Modern Short Stories

In the past 50 years, the American short story has changed dramatically. New voices, forms, and mixtures of genres have brought this unique US genre a thrilling burst of energy. This rich anthology celebrates this avalanche of talent. Beginning in 1970, it culls together a half century of powerful American short stories from all genres, including - for the first time in a literary anthology - science fiction, horror, and fantasy.

A terrifying, thrilling collection of must-listen horror stories chock-full of nightmarish supernatural beings and the murderously disturbed that are sure to keep you up all night long.

Call If You Need Me includes all of the prose previously collected in No Heroics, Please, four essays from Fires, and those five marvelous stories that range over the period of Carver's mature writing and give his devoted fans a final glimpse of the great writer at work. The pure pleasure of Carver's writing is everywhere in his work, here no less than in those stories that have already entered the canon of modern literature.

A Collection of Short Tales is an anthology of unique stories that will capture one's imagination. Characters that you might cheer or jeer for are woven into these stories. Maybe... just maybe you will get lost within a tale and emerge a new person. Or maybe... just maybe you will have a good laugh. Either way dive into this compilation of distinctive stories and have fun.

Enter the Druidverse® and discover a world of magic, mythology, and urban fantasy! This set contains three short story collections and three novellas: Blood Scent (a prequel novella), Druid Blood (a prequel novella), Blood Circus (a short story collection), Blood Ties (a short story collection), Blood Bound (a short story collection), and Colin McCool Saves Christmas (a Christmas novella). The novellas primarily focus on everyone’s favorite down-on-his-luck druid, Colin McCool, while many of the short stories feature supporting characters.

After the loss of her mother, a woman returns to the San Fernando Valley only to uncover a haunting secret about her childhood friend. A visiting professor at a charming but strange California liberal arts college must face her past in order to protect her son. A sister, lost in the woods, confronts the dangerous truth about her brother, her stepmother, and herself. Rose's dog Wolfie has died, and three seductive women offer to help return him to her. But only if she will pay the price.

Twenty-three stories, all unabridged, from a diverse group of star writers and readers. A truly memorable collection with a wide appeal. Includes "The Years Midnight" by Helen Simpson, read by Harriet Walter; "On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful Morning" by Haruki Marukami, read by Walter Lewis; "Bablady" by A. S. Byatt, read by Roslaind Eyres; "Hotel des Vaoyaguerus" by William Boyd, read by Martin Jarvis; and "Who?" by Fay Weldon, read by Julie Christie.

Paul Auster's signature work, The New York Trilogy, consists of three interlocking novels: City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room - haunting and mysterious tales that move at the breathless pace of a thriller.

Rooms You Don’t Deserve by G.J. Fene is a chilling anthology of modern horror where guilt becomes architecture, and each room knows what you did. In twelve unnerving tales, scientists, priests, doctors, and frauds are lured into surreal punishment chambers that mirror their sins — and refuse to let them go. From a fertility clinic island where all the guests look alike… to a recursive memory trail in a fire-scorched forest… to a nursery where every infant cries with your voice, these are rooms built not for shelter, but for reckoning. Each story is a closed system. A confession box....

Three deeply unsettling stories. One world where monsters wear human faces, shadows whisper secrets, and legends aren’t just bedtime tales. Each story grips you quietly… then drags you into darkness. Inside this chilling mini-anthology, you’ll discover: psychological dread, haunted homes, urban legends, and survival against impossible evil.Stories Included: Smile In a cold and cruel future, people are forced to smile through unimaginable pain or die trying. One mother watches helplessly as her son dares to resist… and pays the ultimate price. Lady in My House After moving back into ...

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 ...

Some neighbors share sugar. We shared everything. A journey of passion, pleasure, and self-discovery. This intimate memoir chronicles Skylar's journey from curious author to confident hotwife. What starts as a forbidden moment between new friends quickly evolves into an exploration that challenges everything she thought she knew about fidelity, attraction, and her own sexuality. Follow Skylar and Chris as they accept their first invitation to an exclusive swingers club, where champagne flows freely and inhibitions melt away under dimmed lights. With unflinching honesty, Skylar details their...

Dragon’s Fin SoupEight Modern Siamese Fablesin the tradition of the Marx Brothers...Eight Rowdy Taleswhere East and West don’t meet—they collide...Eight Frightening Ruminations...where nothing is as it seems, and even the unreal is an illusion...Eight Delectable Servings...That could only have sprung from the fevered mind of . . .S. P. Somtow...The most unique writer of this, or any other, millennium....“One of the most gifted masters of colour and spectacle.”Theodore Sturgeon....S. P. Somtow is the J. D. Salinger of Siam.”George Axelrod.

Behind Closed Rooms: Stories of Quiet Betrayals peels back the polished layers of modern life to reveal the dark secrets, silent deceptions, and intimate betrayals hidden just out of sight. From smart homes that listen too closely to dream vacations that were never meant for you, each chilling tale explores what happens when trust is not broken loudly—but quietly, and with precision. These ten psychological thrillers unearth the moments where love is weaponized, memory is rewritten, and safety is nothing more than a convincing illusion. For readers who crave suspense built on emotional ...

Fairies, elves, demons... Secrets and desire... Dark humour, magic, wonder... Twelve stories that will transport you into other worlds, or twisted versions of our own. If you had magic, what would you do with it? If you loved someone, how far would you go?

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.

Every city hides stories—too strange to be true, too terrifying to be fake. Thread Zero: New Urban Myths is a chilling collection of twelve interconnected tales born from our modern digital age. From haunted delivery apps and vanishing social media influencers to cursed subway graffiti and AI voices that remember the dead, these are not the ghost stories of your grandparents. They’re viral. They're glitching. And they might already be happening near you. When you see the red umbrella… don’t follow it. When the voicemail says “000”… don’t hit play. And whatever you do, never ...

Some truths hide in plain sight. Others whisper from locked doors, static-filled frequencies, and pages that were never printed. Things I Wasn’t Supposed to Know is a haunting anthology of modern supernatural horror—each story a first-person account of knowledge that should’ve stayed buried. From cursed livestreams to echoing tunnels, from unlisted hospital wings to languages that think back, this collection explores what happens when the veil of reality wears thin… and you peer through. They warned you not to look. You did anyway. And now it knows your name.

Learning a new language is never an easy task, but it doesn't have to be hard. By learning the 1,000 most-used verbs in a language, you give yourself a fantastic foundation to start building upon to your road to fluency.

Today we have ghosts that haunted our ancestors, as well as our own modern revenants, and there appears to be no earthly use trying to banish or exorcise them by such a simple strategy as refusing to believe in them. Since man knows that whether or not he has seen a ghost, presently he will become one, and thus he has become fascinated with the subject. Therefore he creates ghosts, not merely in his own image, but according to his dreams of power.