Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns.

Travel to a world of dark bargains struck by moonlight, of haunted towns and hungry woods, of talking beasts and gingerbread golems, where a young mermaid's voice can summon deadly storms and where a river might do a lovestruck boy's bidding but only for a terrible price.

Inspired by myth, fairy tale, and folklore, #1 New York Times–bestselling author Leigh Bardugo has crafted a deliciously atmospheric collection of short stories filled with betrayals, revenge, sacrifice, and love. Perfect for new readers and dedicated fans, these tales will transport you to lands both familiar and strange—to a fully realized world of dangerous magic that millions have visited through the novels of the Grishaverse.

This collection of six stories includes three brand-new tales, all of them lavishly illustrated with art that changes with each turn of the page, culminating in six stunning full-spread illustrations as rich in detail as the stories themselves.

Dissolving Classroom revolves around a pair of twisted siblings - Yuuma, a young man obsessed with the devil, and Chizumi, the worst little sister in recorded history. Their unsettling presence causes all sorts of terrifying and tragic events wherever they go. This collection of scary short stories will shock readers with a literal interpretation of the ills that plague modern society.

The Gentle Spirit (Russian: Кроткая, Krotkaya), sometimes also translated as The Meek One, is a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky written in 1876. The piece comes with the subtitle of A Fantastic Story, and it chronicles the relationship between a pawnbroker and a girl that frequents his shop.

This narrative delves deep into the psychological and emotional exchanges between the characters, exploring themes of power, submission, and the complexities of human interaction. The story provides a poignant look at the nuances of a relationship bound by societal and personal constraints.

The Secret Loves of Geek Girls is a non-fiction anthology that combines prose, comics, and illustrated stories to explore the lives and loves of an outstanding cast of female creators. This collection includes contributions from celebrated names such as Margaret Atwood, Mariko Tamaki, Trina Robbins, Marguerite Bennett, Noelle Stevenson, Marjorie Liu, Carla Speed McNeil, and many more.

This compelling compilation shares tales from both perspectives: the fans who are passionate about video games, comics, and sci-fi, as well as the creators and industry insiders who bring these worlds to life. It offers a unique glimpse into the hearts and minds of women who are deeply engaged in the geek culture.

From quiet, elegiac, contemporary tales to far-future, deep-space sagas, the stories chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and guest editor Karen Joy Fowler for The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016 demonstrate the vast spectrum of what science fiction and fantasy aims to illuminate. These narratives display the full gamut of the human experience, interrogating our hopes and our fears—of not just what we can accomplish or destroy as a person, but what we can accomplish or destroy as a people—and throwing us into strange new worlds that can only be explored when we shed the shackles of reality.

The anthology includes works by Rachel Swirsky, Sofia Samatar, Charlie Jane Anders, Ted Chiang, Kelly Link, Maria Dahvana Headley, Kij Johnson, Catherynne M. Valente, Dexter Palmer, and others. KAREN JOY FOWLER, guest editor, is the author of six novels and four short story collections, including We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. She is the winner of the 2014 PEN/Faulkner Award, a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, and has won numerous Nebula and World Fantasy awards. JOHN JOSEPH ADAMS, series editor, is the best-selling editor of more than two dozen anthologies, including Brave New Worlds and Wastelands. He is the editor and publisher of the digital magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare and is the editor of John Joseph Adams Books, a new science fiction/fantasy novel imprint from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories is a mesmerizing collection by bestselling author Ken Liu, featuring his finest short fiction. This anthology includes many of his award-winning and finalist stories, offering a captivating journey through science fiction and fantasy realms.

Among the stories, you'll find The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary, Mono No Aware, The Waves, The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species, All the Flavors, and The Litigation Master and the Monkey King. Notably, the collection features The Paper Menagerie, the only story to win the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards.

This anthology is a must-have for every science fiction and fantasy fan, showcasing insightful and stunning stories that delve into the struggle against history and the betrayal of relationships at pivotal moments. Ken Liu's original voice shines through each tale, making this collection a treasure to savor.

