Short Stories

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…

On Mars, a scientist experiments with a new engine that will one day become the drive that fuels humanity's journey into the stars. On an asteroid station, a group of prisoners are oblivious to the catastrophe that awaits them. On a future Earth beset by overpopulation, pollution, and poverty, a crime boss desperately seeks to find a way off planet. On an alien world, a human family struggles to establish a colony and make a new home. All these stories and more are featured in this unmissable collection of short fiction set in the hardscrabble world of The Expanse.

"I believe there is another man inside every man, a stranger...." writes Wilfred Leland James in the early pages of the riveting confession that makes up "1922", the first in this pitch-black quartet of mesmerizing tales from Stephen King. For James, that stranger is awakened when his wife, Arlette, proposes selling off the family homestead and moving to Omaha, setting in motion a gruesome train of murder and madness.

A collection of 98 enthralling and pulse-quickening stories, spanning five decades, venerates the remarkable imagination of J. G. Ballard. With a body of work unparalleled in twentieth-century literature, J. G. Ballard is recognized as one of the greatest and most prophetic writers in the world. With the much-hailed release of The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard, readers now have a means to celebrate the unmatched range and mesmerizing cadences of a literary genius.

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’?

They arrive alive. They always leave dead. But before they go, they tell me everything. My name’s Jack Steen, night nurse in an asylum for the criminally insane—where mercy is optional, and every secret comes with a pulse that’s fading fast. My job isn’t to save them. It’s to listen. For years, I’ve recorded their deathbed confessions in the dead of night, one story at a time. What began as whispers caught on tape has now been transcribed—unedited, unfiltered, raw. These aren’t stories meant to be read so much as listened to, in the quiet hours when even your own heartbeat sounds too loud.

Boys and girls ages 3 to 7 who love Scooby-Doo will enjoy this audiobook 5-Minute Story Collection of tales. Featuring Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Velma, and the rest of Mystery Inc. chasing monsters and solving mysteries, each exciting story can be listened to in five minutes or less, making it perfect for bedtime—or anytime!

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.

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.

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.

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.