American Short

Even the saved struggle when navigating their way through love. This much could definitely be said for the Fold family's youngest child and only son, Chadwick. Looking for love was never on Chad's list of things to do, until he held Taya in his arms on a dance floor and watched God laugh at his plans. She was beautiful in a way that caught his eyes and his heart. Foreign feelings that wouldn't fade had him questioning his sanity.

Here are eight stories from master American writers of the 19th century. They vary from sinister tales by Ambrose Bierce - why is that window boarded up? - and a reflective moment in the life of a woman without children, but forced to look after children, to classic short stories by O. Henry and Stephen Crane. There is even an elegiac description of an eclipse by James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Last of the Mohicans.

In ancient mythology, the Titan Prometheus was punished by the gods for bringing man the gift of fire - an event that set humankind on its course of knowledge. As punishment, Prometheus was bound to a rock. But in The Gift of Fire, those chains cease to be, and the great champion of man walks from that immortal prison into present-day South Central Los Angeles. Disheveled and lost, he is thrown in jail, where he meets lifelong criminal Nosome Blane....

What if they weren't what you prayed for? Do you stay? In the 1st book of The Twisted Lessons Collection, Nellie gets tired of her bible preaching, cheating husband and plots a twisted revenge. Oh, what a twisted lesson she will mend when first she practices to get revenge.

Widely acclaimed as a progenitor of 20th-century Latin American fiction, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839-1908), the son of a mulatto father and a washerwoman, was hailed in his lifetime as Brazil's greatest writer. His prodigious output of novels, plays, and stories rivaled contemporaries like Chekhov, Flaubert, and Maupassant, but, shockingly, he was barely translated into English until 1963, and still lacks proper recognition today.

Lion, bear, and wolf shifters and their mates heat up the pages in these swoonworthy romances. From crime bosses with hidden agendas to evil doers with plans for a shifter types and brave and curvy women who are ready for their mates, the stories in this series will melt your heart. JACE A lion shifter. In a clan of shifters, the lions are considered most powerful and respected. Jace is headstrong, willful, has fun with women but doesn’t see the big rush to find a mate. His father lays it on the line: If he’s to head the clan one day, he needs to find his bride. He resents being told ...

Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi and featuring some of the most acclaimed best-selling black authors writing for teens today - Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and black in America. A selection of the Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List.

From the bustling streets of America to the quiet mountain towns in rural China, this captivating collection of short stories spans continents and cultures, weaving a tapestry of universal human experiences. Each tale offers a unique glimpse into lives shaped by love, betrayal, and the search for identity. These stories, by turns humorous and poignant, explore the intricate threads that connect us all—the joy of friendship, the pain of betrayal, the challenges of coming of age, and the bittersweet realities of leaving one's homeland. With its rich diversity of settings and emotions, this ...

Zane’s erotic writing has captivated a legion of fans. Her previous short story collection not only became a best seller but also delivered fully on its promise—exploding the myth that men are more sexual in nature than women and that African American women are particularly inhibited. This second volume of Sex Chronicles is Zane’s hottest collection yet. Smart, witty, and extremely sexy, these stories are tailored to women—but perfect for lovers to share.

Here is the original manuscript of Raymond Carver's seminal 1981 collection, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Carver is one of the most celebrated short-story writers in American literature - his style is both instantly recognizable and hugely influential - and the pieces in What We Talk About..., which portray the gritty loves and lives of the American working class, are counted among the foundation stones of the contemporary short story.

Kirkus Reviews writes: "Two richly textured, captivating tales of inappropriate romance. Young's two tales explore families, school groups, and small towns beset by buried secrets and unspoken desires." Joseph and Mary: A Family Romance is set in Phoenix in 1978 and Rec Park: A Small-Town Romance in a coastal community outside of Los Angeles in the early years of the twenty-first century. These two short novels are by the author of the highly praised Blue and Other Stories.

From one of Granta's Best of Young American Novelists comes Certain American States, whose insightful and lonely stories beg you to discover the emotional universes hiding at their cores. Catherine Lacey brings her narrative mastery to Certain American States, her first collection of short stories. As with her acclaimed novels, she gives life to a group of subtly complex, instantly memorable characters whose searches for love, struggles with grief, and tentative journeys into the minutiae of the human condition are simultaneously gripping and devastating.

In these buoyant and inventive stories, Karen Tei Yamashita transfers classic tales across boundaries and questions what an inheritance - familial, cultural, emotional, artistic - really means. In a California of the '60s and '70s, characters examine the contents of deceased relatives' freezers, tape-record high school locker-room chatter, or collect a community's gossip while cleaning the teeth of its inhabitants.

Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories brings together 15 stories that span Hisaye Yamamoto's 40-year career. It was her first book to be published in the United States. Yamamoto's themes include the cultural conflicts between the first generation, the Issei and their children, the Nisei; coping with prejudice; and the World War II internment of Japanese Americans.

Hot Mr. Scrooge is my neighbor. Hope The man loathes Christmas. What person doesn’t warm up to the best holiday of the year? The cabin I purchased mentioned it needed light work, not a gut renovation. Looks nothing like the picture. The brooding beast next door said he’d help spruce up the place if it will get me to leave him alone. Deal. Because who wants to be around the Grinch longer than they have to? Even if he’s tall. Has a gorgeous face you can stare at all day. And a body you’d love to mount on your sleigh repeatedly. Then I wondered could I help Mr. Non-Christmas ...

“If her mother ever finds out what I want to do to her daughter, she’s going to kill me. Crazy Religious Mom from Carrie style.” I have a can’t say no problem. I can’t say no to a beautiful face, a banging body and a pretty smile. And when that body is attached to a girl like Neisha? Resisting temptation is damn near impossible. Neisha is the full package: Thick, beautiful, young… 18… And ready to learn. She and her mom stay right next door to me. Her mom is an over the top religious zealous bigot who is on the main line with Jesus DAILY. The last thing I need to be thinking ...

Take a ride down Route 66 in a '55 Crown Vic. Shield your nose and eyes from the dust as Okies leave for California. Drink strong coffee in an all-night diner. Hear a haunting train whistle in Gallup, New Mexico. Investigate a death on old 66. Take a last ride on a faithful Apaloosa and watch the sunset over a majestic saquero cactus. Feel Andy Payne's pain as he pounds the road to New York. Lost on Route 66 is an anthology of essays and short stories about the fabled highway that is filled with mystery, suspense, adventure and humor. Don't miss it.

Step into a world of wit, wisdom, and wild misadventures in Fools, Frogs, & Folktales, a delightful collection of American short stories that celebrate the humor, quirks, and tall tales of generations past. This anthology gathers twenty timeless stories from literary greats like Mark Twain, O. Henry, and Jack London, alongside other masterful storytellers whose words bring to life the foolish, the clever, and the downright peculiar.

Many black artists nowadays, whether in rap, hip pop, pop, or another genre, have caused American teens and many others to be influenced by their slang, fashion, and their way of entertainment.

A livewire debut from Dantiel W. Moniz, one of the most exciting discoveries in today's literary landscape, Milk Blood Heat depicts the sultry lives of Floridians in intergenerational tales that contemplate human connection, race, womanhood, inheritance, and the elemental darkness in us all. Set among the cities and suburbs of Florida, each story delves into the ordinary worlds of young girls, women, and men who find themselves confronted by extraordinary moments of violent personal reckoning.