Anthologies & Short Stories

Book SynopsisJapan's mythology is alive with gods, spirits and monsters. It draws on Buddhist and Shinto traditions to explain the nature of the world of the island of Japan, and the heavenly status of the long line of emperors. The warrior class of the imperial court, and the natural spirits of the countryside represent parallel and interdependent aspects of Japanese society, explored through ancient legend and folklore in this fascinating new book in the Flame Tree Myths and Legend series. FLAME TREE 451: From mystery to crime, supernatural to horror and myth, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic.

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Book SynopsisIt is just after nine o'clock in the morning. Gidza will die in exactly forty-three minutes and thirteen seconds.Rotten Row' is the Criminal Division of Harare, and the courts and the unfortunates who pass through them are the subjects of this mesmerising collection of stories. In these portraits of lives aching for meaning and redemption, Petina Gappah crosses the barriers of class, race, gender and sexual politics in contemporary Zimbabwe, to explore the causes and effects of crime and the nature of justice.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Indonesia's greatest fiction writer." --NYT "Wise, touching tales" --The Guardian "[Toer is] so great that we instantly feel we've known him - and he us - all our lives." --USA Today

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Book SynopsisLittle-known folk tales from Welsh settlements in America: a colonial history told through stories from Welsh, American and Native cultures

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Shirley Jackson Award, nine stories of cosmic horror from the heir apparent to Lovecraft’s throne.Laird Barron has emerged as one of the strongest voices in modern horror and dark fantasy fiction, building on the eldritch tradition pioneered by writers such as H. P. Lovecraft, Peter Straub, and Thomas Ligotti. His stories have garnered critical acclaim and have been reprinted in numerous year’s best anthologies and nominated for multiple awards, including the Crawford, International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy awards. His debut collection, The Imago Sequence and Other Stories, was the inaugural winner of the Shirley Jackson Award.He returns with his second collection, Occultation. Pitting ordinary men and women against a carnivorous, chaotic cosmos, Occultation’s nine tales of terror (two published here for the first time) were nominated for just as many Shirley Jackson awards, winning for the novella “Mysterium Tremendum” and the collection as a whole. Featuring an introduction by Michael Shea, Occultation brings more of the spine-chillingly sublime cosmic horror Laird Barron’s fans have come to expect. Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.Trade Review“Another brilliant engagement with weird fiction from a writer fast becoming a modern master.”—Jeff VanderMeer, author of Annihilation and Finch"Relentlessly readable, highly atmospheric, sharply and often arrestingly written—Barron’s prose style resembles, by turns, a high-flown Jim Thompson mixed with a pulp Barry Hannah."—Slate"Laird Barron has, in a remarkably short period of time, emerged as one of the leading writers of contemporary weird fiction."—S. T. Joshi“With sharp prose and wise, original stories, Barron has repeatedly proven himself one of the strongest voices in the field. This collection is a must read.”—Sarah Langan, author of Audrey’s Door and The Keeper“Laird Barron is one of those writers who makes other writers want to break their pencils. I’m serious. His work is that good. Worse than that, he’s an original (damn him!), and the finest writer to join the ranks of the dark fantastic in a long, long time.”—Norman Partridge, author of Dark Harvest and Lesser Demons“For my money, Laird Barron is far and away the best of the new generation of horror writers.”—Michael Shea, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Polyphemus“…one senses that he has the potential to change the expectations of the next generation of readers by elevating the genre to a new standard of excellence.”—Lucius Shepard, author of Trujillo“If you think there aren’t any new Richard Mathesons or Harlan Ellisons out there, you need to read Laird Barron.”—Stewart O’Nan, bestselling author of A Prayer for the Dying“Heartbreaking, hilarious, sophisticated, and gory, these stories will thrill, trouble, and haunt Barron’s fans and have newcomers scrambling to search for his other work.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review“Another brilliant engagement with weird fiction from a writer fast becoming a modern master.”—Jeff VanderMeer, author of Annihilation and Finch"Relentlessly readable, highly atmospheric, sharply and often arrestingly written—Barron’s prose style resembles, by turns, a high-flown Jim Thompson mixed with a pulp Barry Hannah."—Slate"Laird Barron has, in a remarkably short period of time, emerged as one of the leading writers of contemporary weird fiction."—S. T. Joshi“With sharp prose and wise, original stories, Barron has repeatedly proven himself one of the strongest voices in the field. This collection is a must read.”—Sarah Langan, author of Audrey’s Door and The Keeper“Laird Barron is one of those writers who makes other writers want to break their pencils. I’m serious. His work is that good. Worse than that, he’s an original (damn him!), and the finest writer to join the ranks of the dark fantastic in a long, long time.”—Norman Partridge, author of Dark Harvest and Lesser Demons“For my money, Laird Barron is far and away the best of the new generation of horror writers.”—Michael Shea, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Polyphemus“…one senses that he has the potential to change the expectations of the next generation of readers by elevating the genre to a new standard of excellence.”—Lucius Shepard, author of Trujillo“If you think there aren’t any new Richard Mathesons or Harlan Ellisons out there, you need to read Laird Barron.”—Stewart O’Nan, bestselling author of A Prayer for the Dying“Heartbreaking, hilarious, sophisticated, and gory, these stories will thrill, trouble, and haunt Barron’s fans and have newcomers scrambling to search for his other work.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

