30 powerful stories from around the world to benefit two children's charities: PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children and Children 1st Scotland.Stories by David Ackley, Kevin Aldrich, David Barber, Lynn Beighley, Seamus Bellamy, Paul D. Brazill, Sif Dal, James Lloyd Davis, Roberto C. Garcia, Susan Gibb, Nancy A. Hansen, K.V. Hardy, Gill Hoffs, Fiona "McDroll" Johnson, J.F. Juzwik, MaryAnne Kolton, Benoit Lelievre, Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw, Vinod Narayan, Paula Pahnk...

What Endures is a story of powerful love. It is a story that will break your heart. Inspired by true events, it tells of the incredible bond between a mother and daughter, and with gut-wrenching poignancy reminds us of the little things that make life worth living.“Holdstock’s writing manages to be both heartbreakingly poetic and densely detailed … sad passages, ghostlike recollections, written almost from the vantage point of the present, establish the book as a great wor...

The acclaimed author "assembles a stellar collection of twenty stories that create their own worlds in twenty pages or less" ( USA Today ).Tom Perrotta explains in his introduction that "all of [these stories] took me somewhere I didn't expect to go, and jolted me into that state of heightened awareness and emotional receptivity that's one of the great rewards of reading good fiction."In Nathan Englander s What We ...

This sophisticated, scary anthology collects the best horror fiction published between 1984 and 2005, one of horror’s most innovative eras. These exceptionally diverse stories, hand-picked by horror-expert editor Ellen Datlow, are tales of the subtly psychological, the unpredictably mischievous, and the disturbingly visceral.Here are classics, such as horror master Stephen King’s Chattery Teeth,” the tautly drawn account of a traveling salesman who unwisely picks up yet another hi...

A doctor makes a late-night emergency call to an exclusive California riding school; a professor inherits a mysterious vase... and a strange little man; a struggling youth discovers canine horrors lurking beneath the streets of Albany; a sheriff ruthlessly deals with monstrosities plaguing his rural town; a pair of animal researchers makes a frightening discovery at a remote site; a sweet little girl entertains herself... by torturing faeries; a group of horror aficionados attempts to trac...

Liz is determined to carve out some alone time to spend with her husband, Jimmy. But fate and the kids seem destined to interfere. And worse, her attempts to find a happy balance between responsibility and romance may prove more a comedy of errors than the night, well—fifteen minutes—of hot sex she's hoping for. Or will it?

A young man writes letters in a last gasp at finding meaning in the world.

A young bridge painter is awakened from the hum of daily routine by a face-to-face encounter with a woman in free fall."The Bridge" is a story from Daniel Orozco's critically acclaimed collection Orientation, which leads the reader through the hidden lives and moral philosophies of bridge painters, men housebound by obesity, office temps, and warehouse workers. He reveals the secret pleasures of late-night supermarket trips for cookie binges, exceptional data entry, and an...

Juvenile delinquent and budding pyromaniac Max Segredo belongs in juvie hall. At least, that's what his most recent foster family would tell you. Instead, Max ends up on the doorstep of Merry Sunshine Orphanage-their very heavily guarded doorstep. As he begins to acclimate to his new home, Max learns a few things straightaway: first, cracking a Caesar Cipher isn't as hard as it seems; second, never sass your instructor if she's also holding throwing knives; and third, he may not be an orph...

Mike escaped from Barb's torment with a well-aimed bullet to his brain. But life doesn't end at death, and Mike's now stuck in Hell with the exact person who was out to get him all along. 'Not a happy camper' is an understatement.This is the third short story in the DEAD(ish) Allsorts series. Timeline-wise, it follows DEAD (and hellbent).Warning: Contains copious foul language. Not suitable for children.

Five bewitching tales of love from the winners of the Power Play Romance Writer's Competition.From a moment of reflection to a moment of passion, these short stories explore the ways in which love and lust shape our lives.Writers Elizabeth McLennan, Hazel McLoughlin, Jessica Towicz, Saman Shad and overall winner Anna McHugh take us from the hustle and glamour of New York to the serenity of rural life in this enchanting and affecting collection.

John Reddington always wanted to write a bestselling novel... He had no idea it would be so painful. With the house empty, as his wife and daughter are away at her mother's house in California, John dives straight into a mystery novel he has been working on. As he writes--or thinks, rather--thin, red streaks run down the computer monitor, and lightning flashes and fills the room with blinding light. Then a stranger, wearing a porcelain mask, appea...