Showing results by publisher "Audible Studios" in Anthologies & Short Stories

Black Heart, Ivory Bones showcases 20 beguiling tales for the child who was and the adult who is, penned by 20 of the most creative artists in contemporary American literature. Here dissected are the darker anatomies of the timeless, seemingly simple stories we have long loved. Here wonder and truth have serious bite.

In their third critically acclaimed collection of original fairy tales for adults, World Fantasy Award-winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling present 21 new stories by some of the top names in literature today. Dark, disturbing and delightful, each story was written expressly for this superb collection of distinctly grown-up fantasy - a brilliant companion volume to Datlow and Windling's acclaimed anthologies, Snow White, Blood Red, and Black Thorn, White Rose.

A fourth anthology from the editors of Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears presents contemporary retellings of traditional fairy tales in Gregory Frost's "Sparks", "The Dog Rose" by Sten Westgard, and other works by Jane Yolen, Joyce Carol Oates, Nancy Kress, and John Crowley.

The four previous volumes in Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's anthology series of fairly-tales retold with a distinctively modern edge have been hailded by reviewers as "brilliant", "provocative", and "disturbing". In this triumphant new collection of original fiction, 21 of today's leading writers spin the cherished fables of childhood into glittering gold - offering magical tales for adults, as seductive as they are sophisticated.

The Fortress on the edge of the galaxy was called Stars' End, a planet built for death, but by who? It lay on the outermost arm of the Milky Way, silent, cloaked in mystery, self-contained and controlled, tantalizingly close to the harvesting Starfishers. If they could gain control of that arsenal, the Starfishers would never need to fear the Confederation's navy or the forces of the human-like Sangaree. But intelligent life everywhere now needs the might of Stars' End--and the knowhow of agents Storm and BenRabi.

The vendetta in space had started centuries before "Mouse" Storm was born, with his grandfather's raid on the planet Prefactlas, the bloodbath that freed the human slaves from their Sangaree masters. But one Sangaree survived--the young Norborn heir, the man who swore vengeance on the Storm family and their soldiers in a carefully mapped plot that would take generations to fulfill. Now Mouse's father, Gneaus, must fight for an El Dorado of wealth on the burning half of the planet Blackworld.

These interconnected stories are set in an opulent quasi-historical world of magick and high manners called the Republic of Califa. The Republic is a strangely familiar place - a baroque approximation of Gold Rush era-California with an overlay of Aztec ceremony - yet the characters who populate it are true originals: rockstar magicians, murderous gloves, bouncing boy terrors, blue tinted butlers, sentient squids, and a three-year-old Little Tiny Doom and her vengeful pink plush pig.

Of all the sports played across the globe, none has more curses, superstitions, or supernatural events like baseball, America's national pastime. While some of these can easily be explained, there are just as many that cannot. Field of Fantasies delves right into that superstition with short stories written by several key authors about baseball and the supernatural.

Modern gods and goddesses, remote, revered - and like the pantheon of heroes and heroines of ancient myth - possessing great power tempered with flaws. Now, find within this anthology great tales by gifted and award-winning authors who move superheroes from the four-color panels of comic books to the fantastic pages of fiction, stories that will remind anyone who ever wanted to wear a cape or don a cowl of the extraordinary powers of the imagination!

A young boy's dreams of glory and war turn into a bitter nightmare as his father's kingdom is overrun by an invading army. Lost and alone in the woods, he finds an ancient sword that promises him the ability to claim his vengeance. As he begins to take that vengeance, he comes to realize the price that the sword will demand of him. Enemies soon become allies and strange bedfellows abound as the prophesies of an age swirl into chaos.

Travel to rainy Seattle and the see the world from the viewpoint of a private investigator who just happens to be a ghost, then go down to the creole fairy courts of Louisiana, learn the secrets of 9s and how the raven warriors take care of their own. Here are 13 tales of fantasy and wonder, sweet and savory, to fill you up just right.

A dragon's tears; Gilgamesh returned; lovers in space; gin, beer, blood; passion and heartbreak; wild legends, gritty truths - and one truly plucky realtor - you'll find all this and more in Eastlick and Other Stories. Shannon Page's kaleidoscopic collection of marvelous tales meanders from post-apocalyptic Cyprus, medieval Venice, and the Age of Legends, to the far reaches of outer space - and inner space too.

Metamorphosis: Three stories, each one involving a man who discovers that he has come to dwell, for an hour or for a lifetime, in a house and in a mind not quite his own. Each one opens doors onto rooms of illusion, radiance, regret, and dark enchantment. Welcome to the stories of three young writers, stories written in collaboration with James P. Blaylock. Welcome to the borderland of illusion and reality.

Across the Azkhantian steppe, warrior women ride to battle against foes both human and supernatural. From the world of The Seven-Petaled Shield come four fantasy tales, originally published in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword & Sorceress. Prophecy links a mother and daughter in an unbreakable bond. A young woman defies tradition to become a shaman. When twins are magically divided, the survivor searches for the other half of her soul. A warrior woman discovers that to wield a magical blade dishonorably carries a heavy price.

Roam with Herakles in search of a safe home for a magical sword, go into exile with a descendant of Merlin, and learn the wisdom of a wolfhound pup to help you wander along newly forged paths into the imagination.

A collection drawing from the many areas of Mary Anne Mohanraj's work, Silence and the Word includes everything from enticing erotica to Sri Lankan-American immigrant tales, from romantic poetry to provocative essays, like “Esthely Blue” (a magical-realist semi-autobiographical story of sex, work, and disappearing body parts), “At the Gates of the City” (a Mormon ghost story), and the award-winning story “A Gentle Man” (an affecting tale of an immigrant father’s attempt to reconcile his own yearning for home with his children’s individual needs and desires). Mohanraj boldly explores sexuality, ethnicity, and their interactions with the human heart.

Four hundred years ago, master vampire Eliseo Daisani and dragonlord Janx both fell in love with Sarah Hopkins, an extraordinary beauty born in London's slaughterfields. Caught in their ancient and complex bond, Sarah glimpses the world as it might be.

In these 11 stories - and the weird spaces in between - men, women, and monsters struggle to free themselves from conventions and constraints. Landscapes ranging from the farthest reaches of outer space to a sinister and abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere become battlegrounds in which personal and political change comes at enormous cost. Tyranny takes many shapes: Some more subtle than others

The Hunter and The Trap presents two thrilling and suspenseful stories by Howard Fast, one of the most prolific authors of the 20th century. In “The Hunter,” celebrated but down-on-his-luck novelist Andrew Bell returns to New York from an African safari only to find himself the prey in someone else’s big game hunt. Bell must seek the help of an old friend in order to escape with his life.

Many Paths is a new audiobook collection of original stories set in the magical world of the immortal lven (featured in Pati Nagle's Blood of the Kindred series of fantasy novels). Tales of courage, devotion, invention, and love, the stories range from short to novella in length and feature both familiar characters and new faces.