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Book SynopsisIn this masterful collection of short fiction, Joe Hill dissects timeless human struggles in thirteen relentless tales of supernatural suspense, including In The Tall Grass, one of two stories co-written with Stephen King, basis for the terrifying feature film from Netflix.A little door that opens to a world of fairy tale wonders becomes the blood-drenched stomping ground for a gang of hunters in Faun. A grief-stricken librarian climbs behind the wheel of an antique Bookmobile to deliver fresh reads to the dead in Late Returns. In By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain, two young friends stumble on the corpse of a plesiosaur at the water''s edge, a discovery that forces them to confront the inescapable truth of their own mortality . . . and other horrors that lurk in the water''s shivery depths. And tension shimmers in the sweltering heat of the Nevada desert as a faceless trucker finds himself caught in a sinister dance with a tribe of motorcycle outlawsTrade ReviewThe poet laureate of everyday terrors returns with a baker's dozen of deliciously sinister tales. . . . Miniature masterworks of modern horror, proving that life is hard, weird, and always fatal * Kirkus (starred review) *In his new collection of short stories, Joe Hill shows how insanely good he is at shocking, terrible, whoa, cover-your-mouth-and-gasp endings . . . Seamless and finely crafted work * New York Times Book Review *This collection cements Hill's reputation as a versatile master of scares both subtle and shocking * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *Full Throttle is a great collection and just more proof that Hill is one of the great storytellers of the early 21st century. Highly recommended * SFF World *This new collection of short fiction by acclaimed horror and suspense writer Joe Hill proves that Hill can do it all * CrimeReads *Hill calls to mind Harlan Ellison at his absolute best, with a penchant for cruel characters learning hard truths * San Francisco Chronicle *I found this to be an incredibly strong collection. While I think that Full Throttle would be worth purchasing for "Late Returns" alone, there are a host of great stories here. And they're varied enough that there's something here for just about everyone * Novel Notions *

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Book SynopsisNo one has written more feelingly and more beautifully than Nescio about the madness and sadness, courage and vulnerability of youth: its big plans and vague longings, not to mention the binges, crashes, and marathon walks and talks. No one, for that matter, has written with such pristine clarity about the radiating canals of Amsterdam and the cloud-swept landscape of the Netherlands. Who was Nescio? Nescio—Latin for “I don’t know”—was the pen name of J.H.F. Grönloh, the highly successful director of the Holland–Bombay Trading Company and a father of four—someone who knew more than enough about respectable maturity. Only in his spare time and under the cover of a pseudonym, as if commemorating a lost self, did he let himself go, producing over the course of his lifetime a handful of utterly original stories that contain some of the most luminous pages in modern literature. This is the first English translation of Nescio’s stories.

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Book SynopsisFaber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles. Lips the colour of blood, the sun an unprecedented orange, train wheels that sound like guilt, and guilt, and guilt': these are just some of the things Mary Ventura begins to notice on her journey to the ninth kingdom.But what is the ninth kingdom?' she asks a kind-seeming lady in her carriage. It is the kingdom of the frozen will,' comes the reply. There is no going back.'Sylvia Plath's strange, dark tale of independence over infanticide, written not long after she herself left home, grapples with mortality in motion.Bringing together past, present and future in our ninetieth year, Faber Stories is a celebratory compendium of collectable work.

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Book SynopsisA new anthology of Chinese short-fiction by award winning author Ken Liu. Here are sixteen short stories from China's groundbreaking SFF writers, edited and translated by award-winning author Ken Liu. In Hugo award-winner Liu Cixin's 'Moonlight', a man is contacted by three future versions of himself, each trying to save their world from destruction. Hao Jingfang's 'The New Year Train' sees 1,500 passengers go missing on a train that vanishes into space. In the title story by Tang Fei, a young girl is shown how the stars can reveal the future. In addition, three essays explore the history and rise of Chinese SFF publishing, contemporary Chinese fandom, and how the growing interest in Chinese SFF has impacted writers who had long laboured in obscurity. By turns dazzling, melancholy and thought-provoking, Broken Stars celebrates the vibrancy and diversity of SFF voices emerging from China. 'Dreamlike and hypnotic, evocative and inspiring' THE BOOKBAG. 'Ken Liu is a genius' ELIZABETH BEAR. 'An instant classic... Poetry on every page' HUGH HOWEY. Trade ReviewA good mix of well-established authors and new voices... While the styles on show are disparate, one thread that links many stories is the way they engage intelligently with Chinese myths and history... This book gives a wonderful insight into the worldview and imagination of its smart and thoughtful writers' * Big Issue *Edited and mostly translated by Ken Liu, a sci-fi writer in his own right who is credited with bringing Liu Cixin's Three-Body Problem onto the world stage... The more compelling stories are those that relate to the unpredicted impacts of technological inventions' * Art Review *A helpful guide to sci-fi in China, with essays that trace its development * Straits Times *

