Genre Literature

In these 14 brilliant stories, the Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending examines longing and loss, friendship and love, the historical past and contemporary life - all with his trademark wit and sharply observant eye.

Kirby — later Smoke — Jensen has just earned his first paying job as a deputy US marshal for the Colorado Territory and is sent to the lawless town of Las Animas. There, he finds a sheriff too cowardly to face the outlaw leader Cole Dawson, whose six-gun has left a lot of good men dead. Young Smoke feels no such fear. He takes Dawson down fast. Then the real fight begins.

Joey Wells has a score to settle in Pueblo: Find Jacob Murdock and the band of vaqueros who attacked his wife and drown them in their own stinking blood. Smoke Jensen, the trigger-ready legend of the "High Lonesome," is more than willing to strap on a brace of 45's to help out Wells - especially if it involves nailing some dirty renegades to the wall. But things are tougher than Jensen imagined. Murdock and his men aren't just hiding out in Pueblo - they've taken it over.

There were some who knew Smoke Jensen as a hero...and there were others who believed the dark side of the legend — that he was an outlaw who'd killed over 300 men. But when Smoke wakes up with a gut-wrenching headache in a New Mexico jail cell, he feels as helpless as a newly whelped cougar cub — with a lease on his life shorter than the blink of an eye.

The little town of No-Name, Colorado is jubilant when they strike gold there, until every no-account degenerate and desperado for hundreds of miles shows up on their doorstep. It's up to mountain Man Smoke Jensen and his over-the-hill companions to save the town's bacon, and do their best not to get killed in the process.

In the bustling streets of St. Louis, two cousins have a dream: to travel west with a wagon train of supplies and make a fortune in trade. Preacher needs a job and is heading west anyway. But he doesn't bargain on the beautiful woman who sneaks her way into the wagon train and the trouble she brings on board.

Elite Guardians bodyguard Haley Callaghan may be in South Carolina, but when a photo leads investigators in West Ireland to open a 25-year-old cold case, her life is suddenly in danger. Haley knows how to take care of herself; after all, she's made a career out of taking care of others. But after an uncomfortably close call, Detective Steven Rothwell takes it upon himself to stay with her - and the young client she has taken under her wing. A protector at heart, he's not about to let Haley fight this battle alone.

The Minnesota frontier is nothing like Nilda Carlson imagined. After a terrifying experience in a lumber camp, she finds a safe job helping a young widow. When she meets Fritz, she is initially uninterested in his overtures. But as he begins to win her over, would loving him mean abandoning her goals - or simply exchanging one dream for a different one?

Released from prison after two years for manslaughter, Iry heads to Montana for a fresh start on a ranch owned by a prison buddy's father. He also hopes to nail down a song he's been working on, unable to get quite right. But soon new troubles bring tragic consequences, and it will take a lot more than a soulful tune to ease the pain.

A whisper is a secret that keeps you safe in the dark. It may hold truth, but it may bring about pain. When Eli said goodbye to love, he never counted on Gia. The darkened soul he'd kept hidden for far too long was tainted. And she was too beautiful, too innocent. But he didn't bank on the feisty beauty taming the beast he held inside. Living with guilt and anger, he promises to never love again. But fate has other plans.

If anyone can smell an investment opportunity, it's railroad men and big city bankers. They're not the kind of folks that Sheriff Mackey is used to dealing with. But greed is greed, and if anyone knows how money can drive men to murder, it's the sheriff of a boomtown like Dover Station. But when Mackey is forced to gun down a pair of saloon rats, it brings a powderkeg of trouble - with a quick-burning fuse of vengeance named Alexander Duramont. This bloodthirsty psychopath wants to kill the sheriff for killing his buddies.

Robin Moore became one of the first true embedded journalists by training with and fighting alongside the Green Berets in Vietnam. Though fictionalized, his work is an eye-opening exposé of the horrors of the Vietnam War and the basis for the hit John Wayne movie of the same title. Taut, fast-paced, and interspersed with unforgettable accounts of combat, Moore’s novel features an American major who goes "native" with Montagnard tribesmen, a courageous Vietnamese girl who poses as a rabid anti-American Communist to capture a murderous Viet Cong officer, and the unforgettable acts of courage of soldiers in the field.

To a trio of muggers, Red looks like just another suburban dad. But when they demand his wallet at knifepoint, something snaps. In the blink of an eye, two muggers are dead, the third severely injured, and Red doesn't remember a thing. Once an elite member of the Det, a secret forces outfit whose existence is beyond classified, Red thought his active service was over. But his memory is coming back - and a lethal killing machine is returning to duty.

Rostislav Grokhotov, an ordinary clerk working for a privately-owned company, just wanted to earn some extra money in the game. He had no specific plans for his new character. Little did he know that his new nickname Rosgard would become the game's next greatest legend. Even the game's Creche zone may contain items of interest if you're observant enough. Rosgard's find didn't just change his own life drastically - it enveloped an entire game world in turmoil to boot! The adventuring player becomes a valued prize for Waldyra's leading clans. Our hero has to conceal his real name.

Tatum Thompson is living the dream. Her life is perfect; with a loving boyfriend and loving parents, and as a soon-to-be college graduate, how can life get better? Life is good until it isn't. When tragedy strikes, Tatum runs to Josh, only to find him in a compromising position with someone else. Turning away from the only life she knew, Tatum is forced to alter her life plan. Blaise Richards is a tattoo artist who moonlights as a volunteer firefighter. Lies and deception leave his broken heart closed until the beautiful green-eyed girl casts her spell over him.

During their thirty years of marriage, Rose Redfern has confided everything (well, nearly everything) to Michael, and is certain that he would never hide anything from her. That's why it's such a shock when, shortly before Rose and Michael are set to take a romantic trip to Venice, she receives strong evidence that he's having an affair with a woman their daughters' age. Rose feels emotionally unmoored, and her sense of betrayal swiftly turns vengeful. She stumbles across a stash of powerful barbiturates, previously used to medicate an epileptic dog, and wonders if she might not find a new use for them…

Sebastian Stone, Sunder front man and guitarist with a rap sheet about 10 miles long, escaped to Savannah, Georgia, to get away from the trouble he'd caused, not find more of it. The moment he met Shea Bentley, he saw beneath all her sweetness and innocence something that went deeper. Darker. Their relationship was built on secrets, their love built on lies. Sebastian never imagined how deep her secrets went.

While leading the exiled faithful into Egypt, Joshua's thirst for vengeance against the tyrannical King Manasseh threatens to consume his soul. Ultimately he must learn to forgive, placing his complete trust in God's will.

A beloved legend of all time, Pyle's The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood tells the compelling tale of the brave, good-humored outlaw and his cohorts Friar Tuck, Little John, and Will Scarlet, as they cavort about Sherwood Forest. However, it is not all sport. Robin Hood and his band must also outwit the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham, who will stop at nothing to rid the forest of the outlaw

In college, Griffin McCray and his four best friends had their lives planned out. Griffin and Luke Gallagher would join the Baltimore PD. Declan Gray would head to the FBI, and Parker Mitchell would go on to graduate school as a crime scene analyst. But then Luke vanished before graduation, and their world - and friendships - crumbled. Now Griffin is a park ranger at Gettysburg, having left life as a SWAT-team sniper when a case went bad.