American Short Fiction

Culinary creator, writer and community advocate, Sohla El-Waylly selects the best twenty articles published in 2021 that celebrate the many innovative, comforting, mouthwatering, and culturally rich culinary offerings of our country.

"I would love to go down on your wife." I am convinced. My husband, is nuts. How else could you explain him fixing his lips to encourage me to have sex with a woman, who is also a stranger... ON OUR ANNIVERSARY? What kind of woman does he think I am? I’ve never been interested in being with a woman and I never will be… I don't care how much he begs me. I don't care how much SHE begs me... Still, there's something about this breathtakingly gorgeous, mysterious woman that is intriguing. As much as I want to tell her to go to hell and reject her... As much as I want to deny my husband his ...

A veritable library of listening in this splendid collection of American Short Stories! This boxed set includes all stories from Volumes 1, 2 and 3.

The town of Ebonton was well on its way to being the next "Black Wall Street", For the people of that town, the goal was to live lives of peace, to raise families and build up their community. But things are never that simple for Black people it seems. A faction from a couple towns over in a place called Haron Oaks had plans for the men, women and children of Ebonton, and their plans meant a lot of bloodshed.

Previously published as Deadly Secrets: Hidden Guilt by Madalena Melchior. SECRET GUILT London, 1905. Under the pretext of retrieving some books he has left behind at Number 221B, Sherlock Holmes temporarily trades his small farm upon the Downs, five miles from Eastbourne, and his beehives, for Baker Street. Before he has time to unpack his Gladstone, however, there's already a client at the door asking for his help with a case. So much for retirement...

Seamlessly transitioning between the absurd and the tenderhearted, balancing acerbic humor with sharp emotional depth, Afterparties offers an expansive portrait of the lives of Cambodian Americans. As the children of refugees carve out radical new paths for themselves in California, they shoulder the inherited weight of the Khmer Rouge genocide and grapple with the complexities of race, sexuality, friendship, and family.

Electronic Gags presents a chilling portrait of a dystopian United States ruled by a tyrant. After a military coup, the United States of America becomes an autocracy. To tighten his grip on power, President Brandon Ward, the megalomaniac at the helm of military dictatorship, introduces a new surveillance system that can monitor people’s offline conversations. Privacy is dead. Freddie’s life changes when the government arrests his best friend, Michael, for attending an opposition meeting. Michael’s mother accuses Freddie of betraying her son. Against all odds, Freddie must prove his ...

Ember- Has known so much loss. Her heart couldn't possibly take any more. So, when her husband sees that she may have to deal with another heartbreak, he devises a plan to save her and their life together. Will she find out what he's done and stand with him through thick and thin? Parks-loves his wife and loves using his wealth to help those who need a hand up. After linking up with an old football rival who has fallen on hard times, he does what he always does, lends a helping hand. But, when his family is in danger, will he keep that same energy for his new friend? Or will he sacrifice ...

For those readers of his poetry and inspired by his increasingly vital work as advocate for rational land use and the right-size life, these stories of Wendell Berry's offer entry into the fictional place of value and beauty that is Port William, Kentucky. Berry has said it's taken a lifetime for him to learn to write like an old man, and that's what we have here, stories told with grace and ease and majesty. Wendell Berry is one of our greatest living American authors, writing with the wisdom of maturity and the incandescence that comes of love.

From the universally acclaimed author of Breath, Eyes, Memory and Krik? Krak!, a brilliant, deeply moving work of fiction that explores the world of a "dew breaker", a torturer, a man whose brutal crimes in the country of his birth lie hidden beneath his new American reality.

This is a short story prequel to the full length novel "Embracing the Darkness" by Renee Tarot. One Night Can Change Everything Nevayah Wilson is ready to embrace all that Yale has to offer—new experiences, new friendships, and maybe even love. When she meets DeMarco Thomas, a confident and ambitious business student, their connection is undeniable. His touch lingers, his words ignite something deep inside her, and for the first time in a long time, she feels like she’s exactly where she’s meant to be. But fate has other plans. After a night that should have been ordinary, everything ...