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Book SynopsisThis anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 16 tales by masters of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including a newly discovered Agatha Christie crime story that has not been seen since 1922.At a time when crime and thriller writing has once again overtaken the sales of general and literary fiction, Bodies from the Library unearths lost stories from the Golden Age, that period between the World Wars when detective fiction captured the public's imagination and saw the emergence of some of the world's cleverest and most popular storytellers.This anthology brings together 16 forgotten tales that have either been published only once before perhaps in a newspaper or rare magazine or have never before appeared in print. From a previously unpublished 1917 script featuring Ernest Bramah's blind detective Max Carrados, to early 1950s crime stories written for London's Evening Standard by Cyril Hare, Freeman Wills Crofts and A.A. Milne, it spans five decades of writing by masters of the Golden Age.Most anticipated of all are the contributions by women writers: the first detective story by Georgette Heyer, unseen since 1923; an unpublished story by Christianna Brand, creator of Nanny McPhee; and a dark tale by Agatha Christie published only in an Australian journal in 1922 during her Grand Tour' of the British Empire.With other stories by Detection Club stalwarts Anthony Berkeley, H.C. Bailey, J.J. Connington, John Rhode and Nicholas Blake, plus Vincent Cornier, Leo Bruce, Roy Vickers and Arthur Upfield, this essential collection harks back to a time before forensic science when murder was a complex business.Trade Review‘A veritable treasure trove of classic short stories. The star line up includes Agatha Christie, Cyril Hare and Georgette Heyer, but the best of the bunch are the second rank authors’ Daily Mail ‘I think I've learned more from [Tony Medawar’s] researches than from the research of any other Golden Age fan’ Martin Edwards, doyouwriteunderyourownname.blogspot.co.uk ‘A stunning array of lost stories’ Puzzle Doctor, classicmystery.wordpress.com ‘An interesting and varied collection of short stories. It is impossible to select just one favourite … It was also great to enjoy stories by writers I had not previously liked.’ CrossExaminingCrime

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Book SynopsisFaber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles.

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Book Synopsis''What a writer he was; he could flip over a sentence so gently, and showthe underbelly in a heartbeat. His work is always quietly compassionate'' Elizabeth StroutIn this final collection of ten exquisite, perceptive and profound stories, William Trevor probes into the depths of the human spirit. Here we encounter a tutor and his pupil, whose lives are thrown into turmoil when they meet again years later; a young girl who discovers the mother she believed dead is alive and well; and a piano-teacher who accepts her pupil''s theft in exchange for his beautiful music. These gorgeous stories - the last that Trevor wrote before his death - affirm his place as one of the world''s greatest storytellers.''Trevor is a master of both language and storytelling'' Hilary Mantel''He is one of the great short-story writers, at his best the equal of Chekhov'' John Banville''The greatest living writer of short stories in the English language'' New YorkerTrade ReviewNone but those with a complete mastery of fiction can walk this line. William Trevor was not "an Irish Chekhov" or even "the Irish Chekhov". He was and will remain the Irish William Trevor * Guardian *10 stories bring a literary career that lasted more than half a century to a consummate conclusion * Sunday Times *William Trevor's prose runs as clear as water yet tastes like gin * Economist *Extraordinary stories from ordinary lives * The Times *One of the great contemporary chroniclers of the human condition, in all its pathos, comedy and strangeness. As a writer he looked at the world with an always surprised but never scandalised eye, and his writer's heart was with those awkward and obscurely damaged souls who cannot quite manage the business of everyday life - all of us, that is * New Statesman *There are those rare, exceptional writers who are fortunate enough (like their readers) to burn bright and steady over many decades, expressing the same creative clarity at the end of their careers as they did at the beginning. William Trevor was one of those writers * LA Times *We honor him as the supreme master of his honest art * Cynthia Ozick *In the first few paragraphs of a story he could set an entire scene without seeming to, working on details, small moments, odd thoughts. As in the work of Alice Munro, there often seemed to be very little happening in his fiction, but then he was capable of offering the reader a sense of an immense dramaHis stories are formally beautiful and, at the same time, interested in the smallness of human lives. He was, as a writer, watchful, unsentimental, alert to frailty and malice. A master craftsmanTrevor is a master of both language and storytellingWe honor him as the supreme master of his honest art * Cynthia Ozick *Trevor is a master of both language and storytelling -- Hilary MantelHe is one of the great short-story writers, at his best the equal of Chekhov -- John BanvilleIn the first few paragraphs of a story he could set an entire scene without seeming to, working on details, small moments, odd thoughts. As in the work of Alice Munro, there often seemed to be very little happening in his fiction, but then he was capable of offering the reader a sense of an immense drama -- Colm TóibínThe strength of all his writing was an unshowy perfection of style, through which he expressed his unerring instinct for fairness. His total lack of self-importance allowed him to express what was important in the world around him. He was one of the greatest writers about justice and suffering, disguised as an ordinary person -- Bernard O’DonoghueA beautiful writer... I would not have become a writer at all had I not discovered his work. -- Yiyun LiThe man - the work - was brilliant, elegant, surprising, reliable, precise, stark, often sad, sometimes funny, shocking and even frightening -- Roddy DoyleHis stories are formally beautiful and, at the same time, interested in the smallness of human lives. He was, as a writer, watchful, unsentimental, alert to frailty and malice. A master craftsman -- Anne EnrightThere is no better short story writer in the English-speaking world * Wall Street Journal *Writers often get asked which authors they return to again and again, their comfort books if you will, the ones that make them remember why fiction matters. William Trevor, I have answered on countless occasions. His stories. Any of them -- John BoyneHe is, I think, sui generis, and in his 12 collections (and 13 novels, and two novellas: an exhibition of near-Updikean energy), he has created a version of the short story that almost ignores the form's hundred or so years of intricate evolution. These stories stay in the mind long after they're finished because they're so solid, so deliberately shaped and directed so surely toward their solemn, harsh conclusions -- William Boyd, reviewing Cheating at Canasta in the 'New York Times'A posthumous collection of stories by the Irish writer reflects his formidable craft * Observer *There are those rare, exceptional writers who are fortunate enough (like their readers) to burn bright and steady over many decades, expressing the same creative clarity at the end of their careers as they did at the beginning. William Trevor was one of those writers * LA Times *What you might call Trevor's parting shots are as robustly vivid and potent, as wistful and emotionally rigorous, as his more youthful oeuvre * Herald *William Trevor, master of the short story, was at the top of his game in his final decade * Telegraph *William Trevor's short fiction was the stuff of legend * Event Magazine *Trevor's prose style is effortless, elegant and economical, but manages to contain the most hugely difficult feelings: jealousy, guilt and yearning regret * Daily Mail *An Irish writer, an international writer, a great writer. Put bluntly, he is revered by writers -- Jhumpa LahiriExtraordinary stories from ordinary lives * The Times *One of the great contemporary chroniclers of the human condition, in all its pathos, comedy and strangeness. As a writer he looked at the world with an always surprised but never scandalised eye, and his writer's heart was with those awkward and obscurely damaged souls who cannot quite manage the business of everyday life - all of us, that is -- John Banville * New Statesman *10 stories bring a literary career that lasted more than half a century to a consummate conclusion -- Peter Kemp * Sunday Times *William Trevor's prose runs as clear as water yet tastes like gin * Economist *None but those with a complete mastery of fiction can walk this line. William Trevor was not "an Irish Chekhov" or even "the Irish Chekhov". He was and will remain the Irish William Trevor -- Julian Barnes * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisHugo award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N. K. Jemisin sharply examines modern society in her first short story collection.''The most celebrated science fiction and fantasy writer of her generation... Jemisin seems able to do just about everything''NEW YORK TIMES''Smart, sharp and very, very timely''I NEWSPAPER ''An important collection by a rising star'' GUARDIAN''Jemisin is now a pillar of speculative fiction, breathtakingly imaginative and narratively bold''ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY ''The most critically acclaimed author in contemporary science fiction and fantasy''GQ''One line from [Jemisin''s introduction] has tattooed itself on my mind, a sort of manifesto for her ongoing work and all the fiction I love: ''Now I am bolder, and angrier, and more joyful.'' I felt, after reading these stories, that I was too''NPR BOOKS''N. K. Jemisin iTrade ReviewSmart, sharp and very, very timely -- i newspaperAn important collection by a rising star -- GuardianThe most celebrated science fiction and fantasy writer of her generation... Jemisin seems able to do just about everything -- NEW YORK TIMESJemisin is now a pillar of speculative fiction, breathtakingly imaginative and narratively bold -- ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLYJemisin's phenomenal success has been something like an earthquake ripping through the traditional order of fantasy itself -- NEW YORK/VULTUREThe most critically acclaimed author in contemporary science fiction and fantasY -- GQMarvelous and wide-ranging -- LOS ANGELES TIMESOne line from [Jemisin's introduction] has tattooed itself on my mind, a sort of manifesto for her ongoing work and all the fiction I love: 'Now I am bolder, and angrier, and more joyful.' I felt, after reading these stories, that I was too -- NPR BOOKSN. K. Jemisin is a powerhouse of speculative fiction. So, obviously, you need to read this new short story collection -- BUSTLERead her books-they're probably better than whatever else you were going to read nexT -- LITERARY HUB