Los nueve textos reunidos en El problema de los tres cuerpos muestran la fuerza narrativa de su autora, quien fue distinguida con el Premio Nacional de Cuento Joven Comala 2016. En estas páginas, la fluidez de la prosa va de la mano con la aspereza de los temas, y la crudeza de las situaciones se alía con el sentido del humor.

El libro evoca un equilibrio enrarecido, que a cada momento está a punto de romperse. El desbordamiento es el punto de partida de sus historias. Sicarios y prostitutas, hombres postrados por la enfermedad y los accidentes; amantes que, tras el abandono, sólo pueden agravar sus fracturas vitales son algunos de sus personajes. Aunque se encuentran acechados permanentemente, la escritora no cae en una mirada catastrofista. Por el contrario, en sus cuentos la violencia no es un agente exterior, que altera el curso de los acontecimientos, sino que forma parte esencial de ellos, como una semilla que aguarda con paciencia el momento perfecto para estallar.

La fragilidad que se apodera de los protagonistas los humaniza y revela su auténtica intimidad. Después de todo, como se lee en una de estas páginas, el curso de nuestras vidas es una “ecuación imperfecta”.

How to Talk to Girls at Parties is a captivating graphic novel that follows the story of Enn, a fifteen-year-old boy who finds the world of girls to be a complete mystery. His friend Vic, on the other hand, seems to have it all figured out. Their lives take an unexpected turn when they decide to crash a local party, only to find out that the girls there are extraordinarily unique.

Based on the Locus Award-winning short story by Neil Gaiman, a renowned author, and brought to life with the vivid ink-and-watercolor illustrations by the acclaimed Daytripper duo, Gabriel B\u00e1 and F\u00e1bio Moon, this original hardcover graphic novel is an unforgettable experience that blends elements of fantasy and science fiction with the relatable struggles of adolescence.

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang is a collection that combines the very strange with the heartbreakingly familiar. The stories present characters who face sudden and inevitable changes, such as the rise of automatons or the arrival of aliens, and must find a way to maintain some sense of normalcy.

With a blend of sharp intelligence and humor, Chiang's stories explore what it means to be alive in a world filled with uncertainty, beauty, and wonder. This collection includes the following stories:

• Tower of Babylon
• Understand
• Division by Zero
• Story of Your Life
• Seventy-Two Letters
• The Evolution of Human Science
• Hell is the Absence of God
• Liking What You See: A Documentary

Additionally, the collection features Story Notes that provide insights into the creation of each piece. Stories of Your Life and Others has been recognized as a contemporary classic and includes 'Story of Your Life,' which inspired the major motion picture Arrival.

An inquisitive observer, thoughtful commentator, and assiduous craftsman, Neil Gaiman has long been celebrated for the sharp intellect and startling imagination that informs his bestselling fiction. The View from the Cheap Seats brings together for the first time ever more than sixty pieces of his outstanding nonfiction.

Analytical yet playful, erudite yet accessible, this cornucopia explores a broad range of interests and topics, including authors past and present; music; storytelling; comics; bookshops; travel; fairy tales; America; inspiration; libraries; ghosts; and the title piece, at turns touching and self-deprecating, which recounts the author’s experiences at the 2010 Academy Awards in Hollywood.

Insightful, incisive, witty, and wise, The View from the Cheap Seats explores the issues and subjects that matter most to Neil Gaiman—offering a glimpse into the head and heart of one of the most acclaimed, beloved, and influential artists of our time.

From the author of the award-winning novels Let the Great World Spin and TransAtlantic comes an eponymous novella and three stories that range fluidly across time, tenderly exploring the act of writing and the moment of creation when characters come alive on the page.

The collection delves into the lifetime consequences that can come from a simple act, and the way our lives play across the world, marking language, image, and each other. Thirteen Ways of Looking is framed by two author’s notes, each dealing with contemporary issues at home and in Ireland, the author's birthplace.

Brilliant in its clarity and deftness, this collection reminds us why Colum McCann is considered among the very best contemporary writers. Accompanied by three equally powerful stories set in Afghanistan, Galway, and London, this is a tribute to humanity's search for meaning and grace.

