Short Stories

Laurel is stabilizing a patient in the ER when the power goes out. When the rest of the hospital evacuates, she refuses to leave her patients behind—especially her sick mother. She’s determined to fight for their lives. Even if it means putting her own in danger… In a remote mountain cabin hundreds of miles away, Laurel’s husband, Bear, begins a grueling trek across Minnesota. He’ll do whatever it takes to reunite his family. But it’s a dangerous journey, and he’s all alone save for his loyal dog, Jessamine, and Trent, an orphaned boy he finds along the way.

For the first time, a single volume brings together renowned author Terry McMillan’s previously published short fiction and nonfiction pieces, as well as never-before-seen works. Before McMillan found success as a novelist in the early 1990s, she published provocative, boundary-pushing short stories, capturing the struggles and triumphs of Black life in America with vitality and honesty, from the workaday factory man’s malaise in “The End” to the cast-aside lover’s resolve in “Touching” to the elderly woman’s wiles in “Ma’Dear.”

Receiving a marriage proposal is supposed to make a women happy, but when Erica "Laney" Lane receives a beautiful marriage proposal from her perfect boyfriend on the eve of her annual camping trip with her best friend, Jackson Wild, the first thing she does is jump into bed with Jackson. Jackson's all too happy to screw the annoyance out of Laney. After all, they've always screwed the hell out of each other when they were bored or angry, lonely, or too damn drunk to see straight.

From sultry rendezvous to first-time thrills, every story is designed to ignite your passions and leave you craving more. These aren’t tales for the faint of heart. They are unapologetically bold, laced with taboo themes, and dripping with sensual intensity that pushes the boundaries of desire. Whether it’s the allure of forbidden love, the thrill of risky encounters, or the raw surrender of BDSM, each minute turns up the heat in ways you’ve never imagined.

Four years ago at a film festival, Cici Fine met Cooper Wild, a man who turned her world upside down in the span of one deliciously perfect week. He was everything she'd ever dreamed of: sinfully sexy, intelligent, and incredibly loving. When the festival ended, they returned to their own hometowns with promises of forever. But Cooper disappeared, and Cici was left to raise the daughter he never knew about alone.

Welcome to Newford: to the music clubs, the waterfront, and the alleyways where ancient myths and magic spill into the modern world. Gemmins live in abandoned cars and skells traverse the tunnels below, while mermaids swim in the gray harbor waters and fill the cold night with their song. Come meet Jilly, painting wonders in the rough city streets; and Geordie, playing fiddle while he dreams of a ghost; and the Angel of Grasso Street gathering the fey and the wild and the poor and the lost.

Chesterton's talent as a mystery writer is displayed in this collection of detective stories, The Man Who Knew Too Much. In each story, the star detective, Horne Fisher, deals with another strange mystery: the vanishing of a priceless coin, the framing of an Irish "prince" freedom fighter, an eccentric rich man dies during an obsessive fishing trip, another vanishing during an ice skate, a statue crushing his own uncle, and a few more.

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.

In the world of Eternal Night, Johnathan Masters is at the top of his game. He’s worked hard to build up his influence, trading favors and playing politics. But when a Blood from another city arrives on the scene and attempts to cut into his business by increasing his own status, Johnathan is forced to defend his turf. Maybe he’ll play nice. But then again, sometimes a bit of tough love sends the right message.

One minute, I’m working a boring office job and craving more from life. The next? I’m dropped in the middle of a new world as a dragon with jet-black scales and obsidian flames to match. Luckily, I still have my human form, because the locals weren't happy to see me. Thankfully, one was a sweet fox girl who loves to daydream. Together we hunt to survive, build ourselves a shelter, and fight some dragon slayers—even recruit a cute battle-elf.

Arranged marriages are so three centuries ago. But that doesn't stop Afton Lennox from being bound by one. All her life she's been pledged to wed Connor MacKean. It's the only way to save both their families' estates, and they're friends after all so it won't be that bad. Right? Hamish Colquhoun has spent his entire adult life trying to find a way to liberate his best friend from a marriage he doesn't want. If it also spares the woman he's secretly loved for years, it's of no mind to him. He's already got a wife and family of his own. Freeing them both is just the right thing to do.

Amid the reflections and twisting alleyways of Venice, a grieving couple are haunted by the past. On a sharp December day, the wind changes—and the birds begin to gather. A group of wartime scientists attempt to capture the power of death, an eye operation reveals a monstrous reality, and a woman returns home to find she doesn't exist.

For the first time - in one Audible-exclusive collection - it's 13 stories of Jane Yellowrock, the shape-shifting skinwalker and vampire hunter for hire whose business card reads, "Have Stakes - Will Travel". Jane carries inside her the soul of her Beast, the mountain lion's soul which merged with hers when she accidently performed black magic as a child. Now, she and her Beast stalk the dark streets of New Orleans, bringing rogue vampires true death.

Jane Austen wrote Love and Friendship (originally spelled Love and Freindship [ sic]) when she was just 14 years old. The three notebooks that contain her early works, including this story, are currently on display at the Bodleian Library and the British Museum. Taking the form as letters written by the heroine to the daughter of her friend, this story resembles a fairy tale that lampoons the conventions of romantic stories at the time.

Every year, Caroline Reed takes a trip with her best friend, Esme Lamont. They’re usually accompanied by their spouses - but this year, everything’s changed. Esme has just gone through a bitter divorce, and Caroline's wondering if her own marriage is reaching its breaking point as she and her husband, John, cope with the discovery that their son has been abusing drugs. Still, the inseparable duo books a weeklong stay at a beach-front home in Shoreham, Florida, inviting Esme’s brother, Nick, and his new husband. After a blissful first night in the vacation home, tragedy strikes.

An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young adult and adult intermediate learners of Spanish. Short Stories in Spanish for Intermediate Learners has been written specifically for students from a low-intermediate to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement and, most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to B1-B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference, these eight captivating stories will both entertain you and give you a feeling of progress when reading.

Social distancing came easily to Reagan. Maybe a little too easily. She’s always liked people better from afar. But Reagan doesn’t want her grandpa to be alone for Christmas this year - he’s already spent too much time on his own in 2020. So she heads back to her hometown with a dish of holiday Jell-O salad, hoping they can have a little normalcy. Hoping it will be safe...

Over the past two decades, Nick Horrigan has built a quiet, safe life for himself, living as much under the radar as possible. But all of that shatters when, in the middle of the night, a SWAT team bursts into his apartment, grabs him and drags him to a waiting helicopter. A terrorist - someone Nick has never heard of - has seized control of a nuclear reactor, threatening to blow it up. And the only person he’ll talk to is Nick, promising to tell Nick the truth behind the events that shattered his life twenty years ago.

Before he gained wide fame as a novelist, Ernest Hemingway established his literary reputation with his short stories. Set in the varied landscapes of Spain, Africa, and the American Midwest, this definitive audio collection traces the development and maturation of Hemingway's distinct and revolutionary storytelling style - from the plain bold language of this first story to his mastery of seamless prose that contained a spare, eloquent pathos, as well as a sense of expansive solitude.

Raymond Carver called Anton Chekhov "the greatest short story writer who has ever lived". This unequivocal verdict on Chekhov's genius has been echoed many times by writers as diverse as Katherine Mansfield, Somerset Maugham, John Cheever, and Tobias Wolf. While his popularity as a playwright has sometimes overshadowed his achievements in prose, the importance of Chekhov's stories is now recognized by readers as well as by fellow authors. Their themes - alienation, the absurdity and tragedy of human existence - have as much relevance today as when they were written.