The stories in John J. Clayton's newest collection are luminous, expressing a struggle to see growth and meaning in life as much as possible. Nearly all focus on family, and the characters, most of them Jewish, grapple with questions of living, dying, loving and worshipping. Clayton has published several novels, including Mitzvah Man (TTUP, 2011), but he is best known for his critically-acclaimed short fiction, which have been included in O. Henry Prize Stories, Best American Short Stories and Pushcart Prize anthologies. His collection Radiance was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. The ten stories in Many Seconds into the Future were written after Clayton's collected stories were published in Wrestling with Angels in 2007. Many of these new stories originally were published in Commentary and some in literary magazines. Some are appearing for the first time. They are masterful stories of spiritual questing, emotional depth and often great humour.

Folk tales take us beyond our own boundaries into unknown lands. Yet within these adventures, riddles and enchantments we find our common ground and shared humanity. Lost & Found is Elizabeth Garner's own retelling of fifteen treasured folk tales that have nurtured, sustained, terrified and enthralled her in equal measure. Some of the stories are taken from the books of her childhood, some are remembered, and others she has discovered in her reading over the years. Garner's tapestry of words is adorned with engraver Phoebe Connolly's beautiful woodcut illustrations that bring the friends and foes of folklore to life. Included in the collection are stories such as 'The Riddle of the Crossroads', 'The Twisted Oak', 'The Wits of the Whetstone' and many more. With a varied and diverse cast of characters, Garner's retellings expertly traverse a myriad of mysterious worlds; always staying true to tradition, while simultaneously speaking to modern times. This illustrated collection is another link in the chain between storyteller, listener and our shared ancestors: tales from the past, told to enrich the present and to be carried forward into the future.

Adrift in lives of possibility and limitation, the flawed, struggling and sympathetic characters of these desperate, eerie stories seek refuge from meaninglessness and boredom in love, art, friendship, drugs, and sex. A journalist is either the guest or captive of a reclusive former tennis star at his mansion in the French hills; a terrible storm forces a man and a woman, who may be his therapist, to flee New York together; the artistic ambitions of a banker are laid bare when he comes under the influence of two strange sisters. Unflinching, funny and profound, Prodigals maps the degradations of contemporary life - from the deification of celebrity, to the impotence of violence, to the psychological debts of privilege, to the loss of grand narratives - with unusual insight, sincerity, and passion. It is a fiercely honest and heartfelt look at what we have become, the comedy of our foibles, and our longing for home.

Welcome to Cross River, Maryland. Established by the leaders of the country's only successful slave revolt in the mid-nineteenth century, its residents thump out a beat that echoes its violent founding. Among them - spanning decades, perspectives, and species - are David Sherman, a struggling musician who just happens to be God's last son; Tyrone, a ruthless Ph.D student channelling the insurrections of his forebears through a childhood game; Jim, a Robot Personal Helper desperate to escape the master who enslaves him; and James-my-man, who travels the path of the Underground Railroad year after year. Not to forget the water women who lure men to their watery graves and the screecher birds who cry out for sacrificial flesh... Contemporary and essential, The World Doesn't Require You announces the arrival of a generational talent, as Rion Amilcar Scott shatters rigid genre lines to explore larger themes of race, violence, and love - all told with sly humour and a dash of magical realism. PRAISE FOR THE WORLD DOESN'T REQUIRE YOU: 'I wandered into Cross River, not knowing a damn thing. Now I'm shuddering, gasping in wonder, reading stories over and over, and doing just about anything so that I never leave' MARLON JAMES 'A musical and visceral explosion. The book makes you laugh even as it stabs. The truth told in a completely new way' NANA KWAME ADJEI-BRENYAH 'Flat-out unputdownable' LAURA VAN DEN BERG 'Rion Amilcar Scott doesn't hold back or tiptoe around issues about race. He's the most courageous writer I know; and this collection is an excellent example and significant achievement. He's now made his mark as a force to reckon with' NICOLE DENNIS-BENN 'Surreal, intertextual, and darkly comical ... With breathtaking cruelty and devastating humor, Scott adduces the whole world in one community' NAFISSA THOMPSON-SPIRES

