Urban Short Stories

Vivid, profound, moving, and with moments of sly humor, the stories in The Night Piece reveal worlds both familiar and deeply strange. Drawing from Alexis' acclaimed debut collection, Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa, and the highly original Beauty and Sadness, and including previously uncollected stories, here is the surreal and brilliant short fiction of André Alexis - one of Canada's most extraordinary writers.

Alortia, an evil and cunning monster collects champions in his menagerie in the underworld. Who's next? Beowulf.

Luck has never favored River. She doesn't believe it exists, or she didn't believe until the night it came to her aid in the form of a stray dog. Now, she has company on her journey to find her biological father and try to stay out of the hands of the man who hunts her for the lucky charm she doesn't believe in.

Mystic Caravan is full of monster hunters, moonlighting as entertainers. Led by Poet Parker, the motley group of mayhem seekers is always looking for—and finding—trouble. Despite the death and destruction constantly raining down on them, the show must go on...and Mystic Caravan is always up for the challenge. Join them as they travel from city to city, taking on formidable foe after formidable foe. They’ll never stop, and neither will the enemies coming after them.

Stranded on a desert island, a young man yearns for objects from his past. A local from a small coastal town in England is found dead as the tide goes out. A Norwegian whaling ship is stranded in the Arctic, its crew threatened by mysterious forces. In the nineteenth century, a ship drifts in becalmed waters in the Indian Ocean, those on it haunted by their evil deeds. A surfer turned diver discovers there are things worse than drowning under the sea. Something from the sea is creating monsters on land.

UN forces have retreated to a moon base in the aftermath of early Soviet victories in a nuclear conflict. In response, the UN forces developed special robots, called "Claws", which feature spinning blades and rudimentary artificial intelligence. Six years later, the Soviet leadership asks for negotiations to end the war. A UN officer travels back to earth to discover that not only have the Claws learned to replicate themselves, they have also created a much deadlier cyborg that threatens humanity itself.

This collection represents the best of Alcott's adult oeuvre. The stories in this volume display dramatic intensity and thrilling, suspenseful plots that show Alcott to be a complex and passionate writer. Listeners will discover within this maelstrom of murder, deceit, obsessive desire, treachery, duplicity, and betrayal that love and honor can still conquer all.

Charlie Rhodes grew up wondering why she was given up for adoption, convinced it had something to do with the magic she could call upon in an instant. It was that magic that had her delving into the paranormal. Now she’s part of the premiere monster-hunting group in the land. She’s hiding in the one place they’re looking for her…and the family she’s been longing for her entire life is about to resurface. Buckle up and enjoy the ride, because Charlie Rhodes is finally going to discover the truth.

Welcome to the wide world of paranormal pastimes, where striking out might strike you dead. Editors Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner are your announcers for this all-new story collection of the most peculiar plays ever made.… Sports fans live and die by their teams’ successes and failures - though not literally. But these 14 authors have written spirited - in more ways than one - new tales of killer competitions that would make even the most die-hard players ask to be benched.

The Ultimate Ghost Stories Collection is a fully indexed collection of classic ghost stories, read by three Audie-winning narrators. Included here are stories by Henry James, M.R. James, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Edith Wharton and Washington Irving.

This volume covers H.P. Lovecraft's "apprentice years" - roughly the first half of his literary career, the half written before his return to Providence in 1926. Every story written for publication under his own name is included in this volume, from 1917 through 1925.

"Chef-d'œuvre de la nouvelle fantastique, le célèbre "Horla" de Maupassant amorce ce coffret dédié au genre. Traduit et défendu par Baudelaire, Edgar Allan Poe forge l'identité du fantastique français post-romantique. Face au désenchantement du monde, le récit fantastique se charge de faire apparaître le surnaturel dans le quotidien, de définir un nouveau rapport à l'étrange, d'appréhender ses peurs différemment."

Ever since her dad disappeared five years ago, Persephone has quietly walled off the feelings she’d rather not feel. There’s no room for pain or anger when you’re just trying to get through the hell that is high school. But one day, the crush of taunts and disappointments is finally too much—and a power breaks loose inside her that she never knew was there.

Lucy has always known that she was different from the other kids in her home. Of course, it doesn’t help that she suffers from a recurring nightmare that wakes her up with a scream on her lips and sweat pouring down her back. The nightmare is driving her crazy. She’s too scared to sleep, she’s too tired to live, and she feels as though it’s never going to get better...until Daniel shows up, that is.

Three suburban friends had normal and routine lives. The one thing they had to look forward to each week was their wine night. This all changed when one of the women decided to shake things up and brought a mysterious book of spells and magic to their wine night. She had a terrible, wonderful confession. She had been using magic to improve her life and it was working. Now she wanted to share this gift with her two best friends. It seemed harmless enough at the time and when their wishes started to come true, the three friends didn't see the harm in trying more and more dangerous spells.

Scattered, Smothered, and Chunked collects the entire first season of Bubba the Monster Hunter from his first graveyard-splattering adventure in Voodoo Children to the stunning cliffhanger at the end of Final Countdown! Fans of the rollicking redneck monster hunter will find plenty of value in this massive collection of monsters, strippers, beer, and bullets!

Volume two. Four more stories: the mind of a mind reader, babysitting the supernatural, packing up, and what's it like to be a queen.

In this thrilling collection of original stories, some of today’s hottest paranormal authors delight, thrill and captivate readers with otherworldly tales of magic and mischief.

These are the first three books and short stories in the ongoing Madison Meyer Series. It's the tale of how Madison Meyer became a paranormal investigator and the mysteries, monsters, friendships, heartbreaks, and romance she lives through in her career. A ghost story and murder mystery combined. A story from Spencer Ezra's past. A fantasy mystery where the villains are numerous and the heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Ian Gregory has a spooky Christmas when Maddie is missing. Ghosts. Murders. Urban legends. Serial killers. Family. This series has it all!

Mermaids, mermen, treacherous villagers, and a Nix: these are some of the exciting things in store for you with the latest Natashiah Jansen story entitled Pearl Port Singer. You’ll be taken on a dive into the magical world of merpeople...If you love humorous stories, you will love Pearl Port Singer.