Showing titles in Short Stories

Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and...no qualms about a little murder. Ever since her darling father's untimely death when she was only 18, Maud has lived in the family's spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg rent-free, thanks to a minor clause in a hastily negotiated contract. That was how Maud learned that good things can come from tragedy. Now in her late 80s, Maud contents herself with traveling the world and surfing the net from the comfort of her father's ancient armchair. It's a solitary existence, and she likes it that way.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A thief, a candlemaker, an ex-mercenary, and a pig farmer walk into a trap…and what happens is no joke. When Riyria is hired to retrieve a jester’s treasure, Royce and Hadrian must match wits with a dwarf who proves to be anything but a fool. Difficult choices will need to be made, and in the end those who laugh last do so because they are the only ones to survive.

The Perry family's new house is perfect - except for the weird behavior of the neighbors, and that odd smell coming from a dark corner in the basement. Pity no one warned the family about the house. Now it's too late. Because the darkness at the bottom of the basement stairs is rising.

I’ve been living a quiet, simple life in my hometown for years. After a bad relationship with an ex who didn’t want to leave me alone, my plans to stay in the Coast Guard and travel the world were derailed. I wanted to feel safe again. I’ve adjusted well enough. But a crush on a world-traveled volunteer at the local animal shelter makes me yearn to stretch out of my comfort zone.

"White Nights" is one of Dostoyevsky's shorter works told from the standpoint of an ultimate introvert, brought briefly out of his shell by love. It might have been written 170 years ago, but certain aspects of it are very relatable to the modern listener, especially to those of us who gravitate toward solitude and introversion.

Paolo Bacigalupi's debut collection demonstrates the power and reach of the science-fiction short story. Social criticism, political parable, and environmental advocacy lie at the center of Paolo's work. Each of the stories herein is at once a warning and a celebration of the tragic comedy of the human experience.

All 3 volumes of Chunks of Terror bundled into one huge, terrifying collection! 67 Tales of Terror told in a true story style that will curdle your blood and send shivers down your spine!

Jack Roberts is back from the Sudan and with a crippling wound, no longer an active soldier. When he is sent to Iran to help find oil for British battleships he has to leave home once more. This time he leaves a son who is about to embark on a military career too. The Roberts family is soon going to war again.

In the sun-bleached idyll of his Greek island home, seventeen-year-old Petros Castellanos’s future seems mapped out: he’ll inherit his father’s modest taxi fleet and continue his family tradition. However, his English mother sees a different path for her son, one that leads far from the watchful eyes of their small community. So Petros goes to London to stay with his mother’s cousin. The capital is an overwhelming city whose dazzling possibilities both terrify and enthral him.

This is the unabridged audio recording of M R James' excellent ghost story "An Evening's Entertainment". Read by David Collings, this is sure to scare and delight in equal measure.

In a forgotten Cold War bunker, a cold-blooded arms dealer counts his cash and watches from a distance as cities collapse into violence. Pledged to stop him is a man without a past, guided by a teenage boy through the tunnels under the corrupted port city. With each stealthy move toward their target, the path ahead grows ever darker.

More Cumbrian Ghost Stories brings you 16 ghost stories, horror stories, weird tales, and dark fairy tales set in the English county of Cumbria and the Lake District by Tony Walker, author of Cumbrian Ghost Stories and narrator of the Classic Ghost Stories Podcast. From "The Milk-White Child of Ravenglass" to "A Brief Stop in Barrow in Furness", "The Screaming Skulls of Calgarth", and "The Dalston Vampire", these stories dance around the county of Cumbria to horrify, scare, terrify, and also make you smile and even laugh a bit, depending on the tale.

Selected from the best of the world's short fiction, 50 Great Short Stories brings together writings by great masters of the genre. Carefully picked for their timeless quality, listeners are sure to be delighted by the inclusion of such favourites as 'The Gift of the Magi', 'The Lady with the Dog', 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', 'Rain' and 'Mrs Packletide's Tiger', to name but a few.

Conversations with the Devil, Expansion is a thought-provoking collection of vignettes that delve deep into the complexities of the Human Condition. It is a powerful exploration of the human psyche, capturing the inner turmoil and conflicts we all face as human beings. As in this collections predecessor, the Devil is a central figure in each story, while the Main Characters vary. The Evil One herein is more like the Native American deity Old Man Coyote than the Satan from the Bible. Plus, he continues to be on Vacation, Paid Time Off, or doing Hellish Community Outreach.

A father spends years chasing a mysterious funhouse where his son vanished. A man discovers the terrifying reality that humans are considered cattle for an ancient, malevolent race. A trip to the voting booth turns into a nightmarish responsibility when the outcome decides mankind’s apocalyptic fate. In an abandoned radio station, a couple fights for survival against sinister forces that can only be kept at bay by the power of rock-n-roll. A teen girl stumbles upon a supernatural convenience store that offers her a chance to alter her destiny.

There is a book that is shrouded in mystery. Some even say it's a myth. Within its pages is a play - one that brings madness and despair to all who read it. It is the play of the King in Yellow, and it will haunt you for the rest of your days. The King in Yellow is a collection of stories interwoven loosely by the elements of the play, including the central figure himself.

Ficciones es posiblemente la obra más reconocida de Jorge Luis Borges y un hito en la historia de la literatura. Aquí se encuentran lo policiaco («La muerte y la brújula») y lo fantástico («La lotería en Babilonia»), lo irreal («Las ruinas circulares») y lo imaginario («Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius»), el que Borges consideró acaso su mejor cuento («El Sur») y uno de los comienzos más cautivadores de un relato jamás escrito («Nadie lo vio desembarcar en la unánime noche»).Cada uno de los dieciséis cuentos reunidos en este libro es, en sí, pieza fundacional y celebración del universo borgeano.

Maeve Binchy is one of Britain’s most popular storytellers, and these four tales demonstrate the warmth and compassion that have made her many novels bestsellers. In 'Homecoming', read by Sean Campion, the Brennans run Quentin’s restaurant in Dublin for the owner, who lives abroad. But...

Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners. Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language. Now Collins has adapted her famous detective novels for English language learners. These carefully abridged versions are shorter...

As anarchy and civil war took grip across the globe, Britain was quarantined. The press was nationalized, and martial law, curfews, and rationing were implemented. It wasn't enough. An evacuation was planned. The inland towns and cities of the United Kingdom were to be evacuated to defensive enclaves being built around the coast and the Scottish Highlands and in the Irish Republic. For George Tull and the other residents of the Waverly-Price Retirement Home, walking to the coast is not an option.