Short Stories Humor

Grammy Nominee for Best Spoken Word Album
Mirabelle, the "shopgirl" behind the glove counter at Neiman Marcus, is slightly lost, off-kilter, and shy. But there's something about Mirabelle. Steve Martin reads this charming novella. Hear an interview with the author and browse more Martin.

There was nothing Fred Pickering liked better than standing on his back porch on a warm summer's evening watching the sun dip down below the horizon. Well, almost nothing. Fred loved birds. He loved everything about birds. His personal library of bird books numbered in the dozens. He had bird feeders hanging from most of the trees in his yard and he'd even given names to several of the more recognizable birds.

Eve has her own story, and she's been waiting millennia for Barbara McBride-Smith to tell it. It's the same for Mrs. Noah. Talk about misunderstood or under-appreciated women! McBride-Smith singles them out for her trademark feminist humor. And following Eve and Mrs. Noah's stories are four of McBride-Smith's retellings of Greek myths from her West Texas good-ole-girl perspective.

Ever had a corned beef sandwich try to kill you in the middle of quarantine? In Quarned Beef: A Short Story, author Mat Bradley-Tschirgi takes listeners on an amusing and intense battle between man and meat. Set in the near future where a fictional pandemic entraps people in their home, Quarned Beef is one rare short story that will satisfy almost everything your greasy little heart desires.

Jon is a grade school student who has a part-time job at a labratory where they experiment with animal DNA. When he hears that one of the scientists needs a tray full of samples, Jon runs to get it, trying to show how helpful he can be. In his haste he spill the contents of nine cups of animal DNA and the contents mix together. Sure, it was an accident, but the results make for an amazing discovery.

Raymond Chandler would turn over in his grave if he ever heard this one. It is my tribute to the man who gave us classic novels like The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, Red Wind, Trouble Is My Business and scores of other noir stories from the 30s and 40s. In this story, Philip Harlowe (no relation to Jean) is hot on a case, tracking down a valuable object. Chandler fans will no doubt recognize this as a satire and a parody to the above mentioned Chandler stories.

Eleven adventures of PG Wodehouse's longest-serving 'hero', Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge: great brain, potential millionaire—and foe of the human race. First, ten scenes of his bachelor days, as (among other things) dog trainer, mastermind of an 'accident' syndicate, boxing promoter, and political campaigner. And then, as a newly married man, embarking upon a foolproof enterprise as a chicken farmer, on a borrowed farm, with 'borrowed' hens, and an entire lack of knowledge.

The characters in this extraordinary book are often - on the surface - depraved, vicious, cowardly and manipulative, but their essential humanity is never undermined. Two professors of philosophy turn pugilists; Leith removal men become the objects of desire for Hollywood goddesses; God turns Boab Coyle into a house-fly; and in the novella, 'A Smart Cunt', the drug-addled young hero spins off on a collision course with his past.

In Once Upon A More Enlightened Time, Garner tackles many demeaning, culturally biased viewpoints through his retelling of such well-known tales as "The Princess and the Pea" and "The Tortoise and the Hare". He has striven to fashion these bedtime stories into literature that is totally free from bias and purged from the influences of a flawed cultural past in hopes of freeing our social consciousness from these blights.

A collection of absurdist and thought-provoking stories from the author's Return to the Dirt, Just Speculating, and more, including unreleased, exclusive, audio-only content! Performed by a cast of award-winning and Audie® nominated narrators. Fans of the macabre, dark humor, and cerebral thrillers are guaranteed a good listen. Occupational Hazards is an unflinching ride through the absurdity of it all. Existentialism, absurdism, and outlandish humor merge with ordinary, workaday life for a truly unique perspective of the human experience. Not recommended for the faint of heart or easily offended. But if meaty stories are what you're after....We hope you're hungry.

Golf, like measles, should be caught young. P. G. Wodehouse leads the listener out on to another round of golf stories that always avoid the rough.

John Updike's 21st novel, a bildungsroman, follows its hero, Owen Mackenzie, from his birth in the semi-rural Pennsylvania town of Willow to his retirement in the rather geriatric community of Haskells Crossing, Massachusetts. In between these two settlements comes Middle Falls, Connecticut, where Owen, an early computer programmer, founds with a partner, Ed Mervine, the successful firm of E-O Data, which is housed in an old gun factory on the Chunkaunkabaug River.

Now, available in audio for the first time, Side Effects is narrated by Woody Allen himself. A humor classic by one of the world’s funniest writers, Side Effects is a treat for Allen fans and those just discovering how gifted he is. In classics including "Remembering Needleman", "The Kugelmass Episode", "Confessions of a Burglar", and others, Allen discusses such subjects as the nature of relativity, the UFO menace, and the predicament of modern man.

O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings. Includes: "By Courier", "Jimmie Hayes and Muriel", "School and Schools", "Roads of Destiny", "A Blackjack Bargainer"," A Cosmopolite in a Café", "Christmas by Injunction", "Mammon and the Archer", "A Bird of Bagdad", "After 20 Years", "From The Cabby’s Seat", "Lost on Dress Parade", "Memoirs of a Yellow Dog", "Tobin’s Palm", "Transients in Arcadia", "The Trimmed Lamp", and more.

An enjoyable collection of 21 short stories that will make you smile, wonder about human nature and stifle a giggle. From the absurd to the thought provoking, the past to the present, this eclectic anthology of original tales takes an irreverent look at life, pokes a stick at officialdom, and explores the daft side of our existence.

In "The Robot Who Looked Like Me," a busy man and a busy woman find a way to carve out time to romance each other—by having look-alike robots made to do the job—who then run away together.

"Wesley Hunt was always considered strange." And so this quirky, offbeat short story by the witty and wonderful Canadian author and actor Robert Jadah begins. Wesley's odd behavior, however, is accompanied by unique abilities in regard to discovering hidden treasures. His kind of Easter egg hunt is not the one you'd likely expect.

A stunning new talent in literary fiction, Nafissa Thompson-Spires grapples with black identity and the contemporary middle class in these compelling, boundary-pushing vignettes. Each captivating story plunges headfirst into the lives of new, utterly original characters. Some are darkly humorous while others are devastatingly poignant. Thompson-Spires fearlessly shines a light on the simmering tensions and precariousness of black citizenship.

Peter's earned his night off, and there's not a bloody chance he's covering Shelley's shift. He just needs to find some pals for the perfect cover story. Deek is going to be at the forefront of the outsider art movement and do Banksy proud. Davie loves tattoos, and his latest is going to be a masterpiece. Tam is one of the most creative minds in the galaxy (apparently), but creating parallel universes can cause problems. Everybody on Earth wakes up with their knees on backwards.

Encore, Encore! The brilliant sequel to the smash bestseller Auntie Mame is back and the reviews are in....