Short Fiction Collection

“Without stories, we cannot live well,” shares guest editor Min Jin Lee, describing how storytelling affects and nurtures readers. The Best American Short Stories 2023 features twenty pieces of short fiction that reflect a world full of fractured relationships, but also wondrous hope. A lifelong friendship may become a casualty of the Russia-Ukraine war. Rejected by his lover, a man seeks to reconcile with his family. Twitter users miraculously muster enough empathy to help a lost cat find a forever home.

In Preternatural Haze: A Peculiar Short Story Collection by Violette L. Meier, an Egyptian god bates a mortal, fairies float between realms, a serial killer wears killer heels, twin witches fight over a man, The Morning Star tempts the first couple, and more. The truly peculiar dwells within the pages of this paranormal cocktail of horror and humor.

Gather round as today’s most diabolically clever authors twist simple moments into otherworldly horrors. An empty baby stroller. A scratching underneath the bed. A farmhouse in the moonlight. With an unnerving sense of the macabre, these stories transform our greatest fears into bone-chilling realities.

On a far-off colony, humans tower over the local species who grow the plants they need. Narr keeps the workers in line—someone has to. But when Narr learns just how short-lived their species is, the little alien embarks on a big mission: to find out why their people die and how to stop it. Stubborn and hopeful, Narr has a plan for the locals, for humans, and for the future.

At turns nonchalantly hip and charmingly deranged, Suzuki's singular slant on speculative fiction would be echoed in countless later works, from Margaret Atwood and Harumi Murakami, to Black Mirror and Ex Machina. In these darkly playful and punky stories, the fantastical elements are always earthed by the universal pettiness of strife between the sexes, and the gritty reality of life on the lower rungs, whatever planet that ladder might be on.

Welcome to the world of cursed objects and demented morticians, a spectral realm where living shadows traverse the darkness of your bedroom at three in the morning—the Witching Hour. This terrifying collection of horror shorts will torture your fearful mind with the sound of claws scratching the floor beneath your bed and the nightmarish figure of a milky-eyed corpse reaching for you with ghoulish intent.

Have you ever just skipped to the naughty scenes in romance novels? There is no need to in A Short Stack of Sex and Other Stories. 21 lustily lush quickies jump straight into titillating settings. This compilation also includes 8 short stories ranging from the fantastical to contemporary and a few dirty limericks.

For the first time, all of the short fiction set in James S. A. Corey's New York Times best-selling Expanse series is available in this collection—including a brand-new novella.

Nine tales of occult horror and dark fantasy. Food for an Old Moon Private First Class Santana is a soldier stationed in Baghdad—the beautiful green-eyed Niyoosha is an Iraqi translator for his battalion... They are both hunted and haunted—will the bond of their love allow them to break free from the binds that trap them in Iraq, body and spirit? The Strange Women Amara, camp whore of the army of Hannibal Barca... is dead! Or is she? Stabbed through the throat by her cruel master and left in a ditch, Amara struggles through the twilight realm between the living and the dead! The ...

Tiger, tiger, burning bright, in the forests of the night. In the town of Never-Again, Pennsylvania, this hand-game song contains a history - centuries of inexplicable tiger sightings. It also reveals a frightening prophecy, one that only a small circle of players envisions. After Never-Again becomes the scene of unimaginable violence, a researcher uncovers the truth about the game, right down to its final chilling verse.

The Multiple Love Series features relatable characters who unexpectedly find their happily-ever-afters in unconventional reverse harem relationships. Each story stands alone, but there are character connections among the books.

When three modern women find themselves in medieval Scotland, they must use their wits and strengths to fight ancient foes. With the English, witch hunters, and the church after them, these futuristic ladies navigate the murky waters of falling in love with a broody highlanders while adjusting to their new lives and protecting that they now hold so dear.

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.

“Adventure,” L. Ron Hubbard said, “I well know, is in the heart, not in the view.” In his stories, which were uniquely drawn from true-to-life experiences, including then-rare voyages to Asia and the South Pacific, he adventured grandly, carrying readers into the cold, storm-swept sea, or the heat of a vast desert or the wild currents of the air. A member of the famed Explorers Club, Mr. Hubbard delivered in these stories a sharp jolt of reality with a healthy dose of pulse-pounding bold adventure.

Is your child struggling with bedtime anxiety and restlessness? Imagine a night where bedtime is filled with peace, calm, and delightful tales that whisk your little one away to a world of gentle, friendly dinosaurs. This enchanting collection of stories will soothe their mind and gently lull them to sleep.

The fifth volume in CSA Word's massively popular complete and unabridged ‘Short Stories’ collection is bound to please. With something for everyone this collection of classic stories read by only the best-suited and most established readers will delight the ears as a vintage wine excites the gullet; The Vintage Collection is audible gold. Features eye-catching typographical series design.

Three terrifying novels in one collection from master of horror, Lee Mountford. The Demonic: A woman returns to her childhood home to lay to rest the ghosts of the past. But in this house, the ghosts are real. The Mark: A satanic cult. A woman's brutal assault. Can one woman face her darkest fears before a demonic entity is unleashed? Forest of the Damned: A group of paranormal researchers investigate the infamous Black Forest.... What they find is far beyond even their worst nightmares.

The Mystery of the Blue Train: In this official authorized edition featuring exclusive content from the Queen of Mystery, robbery and brutal murder aboard a luxury transport ensnares the ever-attentive Hercule Poirot. Evil Under the Sun: In this exclusive authorized edition from the Queen of Mystery, the fastidious sleuth is on the trail of the killer of a sun-bronzed beauty whose death brings some rather shocking secrets into the light.

“Imparting some piece of yourself—any part—is arduous and warrants some kind of commendation,” writes guest editor Wesley Morris in his introduction. Both personal and personable, the essayists in this volume use their own vulnerability to guide listeners on excursions that unfold on uncomfortable edges. From contemplating the nuances of memory to exploring the complexities of family, romance, gender identity, illness, and death, Morris’s selection of essays presents a roundup of the thinkers who masterfully grapple with the issues of our time.

"Motherly Love" sees a lucky man seduce his friend's mother, after years of pining for her, and in "Sleazy Seduction" a man gets lucky on a trip to a lap-dancing club. "Bossing Me Around" sees a woman get it on with her female boss, while "Scots Mist" is a nostalgic tale of a woman finally finding her fantasy man close to her childhood home. Finally, in "The Business Trip", a woman gets exactly what she wants from a man she's intent on seducing.