Dark Comedy Short Stories

Set in the author’s native Belfast, the ten stories in Sweet Home lay bare the heartbreak and quiet tragedies that run under the surface of everyday lives. A lonely woman is fascinated by her niqab-wearing neighbours; a middle-aged teacher becomes obsessed with a young Gaelic football player; and an employer covers for his two employees caught having sex in a public toilet.

Fearless, candid, and incredibly funny, Lauren Holmes is a newcomer who writes like a master. She tackles eros and intimacy with a deceptively light touch, a keen awareness of how their nervous systems tangle and sometimes short-circuit, and a genius for revealing our most vulnerable, spirited selves. With heart, sass, and pitch-perfect characters, Barbara the Slut is a head-turning debut from a writer with a limitless career before her.

Tales from the Eerie Canal weaves the sinister mystery of Edgar Allan Poe with the dark humor of Edward Gorey. No canal. No Lake Erie. Just a stream of the disturbing splashed with bits of the absurd.

This is a humorous, episodic novel of dark fantasy and science fiction, composed of the four novellas Amy and the Ankylosaurus, Helen and the Evil Elves of the Elder Gods, Sithe in the City, and Dragon vs Dinosaur. It begins when Magnus creates a device to open portals to other quantum universes so he can show his ex-girlfriend, Amy, real dinosaurs. This goes awry when Amy goes through the portal and he has to rescue her, accompanied by his fellow scientist Helen, Amy's best friend.

Twisty scares with heart. Ghosts, sea monsters, and a rest home for troublesome witches all feature in this collection of paranormal stories set in Wellington, New Zealand. By turns spooky and laugh-out-loud funny, these tales stew with malevolence and mischief. Climb aboard the ghost bus for a wild ride of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and humor, and hop off a little more in love with Aotearoa's capital city.

Tender, nostalgic, romantic, funny, absurd, magically real, speculative, ironic, nightmarish, entertaining and elegantly rendered…these stories span a century of Man’s consciousness. Once, a man might be a Gatsby chasing his girl half-way around the world, the captain of a football World Cup winning side, a raging Picasso bull in a mythical maze refusing to yield lover or art till his last mortality-defiant egotistic gasp. He zigzags over #TimesUp, political correctness, game theory, oh...and...the women in his life.

Das Beste aus 20 Jahren vom Shootingstar der deutschen Literatur: Geschichten über die schwäbische Heimat, das Berliner Exil und das ferne Amerika. Komisch und melancholisch. Vielschichtig und pointiert. Für den literarischen Genuss und den großen Lesespaß. "Seine Geschichten zu lesen ist ganz einfach immer wieder ein sehr großes Vergnügen." Horst Evers. Gerade als seine Mutter den Führerschein macht, lässt der Gemeinderat eine Fußgängerampel aufstellen, mit fatalen Folgen für Mensch und Tier.

The star of this crime comedy short story knows the secret to being a real man in full and he needs to share it with you. Of course, you have a full pitcher of beer and all his chaos is someone else's problem. This funny wild ride ends with his very questionable wisdom.

What makes time fly? Can time “drag”? Three short stories illustrate how the mind perceives time under various circumstances. Anger, frustration, love, murder, and apprehension distort perceptions of time in the first story entitled "A Timely Crack". The second story, "Brainstorm", illustrates how terror, ignorance, apprehension, and blackmail may distort the experience of time. Long effort and ultimate failure alter the perception of time in "Autobiography of a Stillborn Soul", the third story.

Oliver Smith, known as Food to his friends, so called on account of the fact he can’t afford to feed himself, is a vagrant. After being turfed out from the family home by his wife, Food moves into a lads’ flat in the big city. However, things are not so easy for Food as he struggles with advancing his nonexistent career, housemates who refuse to give him a break, as well as the government, who Food is convinced are stalking him. These are the least of Food’s problems, however, given that due to his impoverished nature, he struggles on a daily basis to even feed himself.

Don't believe everything the characters tell you. Recommended for fans of John Crowley, Paul Park, and Michael Swanwick.

Strange Tales of the Curiously Uncommon is a collection of darkly humorous short stories, each with a cunning twist in the tale. When extraordinary events befall some of London's most ordinary of inhabitants, unexpected turns lead to some witty, strange, sometimes shocking yet ultimately gratifying results.

In 33 kurzen Texten erzählen verschiedene Charaktere aus ihrem Leben. Lakonisch, cholerisch, grotesk und vor allem tiefschwarz. Sex, Drugs and dead cats. Umwerfend umgesetzt vom Schauspieler, Comedian und Wortkünstler Thomas Nicolai.

Was tropft da unterm Weihnachtsbaum? Jedes Jahr aufs Neue müssen wir uns an Weihnachten mit der buckligen Verwandtschaft herumschlagen: dem klugscheißenden Onkel, der überdrehten Tante, dem betrunkenen Schwiegervater, der esoterischen Schwägerin und den handysüchtigen Nichten und Neffen. Die Großeltern fordern Gedichte, die Eltern zanken, die Geschwister reden kein Wort miteinander. Einziger Trost: Bei anderen zu Hause läuft es nicht besser. Im Gegenteil.

Mr. White, a 70-year-old man - rich and somewhat eccentric - faced with the sensation that his death draws near, decides to hire a secretary to record his last words. What he cannot imagine is how difficult it will be to find this secretary. A tale on the passage of time, narrated with humor and a touch of nostalgia.

Are you ready for a wild ride through the absurdity of office life? Meet Sir Yetti The Scribe, the mastermind behind the gut-busting series "How to End Up in HR." Brace yourself for a rollercoaster of dark humor and politically incorrect escapades set against the backdrop of the corporate jungle. All of this mixed in with southern hip hop tracks!

Twister does (as "they" say) what it says on the tin.... It twists us around and spits us out saying "Really?" and "Well I never!" Yes, each of these tales has something unexpected to startle and tease!

Prickles is a humorous "prickly" look at people! Fun and sometimes noir!

Fictional and funny ways to create trouble. Listen and enjoy.

Unbelievable Courses 2022—these are fictional, funny courses. Laugh and enjoy.