Following on from the 1950s collection, this is the second collection of Brian Aldiss' short stories, taken from the 1960s. A must-have for collectors. Part four of four. This collection gathers together, for the very first time, Brian Aldiss' complete catalogue of short stories from the 1960s, in four parts. Taken from diverse and often rare sources, the works in this collection chart the blossoming career of one of Britain's most beloved authors. From the first robot to commit suicide to the tale of a little boy who finds more companionship from his robot Teddy than from his parents - a story which was the literary basis for the first act of Steven Spielberg's blockbuster feature film A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. This book proves once again that Aldiss' gifted prose and unparalleled imagination never fail to challenge and delight. The four books of the 1960s short story collection are must-have volumes for all Aldiss fans, and an excellent introduction to the work of a true master. THE BRIAN ALDISS COLLECTION INCLUDES OVER 50 BOOKS AND SPANS THE AUTHOR'S ENTIRE CAREER, FROM HIS DEBUT IN 1955 TO HIS MORE RECENT WORK.

Following on from the 1950s collection, this is the second collection of Brian Aldiss' short stories, taken from the 1960s. A must-have for collectors. Part three of four. This collection gathers together, for the very first time, Brian Aldiss' complete catalogue of short stories from the 1960s, in four parts. Taken from diverse and often rare sources, the works in this collection chart the blossoming career of one of Britain's most beloved authors. From stories of war robots, to a community of telepaths who have created a unique torture technique, this book proves once again that Aldiss' gifted prose and unparalleled imagination never fail to challenge and delight. The four books of the 1960s short story collection are must-have volumes for all Aldiss fans, and an excellent introduction to the work of a true master. THE BRIAN ALDISS COLLECTION INCLUDES OVER 50 BOOKS AND SPANS THE AUTHOR'S ENTIRE CAREER, FROM HIS DEBUT IN 1955 TO HIS MORE RECENT WORK.

3 previously unpublished short stories by the great Patrick O'Brian - Noughts and Crosses, Two's Company and No Pirates Nowadays. Noughts and Crosses: When Sullivan and Ross decide to go shark fishing among the atolls of the Great Barrier Reef little do they know what awaits them. With their schooner beached for cleaning they take a small whaler out to sea, but when the very devil of a storm turns the whole of the sea white, it drives them to the nearest atoll for shelter. It is only when they set out once again that they discover the seas are now filled with sharks, driven to a bloodlust by the smell of their butchered fellows that clings to the whaler. Becalmed and surrounded by the world's most fearsome predators, Sullivan and Ross discover that the hunters have become the hunted. Two's Company: The lighthouse was one of the most lonely in the world, guarding a dangerous reef in the cold northern seas. It therefore seemed a good idea to Sullivan and Ross that they both be its keepers; after all, two's company. But long months of isolation and boredom can test even the stoutest of friendships. So when a great storm deposits the carcass of a huge whale on the rocks, attracting to it flocks of hungry seabirds and packs of deadly sharks, and later the arrival of two unexpected guests, it provides the two friends with a welcome distraction from their tedium. Yet as the months drag on, they find that there is only so long that man can live in peace with his fellow. No Pirates Nowadays: As their schooner inches through the dense yellow fog of the northern Pacific, Ross is beginning to regret agreeing to Sullivan's latest plan. Their search for the island of Sakhalien, to hunt for precious sea-otters, is leading them nowhere. The appearance of a fellow ship should be cause to lift their mood, yet the captain and swarthy Malay crew of the Santa Maria leave Ross feeling all the more uneasy. But when their paths cross once again it is Sullivan's nephew, Derrick, who has good cause to doubt that there are no pirates nowadays.

A paid assassin called Krink loads up on viper-spit to tackle some uber-thugs; the governor of a prison ship introduces his inmates to haute cuisine; a farmer wakes up after an avalanche in north Wales to find he's the last man alive. The stories in this zany new collection range freely, almost chaotically, from the taiga region of northern Russia to the depths of despair. They are fuelled by a high octane imagination and an uncommon zest for language. A thrilling collection from a stunningly original voice. A journey in stories through a fabulous and fascinating fictional new world.

