Never Turn Away is a collection of Marshall Moore's work from the 10 years since his debut novel The Concrete Sky was published. Included are excerpts from that book and his second novel An Ideal for Living, short stories from the collections Black Shapes in a Darkened Room and The Infernal Republic, and the first chapter of his forthcoming novel Bitter Orange. In addition to telling a hell of a story, Moore can crack you up, piss you off, and completely horrify you. If you haven't checked...

Foreword by Jerry L. Wheeler.Things are not going well for Chad Sobran. His mother is gravely ill. His creditors are circling like sharks. And he's being stalked by his violent, homophobic, and obsessive older brother Martin. One night, while drunk at a party, Chad falls off a balcony and breaks his wrist. He comes to in a psych facility, under observation: Martin has convinced the emergency room doctors that the fall was a suicidal jump. In the hospital, Chad meets Jonathan Fairba...

Grace White and her brother Robert, overweight and affluent, are desperate to hang onto their respective love interests. Grace's husband Rich is bonking every woman he can talk into bed. Grace is willing to look beyond his affairs if she can just have her marriage back. Robert's law school fling James's interest diminished as Robert's waistline increased, but Robert has never moved on. The only solution? Losing those excess pounds… by any means necessary. And when James finds a supernatura...

“Quirky and hilarious but also deep and heartfelt, The Henchperson’s Guide to Unionizing is an unforgettable and fantastic story about being human. I loved it!”—Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The SpellshopAs the laboratory assistant to the brilliant but demanding Doctor, Igor spends his nights robbing graves, stitching together body parts, and ensuring that his master doesn’t electrocute himself (too badly).

You are cordially invited to meet a lake monster and his mom.Trevor's not like most lake monsters. While he loves spending his days building mountain ranges out of the mud on the banks of Lake Eerie, he's bad at swimming and disinterested in fishing.Child psychologist Dr Lena Spyros has a lot of experience helping young people of all descriptions overcome struggles and, realizing Trevor's behaviors and interests put him on the autism spectrum, Dr Spyros helps this laker and h...

The combined experience of authors throughout the ages offers a wealth of valuable information about the practice of creative writing. However, such lore can also be problematic for students and practitioners as it can be inherently additive, making it difficult to abandon processes that do not work. This adherence to lore also tends to be a US-centric endeavor. In order to take a nuanced approach to the uses and limitations of lore, The Place and the Writer offers a global perspective on ...

The definitive and first major text on personas in contemporary cultureModern social media and communication technologies have reshaped our identities and transformed contemporary culture, revealing an expanded and intensified reforming of our collective online behavior. Billions of people worldwide are increasingly engaged in the production, presentation, and modification of their public selves—curating personas through various social media and fundamentally alter...

We remember her best as the generous fairy who dresses Cinderella and handles transportation while she's at it. But that's just the most famous fairy godmother's tale. With a little imagination, you'll find that fairy godmothers and godfathers appear in many varied forms. The authors in this anthology have crafted new tales that re-imagine the fairy godmother and her role.A young fairy grapples with imposter syndrome as she takes up her new appointment as godmother. Immortal sister...

It's Christmas Eve and the whole house is sleeping – all except one little boy, woken up by the jingle of bells and the clatter of reindeer hooves on the roof. As he tiptoes downstairs, who will he find?Mark Marshall's captivating illustrations places a little boy at the heart of Clement C Moore's classic Christmas poem. This bright and bold picture book is a perfect Christmas gift for young children - and a great way to introduce a new generation to this iconic poem. With a magica...

Tomorrow is coming whether you're ready or not.In Darkness, Delight: Fear the Future delivers twenty-two strikingly original tales of terror from Bram Stoker Award®-winners, bestselling authors, genre stalwarts and rising stars.Includes Emmy-winning, New York Times bestselling author and world-famous magician Penn Jillette's delightfully wicked short story "The Pain Addict," which was adapted for a hit sci-fi anthology television series and...

Forty-one enthralling stories from the most talented new science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers.MetaStellar is an online publication focusing on science fiction, fantasy, and horror launched in September 2020, founded by a dozen speculative fiction writers, editors, and artists from around the world.Since then, it's published hundreds of short stories by hundreds of writers, both original fiction, reprints, and excerpts. The proceeds from this antholo...

"Hilary Mantel and Helen Simpson feature in the nation's favourite annual guide to the short story, now in its fifth 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, magazine...