Showing results for "the-quiet" in Anthologies & Short Stories

Charlotte “Lottie” McAlister is in the zone. She’s ready to take on the next chapter of her life, and since she doesn’t have a man, she’ll do what she’s done all along. She’ll take care of business on her own. Even if that business means starting a family. The problem is, Lottie has a stalker. The really bad kind. The kind that means she needs a bodyguard. Enter Mo Morrison. Mo doesn’t say much, and Lottie’s used to getting attention. And she wants Mo’s attention. Badly. But Mo has a strict rule. If he’s guarding your body, that’s all he’s doing with it.

As editor of literary journal McSweeney's, Dave Eggers has been partly responsible for a rejuvenation of short fiction in the USA. At the same time, he has also developed his own unique, funny, and endlessly inventive take on the short story form. In "Quiet", Tom visits Erin - a friend and former co-worker living overseas.

Jonas Pickett, solicitor and commissioner of oaths, leaves London to set up a practice in a genteel Sussex resort. This collection of nine inter-linked stories tell the stories of his clients: from a retired Admiral to the queen of the gypsies.

Quiet Fury is a state of being that we’ve all experienced; calm on the surface, rage bubbling underneath. For most of us, that is a brief moment. Restraint takes over. We grumble and walk away. Some allow the rage to marinate until they are consumed. They cross the line, seek revenge, retribution. Or is it satisfaction? These stories explore each individual’s breaking point. Which will win, the Quiet or the Fury?

Imagine for a moment you're Marcus Cooper. A slick stranger meets you in a bar. You're drunk. You talk a lot. Without realizing it he's learning about you. Your desire for money and women. By night's end he makes you a million-dollar proposition to cause a drunk-driving accident. Sounds crazy to you? Maybe, maybe not. You're out of work. Bills are piling up. You owe your bookie six grand. But mostly you're twenty years removed from being the high-school football star you once were, doubting how much longer life is worth living.

As Mallory Alvarez and Luis Moreno grow closer, Lacey longs for forgiveness. Brittany and Marcus have a true meeting of hearts. Meanwhile, Jeffry grapples with his father's failures and finds solace in unexpected arms. When things take a dangerous turn, Jeffry's mother and sister, as well as his friends, unite behind him as the Senator threatens his son.

In "A Dry, Quiet War", Henry Bone returns home from the War at the End of Time to live out his final years on the rural planet Ferro. But he's not the only veteran to return to this timeline: a group of cybernetically enhanced soldiers - some human, some not - have made the billion-year journey as well. Only they're not looking for peace and quiet.

As a child growing up on her grandparents' ranch, Brinlee never imagined running it by herself, much less converting it into a refuge for innocent children fleeing a brutal war. And she never would have believed how much one toddler's sunny little presence could brighten her lonely road. With all the suffering and pain surrounding them, will Joy's influence reach farther than she knows?

Take a stroll with me down this crooked path of life. Mind your step and don't stray. These 9 tales of horror will try to lead you astray. Keep walking. No matter what you hear or see.