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Book SynopsisChilling tales of murder and revenge from the queen of the psychological thriller

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Book SynopsisFirst published in 1914, Dubliners depicts middle-class Catholic life in Dublin at the start of the twentieth century. Themes within the stories include the disappointments of childhood, the frustrations of adolescence, and the importance of sexual awakening. James Joyce was twenty-five years old when he wrote this collection of short stories, among which 'The Dead' is probably the most famous. Considered at the time as a literary experiment, Dubliners contains moments of joy, fear, grief, love and loss, which combine to form one of the most complete depictions of a city ever written, and the stories remain as refreshingly original and surprising in this century as they did in the last.This Macmillan Collector's Library edition of Dubliners features an afterword by dramatist Peter Harness.Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

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Book Synopsis***A SPECTATOR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021*** By turns dark and hilarious, at times solemn and mysterious, Your Duck is My Duck cements Deborah Eisenberg’s reputation as one of America’s greatest living writers of fiction. “Hugely intelligent, funny, subtle, beautifully written, these stories reach beyond New York into the world."—Tessa Hadley “If our culture can produce a writer this wonderful, there must be something beautiful about us yet.”—George Saunders “[A] scintillating showcase.”-Anthony Cummins, The Observer “Shudderingly intimate and mordantly funny.”—The New York Times Now in B-format Paperback Each of the six stories that make up this new collection—Eisenberg’s first for twelve years—has the heft and complexity of a novel. With her own inexorable logic and uncanny ability to conjure up the strange states of mind and emotion that constitute our daily consciousness, Eisenberg pulls us as if by gossamer threads through the lives of her characters. In her world, the forces of money, sex and power cannot be escaped, and the force of history, whether confronted or denied, cannot be evaded. No one writes better about time, tragedy and grief, and the indifferent but beautiful universe around us. "Ducks are having a literary moment."—The Times' Books Bulletin “Comic, elegant and pitch perfect.”—Vanity FairTrade Review“Hugely intelligent, funny, subtle, beautifully written, these stories reach beyond New York into the world." -- Tessa HadleyProfile: Deborah Eisenberg, Chronicler of American Insanity Over three decades of short fiction, the writer has managed to capture, with hilarious tenderness, the dysfunction of daily life in this country. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/magazine/deborah-eisenberg-chronicler-of-american-insanity.html -- Giles Harvey * The New York Times *

