Bradbury's first story collection is a must-read for any fan of the genre, spinning stardust and cobwebs in its wondrous wake.

It contains twenty-seven stories, from science fiction’s master storyteller.

An artist in mourning for a brother who died fighting in Bosnia, a restless young woman alerted to the possibility of life outside her tight knit community, an unemployed lawyer lingering in a Kenyan hospital - Lily Mabura's first collection of short stories deals with characters whose fates fascinate and alarm. Set in Kenya, the USA, Namibia and the Congo, these brief, evocative tales demonstrate an acute sensitivity to the globalised trajectories which increasingly distinguish our world. One of Kenya's most promising authors, Lily Mabura's story 'How Shall We Kill the Bishop?' was shortlisted for the 2010 Caine Prize for African Fiction.

In the tradition of classic short stories by John Cheever and Tobias Wolff, those in Tom Barbash's evocative collection explore the myriad ways we try to connect to one another and to the sometimes cruel world around us. The newly single mother in "The Break" interferes with her son's love life over his Christmas vacation from college. The anxious young man in "Balloon Night" persists in hosting an annual watch-the-Macy's-Thanksgiving-Day-Parade-floats-be-inflated party, while trying to keep the myth of his marriage equally afloat. Barbash laces his narratives with sharp humor, psychological acuity, and pathos, creating deeply resonant and engaging stories that pierce the heart and linger in the imagination.

This spooky - yet sensitive - trilogy reveals that, on Halloween, it's always darkest before the dawn. In Halloween, immerse yourself in the great book of the night. And if, at a street corner, you meet a ghost, take a walk with him. You may just recognize him - and if melancholy torments you - he could be the one to make you smile again. Then, in The Story of Joe, a solitary boy finds refuge with the creatures of the night. But consumed by his imagination, he loses touch with reality and undergoes a strange transformation... Finally, in The Book of Jack, braving a haunted house, young Jack discovers a mysterious book, a book that tells the story of his life. But what dark twists could others write into the blank pages that remain? Follow these young characters in stories that span from the dusk of childhood to the dawn of adolescence, as they explore the darkness and light in us all.

In Haar grootste offer ontvang Marlene, wat vier maande swanger is, die skoknuus dat haar man wil skei. In Skaduwees van gister veroorsaak nuwe maatreëls dat matrone Anmar Cloete se pos oorbodig raak. Boonop word haar gewese verloofde as ’n nuwe dokter aangestel. Karen Viljoen is melaats verklaar. Dié oordeel dryf haar uit haar huis – tot in Genadendal, inrigting vir melaatses. Kan Otto se liefde dié vuurproef deurstaan in Plekkie in die son?

'Elisa said Yes and I said Yes. We said Yes in all the European languages. Yes. We said yes we said yes, yes to vague but powerful things, we said yes to hope which has to be vague, we said yes to love which is always blind, we smiled and said yes without blinking.' ('A Better Way to Live') ----------- How does love change us? And how do we change ourselves for love - or for lack of it? Ten stories by acclaimed author Deborah Levy explore these delicate, impossible questions. In Vienna, an icy woman seduces a broken man; in London, a bird mimics an old-fashioned telephone; in adland, a sleek copywriter becomes a kind of shaman. These are twenty-first century lives dissected with razor-sharp humour and curiosity, stories about what it means to live and love, together and alone.

Tequio in Mexico, auzolan in Basque Country, lumbung in Indonesia, ubuntu in South Africa, mutirao in Brazil - all terms used around the world to describe the concept of collective work. Bringing together 8 publishing houses and 7 writers, each writing in a different language, Lumbung Stories is a true product of communal action. From speculative essays and experimental texts to intimate stories that portray collective work as something every day and habitual, each writer presents their unique take on what a "lumbung story" is. These tales take us from olive groves in Andalusia to tiger-filled forests in Indonesia; from youths fumbling through adolescence together in the Basque country, to outsiders uniting through vibrant rituals in Sao Paulo, and from explorations of intergenerational and transhistorical struggle in South Africa, to an academic text from a society rebuilding in a post-Capitalist, post-climate-crisis future. Blurring the lines between realism and fiction, the past and the future, this unique and powerful collection brims with life and is a vital reminder of the ties that unite us all.

Palestine + 100 poses a question to twelve Palestinian writers: what might your country look like in the year 2048 - a century after the tragedies and trauma of what has come to be called the Nakba? How might this event - which, in 1948, saw the expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs from their homes - reach across a century of occupation, oppression, and political isolation, to shape the country and its people? Will a lasting peace finally have been reached, or will future technology only amplify the suffering and mistreatment of Palestinians? Covering a range of approaches - from SF noir, to nightmarish dystopia, to high-tech farce - these stories use the blank canvas of the future to reimagine the Palestinian experience today. Along the way, we encounter drone swarms, digital uprisings, time-bending VR, peace treaties that span parallel universes, and even a Palestinian superhero, in probably the first anthology of science fiction from Palestine ever.

A Christmas treat from best-selling author Tilly Bagshawe Christmas is not the time to get your heart broken... Dumped by the love of her life and in need of some time to recover, screenwriter Laura Tiverton retreats to the idyllic village of Fittlescombe where she used to spend time as a girl. Maybe lending her expertise to the annual nativity play will be just what she needs. Village heart-throb and the nativity's leading man, Gabe Baxter, has always been jealous of Laura. And now she's back - beautiful, bossy, and driving him insane. When the hotly-anticipated Christmas Ball comes around Laura can't quite believe her luck when she gets a date with the sexy playwright Daniel Smart. Perhaps it's going to be a merry Christmas after all. But when the night doesn't go to plan, and the day of the nativity dawns, Laura can't imagine showing her face in the village again. On the night before Christmas, who will be able to persuade her that the show must go on?

This is no ordinary cricket match. This is the Swell Valley One Day Match... More exclusive than the Buckingham Palace Summer Garden Party, and more star-studded than Cartier Polo, the annual Fittlescombe vs Brockhurst cricket match is older than the Ashes, and every bit as hotly contested. The Fittlescombe team have their hopes pinned on local boy Will Nuttley, but 24 year-old Will has his heart set on winning back the love of his life, Emma Harwich. As the champagne goes on ice and the sandwiches are being cut, little do the Swell Valley residents know that Emma has got wind of Brockhurst's newly arrived 'secret weapon', the Argentine heartthrob Santiago de la Cruz. She's intent on sleeping with the enemy, and it's throwing Will into a spin...