Fiction Literature Short Stories

This classic tale is a fantastical fable of two dear friends - one of whom goes astray and is literally lost to the north woods, while the other undertakes an epic journey to rescue him. This charming, strange, and wonderful story is a timeless allegory about growing up and the challenges of staying true to one's self, and it served as the wintry inspiration for the blockbuster hit Frozen.

Troy Bennett had a reputation with the Chicago PD for being fearless and in control - until the night his daredevil partner is killed during a raid. From that moment on, he swears he'll never again be responsible for the loss of a loved one. To escape his demons, Troy transfers to the NYPD, bringing him up close and personal with Ruby Elliott, a beautiful, street-savvy pool hustler. Reckless and stubbornly independent, Ruby embodies everything Troy's avoiding, but when she walks into the pub he's at with his new coworkers and blows his carefully laid plans to hell, Troy knows he has to have her.

A collection of the year’s best short stories, selected by Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Sean Greer and series editor Heidi Pitlor.

Con man Nick Fox is after Garson Klepper’s golden Peruvian relics. For Fox, convincing Klepper to hire him as security for the relocation of the relics to the Getty museum in L.A. was easy. Problem is, Fox wasn’t planning on Klepper also enlisting the help of the FBI. Fox also wasn’t planning on being paired up with rookie special agent Kate O’Hare. She’s smart, she’s tenacious, and when she’s conned, she holds a grudge. Life for Fox and O’Hare will never be the same again.

At the age of 12, Joel Knox is summoned to meet the father who abandoned him at birth. But when Joel arrives at the decaying mansion in Skully's Landing, his father is nowhere in sight. What he finds instead is a sullen stepmother who delights in killing birds; an uncle with the face - and heart - of a debauched child; and a fearsome little girl named Idabel who may offer him the closest thing he has ever known to love.

The time-travel series that everyone's talking about.... Jodi Taylor's The Chronicles of St. Mary's is back with a short story. It's Christmas Day 1066, and a team from St Mary's is going to witness the coronation of William the Conqueror. Or so they think.... However, history seems to have different plans for them, and when Max finds herself delivering a child in a peasant's hut, she can't help wondering what history is up to.

In cycle two of the series, the Harbingers team investigates more unsettling mysteries that drive them to the breaking point. Will they be strong enough to keep overcoming the world's dark forces? Fast-paced and ongoing, this thrilling collection is like your favorite TV series, with each linked episode written by a talented author.

Return to the world of Rivers of London in this first short-story collection from best-selling author Ben Aaronovitch. Tales from the Folly is a carefully curated collection that gathers together previously published stories and brand-new tales in the same place for the first time.

A Place Like Home is a collection of Rosamunde Pilcher’s most enduring short stories, never before published in audiobook form. The collection contains 15 stories, which range from "The Holiday", in which a wife surprises her husband of 25 years with a holiday full of Mediterranean sunshine, red rocks, and blue seas in an effort to rekindle the romance they had before children; "The Eye of Love", which takes the listener to the bright spring sunshine and sparkling waves of a Northumbrian village where old flames meet again; and more.

A collection of timeless Westerns from some of the most well-known authors of the genre, including Zane Grey and Max Brand: "The Little Gold Miners" by Joaquin Miller, "Bulger's Reputation" by Bret Harte, "The Leaf of Red Rose" by W.H.H. Murray, "The Secret of Macarger's Gulch" by Ambrose Bierce, "The Californian's Tale" by Mark Twain, "Twelve O'Clock" by Stephen Crane, "The Vengeance of Padre Arroyo" by Gerturde Atherton, "A Deal in Wheat" by Frank Norris, "The Caballero's Way" by O. Henry, and more.

The war is tearing our world apart. Instead of big armies with tanks in the field, the Vampire War is fought in the streets, neighbor against neighbor, family against family. Anyone can turn at any time. The blood hunger can suddenly appear in the middle of a kiss. The person who sleeps next to you every night could wake up in the dead of night... hungry. So hungry.

Will Trent is undercover at Fort Knox. His assignment: to investigate a 22-year-old murder. His suspect's name: Jack Reacher. Jack Reacher is in Fort Knox on his own mission: to bring down a dangerous criminal ring operating at the heart of America’s military. Except now Will Trent is on the scene. But there’s a bigger conspiracy at play - one that neither the special agent nor the ex-military cop could have anticipated.

Sometimes your husband isn't enough. Hopefully he knows this and encourages you to find the pleasure you deserve from other lovers. That's an arrangement that real-life cuckoldress Raven Merlot has had with her husband for many years. This is the third bundle of Hotwife and Cuckold short stories that Raven has released, and she's confident that they'll satisfy your forbidden, unfaithful desires. Don't worry though, this can be our little secret!

Three perplexing puzzles - and three inimitable Wimsey solutions - told with wit, humor, and suspense. Narrator Ian Carmichael, the quintessential Lord Peter, provides great entertainment with his talented performance of these three stories. In "Striding Folly", a frightening dream provides a haunting premonition. A house numbered 13 is in a street of even numbers, and a dead man was never alive in "The Haunted Policeman." And "Talboys" sees Lord Peter's own children accused of theft.

Destiny Jones is a princess with a bad attitude. She doesn’t play nice with others, she doesn’t dress up in pretty clothes, and she has absolutely zero interest in behaving like a lady. Especially when she’s so close to catching the people who tried to have her killed. Oh, and kidnapped her mother, queen of the planet Alera. Destiny’s sex-starved body, and its annoying Aleran Ardor, might kill her if her enemies don’t find her first.

Together for the first time, 14 action-packed tales of demons, monsters, vampires, and cosmic horrors too terrible to name - and the men and women who take them all down. Oh, and toss in an interdimensional insurance salesman for good measure.

Herman Melville’s tale of corporate discontent, Bartleby, the Scrivener, tells the story of a quiet, hardworking legal copyist who works in an office in the Wall Street area of New York City. The business where he works handles the official financial paperwork of wealthy men. One day, Bartleby’s employer requests he proofread one of the documents he has copied. Bartleby declines the assignment with the inscrutable “I would prefer not,” the first of what will become many refusals.

Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. Amazing Africa. She lives with her whole family in a wonderful house. There is always somebody to laugh or play with. She loves to splash in the sea with her cousins and have parties with her aunties. But more than anything else in the world, Anna Hibiscus would love to see snow.

Webster's Dictionary gives the meaning of the word "miasma" as "an infection floating in the air; a deadly exhalation". And in the opinion of Mr. Robert Ferguson, that description, though perhaps a little too flattering, on the whole summed up Master Roland Bean pretty satisfactorily. Until the previous day, Master Bean had served Mr. Ferguson in the capacity of office-boy. But there was that about Master Bean which made it practically impossible for anyone to employ him for long.

Sixteen delightful holiday short stories by some of your favorite Soho crime authors! This captivating collection of short mysteries and crime capers - which features New York Times best-selling authors, Crime Writers Association Gold and Diamond Dagger winners, and Edgar Award nominees - contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of holiday noir, and heartwarming reminders of the spirit of the season.