This anthology showcases the very best in humorous short story writing, by outstanding contemporary female writers, including Kathy Lette, Sadia Azmat, Lucy Vine, Josie Long, Paula Lennon, and many more. It includes the winning and shortlisted stories from the Comedy Women in Print Short Story Prize. From tales of a narcoleptic biscuit lover, con artists with a twist, and the accidental death of a hamster; to consequences of accidental gluing, the imagined world of extreme shopping, and the delightfully surreal world of canine dating, these 15 boldly imaginative stories range across a multitude of genres and themes. Each proves the power of the short story to disarm, tickle, entertain, or simply reduce you to helpless piles of laughter!

WHEN THE ODDS ARE AGAINST YOU, IT'S TIME TO GET EVEN.

Matilda, Jo, Penny and Cressy are all women at the top of their game; so imagine their surprise when they start to be personally overlooked and professionally pushed aside by less-qualified men.

Only they're not going down without a fight.

Society might think the women have passed their amuse-by dates but the Revenge Club have other plans.

After all, why go to bed angry when you could stay up and plot diabolical retribution? Let the games begin...

Why do men like intelligent women?

Because opposites attract.

That's what shy London music teacher Shelly Green thinks when she meets hunky, boisterous American, Kit Kincaide..."on their wedding day." Thrown together on the reality show "Desperate and Dateless, " they were predicted to be the perfect match--physically, emotionally, and intellectually. Proving their compatibility on at least one score (in the backseat of a limo), there appears to be some hope for this manufactured marriage...until their honeymoon on the tropical island of Reunion, where Shelly realizes that men and women have slightly different takes on the meaning of commitment. For Shelly it means love, kids, and happily ever afters. But for Kit it's a meaningful one-night stand. Or is it? What exactly is her husband trying to hide?

Will Shelly discover the truth about Kit? Will she find romance in spite of a civil war, a natural disaster, and a crew of dubious television lowlifes? Do she and Kit have a chance for a real marriage in the hyped-up, surreal world of reality TV?

Love may be blind.

But marriage is a real eye-opener.

It's brains versus Botox Lizzie's life is so perfect she has to look down to see cloud nine...until she realizes she's about to hit the dreaded four-oh. For most women, turning forty is more dangerous than wearing a bikini thong in a big surf. Not Lizzie. Until, that is, she loses her job to a younger, more telegenic journalist -- and her husband to a sex goddess who keeps fit by doing step aerobics off her ego. That's when she starts to wonder about brains versus Botox. For Lizzie's sister, beauty is one of the most natural and lovely things money can buy. But must Lizzie go under the knife to win back the man she loves? The answer is as obvious as a pre-1990s nose job. This book will have you in stitches...literally! Love, adultery, death, and a disastrous bikini wax

Journalist Lizzie McPhee has always thought of beauty as a case of mind over matter - if you don(1)t mind, it doesn't matter. But all that changes when she begins the countdown towards the big 4-0. Suddenly, she(1)s comparing her butt buoyancy to that of women on billboards and worrying about wrinkles. But the pitter-pitter-pat of tiny crow's feet is soon the least of Lizzie's worries. In the space of twenty four hours, she is replaced as news anchor by a young himbo who keeps fit by doing step aerobics off his own ego. And then she catches her surgeon husband Hugo cheating with catty soap actress Britney Amore - a woman whose bra cup size is bigger than her IQ. Suddenly, Lizzie is in free fall. Can she turn back the clock, and win back her life? Or will she discover there's a better way to grow older gracefully?

"An unashamedly sexy collection" (Glamour) featuring today's top female writers hiding behind naughty pseudonyms. A unique and sexy collection of bedtime stories by bestselling, award- winning, and well-known novelists delivering the goods under their X- rated pseudonyms. So who's who? We're not telling. After all, a woman should have at least one good secret. Feturing Adele Parks, Ali Smith, Bella Pollen, Chris Manby, Daisy Waugh, Emma Darwin, Esther Freud, Fay Weldon, Jane Moore, Joan Smith, Joanne Harris, Justine Picardi, Louise Doughty, Rachel Johnson, Santa Montefiore, Stella Duffy, Imogen Edwards-Jones, Jessica Adams, Kathy Lette, and Maggie Alderson.