WINNER OF THE CWA SHORT STORY DAGGER In Bloody Scotland a selection of Scotland's best crime writers use the sinister side of the country's built heritage in stories that are by turns gripping, chilling and redemptive. Stellar contributors Val McDermid, Chris Brookmyre, Denise Mina, Ann Cleeves, Louise Welsh, Lin Anderson, Doug Johnstone, Gordon Brown, Craig Robertson, E S Thomson, Sara Sheridan and Stuart MacBride explore the thrilling potential of Scotland's iconic sites and structures. From murder in an ancient broch and a macabre tale of revenge among the furious clamour of an eighteenth century mill, to a dark psychological thriller set within the tourist throng of Edinburgh Castle and a rivalry turning fatal in the concrete galleries of an abandoned modernist ruin, this collection uncovers the intimate - and deadly - connections between people and places. Prepare for a dangerous journey into the dark shadows of our nation's buildings - where passion, fury, desire and death collide.

Previously unpublished stories by the bestselling author of Alone in Berlin. In September 1925, Hans Fallada handed himself in to the police. Not yet a bestselling author, Fallada had repeatedly embezzled funds to finance his alcohol and morphine addictions. Desperate to escape his demons, he sought a prison cell. Now court documents from Fallada's imprisonment have recently been uncovered, and with them a never-before-seen collection of short stories. Through complex characters at odds with society, Fallada explored the lived the lives of women and male outsiders. These stories reveal to a new generation of readers Fallada's immense gifts and his intense inner battles.

Following on from the 1950s collection, this is the second collection of Brian Aldiss' short stories, taken from the 1960s. A must-have for collectors. Part one of four. This collection gathers together, for the very first time, Brian Aldiss' complete catalogue of short stories from the 1960s, in four parts. Taken from diverse and often rare sources, the works in this collection chart the blossoming career of one of Britain's most beloved authors. From stories of high-tech hive minds hunting wild robots, to the story of Mr Meacher, who is given an injection which helps him gain a dimension, this book proves once again that Aldiss' gifted prose and unparalleled imagination never fail to challenge and delight. The four books of the 1960s short story collection are must-have volumes for all Aldiss fans, and an excellent introduction to the work of a true master.

The twenty-six always compelling, often astonishing, stories in this collection are published in chronological order, so readers can appreciate the Nobel prize-winning writer's progress from early experimentation, to full-blown magical realism. Each tale is not just a read, but an experience: you join a community in the thrall of a corpse in "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World"; sail through "The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship" a five-page story written as a single sentence, and feel your way, blinded, through "The Night of the Curlews". 'A single sentence of Garcia Marquez often has more meat to it than many whole novels' - "Observer".

A collection of unsettling and uncanny ghost stories traveling across time, space, and genres by the author of critically acclaimed novel This Weightless World. In the words of Robin Sloan, Adam Soto's debut, This Weightless World, was"the social novel for the 21st century." Soto writes speculative fiction that subverts expectations while adhering to the tropes that make the genre so familiar. With his sophomore collection of ghost stories, Concerning Those Who Have Fallen Asleep, he continues in this tradition, switching modes from sci-fi to horror while maintaining his signature style. In Concerning Those Who Have Fallen Asleep, a soon-to-be empty-nester is visited by her son's comatose girlfriend every night; a couple travels to see a childhood friend in Wyoming after she has killed her abusive husband; a trillionaire centenarian, bent on becoming the first person to die of natural causes on Mars, puts his plans on hold when a Martian woman is murdered; and a one-armed Harlem Hellfighter discovers a German tailor's alterations to his military uniform mysteriously return his missing arm to him while influenza ravages Philadelphia. Sorrowful, funny, and surreal, the warped and eerie stories in Concerning Those Who Have Fallen Asleep explore the ways we haunt each other and ourselves through our choices, institutions, and dreams.

Lester Young fading away in a hotel room; Charles Mingus storming down the streets of New York on a too-small bicycle; Thelonius Monk creating his own private language on the piano... In eight poetically charged vignettes, Geoff Dyer skilfully evokes the embattled lives of the players who shaped modern jazz. He draws on photos and anecdotes, but music is the driving force of But Beautiful and Dyer brings it to life in luminescent and wildly metaphoric prose that mirrors the quirks, eccentricity, and brilliance of each musician's style.

Her story was this: she had been an orphan, her mother probably a whore. Brought up by nuns, she had lost her faith, found another, fought for it and been imprisoned. This was inexact but serviceable.

