Short Days

Abhorrent abominations. Murderous miscreations. Desperate desires, familial bonds, and soul-clenching will to survive contend with mythic malevolence and esoteric evils in 16 tales of disturbing, thought-provoking horror. Challenge both your imagination and courage with grotesque and bizarre stories published in small press across the world, collected and combined with never-before released material.

From the twice CWA Dagger shortlisted author of The Twelve Strange Days of Christmas come 12 never-before-published stories to transport you to the macabre world of inexplicable phenomena. With returning characters from the Essex Witch Museum series and a weirdly wonderful tale for each day of Christmas, these spooky stories are the perfect companion for long, dark winter nights.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And D.P. Conway has written four enthralling stories to warm your hearts and homes. In the spirit of Dickens, Conway brings notably his two best works, Twelve Days and The Ghost of Christmas to Come. Following with equal luster, and rounding out the Christmas Collection, are Starry Night and Nava. Start with any of the four, and you will find yourself quickly wanting to listen to them all.

This collection of short fiction from Elizabeth Harrower features a number of previously unpublished works and 'Alice', which was published for the first time in The New Yorker in 2015. Internationally acclaimed for her five brilliant novels, Elizabeth Harrower is also the author of a small body of short fiction. A Few Days in the Country & Other Stories brings together for the first time her stories published in Australian journals in the 1960s and 1970s along with those from her archives.

This is an omnibus that features all three volumes of Twelve Days of Christmas Horror in one box set. Including such stories as "'Twas the Night Before Murder", "The Nativity of the Living Dead", "Secret Santa for the Sadistic", "Elf on a Shelf", and "A Christmas Carol: The Aftermath". It's time for your festivities to get frightening.

How will the life of a girl who has waited a long time for her lost love change, and finds herself surrounded by hurtful whispers, until she finds an unexpected choice?

Steve Hartman’s inspirational and motivational memoir is peppered with research-based observations, pointed questions, hilarious anecdotes, delicious - and terrifying - sexual escapades, and genuine concern for his fellow humans, indeed for all creatures great and small. His periodic Socratic approach often challenges acceptable norms and beliefs. Looking at life through the lens of his uniquely personal experiences and thoughts, Hartman shares valuable lessons on how to live a joyful pleasure filled life without lecturing to the listener.

When Pfc. Chester Michael had gone over all the ways he that he might die in the war, when he thought about them back at the barracks weeks before Utah Beach ever happened, the top things on the list were: gettin shot, gettin blown up, and gettin fuckin shot. Weren’t those the normal ways that soldiers were dying in this war? Yeah. So that’s probably how he would die too. By getting shot at, and those shots not missing.

A kindergarten teacher has show and tell day earlier on in the school year. It goes down the alphabet, so the first day (today) is "A". A boy brings in an empty box, saying that he brought an "alien" to school.

A volunteer candy-striper stays over night at St. Mary's hospital to watch over a boy from her class. The same boy that had asked her to the school dance five times already. The same boy that she'd rejected five times already....

A criminal wakes up locked in a walk-in freezer.

One winter night, as the snows fall outside their home, and a boy cannot sleep, his father tells him the story of a saint. A martyr. She is well known to all Christians in the land. Her, and her infant child. She is credited with stopping the reign of the pagan king.

I didn’t want to do the holograms. I never did. I reiterated this fact to myself as I saw her standing there, beautiful as ever. My sweet Mollie. She even was wearing that blue dress that she loved so much (I loved it even more, if that was possible—she looked so good in it!). And even from where I was standing, 10 feet away, I could see the curls in her blonde hair bounce as she turned her head. I could see her blue eyes. Vibrant. Real. So real...

Two men are trapped in darkness. A shipping container, buried underground. No idea who locked them in there. It's been days. A week. Maybe more. And then the lock opens. Something is thrown inside with them. A gun. With only one bullet.

Doctors have been traveling back in time to vaccinate populations against viruses. But nothing has been changing in the present. One man is about to find out why....

Joseph isn't a painter. He's a junkie. Well...he was getting clean. Was clean, for a while. But then he started seeing it.... An abomination that threatens all life on Earth. And only he can stop it, by painting.

In each section of Michael Cunningham's new book, we encounter the same group of characters: a young boy, an older man, and a young woman. "In the Machine" is a ghost story which takes place at the height of the Industrial Revolution, as human beings confront the alienated realities of the new machine age. "The Children's Crusade," set in the early twenty-first century, plays with the conventions of the noir thriller as it tracks the pursuit of a terrorist band which is detonating bombs seemingly at random around the city.

SHORT STORY: A sister in the far future, when we no longer burn things for fuel, finds a forbidden thing that would make the perfect gift. The Day We Stopped Burning is one of six short solarpunk stories in the Halfway to Better collection. If you enjoyed the optimistic climate solutions in Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry for the Future or the cozy cooperative future in Becky Chambers' Monk and Robot series, you will enjoy Halfway to Better.

Is today your best day ever? Are you happy, grateful, motivated, and living your best life? Today is your day to answer with a definitive yes to these questions! The Life Is Too Short Guy: Strategies to Make Every Day the Best Day Ever will give you a practical road map to make the most of every minute and to live a happier and more fulfilling life.