Anthologies & Short Stories

Book SynopsisThe weird, fetid, familiar discomfort of family is front and centre in these short stories of all the ways we remain a mystery to each other.The mysteries of kinship (families born into and families made) take disconcerting and familiar shapes in these refreshingly frank short stories. A family is haunted by a beast that splatters fruit against its walls every night, another undergoes a near-collision with a bus on the way home from the beach. Mothers are cold, fathers are absent—we know these moments in the abstract, but Adaui makes each as uncanny as our own lives: close but not yet understood.Trade Review"haunting….Adaui’s poetic prose elevates the poignancy of these mostly somber stories" —Publishers Weekly"A kaleidoscopic collection that takes a sharp, dark look at family and how we survive it." —Kirkus"A softly beguiling book that pulls the reader into its complexity and investigation of deeply vicious themes." —The Arts Desk"Brief, incendiary tales, flaring into being." —Irish Times"With this book Katya Adaui consolidates her position as one of the most subtle and original Peruvian writers in recent years." —El País"Adaui belongs to a resurgence of women storytellers who have restored the pleasure of reading stories that leave us suffering from their sweet intoxication." —WMagazín

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Book SynopsisDiscover the first adventures of the most iconic detective of all time.This quintessential collection includes many of the famous cases that made the legendary Sherlock Holmes one of fiction's most popular creations. Set against the foggy backdrop of London and the English countryside, each story unravels an exciting new mystery, from mistaken identity and ominous omens to counterfeit currency and daring robberies. First published in the Strand magazine in the early 1890s, these stories cemented Holmes and Watson as behemoths of detective fiction – and this is where it all began.Part of a boldly designed series of classics, with wider margins for notes, this book is perfect for design-lovers and students alike. With bold, eye-catching graphic covers by Evi O Studio, this collection aims to introduce a selection of the most celebrated works of the last thousand years to a new audience. Featuring tales of adventure, fiction from the 19th and 20th centuries, feminist writings, and reflections on art, politics, philosophy and the origins of man, this is a small, wide-reaching and essential collection.'Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.'

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Book Synopsis"Precise and illuminating." - Bernardine Evaristo OBE.Shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, the Saboteur Awards, the Shirley Jackson Award and the Jhalak Prize.Lovelorn aliens abduct innocent coffee shop waitresses. Ghosts of errant Londoners haunt the Underground, caught between here and the hereafter. Brave young women seek erotic empowerment... at their own peril.These are the worlds of Speak Gigantular, the startling debut short story collection from acclaimed author Irenosen Okojie MBE. Understated in her humour and razor-sharp in her observations of humankind, Okojie's eclectic anthology offers an unflinching gaze into the darkest corners of the human experience.Sexy, serious, and often downright disturbing, this brilliant debut collection sizzles with originality."A work of rare confidence, luminous imagery and full of hidden sharp edges." - Nina Allan, winner of the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire."Irenosen Okojie's Speak Gigantular should, if there is any literary justice, place her in a circle with writers like Shirley Jackson, Margaret Atwood, and Angela Carter." - New Orleans Review.Trade ReviewEach story featured is original, dark and with a witty but dark humour which disturbs and forces the reader to question exactly what a social norm is. This is fiction at its best, enacting change, driving the reader to act and it is spectacular. * The Reading Passport *Each story featured is original, dark and with a witty but dark humour which disturbs and forces the reader to question exactly what a social norm is. This is fiction at its best, enacting change, driving the reader to act and it is spectacular. * The Reading Passport *Speak Gigantular is a work of rare confidence, luminous imagery and full of hidden sharp edges. There are few things that bring greater joy in reading than coming upon a talent so delightful, so penetrating, so scandalous. Okojie's stories are magical in all the most interesting senses of that word: devious, enthralling, unexpected. * Nina Allan, winner of the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire *A beautiful, sombre collection with deep shadows and dazzling highlights. * Mslexia *Okojie delves into the painful, the unsayable, the unknowable. Her prose is precise and illuminating: love and loneliness are recurrent themes. * Bernardine Evaristo, The Guardian *A liberatingly odd, seductive and fearless talent. * Laline Paull, author of The Bees, shortlisted for the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction *

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Book SynopsisTen tragicomic tales of environmental and personal disaster from the margins of town and country. A troubled hipster is seduced by an electricity pylon. Sinister omens manifest in a supermarket car park. A motorway bridge becomes a father. Malevolent bacteria plague a polar icebreaker. A bioengineered abomination lurks in a Gloucestershire railway terminus The weekly bin collection pushes a man over the edge. A former squatter clings to her home on a crumbling cliff. Joyriders are foiled by Anglo Saxon floodwaters. Vampiric entities stalk B&Q. And fiery catastrophe comes to the zoo. Gareth E. Rees's first collection of short fiction explores lives on the verge of breakdown, where ordinary people are driven to extremes by the effects of late capitalism and ecological collapse.

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Book SynopsisThe first anthology of its kind in Wales, which finally sheds light on a largely hidden queer cultural history with the careful selection of over 40 short stories (1837-2018) including work by John Sam Jones, Sian James, Rhys Davies, Deborah Kay Davies, Aled Islwyn, and Kate North. New translations of Kate Roberts, Mihangel Morgan, Jane Edwards, Pennar Davies and Dylan Huw make available their compelling stories for the first time to a non-Welsh speaking readership. An accessible but scholarly introduction places the writers and their stories in their historical and literary contexts. In these stories gender refuses to be fixed: a dashing travelling companion is not quite who he seems in the intimate darkness of a mail coach, a girl on the cusp of adulthood gamely takes her father's place as head of the house, and an actor and patron are caught up in dangerous game-playing. In the more fantastical tales there are talking rats, flirtations with fascism, and escape from a post-virus 'utopia'. These are stories of sexual awakening, coming out and redefining one's place in the world. Release and a certain heady license may be found in the distant cities of Europe or north Africa, but the stories are for the most part located in familiar Welsh settings - a schoolroom, a provincial town, a mining village, a tourist resort, a sacred island. The intensity of desire, whether overt, playful, or coded, makes this a rich and often surprising collection that reimagines what being queer and Welsh has meant in different times and places.Trade Review"An impressive book " Nation.Cymru; "Successfully anthologises a queer Welsh canon" Wales Arts Review

