Dark Comedy Short Stories

Tony Hunt, author of 'Geordie Boy - small events in a child's life', has taken a darker turn with this collection of short stories, centred around the volunteers who work in a Lake District charity shop. The five stories are linked in parallel; each story standing alone, but as you listen to each one, a fuller picture appears of the strains and stresses that afflict people who have retired to the Lakes to seek serenity, but instead find themselves at the mercy of events.

The star of this crime comedy short story knows the secret to being a real man in full and he needs to share it with you. Of course, you have a full pitcher of beer and all his chaos is someone else's problem. This funny wild ride ends with his very questionable wisdom.

A Mariner's Guide to Self Sabotage is populated by the lonely and alienated, holders of secrets, members (or would-be members) of shadowy organizations, screw-ups, joyriders, and runaways. Architects of their own destruction, Gaston's characters provoke an almost mythic response of simultaneous disbelief and recognition, as they painfully, deliberately, stubbornly carve a path for themselves, questioning every turn. Yet somehow, in spite of themselves, they sometimes manage to stumble into peace and even wisdom.

Mystical. Weird. Hilarious. It's a tale of idiots. It's a tale of life. A dumb cast of characters you have to see to believe. The surgeon on an acid trip. The lazy Uncle who fuses with his favorite chair. The boy who comes back from the dead for revenge. Bootsy Collins. What do these people have in common? About as much as you have with Kevin Bacon.

From an acclaimed and original writer comes a new collection of stories bursting with absurdist plot twists and laced with trenchant wit. The title story delivers a cringingly biting dissection of racial attitudes in contemporary America, and Clarke also turns his eagle eye to subjects like PTSD, the fate of child actors, and, most especially, marital discord in stories like "Considering Lizzie Borden, Her Axe, My Wife" and "The Misunderstandings".

Sie lieben sich, sie hassen und sie töten sich – mit Alpenveilchen, Christrosen oder Eisenhut denn gegen alle(s) ist ein tödliches Kraut gewachsen, egal, ob ausgediente Ehemänner, alte Widersacher, verhasste Haustiere oder nervende Nachbarn. Wenn böse Menschen die hohe Kunst der botanischen Giftmischerei zelebrieren, wird es mörderisch spannend – bis zum letzten Blatt.

Set in the author’s native Belfast, the ten stories in Sweet Home lay bare the heartbreak and quiet tragedies that run under the surface of everyday lives. A lonely woman is fascinated by her niqab-wearing neighbours; a middle-aged teacher becomes obsessed with a young Gaelic football player; and an employer covers for his two employees caught having sex in a public toilet.

Her voice is her brand. It’s also kind of a public safety concern. Marinella’s streaming channel serves up immersive sound, chill vibes, and just enough siren magic to keep her audience blissed out—without triggering another spontaneous group swim. But with sponsorships vanishing and rent climbing, she’s running out of ways to keep things ethical, engaging, and technically legal. Enter WaveSound: a glossy audio-tech giant with prototype headphones, aggressive KPIs, and one marketing director who’s a little too enthusiastic about her “authentic resonance.” They want her ...

Death. It’s a part of life and something we all must accept. Whether it be our own demise or losing a loved one, the experience of death is both sobering and surreal. My Dad Is Dead is a group of related short stories that explore that dichotomy through the eyes of a kid. In George Verongos’ second book, he turns childhood memories into “fictionally enhanced” tales (he made us say that, he’s trying to make it a thing).

As children we can’t help but dream of all of the amazing things that we will accomplish. Then life happens. We get a job, we get a house, and we get into debt. We settle. We trade away our youth for security in old age. We spend countless hours performing mundane tasks that leave us depleted and empty. Our souls crave meaning, but we are too afraid to make any change.

In a quartet of tribute tales from theses authors that both idolize and have recently encountered Hank's works, the voice of the poet laureate of the gutter is restored, so that once more the good duker can take a swing.

En este libro, una decena y media de autores utiliza como recurso la cara más negra del humor mexicano para relatar anécdotas, digamos, un poco extremas: hay suicidas que se encuentran, fantasmas que deben morir, payasos combustibles, burócratas perdedores, niñas buenas que deben cometer un solo acto de relativa maldad… Pero el oyente no debe temer, esos extremos solo van de lo desopilante a lo macabro. Un libro que quizá te mate de risa.

SF 소설가 곽재식의 소설은 당연히 SF적인 내용을 담고 있습니다. 이 단편집만 해도 초공간 도약 항법도 나오고, 인공지능도 몇 가지 나오고, 외계인과의 퍼스트 컨택트도 나옵니다.

When the world is ending around you do you just give up and die, or find a reason to make the best out of a bad situation? For John Earl and his friends, Luke and Anna, the unthinkable has happened and they can either stay put and hope "they", that mysterious they people are always going on about, will show up to save them, or they can do what they normally do and turn this into an adventure. They decide that hanging around, waiting to either become part of a giant barbecue or zombie bait, just isn't on their bucket list and head out for one last adventure before the end of the world ...

In steel-tipped prose, Craig Davidson conjures up a bleak world populated by hardscrabble pugilists, fighting dogs, sex addicts, and others held captive by their own bad luck and bad decisions. Visceral and with a dark urgency, Rust and Bone is a strikingly original debut.

The characters in this extraordinary book are often - on the surface - depraved, vicious, cowardly and manipulative, but their essential humanity is never undermined. Two professors of philosophy turn pugilists; Leith removal men become the objects of desire for Hollywood goddesses; God turns Boab Coyle into a house-fly; and in the novella, 'A Smart Cunt', the drug-addled young hero spins off on a collision course with his past.

One obnoxious English teacher. Twelve tales of his death. Norton Edwards, English department head, is the reigning despot in Canterbury High. This year, his colleagues have had enough. This year, they're getting rid of Mr. Edwards. In this collection of darkly tongue-in-cheek stories, Mr. Edwards dies, tale after tale.

Canadian author James K. Moran's debut collection of dark fiction offers fantasy, sci-fi, and horror shot through with hope and friendship.

Strange Tales of the Curiously Uncommon is a collection of darkly humorous short stories, each with a cunning twist in the tale. When extraordinary events befall some of London's most ordinary of inhabitants, unexpected turns lead to some witty, strange, sometimes shocking yet ultimately gratifying results.

There is a distinct surreal quality to some (including "Exposure" and "And Now Let's Have Some Fun"), a strong sense of irony (as in "You Too Can Graduate in Three Years with an Advanced Degree in Contextual Semiotics"), and moments of awkward and therefore very real grapplings with sex and romance (most especially in "The Rescues" and the title story, "Welcome Thieves").