Short Stories

At age 26 Agatha Raisin has already come a long way. She has clawed her way up since leaving the Birmingham slum where she was born. She's lost her Birmingham accent, run away from her drunken husband, and found a job at a public relations office as a secretary. Then her boss asks Agatha to go to the home of Sir Bryce Teller to tell him that he is soon to be arrested for the murder of his wife and that the agency no longer wants to represent him.

Some of the world's finest short fiction has originated in and continues to flow from the cities, villages, rivers, forests and plains of Bengal. This selection features 21 of the very best stories from the region.

The Brodie Brothers Collection contains three full-length standalone single parent steamy romantic comedies. Not recommended for readers who dislike banter, text convos or sarcasm.

Like many well-to-do Upper East Siders over the age of 65, esteemed art appraiser Percival Skinner had planned to spend his retirement living off his savings. But a market correction has left him living below his prior means. One day he’s visited by a dapper fixer in search of a famous work by a Renaissance master. Skinner knows the work well: The original was owned by his ancestor, and was passed down through his family over the generations. If, as an intermediary, he can coordinate a sale, a small fortune awaits. Problem is, he might not be the only one on the make.

Interpol investigator Gennady Malianov finds himself in Immigration limbo. Then, a temporary gig comes along that could solve his problems. But what he finds out about the nature of consciousness and morality could change the world.

A conspiracy looms that threatens Cascadia itself. So why is Reg, a demolition crew worker, the last, best hope to stop it? Because there’s more to Reg than meets the eye…

A shadowy master criminal has been kidnapping experts from the food industry and stealing both food and equipment. The crimes are so unrelated no one in the world had noticed the connections. No one except Albert Smith, that is. He’s got almost nothing to go on, but with every place he visits, he gets just a little closer to the truth. He’s not working alone though, his faithful sidekick, Rex Harrison the former police dog is right there with him. Can the two of them pull off the impossible and find the man Albert chose to dub ‘the Gastrothief’?

Hot on the heels of her 2018 This Is Horror Award–winning short story collection Spectral Evidence, critically horror author Gemma Files compiles fifteen more of her most startling recent nightmares—a creepily seductive downward spiral of dark poetry and existential dread, entirely suitable to the slow apocalypse going on all around us. So take your mind off your troubles and send it somewhere the rules still operate, if only to punish those who violate them.

Three short stories focusing on nature. A perfect book to listen to before bedtime. Elvin Woods: A group of friends play in the woods one day. They magically find a new world of wonder and terror. The Sunken City: A mystery city under the water is in need of help of a hero from the surface. The Whispering Woods of Aethel: A new forest has been discovered. This is a story of finding new animals and peaceful nature.

Publicado pela primeira vez em 2005, numa edição artesanal, numerada e restrita a amigos, Nego tudo era, sem ninguém saber, a gênese do que viria a ser a obra de Andréa del Fuego duas décadas depois. Desejo, traição, malícia e acidez permeiam estas páginas explosivas, com textos de linhas ágeis que provocam, incomodam e fazem rir—tal qual em A pediatra, cuja protagonista é o suprassumo desse aspecto mordaz da produção da escritora.

Germans at Meat is a short story by Katherine Mansfield: Bread soup was placed upon the table. – “Ah,” said the Herr Rat, leaning upon the table as he peered into the tureen, “that is what I need. My ‘magen’ has not been in order for several days. Bread soup, and just the right consistency. I am a good cook myself”—he turned to me. – “How interesting,” I said, attempting to infuse just the right amount of enthusiasm into my voice...

Zur Beerdigung des Kollegienassessors Kirill Iwanowitsch Wawilonow wird der junge begnadete Hochzeits-, Jubiläums- und Leichenredner Grigori Petrowitsch Sapoikin herbeigeholt. Zwar schätzt letzterer den Verstorbenen als durchtriebenen Burschen, Bestie und Gauner ein, doch er folgt dem dringlichen Ruf eines Freundes.

Der Rächer seiner Ehre ist eine Erzählung von Anton Tschechow, in der ein Mann, der seine Frau beim Ehebruch erwischt hat, nach einem Revolver sucht. Er durchdenkt verschiedene Szenarien der Rache und Gewalt, entscheidet sich aber letztlich dagegen, da er die Tat durch einen aufsehenerregenden Ehescheidungsprozess und Verachtung ahnden will, anstatt Gewalt anzuwenden oder sich verhaften zu lassen.

Als der kleine Beamte Iwan Petrowitsch Panichidin in der Weihnachtsnacht anno 1883 sein gemietetes Zimmer im Moskauer Viertel Arbat betritt, findet er darin einen hochwertigen Frauensarg vor. Panichidin, der den Weihnachtsabend auf einer spiritistischen Sitzung verbracht hat, möchte nachschauen, ob der Sarg „bewohnt“ ist, flüchtet aber zurück in den Moskauer Starkregen...

The Baron is a short story by Katherine Mansfield: "Who is he?" I said. "And why does he sit always alone, with his back to us, too?" - "Ah!" whispered the Frau Oberregierungsrat, "he is a Baron." - She looked at me very solemnly, and yet with the slightest possible contempt - a "fancy-not-recognising-that-at-the-first-glance" expression.

Un joven presiente que el coche que lo acaba de recoger va a sufrir un accidente; en otro relato se salva de una sobredosis, y más tarde ve morir a un amigo. En estos once relatos breves protagonizados por seres desorientados y marginados, Denis Johnson habla del dolor y la trascendencia, de tocar fondo y de salir a flote, de perderse y encontrarse. Crónica visionaria de soñadores, adictos y almas perdidas, la cruda belleza y la energía velada de la prosa de Denis Johnson han hecho que Hijo de Jesús merezca un lugar entre los clásicos del siglo xx de la literatura norteamericana.

In this unforgettable and raw collection, It Ended By Beginning unearths the buried emotions we try to forget and confronts the truths we often run from. Across 32 hauntingly honest stories, readers are invited into intimate, visceral worlds shaped by grief, betrayal, envy, pride, justice, and silence. Told through the voice of a lone journalist, a man who prints not just the news but the souls of the people he meets, this collection becomes more than fiction. It becomes memory. A printed hell. A closing door. A mirror.

In three beautifully crafted, dramatic acts, James's little-known novel unravels the painfully complicated emotional bonds which exist within a group of friends and lovers connected by two neighboring homes as they fight publicly for preferment, reciprocation, and successful marriage....

Follow a core group of characters known as the Trailblazers as they use alien technology and knowledge discovered in Antarctic ruins to obtain limited immortality and lead humanity out into the galaxy, encountering, befriending, and fighting hundreds of alien races, all the while desperately trying to prepare Earth for the unbeatable threat at the core of the Milky Way that is destined to return and reclaim their lost colony...and their former Human slaves.

After years of waiting, wolf shifter Luc Breaux finally claimed his Blue Moon bride. He expected happily-ever-after — not an ultimatum. Gianna Lynn gave him seven nights to convince her to accept him as her Alpha and mate. Seven nights in which he taught her the joys of surrender...before she promised his rival an equal shot at claiming her.