A collection of stories which includes "Home," a wryly whimsical account of a soldier's return from war; "Victory lap," a tale about an inventive abduction attempt; and the title story, in which a suicidal cancer patient saves the life of a young misfit.

Presents a collection of short stories by the New Zealand author dealing with themes of memory, family, and loss.

"More than fifty years ago, Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Peter Lovesey published a short story in an anthology. That short story caught the eye of the great Ruth Rendell, whose praise ignited Lovesey's lifelong passion for short form crime fiction. On the occasion of his hundredth short story, Peter Lovesey has assembled this devilishly clever collection, fifteen yarns of mystery, melancholy, and mischief, inhabiting such deadly settings...

"Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his acclaimed and bestselling novel The Orphan Master's Son, Adam Johnson is one of America's most provocative and powerful authors. In Fortune Smiles--his first book since Orphan Master -- he continues to give voice to characters rarely heard from, while offering something we all seek from fiction: a new way of looking at our world. In six masterly stories, Johnson delves deep into love and loss, natural disasters,...

"When Colin Barrett's debut Young Skins was published, it swept up several major literary awards, and, in both its linguistic originality and sharply drawn portraits of working-class Ireland, earned Barrett comparisons to Faulkner, Hardy, and Musil. Now, in a blistering follow-up collection, Barrett brings together eight character-driven stories, each showcasing his inimitably observant eye and darkly funny style. A quiet night in a local pub is shattered...

Six short stories with subjects ranging from a dejected teenager who discovers that the universe is communicating with him through talismanic objects left behind in a seagull's nest to two vampires in a sun-drenched lemon grove who try helplessly to slake their thirst for blood.

"Celebrated for her powerful short fiction, Claire Keegan now gifts us three exquisite stories together forming a brilliant examination of gender dynamics and an arc from Keegan's earliest to her most recent work. In "So Late in the Day," Cathal faces a long weekend as his mind agitates over a woman with whom he could have spent his life, had he acted differently; in "The Long and Painful Death" a writer's arrival at the seaside home of Heinrich Böll...

Britain's most popular nineteenth century playwright Oscar Wilde was born in Ireland in 1854. He dabbled in several different forms of writing, as is exemplified in his best known work, the novel entitled "The Picture of Dorian Gray." He also wrote in the form of short fiction stories, like "The Canterville Ghost." In this tale, a family of proud Americans come into possession of a historic English mansion. However, the mansion is haunted by murderous...

From the author of The Jungle Book and Kim, Just So Stories is the perfect combination of education and fun to get kids to love reading. It is considered not only a quintessential children's book, but one of Kipling's best works. How did the elephant get its trunk? How did the leopard get its spots? And how was the alphabet made? Rudyard Kipling's classic collection of fables answers the great questions of animal and humankind in a fun, eloquent...