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Book Synopsis‘The Magnificent Moustache and other stories’ is a collection of six delightful tales full of wit, quirky characters and an abundance of welcome nonsense. These innovative short stories will take you from a national moustache-growing competition to the Queen’s vexation when her usual cuppa fails to appear; and to the challenges of having a name so lengthy that it takes forever to simply introduce yourself. A 200-year-old business faces imminent collapse unless a solution can be found; a kingdom has been cut off from civilisation for 100 years; and what happened in that bitterly cold winter of 1740 in north west Wales?Table of ContentsThe Magnificent Moustache 11 Tea’s The Thing! 53 What’s In A Name? 99 Bommington’s Biscuits 137 The King And i 175 The Red Dragon Of Wales 215

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Book SynopsisBarcode, Krisztina Toth's first substantial work in prose after four volumes of remarkable verse, consists of fifteen beautifully written and highly sensual short stories. Each story, apart from one, is told with poetic intensity and intimacy from a young, unnamed female narrator's point of view.

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Book Synopsis"I have long since ceased to be surprised at how often incidents in my village end up with someone in the river..." My Village in the Valley is a quiet unassuming place where, on the whole, very little happens. Until, that is, we all get together to tackle aggressive drivers, disputed footpaths, yapping hearthrugs and the ubiquitous village fete. In my Village in the Valley, nothing is ever simple ... Original comedy from TV and radio scriptwriter Michael Bartlett (The Archers, BBC Radio Drama)Trade Review"Absolutely one of the best laugh out loud books you can treat yourself to ... IN SUMMARY- I would love this book to become a new sitcom. The writing is very visual, the characters are credible and the situations so utterly bonkers they are probably true!" ~ Goodreads reviewer

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Book SynopsisHeroes and danger, comfort and claws. A black cat dreams of finding a new family, and a vampire is woken by a brush with ancient folklore. Then a cat tests just how far his nine lives run, before a stray moves in, and a kitten discovers a thirst for adventure ... Full of playfulness and wildness, this is a vibrant collection from eleven UK authors about the reality of being owned by a cat

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Book Synopsis‘Sexual noises’ from next door are what disturbs Mrs Quiet’s peaceful lifestyle. This and many other annoying little habits make up the fascinating agenda of George the mediator, as he strives to bring peace among feuding neighbours. Also, among this colourful and highly entertaining collection of short stories you will find teachers helping disabled Stuey to abseil in the Lake district, Danny finding that cooking his first chocolate cake is not all that it seems, and ‘Takeaway’ covers the recent sexual exploitation cases in Rochdale and elsewhere.Table of ContentsMrs Loud and Mrs Quiet 9 Takeaway 24 Breaking it gently 43 Tools in the van 57 Stuey’s night out 70 The witch and the gardener 79 Leave me alone. 95 The diva of St. Dunstan’s 113 Danny’s dish 123 Carnival 133 Blackbird diplomacy 140 A tale of two dogs 149 The last sunrise 164 Aftermath 170 Zoe the wrestler 186 Zoe’s revenge 196

