Short Fiction Anthology

From over 3,000 considered stories published in the past year, this anthology contains the twenty best, selected by #1 New York Times bestselling author John Grisham under the auspices of New York City's legendary crime fiction specialty store The Mysterious Bookshop. Included are tales of suspense, detection, and puzzlement that illuminate the diversity of styles contained under the "mystery" umbrella and highlight some of the greatest practitioners of the short form working today, with a blend of household names and lesser known writers no less worthy of your attention.

Joy Williams has been celebrated as a master of the short story for four decades, her renown passing from one generation to the next even in the shifting landscape of contemporary writing. And at long last the incredible scope of her singular achievement is put on display: 33 stories drawn from three much-lauded collections and another 13 appearing here for the first time in book form.

This exciting collection presents two previously unpublished stories by SF legend Octavia E. Butler. A Necessary Being precedes the events of Survivor, Butler's third (famously disowned) installment in her Patternist series, and includes characters from it, focusing exclusively on the Kohn, aliens who build their social hierarchies on the blueness of their fur. In Childfinder, a black woman with the gift of identifying children with latent psychic ability refuses to share her skill with an organization of white telepaths.

Here are 16 chilling, never-before-published tales that explore every aspect of our darkest holiday, Halloween, coedited by Ellen Datlow, one of the most successful and respected genre editors, and Lisa Morton, a leading authority on Halloween. Included are stories about scheming jack-o'-lanterns, vengeful ghosts, otherworldly changelings, disturbingly realistic haunted attractions, masks that cover terrifying faces, murderous urban legends, parties gone bad, cult Halloween movies, and trick-or-treating in the future.

If you love older men with a fierce need to protect and short, steamy romance, you'll love The Ultimate Filthy Romance Collection!

Sometimes the only way to do the right thing is to break the rules. Love, Lies, and Murder is a collection of 19 short stories that explore the extremes of human emotion and the conflicts that result. Every story will leave you tense and breathless as the characters race to a conclusion that is as unexpected as it is satisfying. Intense and gripping, each story features a hero that seeks justice and the triumph of good over evil by whatever means necessary - regardless of what society’s rules find acceptable.

In this sweeping, threaded narrative of the global phenomenon known as the Vampire Wars, mankind is unwittingly infected by a millennia-old bacteria unknowingly exhumed by a scientific expedition in Antarctica. Now, in some rare cases, a person’s so-called junk DNA becomes activated. Depending on their racial and ethnic heritage, they begin to manifest one of the many diverse forms of the "others" that are the true basis for the legends of supernatural creatures. These aren’t your usual vampires and werewolves - it goes much deeper than that.

This classic tale is a fantastical fable of two dear friends - one of whom goes astray and is literally lost to the north woods, while the other undertakes an epic journey to rescue him. This charming, strange, and wonderful story is a timeless allegory about growing up and the challenges of staying true to one's self, and it served as the wintry inspiration for the blockbuster hit Frozen.

From the mind of the man Stephen King calls "a master of the macabre", comes a brilliant new collection of no-punches-pulled horror stories, some never-before-collected and many originals that have never been published anywhere before. Bentley Little can take the innocuous, twist it around, and write a story that will change your way of thinking. Walking Alone: Short Stories is a shining example of his talent to scare you, creep you out, and make you shudder.

A time-limited holiday set of three small-town Southern romance novellas, including Dance Me a Dream, The Christmas Fountain, A Lot Like Christmas, and A Very Campbell Christmas.

Pitting ordinary men and women against a carnivorous, chaotic cosmos, Occultation's eight tales of terror (two never before published) include the Theodore Sturgeon and Shirley Jackson Award-nominated story "The Forest" and Shirley Jackson Award nominee "The Lagerstatte."

Oren was a dominant force in the bustling digital realm of NEO, commanding wealth, prestige, and high levels. But when fate deals him a cruel blow, trapping him in the body of a lowly goblin and depriving him of his ability to log out, Oren is forced to fight for survival. Stripped of his immense powers and cast into a hostile, monster-ridden wilderness, with the constant risk of the game frying his nervous system, his only way out of the virtual purgatory is to win.

No one tells tales of the frontier better than Louis L'Amour, who portrays the humanside of westward expansion - the good and the bad - before the days of law and order. Collected here are six stories penned by America's favorite Western author.

In these tales of loss and pleasure, lovers and family, a woman learns to conduct an affair, a child of divorce dances with her mother, and a woman with a terminal illness contemplates her exit. Filled with the sharp humor, emotional acuity, and joyful language Moore has become famous for, these nine glittering tales marked the introduction of an extravagantly gifted writer.

Gavin is about to find out that Harper really does exist-and she's going to knock his socks off! Find out for yourself in Bayside Romance! Harper's life is too unsettled for a relationship, but Gavin is determined to help her find her way, especially if it leads straight to his heart. Moonlight conversations lead to steamy kisses, and as romance blooms, it stirs a love too real to deny. But when Gavin's past collides with the life they're building, it has the power to ruin everything.

A big, brilliant, spooky collection of classic and contemporary ghost stories that will make you hesitate before turning off that light.

New York Times best-selling author Jim Harrison is one of America's most beloved writers, and of all his creations, Brown Dog - a bawdy, reckless, down-on-his-luck Michigan Indian - has earned cult status with readers in the more than two decades since his first appearance. For the first time, Brown Dog gathers all the Brown Dog novellas, including one never before published, into one volume - the ideal introduction (or reintroduction) to Harrison's irresistible Everyman.

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.

The war between the Redwood Pack and the Centrals is one of wolf legend. The Talon Pack was always on the fringes, prepared to fight, but not in the right leadership. With the new Alpha and ruling family, the Talons are a Pack of wolves that no one wants to mess with. This audiobook includes three titles: Tattered Loyalties - Talon Pack, Book 1, An Alpha’s Choice - Talon Pack, Book 2, and Mated in Mist - Talon Pack, Book 3.

The Pyramid is the long-awaited addition to Henning Mankell's critically celebrated and internationally best-selling Kurt Wallander mystery series: the book of five short mysteries that takes us back to the beginning. Here are the stories that trace, chronologically, Wallander's growth from a rookie cop into a young father and then a middle-aged divorcé, illuminating how Wallander became a first-rate detective and highlighting new facets of a now canonical character.