A henpecked husband copes with the frustrations of his dull life by imagining he is a fearless airplane pilot, a brilliant doctor, and other dashing figures.

    This inaugural volume showcases the best North American fantasy short fiction from the preceding year.Hard truth about waste management / Sumanth Prabhaker --Stolen father / Eric Roe --Saffron gatherer / Elizabeth Hand --Whipping / Julia Elliott --Better angel / Chris Adrian --Draco Campestris / Sarah Monette --Geese / Daniel Courdriet --Chinese boy / Ann Stapleton --Flying woman / Meghan McCarron --First kisses from beyond the grave / Nik Houser --Song of the selkie / Gina Ochsner --Troop [sic] of baboons / Tyler Smith --Pieces of Scheherazade / Nicole Kornher-Stace --Origin story / Kelly Link --Experiment in governance / E.M. Schorb --Next corpse collector / Ramola D --Village of Ardakmoktan / Nicole Derr --Man who married a tree / Tony D'Souza --Fable with slips of white paper ... / Kevin Brockmeier --Pregnant / Catherine Zeidler --Warehouse of saints / Robin Hemley --Ledge / Austin Bunn --Lazy taekos / Geoffrey A. Landis --For the love of Paul Bunyan / Fritz Swanson --Accounting / Brian Evenson --Abraham Loncoln has been shot / Daniel Alarcon --Bit forgive / Maile Chapman --End of narrative (1-29; or 29-1) / Peter LaSalle --Kiss / Melora Wolff

    Each book in the series has been designed with today's young reader in mind. As the words come to life, students will develop a lasting appreciation for great literature.The humor of Mark Twain...the suspense of Edgar Allan Poe...the danger of Jack London...the sensitivity of Katherine Mansfield. Creative Short Stories has it all and will prove to be a welcome addition to any library.

    Each story follows the life of a person living on a fictitious council estate in London. The stories illustrate the realities and struggles that ordinary people go through at a time when people are feeling disenfranchised and are frustrated at not having their voices heard. Ranging from a humorous look at the gentrification of London to the realities of living with addiction the stories place the reader in the shoes of each character allowing them to feel their emotions.

    When Phoebe Summers moves to an idyllic Cornish cottage, dark deeds from the past quickly begin to cast sinister shadows across the present...

    Adam’s career in politics has taken a turn for the better and the only thing left to complete the couple’s happiness is a baby. Flora believes the new home will help her overcome a recent miscarriage but she soon realises the house is not all it seems. What are the villagers of Penlyn hiding and does Hunters Moon hold a dark secret? Flora soon finds herself entrapped in a web of deceit with no one to turn to. Her dream home becomes her nightmare as Flora fears for her life.

    . . A fighter leads his band of virtual warriors, thieves, and wizards across a deadly computer-generated landscape . . . A company outsources grief for profit, their tagline: "Don't feel like having a bad day? Let someone else have it for you."

    He is an extremely wealthy man, although no one knows where he or his money have come from. But Gatsby has a purpose: he is following a dream of love. Will his dream come true?

    Exotic beasts and improbable travelers roam restlessly through these darkly diverting and finely honed tales.In “The Situation,” a beleaguered office worker creates a child-swallowing manta-ray to be used for educational purposes (once described as Dilbert meets Gormenghast). In “Three Days in a Border Town,” a sharpshooter seeks the truth about her husband in an elusive floating city beyond a far-future horizon; “Errata” follows an oddly familiar writer who has marshaled a penguin, a shaman, and two pearl-handled pistols with which to plot the end of the world. Also included are two stories original to this collection, including “The Quickening,” in which a lonely child is torn between familial obligation and loyalty to a maligned talking rabbit.Chimerical and hypnotic, VanderMeer leads readers through the postmodern into a new literature of the imagination.

    The beloved Gus wouldn't hurt a fly, so when he ends up in the hospital after being attacked, no one quite knows where to point the finger.With the restaurant hanging on by a thread and a criminal on the loose, Charlotte knows she will have to solve this crime with a soup ladle in one hand and a cupcake pan in the other. When it becomes clear that there is more to the coveted soup recipes than meets the eye, Charlotte is certain that the person who attacked Gus won't stop until Gus is silenced once and for all."Red Velvet Villainy" is filled with layered clues and cozy moments, written by Molly Maple, which is a pen name for a USA Today bestselling author.

    A cute tale about how a housewife gets her groove back...Indu and Madan Nambiar have lead a well-settled, almost-perfect life for many years — and then, Madan retires.As their seemingly content coexistence is threatened, will they be able to strike a new balance? Will Indu be able to accept this new reality? Or will retirement be a new beginning for both Mr and Mrs Nambiar?Read this funny take on the repercussions of retirement.

    They are locked up in his store because of an earthquake and by morning he knows that he can’t let them both go. Elizabeth Donovan can’t believe that her baby is about to be born on Christmas Eve, and in a small alley behind a department store at that. When the owner rescues her and helps her bring her baby into the world, she knows that she has received a Christmas miracle in more ways than one. Christmas Bride - A Very Special Christmas Baby is part of the Brides For All Seasons series - a festive collection of historical holiday romance guaranteed to warm your heart and fill your season with romantic cheer. Buy it today and enjoy the timeless gift of love!

     At last, Steve has started his new journey in the world of Minecraft. Steve is your everyday normal Minecraft player; He is just trying to start his new life in the world of Minecraft when very peculiar events started to take place. There were trees without leaves, buildings on fire and the only clue Steve had was a mysterious name, Herobrine. Steve and his trusty pig friend, Pigphelas must now forsake their home in order to search for answers about what was going on. Who will they meet on this new journey? What obstacles will they have to overcome? Only one thing can be said for sure, the person or thing that was destroying the world had their eye on Steve and was making sure he would not be successful on his journey for answers. What will become of Steve and this... Herobrine? In Search of Herobrine

    From moving portraits of clinical depression to phantasmagoric visions of sci-fi wonder – including the previously unpublished story ‘Starting a Career’ – the writings collected in Machines in the Head offer an accessible introduction to readers new to her work and a timely survey of Kavan's diverse writing talents for her fans. Her journalism, giving insight into her radical politics and her thoughts on writing and writers, is reproduced in full.

    I devoured this book in one sitting." --Ransom Riggs, author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children A dazzling new collection of stories from the critically acclaimed author of Stories for Nighttime and Some for The DayBen Loory returns with a second collection of timeless tales, inviting us to enter his worlds of whimsical fantasy, deep empathy, and playful humor, in the signature voice that drew readers to his highly praised first collection. In stories that eschew literary realism, Loory's characters demonstrate richly imagined and surprising perspectives, whether they be dragons or swordsmen, star-crossed lovers or long-lost twins, restaurateurs dreaming of Paris or cephalopods fixated on space travel. In propulsive language that brilliantly showcases Loory's vast imagination, Tales of Falling and Flying expands our understanding of how fiction can work and is sure to cement his reputation as one of the most innovative short-story writers working today.Praise for Ben Loory's Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day "This guy can write!" --Ray Bradbury"[A] wild, dreamy debut . . . These stories are full of wit, humor, and heart." --The Boston Globe