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Book SynopsisLast Night is a spellbinding collection of stories about passion - by turns fiery and subdued, destructive and redemptive, alluring and devastating. A lover of poetry is asked by his wife to give up what may be his most treasured friendship. A book dealer is forced to face the truth when a figure from his past pays an unexpected visit. In the title story, a husband has promised to assist his wife's suicide.Drawn in by a lingering swirl of tone, revelation and insight, the reader of these ten powerful stories will be transfixed as, seemingly without effort, Salter finds the charged moments that will come to shape a fate and detonates them before our very eyes.Trade Review'James Salter is a master of the great American short story . . . Extraordinarily subtle, precise and elegant' The Times‘He has written three books that everyone should read before they die . . . Last Night is a deeply gratifying reminder of what reading is for’ Independent ‘Breathtaking . . . Salter’s stories are masterpieces of poise and clarity . . . Hugely enjoyable and endlessly stimulating’ Metro, 5-star review‘There is a steady hum of eroticism beneath his narrative and in the voluptuous restraint of his style. What else can I say? I highly recommend it’ Daily Telegraph Remarkable . . . Fictions set apart not just by their concision, watchfulness and lucidity, but also by the understated way they communicate the trickle effect of betrayal * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisBrand-new stories of witches and witchcraft written by popular female fantasy authors, including Kelley Armstrong, Rachel Caine and Sherrilyn Kenyon writing in their own bestselling universes! These are tales of witches, wickedness, evil and cunning. Stories of disruption and subversion by today's women you should fear. Including Kelley Armstrong, Rachel Caine and Sherrilyn Kenyon writing in their own bestselling universes. These witches might be monstrous, or they might be heroes, depending on their own definitions. Even the kind hostess with the candy cottage thought of herself as the hero of her own story. After all, a woman's gotta eat. Bring out your dread.Trade Review"a great selection for anyone who wants to get a jump-start on Halloween" - Black Gate

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A Neverwhere short story from one of the brightest, most brilliant writers of our generation - the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of the award-winning The Ocean At the End of the Lane. The coat. It was elegant. It was beautiful. It was so close that he could have reached out and touched it.And it was unquestionably his.***'Gaiman's achievement is to make the fantasy world seem true' The Times