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Book SynopsisA Guardian Best Fiction Book of 2023 The brilliant new short story collection from the Arthur C. Clarke Award—winning author of The Animals in That Country. A family of cat farmers gets the chance to set the felines free. A group of chickens tells it like it is. A female-crewed ship ploughs through the patriarchy. A support group finds solace in a world without men. With her trademark humour, energy, and flair, McKay offers glimpses of places where dreams subsume reality, where childhood restarts, where humans embrace their animal selves and animals talk like humans. The stories in Gunflower explode and bloom in mesmerising ways, showing the world both as it is and as it could be.Trade Review‘McKay’s deployment of language is as exciting and original as her manipulation of ideas. The stories in Gunflower are provocative, poetic, vibrantly alive to contemporary concerns.’ -- Nina Allan * The Guardian *‘It’s not often that a short story collection feels like more than the sum of its parts, but Gunflower is a work of rare depth and skill.’ -- Doug Johnstone * The Big Issue *‘Startling, beautiful, and dangerous. McKay is the brightest of talents. We're lucky to have her.’ -- Robbie Arnott, author of Limberlost‘Amidst a pile of shed skin and fur, McKay moulds a kaleidoscopic and horrifyingly real portrait of life at the fringes. By turns gritty, surreal, and absurd, Gunflower isn’t afraid to weigh flesh on the scales of our own judgments, a delicate balancing act between life and death, connection and disconnection. Perhaps part Kelly Link and Ottessa Moshfegh, McKay delivers an assured follow-up to The Animals in That Country in her own singular voice that zeroes in on our anxieties and existential crises with deft and often poetic flair.’ -- Sequoia Nagamatsu, bestselling author of How High We Go in the Dark‘Gunflower is like a swarm of small earthquakes: nothing is steady anymore, and the world feels bigger, scarier, almost transcendent in its strangeness.’ -- Miles Allinson, author of In Moonland‘[Laura Jean McKay] has another sense, an extra one that we mortals do not have. She sees and feels the world differently. So acutely, so astutely, so uncannily.’ -- Sian Prior, author of Shy‘The genre-hopping short stories in Gunflower, written over the past two decades, offer invaluable insight into the obsessions that have compelled McKay to return to the page … McKay circles around her thematic obsessions — familial fracture, social and economic liminality, negotiations with motherhood, human and nonhuman subjectivities — and approaches them from multiple angles.’ -- Jack Cameron Stanton * Sydney Morning Herald *‘The stories in Gunflower move between genres and subjects with the queasy swiftness of a fever dream. They are united, however, in their exploration of life in an increasingly changeable and precarious word.’ -- Julian Novitz * The Conversation *‘[M]any of the stories in Gunflower end just as they seem to be approaching the edge of a cliff, giving rise to an uncomfortable sense of urgency. McKay’s ability to close the apparent distances between past and present, human and nonhuman, us and them, feels vital as we approach the precipice of the Anthropocene.’ -- Megan Cheong * Meanjin *‘Gunflower is distinguished by its tonal and formal variety: its bracing sense of the weird jostling with heartfelt compassion; the audacity of brevity and the artful unfolding of detail; a keen ear for working-class vernacular and the more sophisticated language of the educated middle class … Above all, McKay’s stories challenge us to make our own meanings … [Gunflower] is one of the most inventive short story collections I have read this year. It will delight the many admirers of The Animals in that Country and readers new to McKay’s thought-provoking fiction.’ -- Susan Midalia * Australian Book Review *‘The short stories in Laura Jean McKay’s Gunflower are weird and wonderful, just as you’d expect from the author of The Animals in That Country. Some of the concerns of the earlier book are in its follow-up, with a similar dreamlike, even fabulist take on a world that’s familiar but with improbable and fantastical twists. Funny, creepy and addictive.’ -- Michael Williams * Qantas Travel Insider *‘[A] cohesive collection of dizzying, formally inventive, marvellously unique stories … Laura Jean McKay’s latest work is a poetic and mesmerising collection for the holidays.’ * Melbourne Writers Festival *‘A strange and wonderful collection of short stories, set in a slightly “wrong” version of the real world … It’s an uncomfortable view of Australia, and the world, that will really push your thinking.’ * Zee Feed *Praise for The Animals in That Country: ‘A fierce debut novel … Her writing about people is filthy, fresh, and funny; this is prose on high alert, hackles up and teeth bared in every sentence. The novel becomes both a stirring attempt to inhabit other consciousnesses and a wry demonstration of the limits of our own language and empathy.’ -- Justine Jordan * The Guardian *Praise for The Animals in That Country: ‘This is a game-changing, life-changing novel, the kind that comes along right when you need it, and compels you to listen to its terrifying poetry. Compulsively readable and yet also pushing the boundaries of what is possible in terms of language and narrative, this is a brilliant and disturbing book that will make you rethink everything you thought you understood about non-human animal sentience and agency. I don’t think any reader can ever forget a voice like Sue the dingo’s — wise and obscene in equal measure. A triumph.’ -- Ceridwen Dovey, author of Only the AnimalsPraise for The Animals in That Country: ‘This is an absorbing and affecting book, and one to which I’m able to pay the highest compliment: that, in the days after finishing it, the world felt different to me, its animals not speaking but not silent either.’ -- Ben Brooker * Australian Book Review *Praise for The Animals in That Country: ‘The genius stroke of The Animals in That Country is the preternatural “body talk” of its animals … an affecting book, one that gets remarkably close to the unknowable wildness of animal sentience.’ -- Jack Callil * The Age *Praise for The Animals in That Country: ‘Laura Jean McKay, an expert in animal communication, has her animals speaking in hallucinogenic haikus — it’s disturbing but compelling, and somehow totally believable. I loved every bizarre, unexpected moment.’ -- Corinna Hente * Herald Sun *Praise for The Animals in That Country: ‘What a pertinent time to be reading The Animals in That Country … the responses and lockdown efforts of the government and authorities in this novel mirror the scenario unfolding around the coronavirus pandemic … The writing is vibrant, energetic, and refreshing, and the narrative leaps off the page. Jean is an unexpected and unforgettable main protagonist. She’s gutsy, raw, degenerate, and believable … [A] wild, engaging ride.’ -- Karen Viggers * The Australian *Praise for The Animals in That Country: ‘[The Animals in That Country] is disturbing and darkly comic, disrupting anthropocentric assumptions, revealing how animals might see our often violent intrusion into their lives … McKay’s innovation lies in the startling newness of the plot and the innovations in form in conveying animal voices as agentic and different … The Animals in That Country marks a striking new moment in animal representation in Australian fiction.’ * ALS Gold Medal Judges' Citation *Praise for The Animals in That Country: ‘What is so exciting about McKay’s novel is the way she refuses both anthropocentrism and the philosophical position that non-human animals are inevitably alien to us … [A]nother of the novel’s strengths is that its thought experiment is conducted without sentimentality, though it is always characterised by humour and warmth … The Animals in That Country will be the wildest ride you take all year.’ -- Maria Takolander * The Saturday Paper *Praise for The Animals in That Country: ‘As we grapple with a worldwide pandemic, Australian author McKay’s novel is incredibly timely and feels all the more real for it … filled with humour, optimism, and grace: a wild ride worth taking. An eye-opening glimpse into a world that’s turned upside down and eventually becomes its own version of whole.’ -- Carol Gladstein * Booklist *

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Book SynopsisA man jumps, the platform empties, then the stories begin. Filled with tales of tragedy, love, hope and frustration, Malachi McIntosh's debut collection of short stories offers surreal and satirical accounts of the many perils of contemporary life. From resistant mothers and unexpected corporate climbers, to doomed weddings and unwelcome visitors, these dark, comedic and uncanny stories contend with timeless concerns of parenthood, family, race and identity in the here and now. Whether characters are absorbed in social media or burying their grief, raising themselves up or taking others down, Parables, Fables, Nightmares brings a light to our interactions in an ailing world and heralds the arrival of a unique new voice in fiction.

