Short Stories

Twenty prizewinning stories selected from the thousands published in magazines over the previous year—continuing the O. Henry Prize's century-long tradition of literary excellence. "Widely regarded as the nation's most prestigious awards for short fiction." —The Atlantic Monthly. Now...

In a post-apocalyptic America, Jamie Teague helps a group of travelers make their way past the murderous Bushwhackers. Jamie comes to find that the strangers are Mormons headed for Utah to avoid being massacred. Knowing that they will die without his help, he agrees to take them as far as his cabin.

This story is included in Orson Scott Card's collection The Folk of the Fringe.

Let go of overthinking, make peace with uncertainty, and discover a calmer way of living—without needing to attend meditation retreats, follow rigid philosophies, or master complicated teachings. The Monkey and the Way of Zen is a lighthearted yet profound journey told through 28 short stories, following a restless Monkey and his encounters with a wise Master. As the Monkey stumbles through his questions, doubts, and frustrations, he begins to uncover a quieter truth beneath the noise of his thoughts.

A young man caught in a time loop has to figure out how to convince his crush—a barista at his favorite coffee ship—to go out with him so he can escape the loop. After a series of mortifying and hilarious attempts, he finally realizes the only approach he hasn’t tried is to simply be himself.

Did you know that the average Spanish speaker only uses around 300 vocabulary words in everyday life? A recent study has discovered that by learning the 1000 most frequently used words in Spanish you will become familiar with 80% of oral speech. Learning the most frequently used words saves us a lot of time and effort. You don't need to know rarely used words such as “Cacophony” to have a conversation in Spanish. You will be able to absorb the most frequently used words like a sponge, and be able to speak Spanish in Mexico City very soon!

This isn't just another erotic anthology. This is the billionaire's hidden files-300 explicit, pulse-pounding stories ripped straight from the vault of the elite. Leaked confessions that expose secret affairs, high-stakes seductions, and the most forbidden pleasures money can buy. Each tale is a window into a world of luxury, corruption, and raw, unapologetic desire.

In the bizarre world of Franz Kafka, salesmen turn into giant bugs, apes give lectures at college academies, and nightmares probe the mysteries of modern humanity’s unhappiness. More than any other modern writer in world literature, Kafka captures the loneliness and misery that fill the lives of 20th-century humanity.

My husband is dead. I attended his funeral. I watched his casket be lowered six feet into the ground. (Actually, it may have been only five feet, but that still seems like more than enough.) And then we ate an array of finger sandwiches and deviled eggs and miniature beef wellingtons that cost more than my first car. My point is, Grant is gone. And so are all his many, many deep, dark secrets which I never really ever bothered to ask him about. He is never coming back.

A cop, a cowboy, several fly fishermen, and a reluctant romance novelist inhabit these revealing and often hilarious stories. An old man ends up in a high-speed car chase with the cops after stealing the car that blocks the garbage bin at his apartment building. A stranger gets a job at a sandwich shop and fixes everything in sight: a manual mustard dispenser, a mouthful of crooked teeth, thirty-two parking tickets, and a sexual-identity problem.

One Good Story, That One is a collection steeped in native oral tradition and shot through with Thomas King's special brand of wit and comic imagination. These highly acclaimed stories conjure up Native and Judeo-Christian myths, present-day pop culture, and literature while mixing in just the right amount of perception and experience.

Maya Alexander is the organized-and-in-charge office manager of the Bond Agency, Los Angeles's premier PI firm, specializing in catching cheating husbands. But when Maya is thrust into the field to catch her first mark in the act, she realizes this case is personal. Her mark just happens to be her ex-fiancé... and things did not end well between them. Can Maya prove that he's repeating his past mistakes with his current wife? Or is something more sinister happening in this Beverly Hills couple's life?

Gathered together for the first time and featuring two brand new stories, this collection contains all of the short stories and novellas featuring Bunny McGarry, star of the million-selling Dublin Trilogy. Spanning his entire career in law enforcement and beyond, these stories give a whole new perspective on Ireland’s most truly unconventional police officer as he juggles being a force for justice and managing the world’s worst under-12s hurling team.

Demonstrating once again why he is one of Canada's most loved jokesters, Black masterfully captures the laughter that often bursts out of the seams of everyday life. From an unexpected drag race to a Google search for a picture of the illusive "Arthur the Meek", you just never know when a regular day is going to turn into comedic genius. Black provides uproarious insight into uses a matador might have for a teacup, mango, or simply some paper towel....

From the UK best-selling author of Abbot's Keep comes a new dimension in terror. Spanning four decades, the dark history of Church Farm House is explored within four interlinking horror stories. Welcome to the nightmare... Benedict Ashforth is the author of the UK best-selling Kindle ghost story, Abbot's Keep.

From early work like "Rescue Party" and "The Lion of Comarre", through classic stories including "The Star", "Earthlight", "The Nine Billion Names of God", and "The Sentinel" (kernel of the later novel and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey), all the way to later work like "A Meeting with Medusa" and "The Hammer of God", this comprehensive short story collection encapsulates one of the great science fiction careers of all time.

A seventeen-year-old boy, bullied and heartbroken, hangs himself. And although he felt terribly alone, his suicide changes everyone around him. His parents are devastated.

Domenico Acerbi grew up ready to give his life for the Family. Ready to follow orders and exceed expectations. A proud man of honor. The last thing he wants to deal with is training the Don’s son for his future role within the organization. Lazy, annoying, spoiled, and as hot as a Sicilian summer, Seth Villani is no mafia material. But a man who could never become a threat might just be what Domenico needs. Seth Villani wants nothing to do with the mafia. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get a say when he’s pulled back into the fold.

Claire Keegan continues her outstanding work with this new collection of quietly wrenching stories of despair and desire in modern-day Ireland. A writer awarded a stay to work in Heinrich Böll's old cottage has her peace interrupted by an unwelcome intruder whose ulterior motives emerge as the night progresses. A priest waits at the altar to perform a marriage—and battles his memories of a love affair that led him to question all to which he has dedicated his life. And a man seeks solace at the bottom of a bottle as he mourns both his empty life and his lost love.

Improve your Spanish skills and grow your vocabulary with these 10 entertaining Spanish short stories!

The island city-state of Singapore harbors unique customs and traditions largely unknown to the West. A booming economy and embrace of conformity overshadow its gambling dens, red-light districts, and a collective passion for ghostly and gory tales. Now, in Singapore Noir, some of its best contemporary authors delve into its seedy side.