Modern Short Stories

"Some rules are meant to be broken... and some temptations are impossible to resist." ELA: I've scrubbed floors and scoured pans to earn this chance at becoming a pastry chef on the luxurious Celestial Odyssey. One wild night with a mysterious older stranger was supposed to calm my nerves before starting my new job. Instead, it may have ruined everything. Because my new boss? He's the commanding chef who rocked my world last night. PHILIP: My kitchen is my kingdom, and I rule it with exacting standards and an iron fist. But when my new pastry chef trainee walks in wearing a crisp uniform ...

Fantasy fans rejoice! Seven years after writer and editor Robert Silverberg made publishing history with Legends, the acclaimed anthology of original short novels by some of the greatest writers in fantasy fiction, the long-awaited second volume is here.

What if the real horror isn’t the ghost… but the truth it reveals? In this chilling collection, ghosts don’t just haunt—they unravel mysteries, distort reality, and change lives forever. From eerie whispers that hide sinister secrets to spectral encounters that shift the fabric of existence, each story will keep you guessing until the final, haunting twist. Inside, you’ll find: A forgotten house that never existed… or did it? A reflection that moves just a little too slowly. A babysitter who realizes her job might last forever. A missing roommate who was never supposed to be ...

Three mountain men with one goal in mind: finding a wife! Includes The Mountain Man’s Muse, The Mountain Man’s Cure, and The Mountain Man’s North Star.

This collection includes all three novels in The Shadow Changeling Series, a Colin McCool Junkyard Druid spin-off series set in M.D. Massey's Druidverse® urban fantasy setting. If you enjoy dark urban fantasy books featuring haunted antiheroes in the tradition of Snape, Walker Boh, and Constantine, you'll love this story about a shadow wizard who's searching for his long lost human family.

Like the creation myths they supersede, the revelations of science are seared into our collective imagination through storytelling. From Archimedes' bath to Newton's apple, vivid accounts of scientific discovery help us understand the principles behind each theory, and add to the larger narrative of how the universe works, and how we came to be here. This anthology draws out and distils science's love of narrative from a wide range of scientific disciplines, weaving theory into very human stories.

Today is the day I marry a complete stranger. I don’t know anything about him as he was matched with me by the producers of the dating TV show, Marrying a Stranger. As I walk down the aisle, I am shocked to find out he’s white. As a black woman, I never expected to marry a white man, however the more I get to know him, the more I fall for him. Our wedding day was beautiful, but our wedding night was even hotter. This steamy BWWM interracial romance is 3,500 words long and is for mature readers only.

Sound Mind is a collection of poetry inspired by the struggles we face to embrace our true colours. The first half is a short novel written in rhyme and verse. The Second half is a collection of poems written by the author during the creative process. “Sound Mind”; Aura, a wolf born of many colours finds himself fighting to live his dreams as a singer/songwriter while maintaining the old traditions of his pack. This narrative poem stretches ninety-two pages and includes paintings created by the author. Excerpt from Sound Mind: The Valley As the pup’s tip toe, they notice the rituals ...

Have you ever asked “What’s it all for?” or “Is my life enough?” Jack finds himself back at the local pub after another monotonous day at work asking himself these very questions. From an outside perspective, Jack has a good job and a supportive family, but somehow it’s not fulfilling his true desires, which has created a deep sadness. Seeing Jack’s hopelessness, the bartender, Lloyd, suggests a short story for him to read about a cowboy going through similar struggles in wanting better for his family and his life. Jack is not much of a reader, but finds some solace in ...

The time is the early '80s. The characters go to the same schools and eat at the same restaurants. Their voices enfold us as seamlessly as those of DJs heard over a car radio. They have sex with the same boys and girls and buy from the same dealers. In short, they are connected in the only way people can be in that city.

Raconteurs Audio and Spoken Realms team up once again to bring this second collection of short stories by H. G. Wells to audio. Written between 1894 and 1902, this anthology of 13 stories delves into botany, flying machines, travel, distant lands and customs, virology, magic, taxidermy, journalism - and there’s even a ghost story.

Best-selling urban fantasy and paranormal suspense author M.D. Massey welcomes listeners back to the world of the Junkyard Druid for his third short story collection. Blood Bound includes "Voodoo Ball", "Prince Mark's Price", and "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do".

When Rip Van Winkle disappeared in that old colonial tale, was his over-worked wife suspected of murder? What about Cinderella—did she get on in the castle like everyone said, or was that fairy tale just fiction? These questions and more in the mystery of faulty expectations and quirky twists. Stories include: EVER AFTER: When the fairy tale ended long before intended, Cinderella wasn’t the only one without a happily-ever-after. ALL THE LUCK: Things went from good to perfect when she won a honeymoon trip with a raffle ticket . . . except for what happened next—is she suspect, or ...

I.L. Peretz, the acknowledged "Father of Yiddish Literature", captured the essence of Eastern European Jewish life. He wrote of the magical quality of kindness, and the bitter fruits of blind faith.

Deep within the cold, primordial forest and the Algonquin people's consciousness lives the Wendigo: a towering, emaciated being with translucent skin draped over its skeletal frame like a veil of mortality. Its hollow eyes gleam like fiery coals, emanating a malevolent crimson glow that mirrors its unquenchable craving for human flesh. An extraterrestrial shifter, stranded on our planet millennia ago, assumes the forms of not only humans but also hideous creatures in order to survive. The story of the Wendigo spans millennia, entwining native folklore with modern-day mysteries.

Flowers in the Rain & Other Stories collects sixteen of #1 New York Times bestselling author Rosamunde Pilcher’s romantic tales set across Britain from the Scottish countryside to the city of London.

Twenty-plus intimate sci-fi stories from the heights and depths of the fractal universe. The stories you’ve dreamed of; the people you crave to meet; or would love to be. The aliens who’d make you shiver, or laugh. The huge risks of guiding your spacecraft here, or there. The adventures you’d have if only you had the nerve… Or the utter romance of doing that… The lighter side; the humour of orbital disasters and alien conflicts; the perils of ill-advised time-interference; the sheer romance of null-gravity love; the terrors of a leaky hull; the fear of a bullying boss when ...

College never felt this exhilarating. I felt crushed under the weight of college life, watching my confidence shrink with each passing day as I pined after a girl I couldn't bring myself to approach. Then Claire walked into my life with her knowing smile and an offer I couldn't refuse - she'd teach me everything I needed to know about being a man. My education started in this little café downtown, the kind of place where the coffee came in actual cups and the pastries looked like art. But it was her home that changed everything--that first night with her blew past every fumbling fantasy ...

An exploited child worker in the silver mines of Bolivia finds an ally – but at what cost? A young woman's affair has terrifying repercussions when her lover's wife dies. A sailor's wife takes her communion with Nature a little too far…From a hungry young woman who is not what she seems, to a boy who has taken his mother's advice a little too seriously; from disfigured girls willing to pay any price to fit in, to an immigrant who cannot escape his tormentor; from a new home with a sinister secret, this collection plumbs the depths of the psyche and dredges up some very modern horrors.

More than 24 hours of Druids, dragons, demigods, and danger fill this modern Arthurian epic omnibus set! Legacies are forged through sacrifice.