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Book SynopsisShort stories from the winner of the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award 2017.Trade ReviewA gorgeous, accomplished debut. -- David Mitchell * The Independent (Books of the Year) *Stunning and complex... It's hurricane country, and Johnston's exquisitely drawn men and women are riders on the storm, coping with an iffy emotional landscape that mirrors Corpus Christi's own, where the past is too easily washed away and the ocean has no memory. * Los Angeles Times *Hard-eyed, life-affirming... These stories are relentlessly sober, large-hearted, and intense. In their pathos, to quote C. S. Lewis on Chaucer, "every fluctuation of gnawing hope, every pitiful subterfuge of the flattering imagination, is held up to our eyes without mercy" (The Allegory of Love); and yet their effect is spiritually bracing. We are human to the last. * Boston Sunday Globe *Fans of Raymond Carver's spare, carefully crafted stories will rejoice... [Johnston has] a pitch-perfect ear for dialogue and a dead-on eye for conjuring an entire universe with one simple detail... His ten stories are individual gems... Johnston's genius lies in weaving a web of optimism around a series of difficult topics. If [these stories] are read as they seem destined to be - obsessively, in one sitting - their rapt audience will turn the last page with a profound sense of calm. * San Francisco Chronicle *In the mold of Denis Johnson, Ian McEwan, and Barry Gifford, Johnston is a writer of stories that peel away the soul of a man, sometimes with quaking fingers, other times with a hunting knife. The stories are sometimes spastically violent, other times uncommonly delicate, but always memorable. * Pages *Compelling and haunting... Johnston's evocative descriptions of events, feelings, and Corpus Christi itself connect readers to his characters and their dilemmas and reactions to tragedy. * Library Journal *[A] promising debut collection... astutely observed... Johnston's Corpus is America in microcosm. But it is the emotional landscape that interests the author, not the physical, and, without lapsing into sentimentality, he evokes a peculiarly American brand of abject loneliness and tentative optimism. * Publishers Weekly *The world that Johnston brings us into is at once familiar and oddly surreal, for the author writes with great attention to detail and nuance. * Kirkus Reviews *[Bret Anthony Johnston is] a fresh young writer from Texas who writes as if he's a wise old man from the hard cities of the heart. His honesty is a beacon to the soul. -- Chris Offutt * Tin House *Beautifully written... Johnston's stories extract truth through their bittersweet tone. * Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City) *As refreshing as a cool breeze on a humid summer day - and as strong and surprising as a short-notice tropical storm... sharp, tough, and poignant... "Two Liars" and the title story, "Corpus Christi," are among the best short works to emerge from Texas in quite some time. A good story induces a polite nod; a great story can hurt your feelings. These stories can make a reader's blood ache. * Texas Books in Review *[An] engaging collection... In simple, unadorned prose [Johnston] goes to the heart of each loss and makes his readers care about lives that usually merit no more than a paragraph in the local paper. * Baltimore Sun *Excruciatingly beautiful... With a compassion that belies his years, Bret Anthony Johnston turns a questing eye on life's difficulties in his extraordinary debut collection... These thoughtful pieces contain the very gist of universal human experience - people straining to connect, people needing to understand. * Corpus Christi Caller-Times *Bret Anthony Johnston's premier collection, Corpus Christi, sways as easily as a palm in the wind... Beautiful, simple prose... The stories function like a five-car pileup. It is impossible to look away. * Mid-American Review *Ordinary people in ordinary circumstances are the catalysts for extraordinary fiction in this impressive debut collection of short stories. * The Dallas Morning News *Johnston is a remarkable writer. His economy of words and simplicity of expression are his power tools. How did one so young gain this enormous insight into the human heart and understanding of the human condition? Corpus Christi is a small masterpiece. * Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, California) *Johnston's depiction of Corpus Christi, half-there, grey and dishevelled, is a brilliant background choice for the collection of stories whose characters are also neither here nor there. * The Texas Observer *A beautiful and auspicious debut, Corpus Christi points to a bright future both for the short story genre and for Johnston as a writer. If Corpus Christi is any indication, we can expect great things from both in years to come. * Arkansas Times *Taut, tender... acutely observed, true-to-life stories wrung completely of sentiment... Johnston has a long career ahead of him. * San Antonio Express-News *Johnston writes prose that is lurid, clean, and marked by precise images. His stories possess something tempestuous; they evoke that pre-storm air pressure, when the air gets thick and the sky turns a dark and sickly yellow... Astonishing revelations and emotional insight. * The Boston Phoenix *In the hands of South Texas native Bret Anthony Johnston, human emotions are exotic beasts and Corpus Christi is the zoo where he puts them all on display. The ten stories in this debut collection... are litera verité depictions of simple family relationships. * Texas Monthly *Simplistic and brisk on the surface, Johnston's debut collection of short stories is actually intense and lyrical, with compact, penetrating sentences and dialogue precise enough to have been lifted from a Dictaphone... Wryly comical... achingly beautiful. * LA Weekly *Johnston depicts [Corpus Christi's] inhabitants with lyricism and sympathy. * The Atlantic Online *Johnston... surrounds a study of loneliness with its most natural companions - memories, which he handles gently, sensitive to their decay... This is wonderful writing, easily evocative, and it makes memory almost tactile. * Austin American-Statesman *The humour here is tough and the emotions wrenching. Johnston's eye for humanity and the natural world around us is wonderfully keen. * The Birmingham News *Corpus Christi... is a breath of fresh air, an inspired work from a formidable new talent and proof that the art of the short story is still alive and well in the field of American fiction... Each well-honed story in Corpus Christi glimmers... These stories thrive, peopled with living and breathing characters and fraught with conflict and the kind of imagery that crawls under your skin and makes you shiver with despair and recognition... Just as Faulkner did with the fictional county of Yoknapatawpha, Johnston has given us a fully realized world in which his vivid characters seek to understand their stark, dirty, and even threatening surroundings. * The Chattahoochee Review *Johnston's stories read as if they were written by someone who's lived various lives and has had time enough to develop real wisdom, generosity, and the art of making strong, clean sentences. What I especially love about Corpus Christi is the fact that many of the characters walk the finest line between violence and love, and do so with a tenderness that is heartbreaking. -- Jane Hamilton * author of The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World *Bret Anthony Johnston is a name to put on your list - that list of writers you always read first. He knows how you can despair of people and go on treasuring them - hard-living, hard-headed, unexpected people who look out of his stories like brightly lit signposts on a dark highway. "Look here," they say. "Right here." -- Dorothy Allison * author of Bastard Out of Carolina *In his first collection of stories, Johnston eloquently depicts individual lives at once haunted and painfully enriched by memory, and by the losses of which memory is made. A wise and moving debut by a talented young writer. -- John Burnham Schwartz * author of Claire Marvel *I'm looking forward to a week in southern Spain in the company of Remember Me Like This by Bret Anthony Johnston. It has a fascinating fictional premise: a missing child who comes back and a changed family who have to get used to the idea. I've dipped into it already and the writing is clear and beautiful. Besides, a novel that comes with effusive quotes from John Irving and Alice Sebold has to be pretty good. * Observer (Best Summer Reads 2014) on REMEMBER ME LIKE THIS *Johnston's excellent debut is primarily a literary novel, with old-fashioned virtues such as rich characterisation, strong structure and impeccable control of tone. Although it is reminiscent of John Updike, the mixture of summer heat and melancholy feels peculiarly Texan * The Sunday Times on REMEMBER ME LIKE THIS *enthralling and skillful... the book's beauty is in its complexity, in its characters' endless search for the truth... uncomfortably revealing... What Johnston captures and examines so expertly isn't the kind of sadistic cruelty familiar to anyone with a television, but a subtler, more quietly menacing variety, the eggshell tiptoeing, the killing kindness we unknowingly inflict when acting out of love and fear... Remember Me Like This isn't a novel about kidnapping. It's not a psychological study of Stockholm syndrome or a victimology. It's not a thriller, and it's not even really a mystery, unless it's an unsolved one, the exquisitely moral mystery of how we struggle to accept and love the people we call family, even when we can't fully know them * New York Times on REMEMBER ME LIKE THIS *