The stories in Five-Carat Soul - none of them ever published before - spring from the place where identity, humanity, and history converge. They’re funny and poignant, insightful and unpredictable, imaginative and authentic - all told with McBride’s unrivaled storytelling skill and meticulous eye for character and detail. McBride explores the ways we learn from the world and the people around us. An antiques dealer discovers that a legendary toy commissioned by Civil War General Robert E. Lee now sits in the home of a black minister in Queens.

Danielle Evans is widely acclaimed for her blisteringly smart voice and X-ray insights into complex human relationships. With The Office of Historical Corrections, Evans zooms in on particular moments and relationships in her characters’ lives in a way that allows them to speak to larger issues of race, culture, and history. She introduces us to Black and multiracial characters who are experiencing the universal confusions of lust and love, and getting walloped by grief - all while exploring how history haunts us, personally and collectively.

All is well with longshoreman Uncle Eddie, kindhearted Aunt Beatrice and live-in niece Catherine until the secret guests from Italy arrive and Uncle Eddie turns from generous and welcoming to jealous, difficult and self-serving resulting in disastrous encounters and dark consequences, as a Greek modern tragedy. The story is set in working-class 1950s Brooklyn, in the Red Hook neighborhood with “a view from the bridge.” The book is the prose version of Arthur Miller’s 1955 play and it is perfect for a pleasant and intensive reading. It comes with an introduction, with notes and ...

Eight exciting classic American Tall Tales! This collection includes the famed stories of Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Stormalong, Mike Fink, Davy Crockett, Johnny Appleseed, John Henry, and Joe Magarac.

Welcome back to Mill Ridge for a special holiday treat! A woman hiding her beauty - An ex-ranger hiding his flaws - Can these two misfits find the spirit of Christmas this holiday or will they run in the opposite direction? Erin Steel knows the people of Mill Ridge can't stand her and she's not complaining. As the former representative from the Teachers Association, she knows moving to Mill Ridge will enable her to live her life in solitude. Hiding her beauty is one thing, but when a man with an eye patch draws her out of her shell, she is determined to avoid him at all costs. Former Texas ...

Here are 10 unabridged stories by the greatest American authors. These treasured stories from the most influential authors of the 19th and early 20th centuries were selected for their literary importance as well as their dramatic oral qualities.

When power, magic, and betrayal collide, survival isn’t just instinct—it’s strategy. Shadows of Miami: A Short Story by Renee Tarot: A Gripping Urban Fantasy of Power, Secrets, and Survival Step into the dark, alluring world of Shadows of Miami, where ancient Yoruba secrets collide with the pulse of a thriving city. Nefah Pantera, a fiercely determined woman with mid-back locs and the ability to shift into a sleek black panther, is on a mission to protect the sacred knowledge of her Nigerian ancestors. But her quest to stop an influential and enigmatic clan, led by the magnetic Jeph ...

It’s 1974 in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and 15-year-old Justine grows up in a family of tough, complicated, and loyal women, presided over by her mother, Lula, and Granny. After Justine’s father abandoned the family, Lula became a devout member of the Holiness Church - a community that Justine at times finds stifling and terrifying. But Justine does her best as a devoted daughter, until an act of violence sends her on a different path forever.

Roxie Stillwater’s father gets her a job with his oldest friend, the CEO of a software company, Griffin Graham. Roxie and Griff form an instant attraction and connection – but Griff is old enough to be her father. How can she have a love relationship with her boss? What will her father say? Roxie knows her dad will kill them both if he finds out. And yet more trouble arrives when Griff’s ex-wife decides she wants Griff for her own. Sneaking behind her father’s back makes Roxie very uncomfortable, but she’s helplessly falling in love with Griff. Nor does she dare tell her dad. How ...