Short Days

Did you ever wish you could tell a story that leaves others spellbound? Storytelling teacher and champion Margot Leitman will show you how! With a fun, irreverent, and infographic approach, this guide breaks a story into concrete components with ways to improve content, structure, emotional impact, and delivery through personal anecdotes, relatable examples, and practical exercises.

For thousands of years, we have set out sailing for all kinds of reasons - for battle, for infinite wealth, for the excitement of exploring the unknown, and for escape from the mundane. We have always had a primal relationship with the sea - even those who have never been to sea remain fascinated by the seafaring life and tales of salty adventure. Now in a brand–new series collection, The Best Sailing Stories Ever Told brings together such diverse authors as Charles Dickens, Jack London, John Masefield, Stephen Crane, Herman Melville, and dozens more.

In a story of perseverance and determination told with warmth and sparkling with humor, a short winter day finds Samuel and Papa walking a long road on Samuel's first trading trip. Meeting strangers, practicing good manners, and proud to be in Papa's company, Samuel watches and learns as Papa trades up from almost nothing to the milk cow Mama is yearning for. Simple text combines with vivid illustrations for a satisfying tale that will resonate with readers who enjoy an adventure with dad.

Patty Durham was an only child and was teased about being ugly as she grew up. The children used to tell her that her parents stopped having children when they saw how ugly she was! Of course, their cruel words would make her cry...and then they enjoyed teasing her more. Patty was fortunate to have a very loving mother who told her when she grew up, she would be prettier than any of the other girls that made fun of her. She always hoped her mother would be right! Her mother sent her away to finishing school...and while she was gone, Patty received a message informing her of her mother's ...

From the Thurber Prize-winning author of New Teeth, hailed as “a triumph of sustained humor” (Sarah Lyall, New York Times Book Review), comes a hilarious and powerful collection of short stories chronicling the plight of aging millennials. ​

Everyone deserves to get away for a bit. Even the miscreants at St Mary's. Astonishingly, Dr. Bairstow has declared a holiday. Even more astonishingly - he's paying for it. Needless to say, there are strings attached. They have to record the 1601 performance of Hamlet, with Shakespeare himself in the role of the Ghost. It doesn't go well, of course.

Alice Haddison hunts monsters. The kind that get up after she shoots them. It's not a great hobby, but it's the one she's got. She's good at it because she's had so much practice. They always seem to come to where she is. She can put them down so hard they stop getting up. The local police are not happy with Alice and her hobby, they arrest her a lot. But Alice has friends in high places, they want her out there and attracting monsters for them. It makes for a crowded schedule. Follow Alice on her busy day of monster hunting!

Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by 12 best-selling young adult writers and edited by international best-selling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair, and grab your sunglasses. You have 12 reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

A well-meaning dad frets because his fifth-grade daughter dresses as Dracula for the first day of school in this funny short tale. Haunted by his own memories of childhood insecurity, he nervously awaits the call from school.

Siobhán O'Sullivan's hopes for a quiet Irish Christmas are dashed when the local Santa turns up dead in a carnival dunk tank of hot cocoa. Now, instead of hunting down holiday gifts, she's pursuing a heartless killer. Seems the dead Santa was no angel either, stealing neighborhood dogs to guide his sleigh. But was it his holiday antics - or worse - that led to his death by chocolate?

The “best short story writer in English” (Time) is back with a masterful collection that explores ideas of power, ethics, and justice, and cuts to the very heart of what it means to live in community with our fellow humans. With his trademark prose—wickedly funny, unsentimental, and perfectly tuned—Saunders continues to challenge and surprise: here is a collection of prismatic, deeply resonant stories that encompass joy and despair, oppression and revolution, bizarre fantasy and brutal reality.

Speed wins. And successful people build their lives around “Strategic Sprints”. Discover the power to accelerate your success, and gain total control over your mind, your body, your emotions, your relationships, and your future.

From its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine Black Mask published pulp crime fiction. The first hard-boiled detective stories appeared on its pages. Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and John D. MacDonald got their start in Black Mask. The urban crime stories that appeared in Black Mask helped to shape American culture. Modern computer games, films, and television are rooted in the fiction popularized by “the seminal and venerated mystery pulp magazine” ( Booklist).

Acclaimed in her own time for her short story “The Lottery” and her novel The Haunting of Hill House - classics ranking with the work of Edgar Allan Poe - Shirley Jackson blazed a path for contemporary writers with her explorations of evil, madness, and cruelty. Soon after her untimely death in 1965, Jackson’s children discovered a treasure trove of previously unpublished and uncollected stories, many of which are brought together in this remarkable collection.

How businesses can harness the power of online consumer reviews. More than seventy percent of consumers now consult online reviews before making purchases, and they take those picks and pans very seriously. A disgruntled but ignorant customer on Yelp might have more clout than any expert guidebook, magazine article, or newspaper critic. No wonder many businesses feel terrified by the review-driven marketplace.

A couple awakens in a home in the woods to find themselves rapidly aging as their toddler remains unchanged. A work-worn employee navigates conspiracy theories and the threat of violence in an abandoned office. A tour guide leads a troublesome group to an ancient structure, apparently nonhuman in origin, discovering along the way that the most mysterious creatures of all are right beside him.

Nine stories that will redefine your fears from the fairy tales and nursery rhymes of your childhood. A small town hires a unique exterminator to clear their fields of pests, but when they refuse to pay he uses his skill for revenge. The U.S. military embarks on an experiment unlike any other and offers soldiers the chance to reach new heights and shorter contracts. An anesthesiologist discovers his skills go beyond simply guiding people to sleep and that they have lasting consequences. A brother and sister get lost in the woods and discover a beautiful woman with a house luring teenagers ...

Pompeii was a lively resort flourishing in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius at the height of the Roman Empire. When Vesuvius erupted in an explosion of flame and ash, the entire town would be destroyed. Some of its citizens died in the chaos, some escaped the mountain’s wrath . . . and these are their stories. Six authors bring to life overlapping stories of patricians and slaves, warriors and politicians, villains and heroes who cross each other’s paths during Pompeii’s fiery end. But who will escape, and who will be buried for eternity?

Some of the world's finest short fiction has originated in and continues to flow from the cities, villages, rivers, forests and plains of Bengal. This selection features 21 of the very best stories from the region.

He’s a private chef hired to cater her mom’s Valentine’s Day party, and she’s the wayward daughter he mistakes for a waitress. Will love prevail, or are family ties too strong?

 Ryan 
I’m the private chef at a posh party when I mistake Julia for a waitress. 
By the time I find out she’s the client’s daughter, it’s too late. I’m already in love with her mind and her curves.
 I’ll never fit into her world or be accepted by her formidable mother, but love is always worth fighting for. 

 Julia 
 I’m a big disappointment to my mother. Too boring, too fat, ...