Urban Short Stories

New York Times best-selling author Marjorie Liu (Monstress) leads you deep into the heart of the tangled woods. In her dark, romantic, and spellbinding short fiction, you will find dangerous magic and even more dangerous women: a body-stealing sorceress, a bone-collecting apprentice-witch, a princess-turned-actress, and a warrior protecting China from her jealous ex. Concluding with a gorgeous full-length novella, Liu's first short fiction collection is an unflinching sojourn into her thorny tales of love, revenge, and new beginnings.

Thrumming Heart is a spellbinding collection of fantasy, sci-fi detective, and paranormal short stories that will have you on the edge of your seat. Enjoy these tantalizing tales on breaks during your day or before you go to sleep.

Thirteen hundred years ago, the conquering wizard, Nasoj, cast three great spells on the people of Metamor Keep. Fueled by the power of the dark gods, these spells would irrevocably change the castle's defenders in body and soul, rendering them helpless against his advancing armies. Things did not work out as he hoped. The spells were countered, but only partially. They wove together with the castle's own magic, becoming a curse that blanketed the entire valley.

He has taken me away from everything that I know and love. I only have one choice: to do everything he says or my fate will be worse than death. What does he want? He wants to play a game. But I’m not the only one playing. There are others. Prettier, smarter, more charming than I am. But only one of us can be the winner. Only one of us can be his wife.

Un'oscura genia di umanoidi che minaccia la sopravvivenza di tutti gli uomini. Una folle fuga nel microcosmo psichedelico della metropolitana di Londra. Un cagnolino in grado di diventare lo strumento più forte del male assoluto. Il lato in ombra della mente può oltrepassare i limiti della ragione, confondendosi con la realtà e sostituirsi a essa? I racconti di "È solo nella tua mente ed è reale" si muovono in queste atmosfere stranianti e bizzarre, inquietanti e surreali, cercando di rispondere al segreto della psiche con uno sguardo attento e brillante.

A house inches 800 miles to confess its horrible crime. The last resident of a mental institution discovers he's not alone. A middle-schooler performs an experiment to determine how much time we fit in dreams. Boys looking for wonder find more than they're expecting in the Adirondacks with Charles Fort. A detective learns everything he's ever wanted to know...and some things he hasn't. In Will Ludwigsen's short stories of strangeness and mystery, the universe has a way of being weird in just the ways we need it to be.

"The Deep End" by Robert McCammon: Everyone thinks the drowning death of Neil Calder in the local swimming pool was a tragic accident. Only his father knows better. Now, on the last night of summer, Neil returns in search of revenge.

Surface Tension is a unique collection of dark tales which delve deep into the undercurrents of human psychology. Ghosts, heavenly creatures, and magic beings haunt the characters, bringing messages of warning or redemption. They're delightful stories that charm and scare in equal measure.

By the light of day, the world seems pleasant and safe. We tell ourselves we are the top of the life chain, the ultimate evolved species. When the sun sets and menacing eyes open, the lie is over. Our laughable dominance over the earth fades behind the veil of night. Beneath quiet and gloomy skies, rotten fingers claw upward from the cold ground. Coffin lids squeal. The lunatics in dank cells cackle the hymns of hell. Torturous nightmares rage in innocent minds devouring hope and sanity.

Fogwill se dio a conocer como autor de cuentos y relatos breves, terreno en el cual fue un maestro indiscutido de la literatura argentina de la última parte del siglo XX. Sus primeros libros fueron Mis muertos punk, Música japonesa y Pájaros de la cabeza, aparecidos durante principios de la década de los 80. Alfaguara publica ahora, en ediciones aniversario, dos de los títulos en formato facsimilar, reproduciendo las versiones originales y respetando los usos y costumbres editoriales de ese momento inaugural en la trayectoria literaria de Fogwill.

Mason Dixon is a vlogger making hilarious videos about hunting down monsters in the wilds of Missouri. But his vlog is just a ruse to spread disinformation so he can secretly relocate endangered cryptids. Join the team with Mason, his sidekick Emma, and their tech guru Himari as they battle humans and monsters alike to protect these vulnerable creatures. Snarky humor meets full-throttle action in this can’t miss urban fantasy adventure!

From the pulpy pages of Black Mask Magazine in the 1920s and '30s, through the film noir era of the 1940s, to today, noir fiction has lured many a reader and movie-goer away from the light and into the dark underbelly of society. Names such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain; titles like The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, The Postman Always Rings Twice...these have inhabited our collective consciousness for decades. Humanity, it seems, loves the dark. And within the dark, one figure stands out: that of the femme fatale.

New York Times best-selling author Angela Knight revisits the world of Guardian and genetically engineered Temporal Enforcers Dona and Alerio, who combine their talents - and fight their passions - as they investigate a time-travel murder spree. USA Today best-selling author Jennifer Ashley continues her Shifters Unbound series as Bear Shifter Cormac is determined to take single mom Nell as his mate, despite her objections - until her sons are endangered and she desperately needs help.

Within this collection of short stories you will find a variety of monsters - a whole consternation of them, to use the collective noun. In these tales, a creature of make-believe proves difficult to disbelieve, a trickster-god takes an unkindly interest in witnesses, eldritch horrors can be summoned with a quilt, frustrated wolves face dangerous prey, the angel of death wears a plaid sport coat, wise old women are to be feared and heeded, and where one of the most powerful and potentially dangerous objects in the world is a fork.

Spooky Stories to Tell in the Dark is the latest installment of tantalizing tales from S. Cary and Story Ninjas Publishing. In this book, you'll find 22 of the scariest stories to tell your friends. From Area 51 to fishing trips, this anthology has all kinds of spooky stories to make your spine tingle. What happens when a bunch of teenagers have a New Year's Eve bash on a private island? Or what about a paranormal party at Christmas?

From first breakups and romantic vampire encounters to last band performances and the deadly end of a friendship, Firsts and Lasts is an anthology that is just as unpredictable as being a teenager. While each of these stories span different genres and styles, they all perfectly capture the big emotions—confusion, joy, uneasiness, and anticipation—that many teens experience as they grow up.

When Jim Ashwood and his fellow outlaws ride into the sleepy town of Prospect on a cold autumn morning, they're just looking for somewhere to hide out - But Prospect hides a deadly secret of its own! Bringing together the first three stories in the High Moon Rising serial, High Moon Rising: Volume One is a gun-slinging weird West werewolf fantasy adventure!

Published in Middle English near the end of the 14th century, The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, became an important part of literature and history because it captured the people and the stories of an era. Author Andy R. Bunch has compiled a modern equivalent of his own tales. Like the original, this is an opus and destined to meld with the fabric of history and literature.

Haunted grandfather clocks, dragons, witches, wizards, ghosts, metaphysical foes, enigmatic robot dolls, battling leprechauns, stone-age girlfriends, and Jesus arriving in Liverpool on a steam train are just some of the amazing goings-on in this Tom Slemen audiobook, which can be listened to by little people from 12 to 120!

Lirium plays the part of the grim reaper well, with his dark trenchcoat, jackboots, and the black marks on his soul that every debt collector carries. He's just in it for his cut, the ten percent of the life energy he collects before he transfers it on to the high potentials, the people who will make the world a better place with their brains, their work, and their lives. That hit of life energy, a bottle of vodka, and a visit from one of Madam Anastazja's sex workers keep him alive, stable, and mostly sane...until he collects again.