Short Days

A razor-sharp story collection from a writer who is always "furiously good" (Zadie Smith, best-selling author of Swing Time). With her signature humor and compassion, A.M. Homes exposes the heart of an uneasy America in this collection - exploring our attachments to each other through characters who aren't quite who they hoped to become, though there is no one else they can be.

Do you feel like you are living the same day over and over? Are you going through life on autopilot? You're not alone. You can start to change your life. By choosing to find the time to focus on your well-being, you are making a decision which not only benefits you but also helps those you love. When you thrive, they thrive. Opportunities to practice mindfulness are opportunities to melt away stress and quiet the demands of everyday life. Make the best choice for you, and start taking advantage of those moments today.

A widowed florist, her 10-year-old daughter, and the paramedic who delivered the girl a decade earlier.... Love's second chance on the beach! Paramedic Andrew Herrin delivered Gretchen Samuels's daughter on the side of the road when she and her husband couldn't make it to the hospital in time. When their paths cross again in small-town Hawthorn Harbor, she's a widow and the baby is 10-year-old Dixie. Dixie gets along great with Drew, and Gretchen finds herself falling in love with the man who's rescued her twice now.

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....

She's not the biggest fan of Christmas–which is akin to a major sin in the little town of Snowflake Hollow. And with a name like Holly White, it's fitting that she owns the only B&B in town. The whole season is a huge deal, and the people coming to stay at the B&B are paying a premium to get the ultimate festive experience. She's trying to keep the guests busy, but Hank the Handyman just broke his leg trying to hang the lights. Now she has to figure out how to make the holiday festivities happen all by herself.

NOVIO POR TREINTA DÍAS: Nunca debería haber aceptado ese acuerdo… Hace treinta días, mi jefe —un tiburón de Wall Street— acudió a mí con una oferta que no pude rechazar: poner mi firma en una línea de puntos y fingir ser su prometida durante un mes. Si accedía, podía rescindir mi contrato laboral con una indemnización por despido «extremadamente generosa». Las normas eran muy sencillas: prohibido besarse y tener sexo.

A story that describes the suffering of a man who became disabled after getting married and was exposed to support from the last person he expected it to be, and faced alienation and abuse from the person closest to him.

Welcome to the town of Kismet Bay where magic and fate are a way of life...Have all eight stories in one place and all new bonus material! Listen to the series epilogue never before been published! Follow the Strange family through their journey to love and their eventual happy-ever-after.

A family enjoy their last holiday at a much-loved beach hut. The tide brings in an old face - and a new temptation - while a writer's retreat is shaken up by a surprise arrival. The simple pleasures of the seaside compete with the Instagram dream, a couple's future is turned upside down and a celebratory evening takes a stormy turn. And as the sun sets, an unexpected romance is simmering....

What scares you more? The monster under your bed or the one staring back at you in the mirror? Authors C. M. Chapman and Larry Thacker blur the lines between the kinds of monsters that roam the Earth in their latest short story collection, Everyday, Monsters. In 21 stories, listeners encounter monsters ranging from mythological and psychological to maliciously human and darkly comical. Monsters creep from the deepest parts of humanity, the kind that we are born with, proving that even those with the best senses can overlook shadowy lurking beasts.

Seven tales of conflict set among the stars, driven by the very roots of humankind’s Earth-bound strife. Yet even in the face of the vast void of space, these brave souls fight to hold on to their humanity.

Special effort was made to capture the dialect in these seven gems carefully lifted from the treasures of life in New England at the turn of the century.