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Book SynopsisFour stories of feathers, blood and eggs. A girl chases a different future on the back of a Suzuki 250. A sibling seeks her brother, hoping answers will heal. Inside the walls of her speaking house, a 'kept' wife tries to learn to be content with her identity. A young woman falls in love with a Goose and grows wings. These are journeys fuelled by love, loss and self-discovery, in which characters must fight or take flight. Stories by Helen Kennedy, Katie Hale, Louise Finnigan and Jacqueline Ward.Trade Review"An evocative and unflinching story which shines a light on fractured families, love, and regret, all seeped in Manchester's past, present and uncertain future. Incredibly moving and beautifully written, I loved it." - Gaynor Jones on 'The People's History Museum is Closed by Helen Kennedy.; "Ivy Wife is delicately spare, beautifully written and hauntingly melancholic tale about female identity in the face of a shapeless loss, that will linger long after the last line." - Lara Williams, Author of Treats, Supper Club and The Odyssey on 'Ivy Wife' by Louise Finnigan

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Book SynopsisDelve into a world of change and reinvention. Where relationships are as delicate as turtle eggs, and just as easily smashed. This poignant short story collection explores the pivotal moments that transform our lives. Jenny, whose life is defined by small disasters, discovers a bigger, more generous version of herself. A traveller girl might just win her race and alter her life's course. A widow, cut off in a riverside backwater, opens her heart to a stranger. In this captivating collection by award-winning writer, Alice Fowler, readers will be moved by the raw vulnerability of human connection, and the resilience that allows us to grow and thrive in the face of hardship. In change, Fowler's characters find the ability to be truly free.Trade Review"Poignant and perfectly paced, these lovely stories lean towards happy outcomes, compassionate compromises, unexpectedly rewarding friendships and good deeds." - Eithen Farry, The Daily Mail, UK. "These are precious things: stories written with delicacy and heart. Chance meetings and significant moments are rendered precisely and to such moving effect, in this deeply skilful and wise collection." - Wendy Erskine; "A wonderful, flawless and fantastic collection. The one book you MUST buy this year if you want to read a masterclass of affecting writing." - Linda Hill's Book Bag; "Alice Fowler's collection of short stories capture precise and intimate moments of being. Caught out by sudden and capricious turns in emotion, Fowler asks us to observe the whimsical, often callow, responses humans make as they declare who they are in the face of grievance and loss: humans preparing to start again. Fowler's spare and modest style underscores a particular sensitivity to the relationship between individuals and their natural environment; the way in which green spaces and forms of botanical and organic life can alleviate and disperse negative emotion, entangled, unresolved habits of mind." - Sally Bayley; "Fowler has weaved a collection of stories out of fine, tender threads. Each one vibrates with her compassionate observation of life in its multitudinous forms." - Vanessa Onwuemezi; "These elegant, atmospheric short stories are filled with passion, renewal and movement. Each has a certain quiet strength all of its own, drawing us into rich histories and dramatic moments of change." - Imogen Robertson

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Book SynopsisA mystical battle between foreign gods and local saints is unleashed as idols are mistaken for garden ornaments; an ambiguous wizard spies on his neighbours from an invisible tower; a cursed duelling pistol influences its owners to commit suicide. With strange combinations of occultism, electricity, magic and playfully Biblical archetypes, the fifteen darkly funny stories in this book illuminate a side of Irish literary history that is often overlooked.

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Book SynopsisDaring, witty, and strange, the twelve stories in Large Animals confront what it means to have a body. Jess Arndt's often-unnamed narrators battle with inhabiting a form that makes them feel both deeply uncomfortable and detached, constantly challenging the limits of gender and reality as they try to connect with other people and with themselves. These are stories that rebel against accepted ideas of human identity and present a new normal that is as ambiguous as it is messy. In 'Moon Colonies' the narrator's disconnect with their body leads them on a masochistic gambling spree. In 'Jeff', Lily Tomlin mistakes Jess for Jeff, triggering a hilarious and unhinged identity crisis. And in 'Contrails', a character calls each of their ex lovers the night before surgery, confronting a gut-twisting fear of becoming non-existent. Soupy, visceral, and often disconcerting, Large Animals sets a new standard for language, challenging our concepts of gender and body in a way that feels radical, insightful, and incredibly relevant.Trade Review"...joins in with the classics of loaded, outlaw literature... this is an electric debut." Maggie Nelson; "Everything in Jess Arndt's Large Animals veers towards the supernatural. Everything is strangely bodily and shape-shifting. Hugely original, this debut is wild." - Isabel Waidner; "Jess Arndt has crafted a queer uncanny, an eerily recognizable landscape of dark magic and darker humor where the instability of bodies, desire, relationships, and the self take on a supernatural dimension. A tremendously exciting collection." - Michelle Tea; "Jess Arndt is like a queer Kafka''- Ingrid Contreras, New York Times editor's choice author of Fruit of the Drunken Tree. “Each time I pick up a book, this is the voice I’m hoping to hear. Honest, agitating, queer, visionary. Arndt refuses binaries, haunting the space between. The pleasure of Large Animals is in the bite.” - Justin Torres, author of We the Animals "Strange, smart, and probing... an important voice on timely questions of the body politic." - Elle “Arndt’s vivid, rollicking stories represent a new kind of American outlaw literature, of transgression and nonconformity and queerness and heart, all told in a propulsive, original voice.” - Literary Hub “Metamorphosis―of time, of space, of character―is exposed in every playful sentence of Large Animals. Language will not be kept in its form. Life, poetry, gender are always in the process of transformation, and this fundamental condition is at the heart of Jess Arndt’s stories. Large Animals is a strange and beautiful must-read.” - Dorthe Nors, author of Karate Chop and So Much for That Winter "Jess Arndt’s writing is so strange and imaginative that it provides release from the real world." - The Cut "Arndt tells stories that resemble handfuls of ribbons―vibrant, overlapping, tangled, seemingly more middles than beginnings and endings. . . . Arndt’s keen, wild stories are truly original, and readers will hope for more." - Booklist "Arndt’s short stories are delicious flights of fancy, or obsession, or fertile curiosity―or, more accurately, some beguiling combination of all three...This is a playful and provocative collection, full of sly, deft turns of phrase and striking imagery." - Publishers Weekly “[A] bold new literary voice, borderless and brave.” - O, The Oprah Magazine "Reading Arndt is like walking toward a shimmering desert mirage and being met with a cloud of acid instead of an oasis of cool water… A deeply transgressive, riveting shot out of the gate. Arndt is one to watch." - Kirkus Reviews