The Moth & the Flame, a short story set in the world of A Wrath & the Dawn, begins with a playful exchange of barbed wit between two striking characters: the Captain of the Guard, Jalal al-Khoury, and a haughty handmaiden, Despina. As their interaction escalates into a fateful wager, it becomes clear that Jalal may have met his match in Despina, who is equally entranced by the dashing Jalal.

Their initial tempestuous battle of wills soon transforms into a passionate affair, which is unexpectedly deepened by a tragic turn of events. This narrative is a poignant exploration of love's complexity, set against a rich backdrop that fans of the series will find deeply engaging.

Seventy-one days and seventy-one nights had come and gone since Khalid began killing his brides. This dawn, Khalid would mark the loss of the seventy-second girl, Shahrzad al-Khayzuran. Khalid didn't know how many more of these dawns he could take. And there was something about this latest girl that piqued his interest.

Not only had she volunteered to marry him, but at their wedding ceremony, she had seemed not the least bit afraid. In fact, what he had seen in her eyes was nothing short of pure hatred. She was about to lose her life. Why wasn't she afraid? Why did she hate him so? He had never before gone to his wife's chambers before her death at dawn. Tonight would be different.

Dewi Lestari, yang bernama pena Dee, kali ini hadir dengan mahakarya unik dan pertama di Indonesia. "Rectoverso" merupakan hibrida dari fiksi dan musik, terdiri dari sebelas cerita pendek dan sebelas lagu yang bisa dinikmati secara terpisah maupun bersama-sama.

Keduanya saling melengkapi bagaikan dua imaji yang seolah berdiri sendiri tapi sesungguhnya merupakan satu kesatuan. Inilah cermin dari dua dunia Dewi Lestari yang ia ekspresikan dalam napas kreatifitas tunggal bertajuk "Rectoverso".

Dengar fiksinya. Baca musiknya. Lengkapi penghayatan anda dan temukanlah sebuah pengalaman baru.

The universe of the Lunar Chronicles holds stories—and secrets—that are wondrous, vicious, and romantic. How did Cinder first arrive in New Beijing? How did the brooding soldier Wolf transform from young man to killer? When did Princess Winter and the palace guard Jacin realize their destinies?

With nine stories—five of which have never before been published—and an excerpt from Marissa Meyer’s novel, Heartless, about the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Stars Above is essential for fans of the bestselling and beloved Lunar Chronicles.

• The Keeper: A prequel to the Lunar Chronicles, showing a young Scarlet and how Princess Selene came into the care of Michelle Benoit.
• Glitches: In this prequel to Cinder, we see the results of the plague play out, and the emotional toll it takes on Cinder. Something that may, or may not, be a glitch….
• The Queen’s Army: In this prequel to Scarlet, we’re introduced to the army Queen Levana is building, and one soldier in particular who will do anything to keep from becoming the monster they want him to be.
• Carswell’s Guide to Being Lucky: Thirteen-year-old Carswell Thorne has big plans involving a Rampion spaceship and a no-return trip out of Los Angeles.
• After Sunshine Passes By: In this prequel to Cress, we see how a nine-year-old Cress ended up alone on a satellite, spying on Earth for Luna.
• The Princess and the Guard: In this prequel to Winter, we see a young Winter and Jacin playing a game called the Princess and the Guard…
• The Little Android: A retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” set in the world of The Lunar Chronicles.
• The Mechanic: In this prequel to Cinder, we see Kai and Cinder’s first meeting from Kai’s perspective.
• Something Old, Something New: In this epilogue to Winter, friends gather for the wedding of the century…

Mistborn: Secret History is a companion story to the original Mistborn trilogy. As such, it contains HUGE SPOILERS for the books Mistborn (The Final Empire), The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages. It also contains very minor spoilers for the book The Bands of Mourning.

Mistborn: Secret History builds upon the characterization, events, and worldbuilding of the original trilogy. Reading it without that background will be a confusing process at best. In short, this isn't the place to start your journey into Mistborn. (Though if you have read the trilogy—but it has been a while—you should be just fine, so long as you remember the characters and the general plot of the books.) Saying anything more here risks revealing too much. Even knowledge of this story's existence is, in a way, a spoiler. There's always another secret.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his famous detective Sherlock Holmes. These tales showcase Holmes' remarkable powers of deduction and the wide variety of cases that come his way, ranging from the bizarre to the highly dangerous. Aided by his loyal friend Dr. John Watson, Holmes solves each mystery with his signature wit and ingenuity.

