When The Sky Blue Ball comes soaring over the fence, a high-school girl is confronted with the haunting memory of childhood. A jealous teen lets her cousin go off alone with a dangerous Capricorn, aware of the terrifying possibilities. A vulnerable young girl cunningly outwits a menacing stranger and exults in her newfound power, surviving the first of many Small Avalanches. In these twelve riveting tales, master storyteller Joyce Carol Oates visits the dark, enigmatic psyche of the teenage years. Intense and unnerving, uplifting and triumphant, the stories in this collection explore the fateful consequences of the choices we make in our everyday lives.
Poet, novelist, critic, and the winner of the PEN/Malamud Award for lifetime achievement in the short story as an art form, Joyce Carol Oates in this collection offers readers 25 rich, hard-edged stories stamped with her inimitable touch: tales of violence ... or uncertainty ... or with the macabre running like lifeblood through them. In the O. Henry Award-winning title story, "Heat," young twin sisters are murdered, and both they and their killer are remembered by a woman who was their contemporary and, in a way, a victim as well. ... In "Leila Lee," a young woman who marries an older man tries to develop a relationship with her husband's angry teenage son. ... In "House Hunting," a husband perplexed by his disintegrating marriage goes house- hunting without his wife, and embarks on a quest-not only for a house, but for his future. From small towns to big cities, from the working class to the upper class, there is scarcely an aspect of the American experience that Joyce Carol Oates has not magically made her own. Her stories shock, provoke, and astound us with their commentary on the human condition.
"Collects stories and poems written over the course of two decades, [including] award winners and award nominees, as well as some rarities, amusements, and astonishments"--Publisher marketing.
Collection of short stories concerning the nature of love: love in its differing forms and vision; in its differing participants and their differing approaches.
The people who populate Michael Martin's world are complex and disturbing. Burning just beneath the surface is a frightening stockpile of emotional confusion and silent rage. Jealousy and passion, loneliness and self-destruction heat the pages of these fifteen stories of the often volatile relationships between men and women, friends and lovers, and the interactions with those not so rare individuals who possess the pathological ability to become whoever you want them to be.Each story in this moving collection burns with the heat of human emotion. Written in a powerful narrative voice, often lyrical and poetic, BURNING IN THE HEAT is an astounding display of storytelling depth and versatility from the author of FUNERALS FOR FRIENDS.
Before she wrote the bestselling Brokeback Mountain, Annie Proulx was already producing some of the finest short fiction in the country. Here are her collected stories, including two new works never before anthologized. These stories reverberate with rural tradition, the rites of nature, and the rituals of small town life. The country is blue collar New England; the characters are native families and the dispossessed working class, whose heritage is challenged by the neorural bourgeoisie from the city; and the themes are as elemental as the landscape: revenge, malice, greed, passion. Told with skill and profundity and crafted by a master storyteller, these are lean, tough tales of an extraordinary place and its people.
The Strong brothers revisit their roots in this sexy story of how it all began from the national bestselling author of Red Hot. Lisha Rockmon just wants a good man who respects her family values. But most of the men of Holtsville, SC, want to get physical a lot faster than she does—except Kael Strong. Their attraction is hard to ignore. Yet the one man Lisha can imagine a future with doesn’t seem ready to get involved at all . . Wounded by his last relationship, Kael is hesitant to open his heart again, even to a woman as irresistible as Lisha. But despite his misgivings—and some outside interference—love just may find a way, setting the stage for future generations. Praise for the Strong Family series “A fabulous love story.” —Urban Reviews “Hot men, spicy women and a sexually captivating story.” —RT Book Reviews “Very impressive.” —Cydney Rax, author of A Sister’s Power
A form-bending and endlessly inventive collection of short stories - from the MAN BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED and WOMEN'S PRIZE-WINNING author of How to be both and the critically acclaimed Seasonal quartet 'A glorious collection that celebrates and subverts the short story form' Independent 'Hurrah for Ali Smith. The best short-story writers make it look as easy as making a cup of tea. Ali Smith is one of these... A bold and brilliant collection of stories by a writer unafraid to give it to us as it is' The Times A middle-aged woman conducts a poignant conversation with her gauche fourteen-year-old self. An innocent supermarket shopper finds in her trolley a foul-mouthed, insulting and beautiful child. Challenging the boundaries between fiction and reality, we see a narrator, 'Ali', as she drinks tea, phones a friend and muses on the relationship between the short story and a nymph. Innovative, sophisticated and intelligent, The First Person and Other Stories effortlessly appeals to our hearts, heads and funny bones in equal measure. One-of-a-kind Ali Smith and the short story are made for each other.
Picking up where Frozen Heat left off, top NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat pursues the elusive former CIA station chief who ordered the execution of her mother over a decade ago. For the hunt, Nikki teams once again with her romantic partner, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Jameson Rook, and their quest for the old spy and the motive behind the past murder unearths an alarming terror plot—which is anything but ancient history. It is lethal. It is now. And it has already entered its countdown phase. Complicating Heat's mission to bring the rogue spy to justice and thwart the looming terror event, a serial killer begins menacing the Twentieth Precinct and her homicide squad is under pressure to stop him, and soon. The frightening murderer, known for his chilling stealth, not only has singled out Nikki as the exclusive recipient of his taunting messages, he then boldly names his next victim: Detective Heat.
The explosive finale to the Extraordinaries trilogy by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune! School’s out for the summer and a raging, malevolent heat has blanketed Nova City. Dark, twisted, probably evil shadows have drenched the doorsteps of her good people’s homes. And Nicholas Bell—fanboy, hero, ADHD-haver—is being super dramatic again. But honestly, Nick’s life is pretty much perfect. Yeah, it’s hot out, but he finally gets to team up and train with his steamy superhero boyfriend to bring justice, protection, and disaster energy to the people of Nova City. It’s everything he’s ever dreamed of! With graduation on the horizon and his future unknowable, Nick focuses on enjoying the present. Seth, Jazz, and Gibby are busy setting up headquarters for Lighthouse, their hero team. Nick’s dad has partnered with former chief of police Rodney Caplan to start a new private investigation agency. And Nick’s mother, the superhero known as TK, is right there at Nick’s side. Where she’s always been. Hasn’t she? But something’s off. It’s not just Simon Burke running for mayor and campaigning to “cure” Extraordinaries. And it’s not even the rumors that Nick’s ex-boyfriend and villain-in-the-making Owen Burke has escaped. Something else isn’t right, and Nick will need all his friends and loved ones together to uncover the truth before Nova City falls prey to the Burke family. A truth that will reveal a traitor in their midst and burn through their lives like a wildfire. Praise for The Extraordinaries An Indie Bestseller! An Indie Next Pick! A Gold Nautilus Book Award Winner! “Half a love-letter to fandom, half self-aware satire, and wholly lovable. I haven't read anything quite like this before!” —Sophie Gonzales, author of Only Mostly Devastated “The most down-to-earth book about superheroes I've ever read. I laughed, I cried, and I had a smile on my face the entire time I was reading it.” —Mason Deaver, bestselling author of I Wish You All the Best At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
