943


Eugene O'Neill - 1988
    They represent the crowning achievements of his career.O’Neill described Ah, Wilderness! as “the way I would have liked my boyhood to have been.” Set in the summer of 1906, it affectionately depicts the warm, close family of 16-year-old Richard Miller and the innocence with which he faces the trials of first love, strong drink, and sexual temptation.John Loving, hero of Days Without End, is split by his lack of faith into two selves: John and his Mephistophelian double Loving, who wears John’s death mask and plots his destruction. Burdened by guilt but desperately wanting to love, John struggles with Loving’s nihilistic hatred in what O’Neill termed his “modern miracle play.”In A Touch of the Poet, Irish tavern-keeper Con Melody is drawn by his proud past as a Byronic cavalry hero of the Napoleonic Wars toward a fatal confrontation with his wealthy Yankee neighbors, the Harfords.Throughout More Stately Mansions, the idealistic yet cunning Simon Harford, his wife, Sara Melody Harford, and his mother, Deborah, continually shift roles and alliances as they engage in an eerie psychological and sexual battle for possession of each other and their own maddeningly elusive dreams. This volume presents the never-before-published complete text of the revised typescript for this unfinished play.The derelict inhabitants of Harry Hope’s saloon in The Iceman Cometh find solace in their comradeship until their drifting calm is destroyed by the visiting salesman Theodore Hickey, who insists that they abandon all “pipe dreams” and face the truth about their lives. O’Neill carefully orchestrates the voices of over a dozen characters to form a chorus of overwhelming despair and surprising compassion.Hughie is a one-act dialogue between a reminiscing gambler and a weary hotel night clerk about the promise and loneliness of city life.Long Day’s Journey into Night unsparingly dissects the pain, rage, guilt, and love that drive a wounded family apart and bind it together. In their summer home the four Tyrones—James, a proud actor haunted by poverty, his devout, morphine-addicted wife, Mary, and their sons, Jamie, a cynical drunkard, and Edmund, an aspiring poet—slowly unveil the truth about their lives until they can no longer hope either to save or to escape one another. Published and produced posthumously, it won O’Neill his fourth Pulitzer Prize.In its elegiac coda, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Jamie Tyrone seeks the peace that has long eluded him in the arms of sharp-tongued Josie Hogan.The volume concludes with “Tomorrow” (1917), O’Neill’s only published short story.

Vampires in the Lemon Grove: Stories


Karen Russell - 2013
    ClubA Washington Post Notable BookAn NPR Great Read of 2013From the author of the novel Swamplandia!—a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize—comes a magical and uniquely daring collection of stories that showcases the author’s gifts at their inimitable best. Within these pages, a community of girls held captive in a Japanese silk factory slowly transmute into human silkworms and plot revolution; a group of boys stumble upon a mutilated scarecrow that bears an uncanny resemblance to a missing classmate that they used to torment; a family’s disastrous quest for land in the American West has grave consequences; and in the marvelous title story, two vampires in a sun-drenched lemon grove try to slake their thirst for blood and come to terms with their immortal relationship.Vampires in the lemon grove --Reeling for the Empire --Seagull army descends on Strong Beach, 1979 --Proving up --Barn at the end of our term --Dougbert Shackleton's rules for Antarctic tailgating --New veterans --Graveless doll of Eric Mutis

The Methuselah Treatment


T.C. Powell - 2015
    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?

Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill?


Jonathan H. Pincus - 2001
    Jonathan Pincus personally examined and probed into the family and medical history of numerous serial killers and other violent criminals to analyze what creates and triggers the violent instinct. He discovered that virtually all suffered severe abuse as children, as well as brain damage and mental illness. In these gripping, terrifying stories, Pincus concludes that violent criminal behavior is the catastrophic product of a dysfunctional brain coupled with an abusive environment. Focusing on these critical factors, how can we prevent the development of potentially violent persons from a young age before the damage becomes irrevocable? And how do we evaluate chances of rehabilitation? "[A] rigorous, troubling, and profoundly humane book."—Leon Wieseltier, The New Republic "An urgent wake-up call for the nation...a must-read for every professional engaged in the administration of criminal justice."—Samuel Dash, Georgetown University Law Center

The Billion Dollar Sure Thing


Paul Emil Erdman - 1973
    Written when the first Arab oil embargo sent shock waves through our carefully balanced and delicately tuned economic system, THE BILLION DOLLAR SURE THING describes a plot to control the world's monetary assets.

Black Gate Tales


Paul Draper - 2020
    A disused London Underground lift goes way beyond the bottom floor.A psychic boy discovers what terrors are buried in the fallow field.A handshake seals a midnight fate in an old farming dispute.A corpse must be buried by dawn.BLACK GATE TALES: Fourteen short stories of dread, hope, death and wonder.

The Essential Ellison: A 50 Year Retrospective


Harlan Ellison - 1998
    But his range is much broader than that, encompassing stories, novels, essays, reviews, reminiscences, plays, even fake autobiographies. The Essential Ellison, a special limited edition personally signed and numbered by Ellison, contains 74 unabridged works, including such classics as "A Boy and His Dog," "Xenogenesis," and "Mefisto in Onyx."

Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die


Ryan NorthArryn Diaz - 2010
    It didn't give you the date and it didn't give you specifics. It just spat out a sliver of paper upon which were printed, in careful block letters, the words DROWNED or CANCER or OLD AGE or CHOKED ON A HANDFUL OF POPCORN. It let people know how they were going to die." Machine of Death tells thirty-four different stories about people who know how they will die. Prepare to have your tears jerked, your spine tingled, your funny bone tickled, your mind blown, your pulse quickened, or your heart warmed. Or better yet, simply prepare to be surprised. Because even when people do have perfect knowledge of the future, there's no telling exactly how things will turn out. Featuring stories by: * Randall Munroe* Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw* Tom Francis* Camille Alexa* Erin McKean* James L. Sutter* Douglas J. Lane* and many others.Featuring illustrations by: * Kate Beaton* Kazu Kibuishi* Aaron Diaz* Jeffrey Brown* Scott C.* Roger Langridge* Karl Kerschl* Cameron Stewart* and many others

Revelations


Douglas E. Winter - 1997
    Each decade of the twentieth century is assigned to one of the top fantasy/horror authors of the modern age who evokes the particular madness of that decade as it contributes to a prophecy for the next century. Decade by decade as the millennium approaches in these powerful, chilling tales, the tension builds toward a dramatic revelation that is both a prophetic warning and a visionary answer for all humankind.A singular publishing event, Revelations is a stunning anthology-novel by modern superstars of fantasy and horror, including New York Times -- bestselling author Clive Barker, David J. Schow, and Ramsey Campbell.

Beat Not The Bones


Charlotte Jay - 1952
    Defying the patronising concern of officials, she ventures deep into the jungle, striding ever closer to the horrifying heart of the mystery

Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse


John Joseph AdamsOrson Scott Card - 2008
    From the Book of Revelation to The Road Warrior, from A Canticle for Leibowitz to The Road, storytellers have long imagined the end of the world, weaving eschatological tales of catastrophe, chaos, and calamity. In doing so, these visionary authors have addressed one of the most challenging and enduring themes of imaginative fiction: The nature of life in the aftermath of total societal collapse. Gathering together the best post-apocalyptic literature of the last two decades from many of today's most renowned authors of speculative fiction - including George R. R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Orson Scott Card, Carol Emshwiller, Jonathan Lethem, Octavia E. Butler, and Stephen King - Wastelands explores the scientific, psychological, and philosophical questions of what it means to remain human in the wake of Armageddon. Whether the end of the world comes through nuclear war, ecological disaster, or cosmological cataclysm, these are tales of survivors, in some cases struggling to rebuild the society that was, in others, merely surviving, scrounging for food in depopulated ruins and defending themselves against monsters, mutants, and marauders. Wastelands delves into this bleak landscape, uncovering the raw human emotion and heart-pounding thrills at the genre's core. --back coverContains the following stories:Introduction by John Joseph AdamsThe End of the Whole Mess by Stephen KingSalvage by Orson Scott CardThe People of Sand and Slag by Paolo BacigalupiBread and Bombs by M. RickertHow We Got In Town and Out Again by Jonathan LethemDark, Dark Were the Tunnels by George R. R. MartinWaiting for the Zephyr by Tobias S. BuckellNever Despair by Jack McDevittWhen Sysadmins Ruled the Earth by Cory DoctorowThe Last of the O-Forms by James Van PeltStill Life With Apocalypse by Richard KadreyArtie’s Angels by Catherine WellsJudgment Passed by Jerry OltionMute by Gene WolfeInertia by Nancy KressAnd the Deep Blue Sea by Elizabeth BearSpeech Sounds by Octavia E. ButlerKillers by Carol EmshwillerGinny Sweethips’ Flying Circus by Neal Barrett, Jr.The End of the World as We Know It by Dale BaileyA Song Before Sunset by David GriggEpisode Seven... by John LanganAppendix: For Further Reading

The Annotated Mother Goose: With an Introduction and Notes


William S. Baring-Gould - 1962
    Not just "Mother Goose."

The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil: *Includes The In Persuasion Nation Collection


George Saunders - 2010
    The other six citizens must wait their turns in the Short-Term Residency Zone of the surrounding country of Outer Horner. It's a long-standing arrangement between the fantastical, not-exactly-human citizens of the two countries. But when Inner Horner suddenly shrinks, forcing three-quarters of the citizen then in residence over the border into Outer Horner territory, the Outer Hornerites declare an Invasion In Progress--having fallen under the spell of the power-hungry and demagogic Phil. So begins The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil. Fueled by Saunders's unrivaled wit, outlandish imagination, and incisive political sensibility, here is a deeply strange yet strangely familiar fable of power and impotence, justice and injustice--an Animal Farm for our times. Praise for George Saunders "An astoundingly tuned voice--graceful, dark, authentic, and funny--telling just the kinds of stories we need to get us through these times." --Thomas Pynchon "Mr. Saunders writes like the illegitimate offspring of Nathanael West and Kurt Vonnegut. [His] satiric vision of America is dark and demented; it is also ferocious and very funny." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "A master of distilling the disorders of our time into fiction." --Salon.com