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Book SynopsisOutsiders often expect Muslim women to be timid, conservative, or submissive, the reality is different. While some of these authors express a quiet piety and explore poignant situations, others use black humour and biting satire, or play with possibilities. Still others shade into the territory of a Muslim Fifty Shades of Grey, creating grey areas where the mainstream media sees only black and white. The stories also reflect on gender differences, lesbian desire,and many other subjects.Table of ContentsForeword;Introduction;The Cat That Came in with the Dark;Love Letter;Ghazal;Her Trials; Boneland;Tears and Tantrums;Waiting for the Bus;Marriage of Convenience; Rearranged;Peter Pochmann Goes to Dinner;Moments in Time;Frida's Breakfast;A Simple Nature;Proper and Perfect?; Acid Reflux;Heartbeat

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Book SynopsisAn essential collection from one of the foremost novelists of the 20th century.

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Book SynopsisShirley Jackson Award finalist World Fantasy Award finalist Dark, irreverent, and truly innovative, the speculative stories in Homesick meditate on the theme of home and our estrangement from it, and what happens when the familiar suddenly shifts into the uncanny. In stories that foreground queer relationships and transgender or nonbinary characters, Cipri delivers the origin story for a superhero team comprised of murdered girls; a housecleaner discovering an impossible ocean in her least-favorite clients’ house; a man haunted by keys that appear suddenly in his throat; and a team of scientists and activists discovering the remains of a long-extinct species of intelligent weasels. In the spirit of Laura van den Berg, Emily Geminder, Chaya Bhuvaneswar, and other winners of the Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize, Nino Cipri’s debut collection announces the arrival of a brilliant and wonderfully unpredictable writer with a gift for turning the short story on its ear.Trade Review"Nino Cipri’s Homesick makes the idea of home into a prism and beams a core of queerness through it, refracting into nine surreal and moving stories about families lost, found and transformed. The stories vary from formal experiments to deeply felt character meditations, from a three-page piece of flash fiction to a well-developed novella, and from heartbreak to horror to humor. Over all they excel in a kind of subtle startling, like meeting unexpected ripples in a mirror. ... Absolutely wonderful in every respect." —New York Times Book Review "These stories are so deliciously queer and dark and playful; Cipri is a treasure." —Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties "The fantastical landscapes of Cipri’s nine tales heighten the moments of crisis that force characters to confront the here and now as well as life’s gritty unknowns." —Booklist "These stories are delicious speculative confections, as masterful as Kelly Link’s but even more approachable. ... For Cipri, home is elusive, problematized, and an ache for home encompasses a desire for acceptance, safety, and even innocence." —Vol 1 Brooklyn "The queer stories in Homesick are as mystifying as they are provocative, and will appeal to fans of literary fiction and speculative genre fiction alike ... Since it's a collection of stories, Homesick offers many stopping points. Like unraveling the mysteries of prehistoric intelligent weasels, however, stopping proves to be quite impossible." —Shelf Awareness "Emerging writer and self-described weirdo mixes monsters, zombies, Super Little Dead Girls and poltergeists with screenplay, lists and good old-fashioned storytelling. The result: an excellent and entertaining collection. ... Also, shout-out to Cipri’s snappy dialogue and devotion to offbeat rhetorical questions — 'Do you think zombies can go through revolving doors?'" —Broken Pencil Magazine "A riveting first collection that announces a major new talent unafraid to embrace the beauty of the mysterious. Uncanny, gorgeous, unyielding, original, and unforgettable." —Ann and Jeff VanderMeer "I remember reading Nino Cipri's first pro story and saying, 'This is someone whose career I want to follow.' The fact that that first story is included in this collection is testament to the mature, electric voice Cipri has cultivated from the beginning. Every story here is a gem that deserves to be read and read again." —Sarah Pinsker, author of Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea "It's hard for my to wrap my mind around how, exactly, a book can be so simultaneously scary and sweet, terrifying and tender. In both individual stories, and throughout the whole collection, Nino Cipri traverses a dizzying range of emotional and imaginative territory. These are high-concept stories—featuring time travel, hauntings, and some very scary little girls—but they always remain rooted in the reality of human feeling. Cipri is one of our most imaginative and insightful new writers, and this is a genuinely brilliant book." —Kristen Roupenian, author of "Cat Person" and You Know You Want This "Nino Cipri's Homesick is the best story collection I've read in ages. Every one of these short stories is a tiny reality bomb, delightfully demolishing my expectations while opening up passageways to places I'd never been before. Equal parts queer and surreal, these tales will captivate your heart while keeping you guessing and wondering. A must for fans of Kelly Link and Justin Chin." —Charlie Jane Anders, author of The City in the Middle of the Night

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Book SynopsisA relationship ends in the space between [ ]. Abe Lincoln and Edgar Allan Poe Two stroll the river in the afterlife, debating a second death. Two boys navigate jazz, baseball, and growing up in the second between the pitch and the swing. And a man from Living Dangerously sets off across the ocean on a pile of lobster traps, seeking the truth of the smoke on the wind. With If You [ ], author Colin Fleming breaks the unwritten rule of the short story collection. In over thirty different styles, Fleming delivers a punk rock triple album in book form—compositions that display a dizzying range of fearless artistry, from horror to hyper-experimental to a story disguised as a grocery list. Together, these pieces resonate with unexpected chords, exploring the breadth of human experience and affirming that that narrative is everywhere, if we are able and willing to see it.Trade ReviewPraise for Colin Fleming “Colin Fleming’s stories exhibit many of the qualities that have distinguished his criticism: namely, a fierce but disciplined intelligence, a singular view of society—and, sometimes, those who live in isolation from mainstream society—and a well-earned and convincing compassion. All of this, in a debut collection of stories written in eloquent prose, at once vivid, hypnotically precise, and always bursting with energy.” —Richard Burgin, Boulevard, and five-time Pushcart winner “Colin Fleming is a thoughtful and provocative maker of stories. Singular, he refuses to assimilate to any of the easy available trends. He can break into any life and find surprises—sudden moral convulsions, paradoxical resolutions. The characters have broad expressive range, and when they interact anything can—and does—happen. Fleming is a writer to stake out and shadow—to see where he goes, who he meets, where he gets his news.” —Sven Birkerts , editor of Agni

