Comedy Fantasy Short

"God's Little Red Pen" is an original short story that wraps a humorous "what if?" into the grand "how & why?" by showing us an alternate take on creation where an exasperated God, looking to break his celestial flock out of a collective funk, enlists the help of his angels to work on his newest pet project: a little thing called "The Universe".

When his brother bumbles a burglary, Finn Bates blasts into space with the cops hot on his heels and his brother's DNA broadcast to every spaceport around. With the number of places he can land approaching zero, Finn must plan one final score that his brother can't possibly screw up, or risk getting kicked off every decent planet in the universe.

Stan is having a lie in today. Caroline, his long-suffering wife, went to work this morning and left him with a long list of chores to complete around the house. But he'd rather stay in bed and, well, ahem, yes. It would all be just about the perfect day if a vision of Caroline didn't keep waking Stan up, disturbing his lazy idyll. Caroline has news and he needs to listen to her, for just about the first time ever. Wake up, Stan!

A story from the collection FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES, a work of startling authority and imagination–an audiobook that is as wondrous and joyful as it is wrenchingly sad. A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK “Taut, edgy, sharply observed. . . . A revelation of the human condition.”...

A story from the collection FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES, a work of startling authority and imagination–an audiobook that is as wondrous and joyful as it is wrenchingly sad. A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK “Taut, edgy, sharply observed. . . . A revelation of the human condition.”...

A story from the collection FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES, a work of startling authority and imagination–an audiobook that is as wondrous and joyful as it is wrenchingly sad. A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK “Taut, edgy, sharply observed. . . . A revelation of the human condition.”...

A story from the collection FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES, a work of startling authority and imagination–an audiobook that is as wondrous and joyful as it is wrenchingly sad. A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK “Taut, edgy, sharply observed. . . . A revelation of the human condition.”...

Susan is the epitome of the happy housewife, contentedly conducting her daily ritual of cleaning her home and keeping everything just as it should be. Wrapped up in her own little world within those familiar walls, she hardly notices the altogether different arrival in her own back yard. She may ignore the sudden shaking beneath her slippered feet, she might even neglect to spot the conspicuous sight itself - but she can't evade the stench. Something's wrong. Very wrong.

An immovable object stands in the way of the Galactic Emperor Jarrl. He has waged siege against his arch-nemesis for 1,000 years, but the barrier still stands. Now, he has come up with a plan to put the immovable object's name to the test, and lay waste to his enemies. Will his plan work? Will he manage to obliterate his foes? Will he press the big red button to destroy a galaxy?

Already sold in eight countries around the world, these nine energized, irreverent stories from Nathan Englander introduce an astonishing new talent. In Englander's amazingly taut and ambitious "The Twenty-seventh Man," a clerical error lands earnest, unpublished Pinchas Pelovits in...