This edition of the timeless classic ensures that the reader will be engrossed in the thrilling adventures of one of literature's most enduring characters. From the enigmatic 'Red-headed League' to the chilling 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band,' and the peculiar 'The Adventure of the Copper Beeches,' readers will be taken on a journey through the dark, foggy streets of Victorian London, where danger and intrigue lurk around every corner.

Fans of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices can get to know warlock Magnus Bane like never before in this collection of New York Times bestselling tales, in print for the first time with an exclusive new story and illustrated material.

This collection of eleven short stories illuminates the life of the enigmatic Magnus Bane, whose alluring personality, flamboyant style, and sharp wit populate the pages of the #1 New York Times bestselling series, The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices.

Originally released one-by-one as e-only short stories by Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson, and Sarah Rees Brennan, this compilation presents all ten together in print for the first time and includes a never-before-seen eleventh tale, as well as new illustrated material.

Kitchen is an enchantingly original book that juxtaposes two tales about mothers, love, tragedy, and the power of the kitchen and home in the lives of a pair of free-spirited young women in contemporary Japan. Mikage, the heroine, is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has passed away. Grieving, Mikage is taken in by her friend Yoichi and his mother (who is really his cross-dressing father) Eriko. As the three of them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses, Banana Yoshimoto spins a lovely, evocative tale with the kitchen and the comforts of home at its heart.

In a whimsical style that recalls the early Marguerite Duras, Kitchen and its companion story, Moonlight Shadow, are elegant tales whose seeming simplicity is the ruse of a very special writer whose voice echoes in the mind and the soul.

Fragments of Horror offers a new collection of delightfully macabre tales from Junji Ito, a celebrated master of horror manga. The stories range from the terrifying to the comedic, and from the erotic to the loathsome.

Readers will encounter an old wooden mansion that turns on its inhabitants, a dissection class with a most unusual subject, and a funeral where the dead refuse to rest in peace. These chilling narratives mark Junji Ito's much-anticipated return to the realm of horror.

Geralt of Rivia is a witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent.

This is a collection of short stories, following the adventures of the hit collection THE LAST WISH. Join Geralt as he battles monsters, demons and prejudices alike...

Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth... but he is not alone. Every other man, woman, and child on Earth has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood.

By day, he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn.

How long can one man survive in a world of vampires?

This collection includes the following stories:

• I am legend
• Buried talents
• The near departed
• Prey
• Witch war
• Dance of the dead
• Dress of white silk
• Mad house
• The funeral
• From shadowed places
• Person to person

This seventh volume of the year's best science fiction and fantasy features over thirty stories by some of the genre's greatest authors, including Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Cory Doctorow, James Patrick Kelly, Yoon Ha Lee, Kelly Link, Ken Liu, Sandra MacDonald, K.J. Parker, Robert Reed, Peter Watts, and many others. Selecting the best fiction from Asimov's, Clarkesworld, F&SF, Lightspeed, Subterranean, and other top venues, The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy is your guide to magical realms and worlds beyond tomorrow.

Single, Carefree, Mellow is that rare and wonderful thing: a debut that is superbly accomplished, endlessly entertaining, and laugh-out-loud funny.

Maya is in love with both her boyfriend and her boss. Sadie's lover calls her as he drives to meet his wife at marriage counseling. Gwen pines for her roommate, a man who will hold her hand but then tells her that her palm is sweaty. And Sasha agrees to have a drink with her married lover's wife and then immediately regrets it. These are the women of Single, Carefree, Mellow, and in these eleven sublime stories they are grappling with unwelcome houseguests, disastrous birthday parties, needy but loyal friends, and all manner of love, secrets, and betrayal.

In Cranberry Relish Josie's ex—a man she met on Facebook—has a new girlfriend he found on Twitter. In Blue Heron Bridge Nina is more worried that the Presbyterian minister living in her garage will hear her kids swearing than about his finding out that she's sleeping with her running partner. And in The Rhett Butlers a teenager loses her virginity to her history teacher and then outgrows him.