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Dzanc Short Story Collection PrizeA near-future farmer battling environmental crises takes in a mysterious girl he finds on the roadside. A bus driver navigates through treacherous weather and memories of her tragic past as she races to save children from the end of the world. A woman keeps giving birth to children from different time periods. And a woman struggles with her young daughter mysteriously transforming into something wild and unruly, confronting themes of motherhood and family. In Girl Country, stories range from medieval Belgium to the near-future of the American Midwest, populated by mothers and monsters, mermaids and milkmaids, nuns and bus drivers—women in every walk of life, but particularly working-class women, navigating the intersection of the mundane and the magical. Perfect for fans of Orange World and Animal Wife, these are stories about women with teeth—wild and alive.Trade Review“In Girl Country, Jacqueline Vogtman tells stories of hope and connection in the face of terrifying forces. The stories range in time from the Middle Ages, to our present day, to a dystopian future that is uncannily recognizable. Her characters encounter threats from environmental collapse, economic divide, and social structures that repress and contain women. Yet the stories find illumination in the darkness as the characters bend toward empathy and connection. Read Girl Country, and you’ll see the world with a newly refreshed vision.” —Lawrence Coates, author of Camp Olvido

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Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICEAn incomparable storyteller serves up an enchanting concoction of art, love, and longingIn fifteen masterful stories, Frederic Tuten entertains questions of existential magnitude, pervasive yearning, and the creative impulse. A wealthy older woman reflects on her relationship with her drowned husband, a painter, as she awaits her own watery demise. An exhausted artist, feeling stuck, reads a book of criticism about allegory and symbolism before tossing her paintings out the window. Writing a book about the lives of artists he admires—Cezanne, Monet, Rousseau—a man imagines how each vignette could be a life lesson for his wife, the artist he perhaps admires the most. Whether set in Tuten’s beloved Lower East Side, Rome’s Borghese Gardens, or a French seaside resort, these stories shift seamlessly between the poignancy of memory into the logic of fairytales or dreams, demonstrating Tuten’s exceptional ability to transmute his passion for art and life to the page.Trade ReviewNew York Times “Editors’ Choice” selectionNew York Magazine “Approval Matrix” selectionBOMB Magazine “Gift Guide” selection“Intoxicating.” —New York Magazine“Engrossing. . . . Tuten’s prose is always vital, often dazzling. . . . The Bar at Twilight is neither normative nor predictable, and it bears the firm impress of the soul.” —New York Times Book Review“The Bar at Twilight is [Tuten’s] showcase, revisiting every strand of his bibliography with the benefit of hindsight and at the peak of his powers. . . . [It] is outgoing, lived-in, and gregarious. The word for this is generous.” —Bookforum“Tuten’s language is supple, elegant, and wonderfully descriptive. He is also very funny.” —Los Angeles Review of Books“Tuten has managed to reinvent himself in one stylistically daring work after another. . . . The Bar at Twilight is a sumptuous compendium of fables, pastiches, and stories in late style, all of them trussed up in a distinctively earthy, image-obsessed prose. At once riotous and soulful, saturated by a gentle, well-traveled tristesse, the stories feel both strikingly familiar and markedly fresh.” —Cleveland Review of Books“Subtly exultant. . . . The Bar at Twilight solidifies [Tuten’s] reputation as a distinctive, if overlooked, practitioner of literary art.” —East Hampton Star“Scintillating. . . . Tuten dazzles like the best of Jhumpa Lahiri, Alice Munro, and George Saunders. Here, with The Bar at Twilight, he is at the pinnacle of his craft.” —On the Seawall“The subtlety of [Tuten’s] storytelling is wonderful.” —North of Oxford“Heady and elegant. . . . The work of a gifted, resourceful writer: an old master.” —Kirkus Reviews“Heartfelt. . . . No matter whether Tuten is chronicling the creative or romantic lives of his characters, he renders their struggles with a sense of hope.” —Publishers Weekly“The music of Tuten’s prose speaks to my heart. His inimitable, imaginative, witty, romantic stories continue to haunt me.” —David Gilbert, author of The Normals and & Sons“Tuten’s stories are filled with art, dreams, yearning, and a past that he captures beautifully and deftly and then lets go. The Bar at Twilight is a wonderful, evocative collection.” —Meg Wolitzer, author of The Interestings and The Female Persuasion

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Book SynopsisThe heavyweight of hardcore horror returns with ten hard hitting new short stories and seven brutal epic poems exploring the darkest soul of humanity and the cruelty of life without pulling punches. Wrath James White turns his unflinching eye upon the gruesome, the violent, the tragic, and the erotic.Trade Review“Wrath James White is the premiere author of hardcore horror. Period.” - Edward Lee, author of The Big Head and Header "Some of the ballsiest, most visceral fiction being written by anyone today." - Thomas Tessier, author of Nightwalkers and Wicked Things "Wrath James White has more to say than many of his contemporaries, and says it more eloquently. “ - Poppy Z. Brite, author of Lost Souls and Exquisite Corpse “Without apologies, White tears through your emotions from sympathy to hate, humor to shock, blending everyday language and poetic imagery as his words wrap around your mind and cause you to pause and appreciate them…” - HorrorWeb “If Wrath doesn’t make you cringe, then you must be riding in the wrong end of a hearse.” - Jack Ketchum, author of The Girl Next Door and Red “Wrath is a warrior. He comes at you on the written page with the intent to overpower you, yet he rarely overwhelms. This carnage has purpose. There's little over-indulgence. His over-the-top cathartic bloodbaths are seldom pointless. Put bluntly, he isn't just going for the gross-out. Wrath is a philosopher, and he loves to flaunt his technique and sense of limitless ethics in each of his tales. He has wit and intelligence and utter ruthlessness…” - Cemetery Dance Review