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Book SynopsisThe nation’s favourite annual guide to the short story, now in its tenth year.Best British Short Stories invites you to judge a book by its cover – or, more accurately, by its title. This new series aims to reprint the best short stories published in the previous calendar year by British writers, whether based in the UK or elsewhere. The editor’s brief is wide ranging, covering anthologies, collections, magazines, newspapers and web sites, looking for the best of the bunch to reprint all in one volume.Featuring: Richard Lawrence Bennett, Luke Brown, David Constantine, Tim Etchells, Nicola Freeman, Amanthi Harris, Andrew Hook, Sonia Hope, Hanif Kureishi, Helen Mort, Jeff Noon, Irenosen Okojie, KJ Orr, Bridget Penney, Diana Powell, David Rose, Sarah Schofield, Adrian Slatcher, NJ Stallard, Robert Stone, Stephen Thompson and Zakia Uddin.Trade ReviewBest British Short Stories 2019 is a dazzling and captivating collection that needs to be read. There are stories that are moving, real, bold and brilliantly ambitious, it is a collection of writers that need to be savoured and celebrated! -- Ross Jefferey * Storgy *

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Book SynopsisEdward Thomas' stories formed an important stage in his imaginative development, and constitute a significant achievement. His fiction includes stories reflecting his personal quest for spiritual and social values, which have considerable psychological interest; and versions of traditional Celtic and Norse tales and English proverbs. In both original and traditional tales Thomas explores the relation between the human world and the realm of nature. His stories were, as he said, written under a 'real impulse', and they represent his whole effort to shape imaginative responses to fundamental questions of life and death, the self, and reality. "The Ship of Swallows" is the first selection to have been made exclusively from Edward Thomas' fiction, which it represents at its best.

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Book SynopsisA vision of contemporary Dubai from the perspective of a variety of expats from different parts of the world, telling tales of hardship and the high-life, paranoia and alienation, cruelty and love. The locations switch from parties at mansions to high-rise apartment blocks, taxi interiors to gyms, featuring an array of characters that span the citys wide social spectrum.

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Book SynopsisIn 2015, suffering from a dreadful case of writer’s block, novelist and short story writer Jan Carson set herself the challenge of spending an entire year writing short pieces of microfiction on postcards and mailing these to friends around the world. When 2016 ended, she found it impossible to stop writing postcard stories. The stories in this collection represent the best of some five hundred postcard stories Jan has written since.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the 2018 Sapir Prize. You need to bribe someone into giving you weed? Don't worry, just step into this court room and call the defendant a murderer. You're a rich, lonely man and you want the joy of company? Don't worry, just buy up people's birthdays, and you'll have friends calling every day. You need to get girls into bed? Don't worry, your writer friend will write you a very persuasive story. You're standing on the edge of a very high building, with all of your wretched sorrows? Don't worry, fly already! In these 22 short stories, wild capers reveal painful emotional truths, and the bizarre is just another name for the familiar. Wickedly funny and thrillingly smart, Fly Already is a collage of absurdity, despair and love, written by veteran commentator on the circus farce that is life.Trade ReviewI am in awe of Keret's ability to simultaneously make me laugh while crying, explore the joy and horror of every day life with precision, brevity and great psychological depth. His recognition of and engagement with the absurd is profound and he never loses his humanity, his heart long the way -- AM HomesBrilliantly edgy, unsettling, Kafkaesque and often very funny -- Joyce Carol OatesA reminder that writing can be accessible, creative, intelligent, transgressive, challenging, funny - and popular - all at the same -- Graeme SimsionReading Fly Already is like settling down for a ride in a luxurious car with a world-class driver who has an extremely crazy worldview that doesn't interfere with his amazing driving. Is there any better way to see the world? -- Elif Batuman

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Book SynopsisTHE BESTSELLING LITERARY SENSATION FROM BRAZIL'A blaze of heat, love and risk that will leave you reeling.' DBC Pierre'An extraordinary writer.' Misha GlennyLONGLISTED FOR THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FIRST BOOK AWARDA FINANCIAL TIMES AND SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEARCapturing the texture of life growing up in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, the stories in The Sun on My Head tell us of days lived under incredible heat - and under the shadow of a ubiquitous drug culture, the constant threat of the police, and the confines of poverty, violence and racism. They are also hauntingly beautiful portrayals of friendship, romance and momentary release from the oppressions of everyday life. The Sun on My Head is a debut work of great talent and sensitivity, a daring evocation of life in the favelas by a rising star rooted in the very community he portrays.

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Book SynopsisMany medieval writers, especially from France and Wales, wrote stories about the great British leader that was King Arthur. Legends, folklore and myths from this period come together to paint a picture of who he was. Some describe him as a great warrior, defending Britain from its enemies, while others suggest Arthur had magical qualities. Throughout this mystery, King Arthur has become an iconic figure, known for his court and knights, all over the world. This collection offers a selection of myths, featuring Arthur’s knights of the round table, his love for Queen Guinevere and of course the ultimate betrayal by one of his most trusted knights, Sir Launcelot. All awaken the magical and exciting world of King Arthur. FLAME TREE 451: From mystery to crime, supernatural to horror and myth, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic.

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Book SynopsisThings You Should Know is a collection of dazzling stories by one of the most talented and daring young American writers, whose distinctive narratives demonstrate how extraordinary the ordinary can be. A woman pursues an unconventional strategy for getting pregnant; a former First Lady shows despair and courage in dealing with her husband's Alzheimer's; a teacher's list of 'things you already should know but maybe are a little dumb, so you don't' becomes an obsession for someone who wasn't at school the day it was given out; and adult tragedy intrudes into a childhood friendship. The stories are full of magic and strangeness and humour, but also demonstrate an uncanny emotional accuracy and compassion.