In snappy, glittering prose that is both utterly hilarious and achingly poignant, Katherine Heiny chronicles the ways in which we are unfaithful to each other, both willfully and unwittingly. Maya, who appears in the title story and again in various states of love, forms the spine of this linked collection, and shows us through her moments of pleasure, loss, deceit, and kindness just how fickle the human heart can be.

Trigger Warning is a mesmerizing collection of short stories and poems by the acclaimed author Neil Gaiman. This anthology explores the transformative power of imagination and the hidden depths of reality.

In Adventure Story—a thematic companion to the novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane—Gaiman delves into themes of death and the stories we carry with us. A Calendar of Tales offers a collection of short pieces inspired by the months of the year, featuring tales of pirates, March winds, and an igloo made of books.

Gaiman's The Case of Death and Honey presents an ingenious twist on Sherlock Holmes, while Nothing O'Clock is a special Doctor Who story written for the beloved series. The never-before-published Black Dog revisits the world of American Gods, following Shadow Moon on a haunting journey.

Gaiman's literary alchemy transports readers to a world where the fantastical becomes real and the everyday is incandescent. A treasury of wonders, Trigger Warning engages the mind, stirs the heart, and shakes the soul.

Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, the highly acclaimed translators of War and Peace, Doctor Zhivago, and Anna Karenina, which was an Oprah Book Club pick and million-copy bestseller, bring their unmatched talents to The Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov, a collection of thirty of Chekhov’s best tales from the major periods of his creative life.

Considered by many the greatest short story writer, Anton Chekhov changed the genre itself with his spare, impressionistic depictions of Russian life and the human condition. From characteristically brief, evocative early pieces such as “The Huntsman” and the tour de force “A Boring Story,” to his best-known stories such as “The Lady with the Little Dog” and his own personal favorite, “The Student,” Chekhov’s short fiction possesses the transcendent power of art to awe and change the reader. This monumental edition, expertly translated, is especially faithful to the meaning of Chekhov’s prose and the unique rhythms of his writing, giving modern readers an authentic sense of his style and a true understanding of his greatness.

The Overcoat is generally acknowledged as the finest of Gogol's memorable Saint Petersburg stories. It is a tale of the absurd and misplaced obsessions, centered around the life and death of Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, an impoverished government clerk and copyist in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg.

Akaky is dedicated to his job as a titular councillor, taking special relish in the hand-copying of documents, though little recognized in his department for his hard work. Instead, the younger clerks tease him and attempt to distract him whenever they can. His threadbare overcoat is often the butt of their jokes.

Akaky decides it is necessary to have the coat repaired, so he takes it to his tailor, Petrovich, who declares the coat irreparable, telling Akaky he must buy a new overcoat. The story follows Akaky's journey to attain an "overcoat" of untold value and power, representing the mighty bureaucracy.

The narrative takes an interesting turn when Akaky dies of a broken heart after his beloved smart coat is stolen, symbolizing the reprisal of the lower class against the dominance of the ruling class.

This Night So Dark is the breathtaking short story that connects the first two novels in the Starbound trilogy, These Broken Stars and This Shattered World. Tarver still has nightmares about the night, six months before the Icarus crash, when he rescued a group of civilian researchers being held hostage by brutal mercenaries.

Now Tarver and Lilac must reconcile his memories of that fateful night with the truth that they uncovered on a mysterious planet after the Icarus crashed. This story includes bonus preview chapters from This Shattered World.

If you live near the jungle, you will realize that what is real and what is not real is not always clear. In the forest, there is not a big gap between the two.

A Datin recalls her romance with an orang bunian. A teenage pontianak struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, first love, and eating people. An earth spirit gets entangled in protracted negotiations with an annoying landlord, and Chang E spins off into outer space, the ultimate metaphor for the Chinese diaspora.

Straddling the worlds of the mundane and the magical, Spirits Abroad collects ten science fiction and fantasy stories with a distinctively Malaysian sensibility.