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Book SynopsisFrom Patricia Engel, whose novel Infinite Country was a New York Times bestseller and a Reese’s Book Club pick, comes an exquisite collection of ten haunting, award-winning short stories set across the Americas and linked by themes of migration, sacrifice, and moral compromise. Two Colombian expats meet as strangers on the rainy streets of New York City, both burdened with traumatic pasts. In Cuba, a woman discovers her deceased brother’s bones have been stolen, and the love of her life returns from Ecuador for a one-night visit. A cash-strapped couple hustles in Miami, to life-altering ends.The Faraway World is a collection of arresting stories from the New York Times bestselling author of Infinite Country, Patricia Engel, “a gifted storyteller whose writing shines even in the darkest corners” (The Washington Post). Intimate and panoramic, these stories bring to life the liminality of regret, the vibrancy of community, and the epic deeds and quiet moments of love.Trade Review“Sparkling . . . . What makes Engel’s story collection so rich and compelling is that the Colombian American author places her tales in the context of universal themes: the compromises we make for love, the lies we tell ourselves and others, betrayal, paranoia, grief, joy, acceptance . . . . Engel knows how to draw in readers fast—and keep them . . . . [she] entices you with irresistible opening lines over and over.” —Manuel Roig-Franzia, The Washington Post “One of our most essential writers . . . . Engel’s gift for dialogue and her lyrical powers of description make these stories crackle, but it’s her bittersweet insight into the costs of leaving—and staying!—home that will lodge The Faraway World in your heart.” —Adrienne Westenfeld, Esquire "Any fan of Engel’s work will tell you to prepare yourself for unique and intimate layered storytelling. You'll find that and so much more in this new short story collection exploring themes of community, regret and migration." —TODAY “When you’re in a dark place, you just want someone next to you with a (proverbial) flashlight, holding your hand. Patricia Engel does that in this evocative collective featuring Colombians and Colombian expats teetering on the line between despair, and resilience.” —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Best Book of the Month “Wistful and understated . . . . [its] characters have astonishingly complex relationships to places they’ve never seen or haven’t been to in many years, since they emigrated to another place . . . . The Faraway World is a collection about the Latin American diaspora, but it’s also one that proves how Engel, like one of her characters, is capable of noticing that between any two people a look reveals more than a fingerprint.’” —Leigh Newman, New York Times Book Review “Most of the ten stories have a pair of characters at their center, the intersection of their lives sizzling like crossed wires. . . Engel’s gift for dialogue makes it a pleasure to read. . . full of ironic flair, imagination, and empathy.” —Marion Winik, WYPR’s “The Weekly Reader” “Stellar . . . luminous [and] assured . . . . Engel places her own faith in the story behind each story; what shimmers off the page is as vital as the pieces themselves. She gracefully weaves the quiet despair of individual lives with the fury of social upheaval. With its dreamy, ephemeral title, The Faraway World hints at what lies beyond our grasp; and yet it grounds our fates in our own hands.” —Hamilton Cain, Minneapolis Star-Tribune "These 10 compelling stories follow characters that feel as real as I do, grappling with human struggles that feel both uniquely new and nearly universal. If you're looking for a collection that will touch your heart and make you look at your fellow humans more generously, this one's a can't-miss." —Good Housekeeping “[This] collection lives up to Engel’s well-deserved reputation . . . . Each story is compelling in its own way. Engel’s writing has a propulsive effect, carrying readers forward, and her characters are fascinating.” —Southern Review of Books "Patricia Engel is the kind of writer other writers love to envy. How could we not? There is a steady, consistent, and exquisite control in her prose. There is her rare ability to craft extraordinary situations out of this ordinary world . . . . There is also such unexpected beauty in her sentences . . . . I must be honest here: I’m still working on getting over my envious ways. Engel’s latest, The Faraway World, may have set me back some. But I suppose we can agree there’s enchantment in surrendering to an expert working at this level. Especially, if it is in service of looting some of her magic." —Cleyvis Natera, author of Neruda on the Park “Intimate and panoramic, these stories bring to life the liminality of regret, the vibrancy of community, and the epic deeds and quiet moments of love . . . . With flowing, beautiful language, Engel shows us a gritty reality, but mixes in doses of dark humor and empathy.” —Book Riot “A powerful new story collection that captures the diasporic experience of the modern Americas in all its complexity, nuance, and humanity . . . . Her stories also move between registers—at times sweeping and tinged with history, other times intensely personal. Always, her characters are real people, dealing with real struggles, rendered beautifully, with insight and understanding.” —Dwyer Murphy, Lit Hub “A haunting read . . . . No matter how far these stories travel, Engel infuses intimacy and care in every single life she writes.” —Chicago Review of Books “Engel writes with empathy and care . . . . [Her] character-focused short stories are thought-provoking and intense; readers of literary fiction will enjoy this masterfully written collection.” —Library Journal “Engel's in fine form in all the short stories, as she examines the intersections of class, immigration, and families.” —Town & Country “A pleasure to read . . . . Engel's multinational update of dirty realism is full of ironic flair, imagination, and empathy.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred) "[An] engrossing collection . . . . Engel’s alluring story lines and empathy for her characters make this a winner." —Publishers Weekly “Patricia Engel's ten short stories are narrated by plucky, imperfect characters who weigh up wealth and piety as they contemplate their chances in their homeland or abroad.” —Shelf Awareness “I’ve long maintained that I want to read anything Engel writes; I’m sure The Faraway World collection will further confirm this desire.” —R.O. Kwon, Electric Literature

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Book SynopsisThe mysterious obituary of a woman cricketer in Auckland. A young Australian killer under siege by the police. Sherlock Holmes's extraordinary day at the Oval. These and other stories (eleven of them plus a sub) provide more twists and turns than a thrilling test match. Bob Cattell's second collection of short stories once again takes the reader on a world tour. Linked by the theme of cricket, each tale is shot through with wit, humour and drama.

