Showing results by publisher "-emdashery books-" in Short Stories

Ruby Fulton has had a tough life, and it isn’t getting any easier after her husband dies. Suffering under his abuse for years, all Ruby wants is independence, peace and a new chance at life. She is barely scraping by herself, and now she’s responsible for one of Last Chance’s orphaned children. The last thing she wants to do is sign herself up for another husband who will make her life miserable. But when the preacher insists that she marry again, what is a woman to do?

Heinz Strunk lädt uns wieder ein in eine Welt, in der es viel zu staunen und zu lachen gibt, obwohl sie im Großen und Ganzen voller Schmerz und Schauer ist. Berichtet wird von ganz schön merkwürdigen Krankheiten, beunruhigenden Vorgängen im Nachbarhaus der Vorortsiedlung, es werden abgrundtief elende Familiengeschichten und Paartragödien erzählt.

In the realm of the short story, Katherine Mansfield established a highly original style. Undramatic, poetic and lyrical, her writing is exquisitely subtle in its treatment of human behaviour. When these 14 short stories were published in 1920, she had already effected a transformation in this form of fiction, and her influence has been deeply felt by subsequent writers.

The excoriating stories in Mark Doten's brilliant first collection dissect the pathological narratives that shape our culture and country. Narrated by a crosscutting array of White people, Doten's stories spotlight the self-serving logic through which their characters struggle to make sense of, and take control of, the narrative of our time.

Ryūnosuke Niihara was born in Kyōbashi, Tokyo in Japan on the 1st March 1892. Sadly, his mother suffered severe mental illness after his birth and so, at only eight months old, he was sent to be raised by his maternal uncle and aunt, from whom he received the Akutagawa family name. Akutagawa published "Rashōmon" in 1915 and whilst it was disliked by his friends everyone else knew better. As other short stories followed so did his growing literary reputation as the father of the Japanese short story.

Thus Were Their Faces offers a comprehensive selection of the short fiction of Silvina Ocampo, undoubtedly one of the twentieth century's great masters of the story and the novella. Here are tales of doubles and impostors, angels and demons, a marble statue of a winged horse that speaks, a beautiful seer who writes the autobiography of her own death, a lapdog who records the dreams of an old woman, a suicidal romance, and much else that is incredible, mad, sublime, and delicious.

Shusaku Endo (1923-1996), widely considered one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, is known for his historical novels, which masterfully probe the encounters between the cultures and religions of East and West from a Japanese Catholic perspective. A salient and curious theme in his work is the unique image of a maternal God, and a concomitant sense of loss and longing for maternal love.

Like the creation myths they supersede, the revelations of science are seared into our collective imagination through storytelling. From Archimedes' bath to Newton's apple, vivid accounts of scientific discovery help us understand the principles behind each theory, and add to the larger narrative of how the universe works, and how we came to be here. This anthology draws out and distils science's love of narrative from a wide range of scientific disciplines, weaving theory into very human stories.

The twelve stories in Crime and Prejudice imagine a deliciously seamy underside to Jane Austen's world. Arson, highway robbery, petty crime and murder mingle with fox-hunting, bawdy-houses, gaming-tables and transportation to Australia in these tales recounted to Elizabeth Darcy by her friends and family.

Escape to London? Elizabeth Bennet is happy to. Her mother has been unbearable ever since Elizabeth refused to marry her odious cousin. Besides which, her beloved sister Jane is in London, heartbroken, and much in need of Elizabeth's help. Jane's recovery from her suitor's defection is utmost in Elizabeth's mind, until she receives a letter filled with romantic sentiments from the only source less likely than her already-refused cousin, the aggravating, arrogant, obnoxious Mr. Darcy.

The greatest flood in the history of Oregon sweeps away houses, barns, and animals in the Willamette Valley. At the same time, fourteen-year-old Amy is swept away by her feelings for her best friend.

Told in a series of vibrant vignettes, The House on Mango Street is the story of Esperanza Cordera, a young girl growing up in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago. For Esperanza, Mango Street is a desolate landscape of concrete and run-down tenements where she discovers the hard realities of life - the fetters of class and gender, the spectre of racial enmity and the mysteries of sexuality. Capturing her thoughts and emotions in poems and stories, Esperanza is able to rise above hopelessness and create for herself "a house all of my own quiet as snow, a space for myself to go."

The third novel in the Portuguese Irregular Verbs trilogy sees von Igelfeld suffering the slings of academic intrigue as a visiting fellow at Cambridge, and the arrows of outrageous fortune in an eventful Columbian adventure. Between trips, von Igelfeld returns to his beloved Regensburg only that to discover while he has been away his murine colleagues have been at play.

It’s fate when a man accidentally drops his phone off the bridge. It’s fortune when it’s retrieved by a friendly shape sloshing in the muck underneath. From that day forward, as they share a coffee every morning, an unlikely friendship blooms. Considering the reality for the man above, where life seems perfect, and that of the sharp-witted creature below, how forever after can a happy ending be?

In A Few Quick Ones, P. G. Wodehouse brings together some of his oldest friends for a party. Jeeves and Wooster are there, so is Mr Mulliner and the Oldest Member.

From the shores of Dieppe in 1942 to The Foreign Department in Kemsley House, from treasure hunting in Norfolk and fine dining in London to a golden typewriter in Jamaica, these are the writings of Ian Fleming. This collection of rarely-seen journalism spans Fleming’s career as an author, encompassing reviews for the Sunday Times, Second World War documents, travel journalism and his correspondence with Raymond Chandler and Geoffrey Boothroyd. It also includes newly-unearthed articles that have not been available for over half a century plus two very early works of fiction.

In Japan's recent past, Miyako suspects her mother-in-law is a murderer. She uses her secret skills as an ex-spy to investigate her, while trying to maintain a peaceful home life. And in Japan's not-too-distant future, a courier named Mito finds himself embroiled in the death of the developer of a sinister AI surveillance system.

In his startling and singular new short story collection, David Foster Wallace nudges at the boundaries of fiction with inimitable wit and seductive intelligence. Among the stories are 'The Depressed Person', a dazzling and blackly humorous portrayal of a woman's mental state; 'Adult World', which reveals a woman's agonised consideration of her confusing sexual relationship with her husband; and 'Brief Interviews with Hideous Men', a dark, hilarious series of portraits of men whose fear of women renders them grotesque.

From award-winning author Ken Liu comes his much anticipated second volume of short stories. Ken Liu is one of the most lauded short story writers of our time. This collection includes a selection of his latest science fiction and fantasy stories over the last five years, 16 of his best, plus a new novelette. In addition to these 17 selections, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories also features an excerpt from book three in the Dandelion Dynasty series, The Veiled Throne.

Deep in the sewers of New York City, the rat population is growing. Dr. Randolph Finch is determined to break the cycle. His new rodenticide, Degenesis, doesn’t kill rats. It sterilizes them from reproducing. But nothing adapts faster than a New York rat.... City exterminators and soon-to-be divorced Chris and Benita Jackson think they know how these rats think. They know how rats breed. And they fear that Degenesis has only made these rats stronger. More aggressive. More intelligent. And more ravenous than ever...