Short Stories

From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in French for Intermediate Learners uses listening as the perfect tool to not only delight in learning French, but to accelerate your journey towards fluency.

Physician assistant Faith Hayes escaped her painful past and built a safe, happy life in Peaceful Harbor. She's also put what she's learned to good use helping others by founding Women Against Cheaters, an online support group. When her boss's sinfully sexy brother sets his sights on sweet Faith, she knows the self-professed player is everything she shouldn't want, and she's determined to resist him.

Three stories concern the same woman - in the first, she escapes from teaching at a girls' school into a wild love affair; in the second, she returns with her child to the home of her parents, whose marriage she finally begins to examine; and in the last, her vanished child turns up caught in the grip of a religious cult. In these and other stories Alice Munro's understanding of the people about whom she writes makes their lives as real as our own.

Caroline’s mattress had nothing to do with her untimely death at the age of 28—this, she wants Tempur-Pedic’s market research representative to know. But as she reflects on her first ever mattress purchase and their interview progresses, Caroline dives into the circumstances and decisions that led her and Nicholas—her boyfriend, 10 years her senior and prone to sleeping on the floor—to that particular bed in that particular shopping plaza.

For almost thirty years, Shirley Jackson Award–winning horror author Gemma Files has consistently served up tale after tale celebrating monstrosity in all its forms: the imperfect, the broken, the beautifully alien, and the sadly familiar. Her characters make their own choices and take their own chances, slipping from darkness into deeper darkness yet never losing their humanity—not even when they’re anything but.

NYT best-selling author Carrie Ann Ryan returns to her best-selling Dante’s Circle series with a collection of four never-before-published and highly anticipated romances: Fallen for Alphas, At Last Sight, Blood’s First Kiss, and Reaper’s Song.

Horror movies hold a complicated space in the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. It Came from the Closet features twenty-five original essays by writers speaking to this relationship, through connections both empowering and oppressive. From Carmen Maria Machado on Jennifer’s Body, Jude Ellison S. Doyle on In My Skin, Addie Tsai on Dead Ringers, and many more, these conversations convey the rich reciprocity between queerness and horror.

Louis was just a normal high school kid, making his tenuous way in the world, until the day when he tripped and cracked through an invisible alien egg in his bedroom. It hadn't been there before. Until the moment he hit it, the egg was completely invisible to him, but now he could see that the world was something far different than what he had thought. When he tried to show the egg to others, they were confused. Nobody else could see what he could see. What could he do? His quest to help others know what he now knew would lead him on an adventure he never expected to have...

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.

The definitive short story collection that established Ernest Hemingway's literary reputation, originally published in 1938. Ernest Hemingway is a cultural icon—an archetype of rugged masculinity, a romantic ideal of the intellectual in perpetual exile—but, to his countless readers...

CyberStorm, the first novel in the World War C series, tells of a bizarre string of disasters cutting New York off from the world. Darknet is a standalone novel and an adrenaline-fueled mystery with a noir/tech edge that takes listeners to a new edge of the cyber world. Polar Vortex is a stand-alone novel about a modern airline that mysterious disappears just as global tensions rise between America and Russia.

Being the wife of a cop isn't all it's cracked up to be. Especially when dead bodies keep ruining your romantic dinner plans. But fashion designer turned amateur sleuth Maddie Springer is determined that her husband's latest case, dubbed the "Sex Shop Murder", will not keep him from celebrating their first anniversary together, which just happens to fall on the most romantic of all holidays, Valentine's Day. She's ready to do whatever it takes to make this night special and distraction-free.

Actress Trish Ryder takes her job seriously, and has no time for those who don't. When she's awarded a major role in a new movie featuring America's hottest rock star, Boone Stryker, she's beyond excited. The six-two, tattooed hunk of burning desire, is known for his dedication to his craft - but when he ditches their first meeting, she begins to wonder if he's just another rocker with a great PR team.

Sky Lacroux has finally realized her dream and opened her own tattoo shop in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The only thing missing is the one thing she longs for, and has no control over - love. Sawyer Bass, a professional boxer, plays his guitar at a local bar to escape the painful realities of his life. But when he spots a stunning brunette across the room, escaping reality goes out the window. When Sawyer walks into Sky's tattoo shop and sees the woman from the bar - Sky - the chemistry between them is instant.

Following the success of their Locus Award-winning anthology

The New Space Opera, editors Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan up the ante with

The New Space Opera 2, in which more of the most beloved names in science fiction spin stunning tales of interstellar adventure and wonder.

Grayson Cleary left town before graduation day and never looked back. Most people back home pegged him as a dropout. Over time, he's worked to make something of his life and leave his past behind, so when his 10-year reunion comes up, he has no intention of attending. When his best friend begs him to go, Grayson finds himself confronted with a past he'd rather forget and the one woman he's always craved. Kate St. Dalton had everything when she left her hometown. Then, life threw a wrench in her plans, and she had to find a way to live the new life fate handed her.

Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and...no qualms about a little murder. Ever since her darling father's untimely death when she was only 18, Maud has lived in the family's spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg rent-free, thanks to a minor clause in a hastily negotiated contract. That was how Maud learned that good things can come from tragedy. Now in her late 80s, Maud contents herself with traveling the world and surfing the net from the comfort of her father's ancient armchair. It's a solitary existence, and she likes it that way.

Short Stories in Brazilian Portuguese for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to A1-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference, these eight captivating stories are designed to give you a sense of achievement and a feeling of progress when listening.

Getting into an accident on my first day in Silver Spoon Falls wasn't part of my plan. The spunky little spitfire who hit me certainly wasn't. I don't have time for love. I absolutely don't have time to chase this curvy little kitten around. But here I am anyway, head over heels, chasing her all over town. What is it with the water in this place? And why is she lying about who she is? I intend to find out. And then I'm marrying her. Post-freaking-haste.

On her 12th birthday, Sierva Maria - the only child of a decaying noble family in an 18th-century South American seaport - is bitten by a rabid dog. Believed to be possessed, she is brought to a convent for observation. And into her cell stumbles Father Cayetano Delaura, who has already dreamed about a girl with hair trailing after her like a bridal train. As he tends to her with holy water and sacramental oils, Delaura feels something shocking begin to occur.