Showing titles in Anthologies

"The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" is a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky written in 1877. It chronicles the experiences of a man who decides that there is nothing of any value in the world. Slipping into nihilism with the "terrible anguish", he is determined to commit suicide. A chance encounter with a young girl, however, begins the man on a journey that re-instills a love for his fellow man.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, (1860¿1904), was born in Russia at Taganrog on the Sea of Azov. His name has become synonymous with a certain literary style much admired and widely copied since his death. Typically, a Chekhov story is a ¿mood,¿ a state of mind, usually with regard to relations between one person and another. Under the influence of the constant, infinitesimal and unforeseen pinpricks of life, there occurs a gradual transformation of that state of mind.

In the realm of the Incubi Masters, pleasure is to die for and love is the deadliest game of all… Lara Adrian's Merciless: House of Gravori - Seeking vengeance for the murder of his brother, Incubus Master Devlin Gravori demands justice from the high court of the Nephilim.

This volume collects, for the first time, the entire Dream Cycle created by H. P. Lovecraft, the master of twentieth-century horror, including some of his most fantastic tales.

Throughout Proust's life, nine of his short stories remained unseen - the writer never spoke of them. Why did he choose not to publish them along with the others? One possible answer is that he was developing his themes in preparation for his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time; another is that the stories were too audacious - too near to life - for the censorious society of the time. In these stories, published here for the first time, we find an intimate picture of a young author full of darkness and melancholy, longing to reveal his true self to the world.

In the glitzy underground world of illegal auctions, fast cars, and stolen magical artifacts, John "Dom" Domenici knows he's out of his depth. But he needs the job at Kempthorne & Co. So when his boss, Alexander Kempthorne, wants him on a special case to track down an illegal artifact dealer, Dom can't say no. It shouldn't matter that the billionaire is sexy as sin, and it really shouldn't matter that there's an American agent stalking Dom, an agent who knows more than he should about Dom's case.

This collection brings together some of the most influential and beloved novels in the English literary canon. From dystopian futures to sweeping romantic tales, these works explore human nature, social class, morality, and the quest for identity. Spanning genres and centuries, The Essential British Classics Collection is a celebration of the best of British storytelling, offering profound insights into the human experience.

Read by Juliet Stevenson and Simon Callow, A Literary Christmas is a seasonal anthology that collects together poems, short stories, and prose extracts by some of the greatest poets and writers in the English language. Like Charles Dickens’ ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, they are representative of times old and new - from John Donne’s Elizabethan hymn over the baby Jesus to Rudyard Kipling’s "Christmas in India", from Thomas Tusser counting the cost of a Tudor feast to Laurie Lee’s "Cider with Rosie".

Short, sometimes sweet and often strange, here are seven great stories by some of the best writers from around the world... Anne Enright Yoko Ogawa David Szalay Nadifa Mohamed Andrey Kurkov Yael van der Wouden and Roddy Doyle The Booker Prizes celebrate the world’s best fiction. In this book...

Brought to you by Penguin. 'We'll always be together, won't we?' Childhood friends and cousins Leo and Alice had imagined their whole lives playing out on their beloved Devon beach. But one night when they are teens, sitting on the sand beneath the stars, Alice tells Leo a secret that must never...

For an atheist it’s a great deal, though it does suggest atheism may have a weak point. For those of faith it’s a matter of jam now and purgatory tomorrow. A bargain many artists feel is something they can live with. For agnostics it’s usually a question of can the afterlife really be that bad, would workplace regulations reach all parts of heaven and hell. However, in this volume the terms are agreed and the Devil pays his fees and the character his dues, each happy to wait a few decades for the eternal payback.

Joyce Carol Oates, a queenpin of the noir genre, has brought her keen and discerning eye to the curation of an outstanding anthology of brand-new top-shelf short stories (and poems by Margaret Atwood!). While bad men are not always the victims in these tales, they get their due often enough to satisfy listeners who are sick of the gendered status quo, or who just want to have a little bit of fun at the expense of a crumbling patriarchal society. This stylistically diverse collection will make you squirm in your seat, stay up at night, laugh out loud, and inevitably wish for more.

A boon for booklovers, this audio set features funny, fantastical and poignant stories about people with unique and passionate connections to the written word.

Tony Roberts reads a hilarious Walter R. Brooks story about how Ed - a talking horse - became a voracious reader of adventure tales and mysteries. In a story by Italo Calvino, read by John Shea, a man tries to make the most of his beach holiday by reading and making love at the same time.

Arthur Conan Doyle never wasted time in getting his stories moving. His plots are always direct and refreshingly lucid, and the narrative has a velocity that sweeps you along right to the end. This was no doubt a large part of his immense worldwide success. Not surprisingly, each time he tried to end the series, his fans would howl in protest. But, as he says in the preface to his last collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, all good things must come to an end.

Villanelle is the ultimate assassin. Beautiful and heartless, she's been trained to be the best. Her latest target is a firebrand Russian leader whose extreme political theories threaten to unleash global conflict. But lying in wait for Villanelle is intelligence officer Eve Polastri. A hunter by nature, fiercely clever, Eve is ready to pursue her adversary wherever the search leads her. And so starts a deadly game between two brilliant and determined female protagonists…

Doing Time: For the prison writers whose work is included in this anthology, it means more than "serving a sentence"; it means staying alive and sane, preserving dignity, reinventing oneself, and somehow retaining one's humanity. For the last quarter century the prestigious writers' organization PEN has sponsored a contest for writers behind bars to help prisoners face these challenges. The contest honors the best short stories, plays, essays, and poems among hundreds submitted annually by men and women nationwide.

Volume two. Four more stories: the mind of a mind reader, babysitting the supernatural, packing up, and what's it like to be a queen.

Nothing delights the erotic connoisseur like a good spanking, delivered or received. In Spanked, Rachel Kramer Bussel offers stories that celebrate the pleasures of an inviting bum turned rosy red by hand, crop, whip, or paddle. Whether for spicing up a relationship, indulging in a playful diversion, or punishing a transgressing lover, Spanked offers stories so vivid you just might find your cheeks sore after reading it! Includes "Indulgences", "Spanking You", and "Reunion".

A glittering collection of some of the world's finest short stories.

Twenty-two nightmarish stories for your listening enjoyment! Prepare for the terrifying. Sara Jordan-Heintz selected a perfect blend of tales from a talented list of authors. You might just find your next favorite horror writer in the list.