This delightful collection of stories reflects aspects of life as experienced in Jerusalem and Beirut over the past 60 years. From tales of surreptitious teenage romances in Jerusalem, to day-long curfews during the Lebanese civil war and a renegade rooster in Beirut, the stories tell the tale of people getting on with their normal lives against the odds - occasionally losing, but often succeeding.

'A terrific collection' Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane and Love Marriage Full of heart and humour, Gothataone Moeng's first collection, set between the rural village of Serowe and the thrumming capital city of Gaborone, captures a chorus of voices from a country in flux. Meet a young woman who has worn the same mourning clothes for almost a year, and a teenage girl who shies away from the room where her once vibrant aunt lies dying. Elsewhere, watch as a younger sister hides her romantic exploits from her family while her older brother openly flaunts his infidelities, and a traveller returns home laden with confusion and shame. Moeng, part of a new generation of writers coming out of Africa whose work is exploding onto the literary scene, offers us an insight into communities, experiences and landscapes through these cinematic stories peopled with unforgettable female protagonists. 'A good short story is a bit of alchemy, showing us so much in so few pages. Gothataone Moeng's debut collection does this over and over.' Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind

Many of these stories are based on real events, and the author's own experiences - such as a visit to the Morteratsch Glacier in Switzerland with her sister in l966, which inspired "Murder in the Mountains". An organised coach trip through Austria in 2006 with her husband and several curious characters is faithfully recorded in "An Austrian Adventure", but with all the names changed. In the story "Jennie's Oak" this old tree existed in Hazelbadge Fields in Poynton, Cheshire where Carol and her family lived for twenty years. "Bedside Matters" was a painful recollection of the author's stay in Maccles - field hospital. "The Speaker for Tonight..." was gleaned from many talks given by the author to various organisations over several years and is apologetically accurate. Many of the shorter stories grew out of suggested titles given during Creative Writing classes, and projects for homework. This collection follows "Soap In My Eyes", 2005, memories of her career in television, which is still available to order. "DiVerse Re flections" published in 2012; "From Bottisham to Barcombe", a childhood journey through the second world war; "Stage Right", sketches and monologues for ladies; "Simply Stage Struck", the art of acting for amateurs, are all available from Fast-Print Publishers. In 2011, Carol wrote "The Cob Story", published privately in Porthmadog for the U3A, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the building of the great embankment.

WWW - enter the Weird And Wonderful World of Hughie McFadyen. Science fiction, fantasy, human tragedy and much more. In Abomination a woman's strange pregnancy upsets the midwife. Forty Two tells how the Book of the Dead comes to life resulting in the death of a prostitute. And what frightens a monk in an abbey in Christmas Past, Present and Future? Children running from a wood in A Tall Tale, but from what? Redemption sees a priest with non-celibate feelings towards a Titian-haired beauty. Just some of the surprises you will encounter as the author's pen swings like a pendulum from one theme to another.

Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" has delighted readers for more than a century and inspired numerous adaptations. This anthology gathers 100 tales that share the winter theme of Andersen's classic. In addition to stories by Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, it includes works by Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, Wilde, selections from Andrew Lang's fairy books, and Alexandre Dumas's The History of a Nutcracker.

Ashok Sawhny has in his six years of writing been prolific in the writing of poetry, both in English & Urdu, with eleven and three books, respectively, having been published. This collection of short stories is the beginning of his writing prose. The stories all seem to be based in England, perhaps, because of the time that he has spent in that country. It is indeed interesting to see a poet turn to writing prose. He is also working on another set of stories based elsewhere.

Beasts and Lovers is a wonderful collection of provocative modern fairy tales. Frogs turn inappropriately into princes, an old hag pursued by social services reveals her true identity as a seductive Sheherazade, two brothers are brought face to face with the source of their savage longings, and three generations of secrets and lies are unravelled to reveal a healing truth. The stories explore our deepest fears and the surprising workings of the human heart, and shed light on the mysteries that lie at the roots of our very existence.

"Why do stories come into one's head, or odd names or first lines? Perhaps deep in the brain there is a part that makes things up and they occasionally pop out if the stimulus is right. If nothing else is occupying the mind then the idea can be developed. Most of my poems are written at one sitting, with later tweaks. I use the form to be able to be more adventurous with words and to use the end of lines and the beginning of new ones to highlight a word or re-enforce an idea. Inspiration comes from events or sights or just thoughts. Often one works with a picture in one's head. An illustration therefore is sometimes a natural extension. I hope those included will add rather than detract from the reader's picture."

