Selected and with an introduction by author Tobias Wolff, these stories are some of Chekhov's most powerful and memorable works. Includes The Kiss and Dreams.Included stories:At SeaEnemiesIn the CartNeighborsA Gentleman FriendPeasant WomenThe BishopDreamsIn ExileA Doctor's VisitGusevHeartacheThe KissThe Lady With the pet DogThe Man in a ShellGooseberriesAbout LoveIn the RavineThe Student

    He watches her grow up on screens. Misses her first words. Misses her first steps. She's never kissed his scratchy cheek, or fallen asleep on his shoulder. He's never wiped away her tears, or sung her to sleep. Now she's a toddler, and he's about to enter hibernation sleep -- and when he wakes nearly 150 years in the future, his family will be gone. This is a short story for every father who never wants his daughter to grow up.

    Now and then he moved a little to quiet the protest of cramped muscles and stagnant blood, but most of the time he was as motionless as the heap of rags he resembled. Not once did he hear or see a Bohas agent, or, for that matter, anyone. The predawn darkness had hidden his panting flight from the transie jungle, his dodging across backyards while whistles shrilled and voices shouted, and his crawling on hands and knees down an alley into the high grass and bushes which fringed a hidden garden. For a while his heart had knocked so loudly that he had been sure he would not be able to hear his pursuers if they did get close. It seemed inevitable that they would track him down. A buddy had told him that a new camp had just been built at a place only three hours drive away from the town. This meant that Bohas would be thick as hornets in the neighborhood.

    The fable has since been reprinted in The Thurber Carnival (Harper and Brothers, 1945), James Thurber: Writings and Drawings, The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales, and other publications. It is taught in literature and rhetoric courses.

    Recently sent to prison for burglary, he knows that his four year sentence means that he will miss the birth of his first child. With his wife's due date fast approaching, he had hoped that the prison authorities would allow him to be present for the birth, but they have said no. Sharing a cell with Colin is Barry Marsden. Unlike most of the inmates, Barry actually likes prison life because he has come from a very difficult family and been in and out of a series of foster homes. In prison, he has three meals a day and he has discovered a talent for drawing. So he is upset that he will have to leave on parole soon. Sad to see his cellmate looking depressed, Barry hatches a plan to get Colin out of jail for the birth. It's a plan so crazy that either it will fail and get both men in deeper trouble, or it might just work. Bestselling author Lynda La Plante's exciting tale of one man's escape from jail is based on a true story.

    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

    There is also a story about insects that is more human than most D.H. Lawrence. Leidner's fiction is deeply-infused with poetry but never turns purple.

    

    Grab a blanket, curl up by the fire, and snuggle up with these hot shifters! Brand New and only Available in this Bundle: Frosty Bear North isn’t the kind of bear who likes Christmas. But when he stumbles into the Holly Inn and meets Aspen, he has a new appreciation for the holiday. His bear can’t resist and Aspen can’t deny the immediate spark she feels when the tall stranger walks into her B&B. The Write Bear Riley James has one assignment: help bestselling author Hudson Highland finish his latest book. Things get hot and heavy when Hudson needs some inspiration. The Steel Bear When Crawford Highland escapes to his family home to clear his head, Mila must travel to find him before the contract expires on his firm’s latest deal. Alone and away from office distractions Crawford and Mila must face whether there are rules worth breaking. Bear Exposure With their pasts catching up to them, will fear bring Striker and Presley together, or be the one thing that tears them apart? Bear Strokes Chase is desperate to claim Claire as his own, but she’s distant and cold, surrounded by people she can’t trust. Can his bear break down the walls keeping him from his mate or will Claire fight to keep her heart locked away? Bear Treble Songwriter Dylan Highland has lost the music. Layla Love is the world’s most famous vocal sweetheart. When the two must collaborate on Layla’s new album, Dylan fights his bear every step of the way. The sassy songstress is everything he wants to avoid. The Bear Guard The men will have to do everything in their power to prove to their mates that above all nothing else matters, but to protect and guard the families they love.

    A New York City couple encounter sinister resistance when they decide to stay at their summer cottage past Labor Day.

    But Miss Lemon piques his interest. Then Lady Chatterton persuades Poirot to attend a fabulous party she is giving. There is someone sequestered upstairs who is desperate for his help. He gets drawn into the case. Will the contents of a dead man’s pockets reveal to the inscrutable eye of Hercule Poirot who the culprit is?Librarian's note: this entry is for the story, "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest." Collections of short stories by the author, and an earlier version of the story, "The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest," can be found elsewhere on Goodreads. The individual entries for all the Poirot short stories can be found by searching on Goodreads for: "a Hercule Poirot Short Story."

    In the pared-down style that has since become his hallmark, Carver showed us how humour and tragedy dwelt in the hearts of ordinary people, and won a readership that grew with every subsequent brilliant collection of stories, poems and essays that appeared in the last eleven years of his life.

    Short story from "If it bleeds".

    Tobias Wolff is the author of In Pharoah's Army and This Boy's Life.

    She was aware only of her solitude, and of the penetrating cold, and of a greater weight in the region of her heart. The author's writing confronts the great philosophical dilemmas of our time with piercing clarity