Todos los fuegos el fuego offers eight great examples of the creative fullness that encompasses Cortázar's stories. From the exasperated metaphor of human relationships that is "La autopista del sur" through the masterpiece that is "El otro cielo," Cortázar once again paves the way to stories that are a must-read for lovers of the story genre in general.

"La salud de los enfermos," "Reunión," "La señorita Cora," "La isla a mediodía," "Instrucciones para John Howell," and "Todos los fuegos el fuego" are a celebration of intelligence, passion, and genius.

Sherman Alexie’s darkly humorous story collection weaves memory, fantasy, and stark reality to powerfully evoke life on the Spokane Indian Reservation. The twenty-four linked tales in Alexie’s debut collection—an instant classic—paint an unforgettable portrait of life on and around the Spokane Indian Reservation, a place where “Survival = Anger x Imagination,” where HUD houses and generations of privation intertwine with history, passion, and myth.

We follow Thomas Builds-the-Fire, the longwinded storyteller no one really listens to; his half-hearted nemesis, Victor, the basketball star turned recovering alcoholic; and a wide cast of other vividly drawn characters on a haunting journey filled with humor and sorrow, resilience and resignation, dreams and reality.

Alexie’s unadulterated honesty and boundless compassion come together in a poetic vision of a world in which the gaps between past and present are not really gaps after all.

The originality, concentrated power and ‘fierce indignation’ of his satirical writing have earned Jonathan Swift a reputation as the greatest prose satirist in English literature. Gulliver’s Travels is, of course, his world renowned masterpiece in the genre; however, Swift wrote other, shorter works that also offer excellent evidence of his inspired lampoonery. Perhaps the most famous of these is A Modest Proposal, in which he straight-facedly suggests that Ireland could solve its hunger problems by using its children for food.

Also included in this collection are The Battle of Books, A Meditation upon a Broomstick, A Discourse Concerning the Mechanical Operations of the Spirit and An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity in England. This inexpensive edition will certainly be welcomed by teachers and students of English literature, but its appeal extends to any reader who delights in watching a master satirist wield words as weapons.

Complete your Divergent library with the Four stories! Fans of the Divergent series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth will be captivated by "Four: The Transfer," the first of four stories, each between fifty and seventy-five pages long, set in the world of Divergent and told from Tobias's perspective.

In "The Transfer," readers witness Tobias's aptitude test, Choosing Day, and the moment he is given the infamous nickname "Four."

Fans of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices know that Magnus Bane is banned from Peru—and now they can find out why. One of ten adventures in The Bane Chronicles.

There are good reasons Peru is off-limits to Magnus Bane. Follow Magnus’s Peruvian escapades as he drags his fellow warlocks Ragnor Fell and Catarina Loss into trouble, learns several instruments (which he plays shockingly), dances (which he does shockingly), and disgraces his host nation by doing something unspeakable to the Nazca Lines.

This standalone e-only short story illuminates the life of the enigmatic Magnus Bane, whose alluring personality populates the pages of the #1 New York Times bestselling series, The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices series.

From the author of the novel Swamplandia! comes a magical and uniquely daring collection of stories that showcases the author’s gifts at their inimitable best.

Within these pages, a community of girls held captive in a Japanese silk factory slowly transmute into human silkworms and plot revolution. A group of boys stumble upon a mutilated scarecrow that bears an uncanny resemblance to a missing classmate they used to torment. A family’s disastrous quest for land in the American West has grave consequences.

In the marvelous title story, two vampires in a sun-drenched lemon grove try to slake their thirst for blood and come to terms with their immortal relationship.

We Live in Water is a darkly comic and moving collection of short stories by New York Times bestselling author Jess Walter. This suite of diverse stories explores personal struggles and diminished dreams, marked by the author's wry wit and generosity of spirit, making him a favorite among booksellers and readers alike.

These stories range from comic tales of love to social satire and suspenseful crime fiction. Journey through hip Portland, once-hip Seattle, never-hip Spokane, a condemned casino in Las Vegas, and a bottomless lake in the dark woods of Idaho. This is a world of lost fathers and redemptive con men, of meth tweakers on desperate odysseys, and men committing suicide by fishing.