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Book SynopsisWritten by British graphic designer Scott King (born 1969) and illustrated by Philadelphia artist Will Henry, this funny, irreverent graphic novel depicts two protagonists of British public artAnish Kapoor and Antony Gormleyattempt to solve Afghanistan''s many woes. The astonishing power of public art has long been recognized by both governments and big business alike, with increasingly enormous public sculptures being deployed to regenerate ailing post-industrial areas or add wow factor to corporate HQ piazzas and ever-expanding airports. What if this strategy were employed in an attempt to turn around the fortunes of an entire country? This book, published in JRPRingier''s Hapax series, proposes a scenario in which Kapoor and Gormley are commissioned by the United Nations in a last-ditch effort to solve the social, financial and political problems of Afghanistan.

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Book SynopsisNovelist Bohumil Hrabal was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, and he spent decades working at a variety of laboring jobs before turning to writing in his late forties. From that point, he quickly made his mark on the Czech literary scene; by the time of his death he was ranked with Jaroslav Hasek, Karel Capek, and Milan Kundera as among the nation's greatest twentieth-century writers. Hrabal's fiction blends tragedy with humor and explores the anguish of intellectuals and ordinary people alike from a slightly surreal perspective. His work ranges from novels and poems to film scripts and essays. Rambling On is a collection of stories set in Hrabal's Kersko. Several of the stories were written before the 1968 Soviet invasion of Prague but had to be reworked when they were rejected by Communist censorship during the 1970s. This edition features the original, uncensored versions of those stories.

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Book Synopsisgreatest short stories is a selection from the best of the world''s short fiction, bringing together writings by great masters such as anton chekov, rudyard kipling, h.g. wells, charles dickens, virginia woolf, saki, o. henry, f. scott fitzgerald and guy de maupassant. each story is a classic, a testimony to the skills of its creator that make it resonate with readers even today. carefully picked for their timeless quality, readers are sure to be delighted by the inclusion of such favourites as the gift of the magi'', theady with the dog'', how theeopard got his spots'', the man who could work miracles'', the curious case of benjamin button'' and mrs packletide''s tiger'', to name but a few. this outstanding and wideranging anthology of stories by great writers from britain, america, canada and europe is a collector''s item, designed for readers to refresh their acquaintance with some of the world''s finest writing and for newer readers to be introduced to it. anton chekov, charles dickens, katherine mansfield, guy de maupassant, f. scott fitzgerald, h. rider haggard, o. henry, rudyard kipling, w.w. jacobs, virginia woolf, d.h.awrence, saki, jerome k. jerome, h.g. wells, kate chopin, ambrose bierce, jackondon, frank stockton, edgar allan poe, stepheneacock, james joyce, bram stoker, joseph conrad, m.r. james, w. somerset maugham, r.. stevenson

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Book SynopsisSick was she on Thursday,Dead was she on Friday,Glad was Tom on Saturday nightTo bury his wife on Sunday.Loved for the evocative power of his short fiction, Ruskin Bond is well-known for his riveting stories. Told in his distinctive style, this is an eclectic collection of fourteen storiesfrom humour and horror to warm and soul-stirring. Classics such as Aong Walk for Bina'' and Grandfather''s Earthquake'' rub shoulders with tales of Fosterganj whereizards are chased to prepare magic oil, while spooks and haunted mansions give you goosebumps!Few writers can create as compelling stories and conjure up as eccentric characters, as Ruskin Bond can. When the Clock Strikes Thirteen is storytelling at its effortless best.

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Book SynopsisAs theight came on, I saw the cat standing at the foot of the bed, tail erect and hair on end. It was very angry. And thenits appearance changed and its head was that of a humana woman, black-browed with flaring nostrils andarge crooked ears, herips full and drenched with bloodmy blood!This is a collection of some of Ruskin Bond''s most pithy short stories ranging from eerie suspense to touching empathy. There''s a bloodthirsty cat in a colonial rest house; an uncle who carries a vial of deadly arsenic with him; a mysterious woman whose seven husbands have disappeared one after another; and the touching tales of animals in the wilderness and theironely struggle for survival against humans.Captivating and addictive, The Chakrata Cat will keep you enthralled till the end.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThere is an inexplicable pull that we feel towards stories about horror and mystery. The fear of the unknown, coupled with the thirst to know the truth'', keeps us turning page after page. This is a collection of mysterious horror stories that will make you hold your breath at every turn and gasp with shock at every twist. From a duel gone horribly wrong, and aodger who conducts mysterious experiments in the dead of night; to a fiendish cat who is out for revenge, and a waxwork that eerily seems alivethese tales will make your hair stand on end. Written by the masters of the genre and selected and compiled by Ruskin Bond, here are gems from Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker and Rudyard Kipling, among others. Dare to read The Duel when you are home alone?

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Book SynopsisIn India''s tropical paradise, stands a town wrapped around a giant roundabout, where a canny caretaker with a French connection holds sway. Vying for his attention are two competing neighbours. Appu holds lessons for the living but Maya cares only for the dead. And a gastronome dog plays ball girl to tennis-loving nuns. At the centre is an imposing temple so ancient that no one knows exactly when it was built. Here, even a tiny railway station has set its own rules for acceptance and belonging. On the other side of the tracks, a baker runs errands for total strangers in the middle of a pandemic. Malgudi Days meets reality in the search for joy and belonging in a book that is alternatively heartwarming and hilarious. Anjana Menon takes you to a place that you wish stays that way forever, in these true stories of hope and resilience from a midway Kerala town.

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Book SynopsisA collection of seven short stories, 'The Strength of the Strong' is London's marvellous composition. In these stories London highlighted the problems of the working classes and given a vivid picture of socialistic society. With various symbolic characters for government, industry, labour, religion etc., these stories set in diverse settings. He starts to look back with prehistoric stories, but also includes the stories of Chinese invasion of the world later in twentieth century.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book Synopsis

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