Showing results for "Humans" in Anthologies & Short Stories

Not all monsters are fantasy. Some are very real, and they walk among us. They're our friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. They're the people we're supposed to trust...and they know it. Contained within this anthology are 35 never-before-published works by supremely talented authors and best-selling novelists. Brace yourself for the unexpected and unimaginable horror of...human monsters.

Lonely, observant, and quietly hopeful—what does it mean to truly see life unfold around you? Step into Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield, a masterful short story that illuminates the beauty, longing, and subtle heartbreak of everyday life.

In the not-too-distant future, UNIT JHEU198, a Safety and Street ROBO, has malfunctioned. It has attacked an innocent man. This shouldn’t be possible. No one was truly harmed, and no real blood was spilled, but still, Amir has the board breathing down his neck for answers.

From two-time Edgar Award–winner and New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke comes a thrilling novel—now available in ebook—that pits Dave Robicheaux against the worst opponent he’s encountered yet. It’s out there, under the salt of the Gulf of Mexico, off the Louisiana...

An old man wakes inside his comatose, completely nonresponsive body. According to his insurance company, in order to return to his life and family, he must pass a test. As if coming out of a coma weren’t enough of a challenge, our patient must also pass the Turing test, i.e., prove he’s human to an AI resuscitation machine. This satirical but heartfelt tale reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut and Ted Chiang asks the question: Can a person articulate the deepest truths he knows to be real?

It was supposed to be a simple rescue mission: secure the doctor and exfil to the surface. A task that Nade Wilhelm and Pip Damon of A.L.P.H.A Team could be forgiven for considering beneath them. But there are things thriving in the underground facility that would have been better off undiscovered.

Myths provide the keys to truly grasping the ways that principles, rituals, codes, and taboos are woven into the fabric of a particular society or civilization. It's through myths that we can answer these and other fundamental questions: How was the universe created, and why? What is the purpose of evil? Why is society organized the way it is? How did natural features like rivers, mountains, and oceans emerge?This entertaining and illuminating course plunges you into the world's greatest myths.

Before he was Oldtimer, he was Craig Emilson, a young doctor, sucked into military service at the outbreak of World War III. Enlisting to become a Special Forces suborbital paratrooper, Craig is selected to take part in the most important mission in American military history, a sortie into enemy territory to eliminate the world's first strong Artificial Intelligence.

An undocumented woman answers a job posting only to find herself held hostage, a group of outcasts obsess over boys drowned while surfing, and an unhappy couple finds themselves trapped in a terrifying maze. With scalpel-like precision, Ampuero considers the price paid by those on the margins so that the elite might lounge comfortably, considering themselves safe in their homes.

Recipe? Two parts evil, one part dark, fill the rest with fear. Add a dash of sarcasm and serve it with a beer! A collection of horror stories from the author of Demon and Other Inconveniences. Not a cook book.

Light, Laugh, and Human Folly is a collection of novellas centered around anti-heroes living in a society that makes a straight road to success impossible. Alexander Belyaev’s reality-set stories with a touch of science fiction are chillingly close to home. They present the listener with scenarios that are very plausible and easy to imagine witnessing in today’s world. Instead of introducing a traditional hero, who comes and saves the world, Belyaev centers his narrative around individuals who are not only far from heroic but are decidedly unlikable at times.

Award-winning comedian Andrew Heaton brings wit and warmth to his vision of humanity, the supernatural, and bureaucrats in his debut short story collection. Learn the pitfalls of settling resurrected Neanderthals in Detroit. Explore the work-life balance of a professional who assumes other people’s hangovers. Or the travails of a State Department diplomat posted to a planet with relentless boredom and allergies. Discover the challenges time-travel regulators face when everyone tries to kill Hitler.

It is said that dreams are harmless, that they are nothing more than the meaningless fancies of an unconscious mind. It’s only a dream. It’s only a dream. It’s only a dream. This, of course, is something we tell ourselves when we wake up screaming in the dead of night. We repeat the mantra in order to bring ourselves back to reality, in order to remind ourselves that there is nothing to fear.

Dark, moving and eccentric, GENTLEMAN'S RELISH is Patrick Gale's second collection of subversive and exhilarating short stories 'The short story form suits Gale's ability to zoom in on the smallest nuances of a relationship' Kate Saunders, The Times A lonely prison governor's wife develops a...

Untouched by Human Hands consists of 13 stories of beings who dwell on the strange borders of reality. Some of these stories tell of people you know or of events that might happen - but haven't yet. Some will take you to the furthermost reaches of the sky and to planets whose names are unknown this side of Arcturus. And some - perhaps the richest and most memorable of these stories - open into the interior of strange minds to reveal the reflection of ourselves.

It's not the end of the world...only humanity! All five books in the haunting Humanity Series have been brought together in one digital collection. Follow Scott Beck in his quest to keep himself, those he loves, and humanity alive. Combining dystopian, post-apocalyptic, and cyberpunk fiction, The Humanity Series depicts a future in which humanity is on the brink of annihilation. Join the adventure before it's too late!

From the first campfire to the iPhone, the world’s greatest inventions looked very different from the floor—right beside the water bowl. In Paws of Progress, S. M. Lucky serves up 50 laugh-out-loud, heart-squeeze tales in which dogs, cats, parrots, raccoons, goldfish, and more witness (and frequently sabotage) human genius. A wolf-dog drafts the original leash manifesto. A monastery cat edits the printing press with paw-notes.

This powerful collection shares 100 deeply human stories from the front lines of animal euthanasia. Through the eyes of those who perform this quiet, compassionate work, each story captures a final moment between pets and the people who loved them.

The future should have been perfect. Microscopic robots known as nans could repair any damage to your body, keep you young by resetting your cellular clocks, and allow you to download upgrades like intelligence, muscle strength, and eyesight. You were supposed to be able to have anything you wanted with a simple thought, to be able to fly without the aid of a machine, to be able to live forever. But when a small group of five terraformers working on Venus return to Earth, they discover that every other human in the solar system has been gruesomely murdered.

What if the truest witnesses to our world walked on four legs, offering comfort without judgment and love without condition? Paws for Thought is a moving collection of 100 short stories told through the eyes of pets—dogs, cats, rabbits, parrots, and more—who quietly observe the joys and injustices of human life. From poverty and racism to illness, aging, and inequality, these animals stand by their humans through it all, offering loyalty, warmth, and a kind of wisdom that often goes unseen.