In the title story, "We Live in Water," a lawyer returns to his corrupt hometown to find his father, who disappeared 30 years earlier. In "Thief," a blue-collar worker turns unlikely detective to solve the mystery of which of his kids is stealing from the family fund. "Anything Helps" sees a homeless man trying to raise money to buy his son the new Harry Potter book. In "Virgo," a newspaper editor attempts to get back at his superstitious ex-girlfriend by screwing with her horoscope.

Also included are "Don't Eat Cat" and "Statistical Abstract of My Hometown, Spokane, Washington," both of which achieved cult status after their first publication online. This collection reveals Jess Walter as a ridiculously talented writer and one of the freshest voices in American literature.

Moonlight Shadow is a tale of love and loss, exploring the depths of human emotion and the powerful bonds that tie people together. In this story, Satsuki struggles to move on from the death of her beloved, a pain shared by Hiiragi, who dresses in his late sister's school uniform as a form of remembrance. The enigmatic Urara, with her unique ability to discern people's phone numbers with just one glance, believes that on one special day, under certain conditions, it is possible to reunite with lost loved ones. Could this be true for Satsuki and Hiiragi, who are haunted by the memories of those they cannot forget?

Birds of a Lesser Paradise is a heartwarming and hugely appealing debut collection that explores the way our choices and relationships are shaped by the menace and beauty of the natural world.

Megan Mayhew Bergman's twelve stories capture the surprising moments when the pull of our biology becomes evident, when love or fear collides with good sense, or when our attachment to an animal or wild place can't be denied. In "Housewifely Arts," a single mother and her son drive hours to track down an African Gray Parrot that can mimic her deceased mother's voice. A population control activist faces the ultimate conflict between her loyalty to the environment and her maternal desire in "Yesterday's Whales." And in the title story, a lonely naturalist allows an attractive stranger to lead her and her aging father on a hunt for an elusive woodpecker.

As intelligent as they are moving, the stories in Birds of a Lesser Paradise are alive with emotion, wit, and insight into the impressive power that nature has over all of us.

The author of the acclaimed memoir The Suicide Index returns with a virtuosic collection of stories, each a stirring parable of the power of love and the impossibility of understanding it. Spanning centuries and continents, from eighteenth-century Vienna to contemporary America, Joan Wickersham shows, with uncanny exactitude, how we never really know what's in someone else's heart—or in our own.

Wickersham's gift is for capturing the habits of mind that lead even smart people to deceive themselves. Her book makes you slow down and listen, and then watch for people to reveal themselves. Elegantly structured, emotionally compelling... Short stories don't get much better than this.

Sherman Alexie’s stature as a writer of stories, poems, and novels has soared over the course of his twenty-book, twenty-year career. His wide-ranging, acclaimed stories from the last two decades, from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven to his most recent PEN/Faulkner award-winning War Dances, have established him as a star in modern literature.

A bold and irreverent observer of life among Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest, the daring, versatile, funny, and outrageous Alexie showcases all his talents in his newest collection, Blasphemy, where he unites fifteen beloved classics with sixteen new stories in one sweeping anthology for devoted fans and first-time readers.

Included here are some of his most esteemed tales, including "What You Pawn I Will Redeem," "This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” "The Toughest Indian in the World,” and "War Dances.” Alexie’s new stories are fresh and quintessential—about donkey basketball leagues, lethal wind turbines, the reservation, marriage, and all species of contemporary American warriors.

An indispensable collection of new and classic stories, Blasphemy reminds us, on every thrilling page, why Sherman Alexie is one of our greatest contemporary writers and a true master of the short story.

On a beach in the Dominican Republic, a doomed relationship flounders. In the heat of a hospital laundry room in New Jersey, a woman does her lover's washing and thinks about his wife. In Boston, a man buys his love child, his only son, a first baseball bat and glove. At the heart of these stories is the irrepressible, irresistible Yunior, a young hardhead whose longing for love is equaled only by his recklessness—and by the extraordinary women he loves and loses: artistic Alma; the aging Miss Lora; Magdalena, who thinks all Dominican men are cheaters; and the love of his life, whose heartbreak ultimately becomes his own.