On the twelfth day of her hunger strike, Maggy is unable to tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined. That's true of what brought her here too: was she IRA, or did she just take risks for the sake of a friend?

Julia O'Faolain paints a portrait of young Irish girls and their unseverable connection, showing solidarity in places politics cannot reach.

First published to international acclaim in 1940, 'My Name is Aram' is a collection of semi-autobiographical stories about a boy of Armenian descent called Aram Garoghlanian set in Fresno, California.

In this collection of twenty-one unforgettable stories, Joyce Carol Oates explores the mysterious private lives of men and women with vivid, unsparing precision and sympathy. By turns interlocutor and interpreter, magician and realist, she dissects the psyches of ordinary people and their potential for good and evil with chilling understatement and lasting power.

Cool for America is bookended by the misadventures of Leslie, a young woman first introduced in Early Work, who moves from New York to Missoula, Montana, to try to draw herself out of a lingering depression and, over the course of the book, gains painful insight into herself through a series of intense friendships and relationships. Other stories follow young men and women, alone and in couples, pushing hard against, and often crashing into, the limits of their abilities as writers and partners. In one story, two New Jersey siblings with substance-abuse problems relapse together on Christmas Eve; in another, a young couple tries to make sense of an increasingly unhinged veterinarian who seems to be tapping, deliberately or otherwise, into the unspoken troubles between them. In stories that follow characters as they age from punk shows and benders to book clubs and art museums, and the promise of community acts, at least temporarily as a stay against despair. Running throughout is the characters' yearning for a transcendence through art: the hope that, maybe, the perfect, or even just the good- enough sentence, can finally make things right.

'Warm and uplifting storytelling: a delightful treat' Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures 'If you're not in the Yuletide mood yet, you will be after this' Telegraph 'An ode to the strange and wonderful time that is Christmas' Stylist 'A novel that's sure to warm the heart of any Scrooge' Radio Times 'Tender and moving, Gifts is infused with Christmas magic - that bittersweet mix of joy, yearning, sadness and hope that accompanies the festive season' Daily Mirror 'A gorgeous festive tale... Beautifully written and highly emotionally intelligent' Daily Mail 'I loved The Versions Of Us by Laura Barnett and her new novel is just as wonderful... The ideal warm, bittersweet read to get you in the festive spirit' Good Housekeeping 'Full of warmth, poignancy and a huge dose of Christmas spirit' Red Twelve people Twelve gifts One Christmas to remember Maddy runs the bookshop on Market Square. She's struggling to choose a gift (a watch? a wine subscription? a weekend bag? all too much?) for her old school friend Peter, who's just moved back from London following a messy divorce. Peter doesn't have a clue what to get for his teenage daughter Chloe - furious with her mother, she's decided to up sticks and move to Kent with him, but he worries that he really doesn't know her at all. Chloe wants to buy something special for her grandmother Irene, who lives alone on the other side of town. Irene doesn't get out much these days, but she'd really like to find the right gift for Alina, who's so much more than a carer, really - always stops to chat for a bit, have a cup of tea, even if it makes her late. And Alina, meanwhile, has her eye on something for... From the no. 1 bestselling author of The Versions of Us comes a novel about how wonderful and sad and difficult and happy and strange Christmas can be. Stories to inspire, move and comfort. 'He felt it: the lightness, the expansiveness, the anticipation, the sense that something good was coming. And it was, wasn't it - though the world was still licking its collective wounds and there was still suffering everywhere, suffering and loneliness and sadness. Despite all this, it was good: it was kindness, it was giving without thought of recompense, it was light in the darkness'

Winner of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, "Burning Bright" captures the complexities of Appalachia--a rugged, brutal landscape of exceptional beauty, promise, and suffering that serves as "New York Times" bestselling author Ron Rash's muse. Spanning from the Civil War to the present day, Rash's historical and modern settings are sewn together in a haunting patchwork of suspense and myth, populated by raw and unforgettable characters mined from the landscape.

New edition features seven of the most popular tales of one of the greatest of all short-story writers. Included are "La Parure," "Mademoiselle Fifi," "La Maison Tellier," "La Ficelle," "Miss Harriet," "Boule de Suif" and "Le Horla," all reflecting Maupassant's intimate familiarity with Paris and the universality of his creations.