Short Stories

Seven of Twain's best-known and loved short stories have been selected and edited for readers looking forward to a B1+/B2 level of English (CEFR). This book wants to encourage learners to read more extensively, to develop life skills through fiction, and to foster a very easy approach to the literary analysis. Mark Twain’s short stories present a handful of lively characters, fully developed plots, and range in topic from frontier humor to blue jays, frogs, and dogs. The collection includes: “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, “What Stumped the Blue Jays”, “Luck...

The best things always come in small packages! It is the same with women! Small babes equal big satisfaction!

This captivating listen begins with fan letters to a beloved young actress, Seraphina, that become increasingly unhinged. As more and more is revealed about the troubled woman behind the fan mail and her connection to the starlet, a story of obsession becomes an expertly plotted tale of wrongdoing and revenge.

In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.

Travel on an unpredictable and unforgettable literary journey. Find a horrified mother who gives birth to a strange blue pyramid. Encounter an amazing Electrical Grandmother who comes to live with a grieving family. Meet an old parrot who learned over long evenings to imitate the voice of Ernest Hemingway, and becomes the last link to the last link to the great man. Each of these magnificent creations has something to tell us about our own humanity - and all of their fates await you in this collection of 28 classic Bradbury stories and one luscious poem.

Do you like true crime stories? What about real crime committed by women? You may not have heard much about some of these bad women, but they were real and ruthless All had their "15 minutes of fame" leaving trails of death and mayhem behind them Their escapades were daring and reckless and many paid the ultimate price in the end • Radiant Jade – Mat Hari of the East Traitor to her native China, assassin and spy for the Japanese, Radiant Jade was the daughter of a Manchu prince and the mistress of murder and intrigue so sinister that 300 million Chinese thought she was the devil ...

With Life Ceremony, the incomparable Sayaka Murata is back with her first collection of short stories ever to be translated into English. In Japan, Murata is particularly admired for her short stories, which are sometimes sweet, sometimes shocking, and always imbued with an otherworldly imagination and uncanniness.

Caroline’s mattress had nothing to do with her untimely death at the age of 28—this, she wants Tempur-Pedic’s market research representative to know. But as she reflects on her first ever mattress purchase and their interview progresses, Caroline dives into the circumstances and decisions that led her and Nicholas—her boyfriend, 10 years her senior and prone to sleeping on the floor—to that particular bed in that particular shopping plaza.

Follow paranormal bodyguards into Lucifer's realm in The Britlingens Go to Hell. Seek out a traitor in the midst of a guild of non-lethal vampire trackers in Angels' Judgment. Find out why the giant three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades has left the underworld for the real world in Magic Mourns. Embark on a perilous search for the kidnapped niece of a powerful vampire in Blind Spot.

A Short Story of Cosmic Wonder and Human Mystery Alejandro is not like other children. He doesn't speak, barely grows, and lives cocooned in a silence deeper than language. To his loving but desperate parents, he's a mystery wrapped in frailty. But when they turn to an unconventional spiritual healer for answers, they discover a truth far stranger than any diagnosis. New is a haunting and philosophical tale about the boundaries of existence, the hunger for meaning, and a child whose origins defy the known universe. Blending the sacred with the scientific, the mystical with the mundane, this...

A small town, shy curvy girl romantic comedy. Violet I’m happy living alone with my cat and my romance novels until I meet Sean. He unlocks something inside of me, a longing, a craving that I need to satisfy. I think I can spend one night with him and then walk away. It’s the fairest thing to do, no matter how wrong it feels. Because once he knows the truth about me, he won’t want to stick around. Sean I’ve always wanted to be a father, and when I meet the sweet librarian with the killer curves, I think I’ve found the perfect woman to start my life with. We have one night together...

If life really was a fairy tale, Zakara would never be the damsel in distress. She'd be a thief, and Prince Charming wouldn't have a clue how to steal the heart of the conniving criminal. Zakara saves not one, but three men locked inside the tallest tower. Her first instinct is to ditch them as soon as possible, but they have one thing that intrigues her more than wealth: Magic. Fae magic once ruled the world, until it disappeared without a trace. Only myths of the magic wielders linger in their destroyed society.

A Decade of Love & Faith – Now in One Stunning Collection! For a decade, readers have fallen in love with Katie Wyatt heartwarming stories of faith, friendship, and enduring love. Now, by popular demand, comes The Complete California Historical Mail Order Bride Romance Series!, this newly revised and re-edited edition brings you all 8 beloved books in one captivating boxed set. Experience the Journey of Love, Faith & Second Chances From new beginnings to second chances, from heartbreak to redemption, follow the lives of courageous women and steadfast men as they navigate the challenges of...

Best-selling writer Orson Scott Card founded the online magazine Intergalactic Medicine Show in 2006. It has been a big success, drawing submissions from well-known science fiction and fantasy writers, as well as fostering some amazing new talents. This collection contains some of the best of those stories.

Tolstoy brings to these brief tales the same psychological depth and spiritual insight found in his larger works. In fact, his short stories are an excellent place to begin reading this great author. In them, you will find the same challenging themes of morality, forgiveness, redemption and more.

Here are only a few of the new friends you'll meet in TEENAGE CHRISTIAN: ASHLEY wins a songwriting contest and backstage passes to meet her favorite rock star, but discovers there's only one true Rock worthy of her love. MELISSA dreads attending a new high school, but learns that unknown roads are often mapped out by God. NICOLE and her best friend must spend Valentine's Day at a nursing home where both encounter real love when they least expect it. WHITNEY suffers from insomnia, but a heavenly cure brings sweet dreams. JESSICA feels like she's missing out on Halloween fun, then learns ...

Jack Miller has spent his entire nine years in the same house on the same street in the same town with the same best friend. One day, while delivering papers on his same ordinary paper route, Jack finds himself amidst a very unordinary world. A world where strange and silly monsters become his friends. This is the complete series of adventures that Jack and his best friend, Annabelle, will have in the secret world that Jack discovers that fateful day.

Now, for the first time, Herron’s short fiction has been collected into one volume. In Dolphin Junction, devoted fans and future converts alike will find much to amuse, delight, and terrify them. Five stand-alone nerve-racking and thrilling crime fiction stories are complemented by four mystery stories featuring the Oxford wife-and-husband detective team of shrewd Zoë Boehm and hapless Joe Silvermann. The collection also includes a peek into the past of Jackson Lamb, irascible top agent at Slough House.

This collection includes The Alien's Mail Order Bride, When She's Married, Pretty Human, and When She's Bold.

Lovers Rock stars Jamaica: its language, its landscape, its vibe, its humor, its edge and its persistent, dogged beauty. These seven stories imagine strange, quirky, familiar and delicious encounters between people in search of romantic love in the twenty-first century. Featuring characters from of all walks of life, each story is connected by the unique vibe of Jamaican desire.