Short Century

There is simply no A-Z like the alphabet of fiction writers who have appeared in the pages of The New Yorker in the last hundred years. The book boasts inarguable classics like Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” Annie Proulx’s “Brokeback Mountain,” and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” alongside stunners to be rediscovered. Some stories defined a moment or a now-lost world (Isaac Bashevis Singer’s “The Cafeteria”); others showed us a whole new way fiction could sound and feel (“The Red Girl,” by Jamaica Kincaid).

The historical twentieth century began with the First World War in 1914 and ended seventy-five years later with the collapse of the Soviet Empire in 1989. The short century saw the end of European dominance and the rise of American power and influence throughout the world. The twentieth century was an American century-perhaps the American century.

Imogene is young, beautiful . . . and dead, waiting in the Rosebud Theater one afternoon in 1945. . . . Francis was human once, but now he's an eight-foot-tall locust, and everyone in Calliphora will tremble when they hear him sing. . . . John is locked in a basement stained with the blood of half a dozen murdered children, and an antique telephone, long since disconnected, rings at night with calls from the dead.

This book is about an idea - namely, that Scripture mandates a Jewish return to the historical region of Palestine - which in turn morphed into a political movement, rallied around a popular slogan ("A country without a nation for a nation without a country"), and eventually contributed to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Christian Zionism continues to influence global politics, especially US foreign policy, and has deeply affected Jewish-Christian and Muslim-Christian relations.

Eddie Carroll is sick to death of editing the collection America's Best New Horror, sick of reading through second-rate stories in order to find the few "best new". But one afternoon he stumbles across a new story so remarkable that he soon embarks on a quixotic quest to find its author - a quest he may not live to regret.

Orochi, the king of the dragons, has ordered his brothers and sisters to destroy humanity. It falls to a young hero to assemble a team and stop the dragons' rampage. It falls to the Century Blade. This is a short story set in the world of the award-winning Mortal Techniques. It is designed to be listened to as a stand-alone story, completely independent from the full-length novels set in the same world.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. They can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. In this Century of profound change for women our Atlantic neighbours produced authors of extraordinary ability that dazzled us all with a range of ideas, characters and stories of such magnificence that literature would never be the same again. Genius is written in their names.

Throughout Proust's life, nine of his short stories remained unseen - the writer never spoke of them. Why did he choose not to publish them along with the others? One possible answer is that he was developing his themes in preparation for his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time; another is that the stories were too audacious - too near to life - for the censorious society of the time. In these stories, published here for the first time, we find an intimate picture of a young author full of darkness and melancholy, longing to reveal his true self to the world.

The most renowned American authors in Western fiction are brought together in one bang 'em-up, shoot-it-out collection! Including titles by Louis L'Amour, Brian Garfield, Marcia Muller, Bill Pronzini, Thomas Thompson, John M. Cunningham, Chad Oliver, Donald Hamilton, Loren D. Estleman and Owen Wister.

A baker abandoned and overlooked due to a childhood injury, she's longing for love and acceptance. A reclusive blacksmith who prefers horses to people. Can they find a way to co-exist or, even better, forge a partnership of the romantic kind? Abandoned as a child, Georgia knows first-hand the results of chasing rainbows, searching for the proverbial pot of gold. That same lure called her father to California, leaving her to grow up in a children’s home. Even though she knows that there is little value in depending on anyone but herself, buried in her heart is the dream of her own happily ...

Francis is unhappy. Francis is picked on. Francis doesn't have a life, a hope, a chance. Francis was human once, but that's behind him. Now he's an eight-foot-tall locust, and all of Calliphora, Nevada, will shudder to hear him sing.

A woman running from her past, a confirmed bachelor determined to protect his heart, and a town committed to sharing the Christmas spirit. Can a Christmas quilt be the spark that ignites their love, melts their stubborn resolve, and uncovers their hidden desire? Twenty-one-year-old Olive is sick of living her father's lifestyle as an itinerant preacher turned peddler. The latest tar-and-feather incident has made her desperate enough to enlist in a matchmaking venture, of all things—anything to escape further humiliation. Olive accepts a job as a seamstress in Carrie Town, Texas, where ...

In the 12 unforgettable tales of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, the strange is made familiar and the familiar strange, such that a girl growing wings on her legs feels like an ordinary rite of passage, while a bug-infested house becomes an impossible Kafkaesque nightmare. Each story builds a new world all its own: A group of children steal a haunted doll; a runaway bride encounters a sea monster; a vendor sells toy boxes that seemingly control the passage of time; an insomniac is seduced by the Sandman.

A walk around the block, a quick drive, before shutting down your PC ? these short story collections are perfect for when you only have a few minutes to listen."

The New York Times best-selling author continues his colonial-era thriller series with eight tales of mystery, adventure, and supernatural suspense.

From mystery and crime to romance and tragedy, in this collection you will discover award-winning writing that effortlessly spans genre and style. Witness the excess and luxury of 1920s America in The Great Gatsby, experience profound meditations on death in The Bridge of San Luis Rey, as well as Poirot's very first murder case in The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

Ever worried that your golden years might be filled with moments of boredom? Picture yourself cozying up with stories so good they turn "another quiet evening" into "a walk down memory lane." From the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s, & 80s to today, each story captures the essence of a different era, celebrating love, friendship, family, and the simple joys that make life beautiful. Whether you're reminiscing about the past or discovering these moments for the first time, this book is the perfect companion for a cozy afternoon.

Livia Andersen was a woman who held her family together with a quiet smile and an iron will. It’s been months since her death and her children and grandchildren she leaves behind continue to grapple with the shifting changes in their lives now that she’s gone. For some of them it is about far more than adjusting to her absence in their lives. Trisha Andersen doesn’t do anything without careful deliberation. She can’t remember the last time she made plans involving a man that had her questioning her own judgment. Maybe it’s the simple fact that she’s never made plans with a man ...

All you need to know about this great collection of the best mystery stories from the past century are the names of the great authors inside: Robert Bernard, Robert Bloch, Lawrence Block, Anthony Boucher, Frederic Brown, James M. Cain, Max Allan Collins, Jeffery Deaver, Stanley Ellin, Harlan Ellison, Erle Stanley Gardner, Ed Gorman, Anna Katharine Green, Jeremiah Healy, Patricia Highsmith, Reginald Hill, Tony Hillerman, Evan Hunter, Stephen King, and more.

A perilous voyage by sea, the difficulties of life in a new country, new friends, and one terrible event, challenge Mette Jensen as she leaves her home in Haderslev, Schleswig determined to start a new life beyond the reach of Prussian Soldiers. With Denmark still reeling from the effects of war over the ownership of Schleswig, two Danish sisters make the difficult decision to leave their homeland. The men of Schleswig, on the border between Denmark and Germany, have already left in droves to avoid being drafted into the Prussian army, and a recruiter from New Zealand has been traveling ...