In prose that is endlessly energetic, inventive, tender, and funny, the stories in This Is How You Lose Her lay bare the infinite longing and inevitable weakness of the human heart. They remind us that passion always triumphs over experience, and that “the half-life of love is forever.”

In "The Fields", Clarice is a governess on a small, remote backwater colony. Her previous misdemeanours in a nightmarishly controlling world have caught up to her, and she is taken in with other felons for re-education. Little does she know what this re-education will include...or its price.

In "WordThieves", Sarah White is trapped in a nightmarishly bureaucratic peacenik paradise on Io. Spending her days daydreaming about untranslatable words and craving candy, her world is mostly idyllic. Until, that is, she runs into an old familiar face, and breaks the fragile tension holding her life together.

What crimes are committed in the name of peace, control, and harmony? In a world where public violence is a distant memory and peer pressure is a mandated punishment, Clarice and Sarah are about to find out.

Burning Bright is a masterful collection of short stories by the acclaimed author Ron Rash. This collection captures the eerie beauty, stark violence, and rugged character of Appalachia, weaving together tales that span from the Civil War to the present day.

In this collection, Rash brings to life unforgettable characters, each etched from the haunting landscapes of Appalachia. Through these stories, readers will find themselves immersed in a world that is both raw and alluringly melancholy.

One standout story in the collection is "Back of Beyond," where a pawnshop owner profits from stolen goods, including those of his own nephew, and finds himself embroiled in family tensions. In "Lincolnites," a pregnant wife of a Lincoln sympathizer finds herself in Confederate territory and takes drastic measures to protect her family. The title story, "Burning Bright," follows a small-town woman who marries an outsider, only for her husband to become a suspect in a series of arson attacks.

These stories not only explore a previously hidden territory but also reveal the dark yet lyrical heart of Rash's characters and their home.

A short story featured in Review of Australian Fiction and later put on Marchetta's website.

Lady Celie of the Lumateran Flatlands is visiting the Belegonian spring castle on the isle of Ferragost. Cut off from the rest of Belegonia by poor weather, she is confined to the island with four others, including the mysterious castellan of the castle. When the body of one of the guests is discovered on the rocks outside the east tower, Celie is not only considered a suspect, but finds herself embroiled in events that are entwined with her own kingdom's cursed history, as well as the future of the entire land of Skuldenore.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth retells a pivotal Divergent scene (chapter 13) from Tobias's point of view. This thirteen-page scene reveals unknown facts and fascinating details about Four's character, his past, his own initiation, and his thoughts about new Dauntless initiate Tris Prior.

Is it a gesture of goodwill or a sinister trap that lures Rupert St. Vincent and his family to a magnificent estate?

How desperate is Joyce Lambert, a destitute young widow whose only recourse is to marry a man she despises?

What unexpected circumstance stirs old loyalties in Theodora Darrell, an unfaithful wife about to run away with her lover?

In this riveting collection of short stories, the answers are as unexpected as they are satisfying. The Queen of Mystery takes bizarre romantic entanglements, supernatural visitations, and classic murder to inventive new heights.

Four outstanding works by the great 19th-century Russian author, Nikolai Gogol:

• The Nose - a savage satire of Russia's incompetent bureaucrats.
• Old-Fashioned Farmers - a pleasant depiction of an elderly couple living in rustic seclusion.
• The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovich - one of Gogol's most famous comic stories.
• The Overcoat - widely considered a masterpiece of form.

Cuentos de Amor de Locura y de Muerte is a collection of short stories by Horacio Quiroga that delves into the themes of illness, family tragedy, personal despair, geographical exile, and the often brutal nature of humanity. This anthology, selected by the author himself, showcases Quiroga's mastery of the short story form, often drawing comparisons to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, and Jack London.

The stories explore the humanization of animals, with rational thought guiding the narratives, yet ultimately succumbing to the brute force of man. Another prevalent theme is the dehumanization of individuals who surrender to their most primitive instincts, leading to conflict and the unfolding of various plots. The element of appearance also plays a significant role, as Quiroga invites readers to question their initial perceptions, culminating in the author's own revelations.