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Book SynopsisFinalist for the Seventh Annual Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize in the Literary Fiction categoryIncludes author-curated discussion questions!Traci Skuce''s Hunger Moon is a collection of stories that echo with the yearning to be replenished, to be made full. Here are characters at cusp-points in their lives, attempting to shift their trajectories: to cease wrapping up their heart''s desire in a pink bubble by launching it into the universe. Some turn to ESP, some to a belief in ghosts, some to the future caught inside a glass bottle, each character taking the hackneyed adage Follow Your Bliss too literally to blissfully follow their own storyline.Emotional charged, evocative, and lush, Hunger Moon''s thirteen short stories each set out on profound quests to satisfy an emotional hunger.

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Book SynopsisA teenage girl finds unexpected sexual freedom on a trip to Amsterdam. A woman trapped at a dinner party comes up against an ugly obsession. The stories in Free Love are about desire, memory, sexual ambiguity and the imagination. In the harsh light of dislocation, the people in them still find connections, words blowing in the street, love in unexpected places. Ali Smith shows how things come together and how they break apart. She disconcerts and affirms with the lightest touch, to make us love and live differently.Trade ReviewA sweetly memorable collection ... A major talent * THE TIMES *A sweetly memorable collection ... A major talent * THE TIMES *Exquisitely delicate, unsentimental observations ... A time for celebration * BERNARD MACLAVERTY *Exquisitely delicate, unsentimental observations ... A time for celebration * BERNARD MACLAVERTY *

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Book SynopsisThis is the first of a two-volume selection of short fiction from Portugal, drawing on late-19th and 20th-century novellas and stories. The text concentrates on writing from before World War II. Included are: Eca de Queiros's "The Idiosyncrasies of a Young Blonde Woman"; Antonio Patricio's "Suze"; Fernando Pessoa's "The Anarchist Banker"; Irene Lisboa's "The Lover"; and Jose Rodrigues Migueis's "Leah".

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Book SynopsisFaber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles. Who was she? Where was she going? Why did she return?It is 1945, and twenty-year-old Shiv, grieving his identical twin brother, retreats to a small town in Uttar Pradesh. He is preparing to jump onto the train tracks when he is stopped by the sight of a woman.Shanti's husband is a fighter pilot missing in Burma. For the past three years she has travelled the country in search of him. In every military hospital she visits she hears a new story, and every time she passes through Leharia she tells one to Shiv. Through stories within stories Chandra tells a spiralling tale of loss, and of two wounded people becoming something new.Borrowing a structure from the Mahabharata, Vikram Chandra tells a spiralling story of loss, and of two wounded people becoming something new.Bringing together past, pr

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Book SynopsisFaber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles. Of course, of everybody of whom this particular hero was suspicious, he was most suspicious of femme fatale, of this woman he was in love with. Even before he discovered she had a spell on her he was distrustful of her. He didn't want to be, but that's just how it goes. Written by Anna Burns before she completed her dazzling Man Booker-winning novel Milkman, Mostly Hero' is the hilarious, hell-raising descendant of Quentin Tarantino and the Brothers Grimm. Originally self-published online, it is available here in print for the first time.Bringing together past, present and future in our ninetieth year, Faber Stories is a celebratory compendium of collectable work.

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Book SynopsisA quietly powerful presence in American fiction in during the past two decades, these collected stories show the true scale of Hempel's achievement. Her compact fictions, populated by smart neurotic somewhat damaged narrators, speak grandly to the longings and insecurities in all of us, and in a voice that is bracingly direct and sneakily profound. These are stories about people who make choices that seem inevitable, whose longings and misgivings evoke eternal human experience. With her trademark compassion and wit, Hempel takes readers into the marriages, minor disasters and moments of revelation in an uneasy America.Trade ReviewThe toughest party of reading The Dog of the Marriage is how much your jaw muscles ache from the effort it takes not to laugh and cry in front of strangers. Amy Hempel is my god among writers' Chuck Palahniuk. * Chuck Palahniuk *Her work is an exemplar of the truth that the short story can be the briefest of affairs, but it can stay in the mind forever - Glasgow Herald. * Glasgow Herald *These are astonishing stories, hilarious and surprising and insightful... if there's a funnier, smarter or richer book published this year, I will eat my shoes - Guardian. * Guardian *Reaffirms her impressive mastery of fiction … Hempel's wit, insight and crisp writing make her work consistently powerful' Observer. * Observer *Table of ContentsOn Amy Hempel. Reasons to Live: In a Tub; Tonight Is a Favor to Holly; Celia Is Back; Nashville Gone to Ashes; San Francisco; In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried; Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep; Going; Pool Night; Three Popes Walk into a Bar; The Man in Bogota; When It's Human Instead of When It's Dog; Why I'm Here; Breathing Jesus; Today Will Be a Quiet Day. At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom: Daylight Come; The Harvest; The Most Girl Part of You; Rapture of the Deep; Du Jour; Murder; The Day I Had Everything; To Those of You Who Missed Your Connecting Flights Out of O'Hare; And Lead Us Not into Penn Station; In the Animal Shelter; At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom; The Lady Will Have the Slug Louie; Under No Moon; The Center; Tom-Rock Through the Eels; The Rest of God. Tumble Home: Weekend; Church Cancels Cow; The Children's Party; Sportsman; Housewife; The Annex; The New Lodger; Tumble Home; Notes. The Dog of the Marriage: Beach Town; Jesus Is Waiting; The Uninvited; Reference #388475848-5; What Were the White Things?; The Dog of the Marriage; The Afterlife; Memoir; Offertory; Notes.

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