Short Game

Joe Fleming, a youth of twenty, earning his livelihood as a sailmaker and supporting his mother and sisters by his trade, augments his income by prize-fighting before so-called sporting clubs. On the eve of his marriage to Genevieve, an employe' in the Silversteins' candy shop, Joe is to fight his last bout before a club, having promised Genevieve to give up "the game," which, while it seems wrong to her, is to him a clean and manly as well as lucrative occupation.

Mark has a wife and two kids, a sense of purpose, financial security, and a fragile contentment. However wistful his visions of the future, Mark knows who he is. But a summer trip with his abrasive brother-in-law and unhappy sister-in-law leave Mark questioning everything he thinks he knows about his family—and himself.

From tales of chilling horror, to heart-stopping stories of suspense, Warped is best-selling author Jeff Menapace's ultimate collection of short fiction. Warped contains currently published tales of the macabre like "Princess" and "The Straw Man and a Murder", the currently out of print and award-winning "Sugar Daddy" and its sequel, "Sugar Daddy 2", and the author's preferred version of his controversial "Torment".

In the 14th edition of this seductive series, erotica's veterans and up-and-coming new writers join forces to explore how tantalizing crossing the so-called Lolita gap between youth and middle age can be.

"The Most Dangerous Game" features as its main character a big-game hunter from New York, who becomes shipwrecked on an isolated island in the Caribbean, and is hunted by a Russian aristocrat.

It’s one single steamy July day at the West 4th Street Court in New York City, otherwise known as the Cage. Hotshot baller ESPN is wooing the scouts, Boo is struggling to guard the weird new guy named Waco, a Spike Lee wannabe has video rolling, and virgin Irene is sizing up six-foot-eight-and-a-half-inch-tall Chester. Nine of young-adult literature’s top writers reveal how it all goes down in this searing novel in short stories that each ingeniously pick up where the last one ends.

Richard just wanted a girlfriend - not the apocalypse. Richard Peak's senior year is looking painfully ordinary - fighting for position on the soccer team, his parents' constant arguing, a glaring lack of a girlfriend. He can't wait to graduate and join a soccer team overseas, preferably as far from home as possible. Then the president is assassinated and his life changes forever. As an alarming chain of nationwide terrorist attacks trigger a civil war, Richard finds himself on a dangerous journey for survival.

Ruby James has finally made it. As an official Rater, she's reached upper class society and all that comes with it - a huge house in a guarded neighborhood, box seats, and an elite client list. She even has the perfect boyfriend to go with it, one she expects to marry as soon as her career settles. Then she uncovers a terrible secret. One her boss will do anything to protect.

Franz Kafka's profound and disturbing novella Metamorphosis was first published in German in 1915. In this recent translation by David Wyllie, Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman, wakes to find himself "transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin". How he, his family, and others deal with this untoward situation is subsequently revealed.

Sherlock Holmes is one of the most iconic and lasting figures in literature. In this new edition of Baker Street Irregulars, authors present the iconic detective in over a dozen wildly entertaining new ways. In Keith DeCandido's "Six Red Dragons", Sherlock is a young girl in modern New York City. In Sarah Stegall's "Papyrus", Sherlock is a female librarian in ancient Egypt. In Daniel M. Kimmel's mesmerizing "A Scandal in Chelm", Sherlock is a rabbi. Derek Beebe sends Sherlock to the moon, while Mike Strauss, in "The Adventure of the Double Sized Final Issue", casts him as a comic book character.

This anthology brings together a selection of thrilling and thought-provoking short stories by Richard Connell, renowned for his mastery in suspense and adventure. Highlighted by The Most Dangerous Game, a gripping tale of a man hunted for sport, the collection also features lesser-known but equally powerful works such as The Sin of Monsieur Pettipon, The Cage Man, Terrible Epps, and The $25,000 Jaw. Each story showcases Connell's unique ability to explore human nature under extreme conditions, blending action with psychological depth.

Roll the dice, pick a card, tell a lie, hide the truth. Whatever the move, it's all just part of the game. Follow the lives of four very different characters who are all trapped in an insidious game. Each story delves into the intricate web of misaligned motives and obscured half-truths. Stories include "In This Business", "The Joker", "Dolly", and "Escaping Avila Chase".

Caleb Ryan was the only man I ever loved. But then he betrayed me.... I spent years trying to get over what he'd done to me, honing my hatred until it was knife-sharp. Now I finally have a chance to take my revenge. The only problem is I need him to achieve another goal. Whether I like it or not, we're going to have to work together. Now feelings are coming back that should be buried and gone. Can years mend a broken heart, or is my need for revenge all I have left?

Nick Antosca's The Girlfriend Game is a tumble through the looking glass into a vortex of violence and desire. The 12 stories in the newest collection by the Shirley Jackson Award-winning author are brutal, urgent and unforgettable. In "Predator Bait", a decoy in a sex-sting news show questions her job and the man who shares her bed. An undependable son watches his mother become a creature he hardly recognizes in "Amphibian". A young man plots the death of his girlfriend's killer in "Winter Was Hard".

Miss Lucy Lancester has loved her brother's best friend, Roman Alexander, for as long as she can remember. So devotedly, she's vowed never to marry anyone else. But her beloved libertine is hardly aware of her existence, and not the least deserving of her affection. Deciding her cause is lost, she makes plans to open a girls' school in Bath. There's just one thing she needs to do before she confirms her spinsterhood forever: spend one blissful night in Roman's arms.

Enjoy eight short stories with a travel theme - a perfect companion for the train, the plane, or on a road trip. Road Games happen on the road, in the air, the open sea, and in the uncharted territory where the twilight meets the horizon.

With a hungry horde of husks chasing them through the Sunflower Plains, Erik, Brock, and Dewie seek shelter in the woods, eventually coming across a young girl named Ruby, who is mysteriously armed with a Netherite sword. At her home, Ruby tells them that her father is missing; he too went out in search of answers after seeing the purple smoke in the distance.

In this companion story to Numbers Game, Chan Norwell comes from the perfect citizen family. His mother is chief of the city monitor force, his brother an all-star, and his sister a prodigy - which leaves little wiggle room for a nobody like Chan. He is determined to have his time in the spotlight at last. But he doesn't expect things to go so horribly wrong. Alone, dishonored, and humiliated, Chan can only see one way out.

And through the sleepiness, Inka sensed a man in her presence. He was standing there but she couldn’t see him. He was hunting for her, but he couldn’t see her either. Inka Keto - Sexy, curvy and full of vigor, she's a bear shifter from a very close family of shifters. As open, kind, and as whimsical as she is, she's also tight like a steel trap. Her family has been trying to save shifter slaves from the powerful, yet evil regime, on Herta for some time.

Collection of five short stories.