To the tradition of eldritch horror pioneered and refined by writers such as H.P. Lovecraft, Peter Straub, and Thomas Ligotti comes Laird Barron, an author whose literary voice invokes the grotesque, the devilish, and the perverse with intensity and astonishing craftsmanship. Collected here for the first time are nine terrifying tales of cosmic horror, including the World Fantasy Award-nominated novella "The Imago Sequence," the International Horror Guild Award-nominated "Proboscis," and the never-before-published "Procession of the Black Sloth." Together, these stories, each a masterstroke of craft and imaginative irony, form a shocking cycle of distorted evolution, encroaching chaos, and ravenous insectoid hive-minds hidden just beneath the seemingly benign surface of the Earth. With colorful protagonists, including an over-the-hill CIA agent, a grizzled Pinkerton detective, and a failed actor accompanying a group of bounty hunters, Barron's stories are resonant and authentic, featuring vulnerable, hard-boiled tough guys attempting to stand against the stygian wasteland of night. Throughout the collection, themes of desolation, fear, and masculine identity are played out against the backdrop of an indifferent, devouring cosmos. Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. 'There are things in that wallpaper that nobody knows about but me, or ever will' Hailed as one of the most distinctive and compelling literary voices of her era, Charlotte Perkins Gilman is praised today for her ground-breaking, feminist writing. Collected here, both The Yellow Wallpaper and Herland are extraordinary for scrutinising the patriarchal norms of turn-of-the-century America. In The Yellow Wallpaper a woman frantically paces the empty nursery at the top of a secluded mansion. Her husband John, a physician, is of no comfort and she can't bear to sit with the new baby as his crying makes her much too nervous. And then there's the putrid, yellow wallpaper which seems to shift and creep around the room before her very eyes... Herland, first published in 1915, follows a group of three men as they arrive in a female-only society. Peace and tranquillity thrive in this utopian land, forcing the explorers to question how their own corrupted, male-dominated world can survive.

Welcome to New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller Brandon Sanderson's first collection of short fiction. These wonderful works, originally published individually, have been collected for the first time and convey the true expanse of the Cosmere. Telling the exciting tales of adventure Sanderson fans have come to expect, Arcanum Unbounded include the Hugo Award-winning novella 'The Emperor's Soul', an excerpt from the graphic novel 'White Sand', and the never-before-published Stormlight Archive novella 'Edgedancer'. The collection will include nine works in all: 'Edgedancer' (Stormlight Archive) 'The Hope of Elantris' (Elantris) 'The Eleventh Metal' (Mistborn) 'The Emperor's Soul' (Elantris) 'Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania' (excerpt; Mistborn) 'White Sand' (excerpt; Taldain) 'Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell' (Threnody) 'Sixth of Dusk' (First of the Sun) 'Mistborn: Secret History' (Mistborn) This superb collection also includes essays and illustrations which offer an insight into the numerous worlds in which the stories are set.

Now in its nineteenth year, the Caine Prize for African Writing is Africa's leading literary prize and is awarded to a short story by an African writer published in English, whether in Africa or elsewhere. This collection brings together the five 2018 shortlisted stories: American Dream by Nonyelum Ekwempu (Nigeria); The Armed Letter Writers by Olofunke Ogundimu (Nigeria); Fanta Blackcurrant by Makena Onjerika (Kenya); Involution by Stacy Hardy (South Africa); Wednesday's Story by Wole Talabi (Nigeria). It also includes 12 stories written at the Caine Prize Writers' Workshop, which took place in Rwanda in April 2018: No Ordinary Soiree by Paula Akugizibwe; Tie Kidi by Awuor Onyango; Calling the Clouds Home by Heran T. Abate; America by Caroline Numuhire; All Things Bright and Beautiful by Troy Onyango; Departure by Nsah Mala; Where Rivers Go to Die by Dilman Dila; Ngozi by Bongani Sibanda; The Weaving of Death by Lucky Grace Isingizwe; Redemption Song by Arinze Ifeakandu; Spaceman by Bongani Kona; Grief is the Gift that Breaks the Spirit Open by Eloghosa Osunde. The 2018 judging panel comprises: Dinaw Mengestu, journalist, author and graduate of Georgetown University and of Columbia University's M.F.A. programme in fiction; Alain Mabanckou, prolific Francophone Congolese poet and novelist and Man Booker International Prize finalist (2015); reporter, columnist and poet Ahmed Rajab; Henrietta Rose-Innes, a South African author who won the Caine Prize in 2008; and Lola Shoneyin, a Nigerian writer who has won the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prose Prize.