Showing results for "Holly" in Short Stories

From an unexpected visitor on Christmas Eve in "The Christmas Mouse" to an unwanted change of plan in "No Holly For Miss Quinn", Miss Read recounts some of the most memorable Christmas events where often, despite best-laid plans, things do not always go as expected.For heart-warming reading there is no writer to rival Miss Read, and this charming collection of Christmas tales is packed with unforgettable characters, enchanting stories and festive cheer.

An anthology celebrating the witches and sorcerers of epic fantasy - featuring stories by George R. R. Martin, Scott Lynch, Megan Lindholm and many more! Hot on the heels of Gardner Dozois' (Rogues, Old Venus) acclaimed anthology The Book of Swords comes this companion volume devoted to magic. How could it be otherwise? For every Frodo, there is a Gandalf...and a Saruman. For every Dorothy, a Glinda...and a Wicked Witch of the West. What would Harry Potter be without Albus Dumbledore...and Severus Snape?

Charlie Kenzie doesn't give a mince pie about Christmas .If she had her way, she'd have everyone in the office working on the next edition of Charm magazine. Instead, she'll be spending another Christmas Day alone. Which she's fine with. That is until she's caught up in an accident on Christmas Eve with an unusual taxi driver dressed as the the Ghost of Christmas Past, which springs this Manolo wearing Scrooge into a trip she'll never forget. A story about love, life, and being given a second chance.

Three stories reflecting California’s intense pressures and addictions: "Sparkling Arabella", high on crystal meth astride a Harley, ascends into the stars. Will she find grace at last? A boy, a girl, and a dog meet in the Viper Room, looking for love on the eve of a devastating Los Angeles earthquake. And "Silicon Valley", once filled with apricot orchards, becomes a dream killer for a workaholic on the verge of cashing in.

Could a little yellow pill be responsible for landing Lexie James in the bed of her lover - and her lover's wife? Whatever the reason for this charmingly reckless school counselor's bad behavior, you've never been on a bender like this one.

Mushu is a small dog, apparently helpless. She is anything but. She is resourceful, clever, and has the memory of a thousand previous lives to help her know what to do. There is a fractured family in dire need of help in Middle Falls, Oregon and Mushu is on her way to help.

Candy Wilson has forgotten to buy the paprika. Turner Davis needs to get his zinnias in. Della Dorner told her mother she was going to Milky Freeze, but that's not where she's really headed on her new Schwinn five-speed. Float Up, Sing Down is the story of a single day. But in that day, how much teeming life! The residents of this rural town have their routines, their preferences, their joys, grudges, and regrets.

Award-winning author Nancy Kilpatrick's first collection of her vampire stories is an eclectic mix that presents the undead in all its various manifestations. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro says "Nancy Kilpatrick creates mosaics," and this compilation reflects that scope in stories exposing the dark side of the desire for passion, longevity, power, creativity and control.

A spark ignites the moment Detective Cynthia Jones returns to duty following the loss of her former partner and lover. She finds Officer Al Sanchez has been put in charge of her detail. Al's a wild card. Leaping off buildings and running through fire is just another day on the job. However, the more time Cynthia spends with Al, the more she falls for his daredevil ways. But when unsolved murders begin happening close to home, Al stops at nothing to protect her. In turn, vindication is her reward, except it comes with severe consequences.

Angela Rodriguez and her friends aren’t sure what they want out of life now that they’ve graduated high school, but they think there is plenty of time to figure it all out. When a trip to an abandoned elementary school leads to a break-in, they discover an old gym parachute.

Gianna Giordano escaped a horrible marriage in Venice, Italy, only to find herself beginning a new life in Cabo. Soon after she arrives, she lands her first job, along with a few compromising positions with her new boss. However, she doesn’t allow the fling to last long because she thinks she doesn’t deserve happiness with a man like Laurato. When her brother and friends arrive in Cabo for a wedding, Gianna finds her attraction to Laurato hasn’t dissipated, and it seems his hasn’t either.

Float Up, Sing Down is the story of a single day. But in that day, how much teeming life! The residents of this rural town have their routines, their preferences, their joys, grudges, and regrets. Gossip is paramount. Lives are entwined. Retired sheriffs climb corn bins and muse on lost love, French teachers throw firecrackers out of barn windows, and teenagers borrow motorcycles to ride the back roads. Each of the fourteen stories of Float Up, Sing Down follows one character’s day in the life in one of Hunt’s most beloved and enduring landscapes.

Deserts of sand and deserts of the heart, Middle Eastern deserts and American deserts: Two Deserts, a collection of stories, follows the circles of two unforgettable women across cultures and deserts. The Arabian circle includes a 17-year-old girl yearning for freedom and a Muslim mother plotting to rescue her son from a jihadist movement. The American circle includes a hooker who is training her daughter for the life, a priest in love, and a club of women whose husbands are dying.

Jill McCorkle's new collection of 12 short stories is peopled with characters brilliantly like us - flawed, clueless, endearing. These stories are also "animaled" with all manner of mammal, bird, fish, reptile - also flawed and endearing. She asks, what don't humans share with the so-called lesser species? Looking for the answer, she takes us back to her fictional home town of Fulton, North Carolina, to meet a broad range of characters facing up to the double-edged sword life offers hominids.

“Hello, my name is Aura Smith; we are here to take you back to your time. I do not exactly why you think killing, what was his name again...oh yes, Stalin was a great idea, but you can’t just go around fixing things like that. Without Stalin, the world would have been a very different place, you see. I understand he was evil for whatever the historical context is, but we just can’t go altering all the bad things in history. The Fates do not like it."

Modern stories for modern times, Crash Diet is at once brilliant and bitter, happy and heartbreaking. In 11 stories, acclaimed novelist Jill McCorkle tells the varied tales of today's southern women, the lives they end up leading, and the loves that distract them. Sandra knows that the best revenge is her ex-husband's credit card; Ruthie is stuck owning a motel that the highway has bypassed; Anna is a widow who goes to airports and looks in on other people's lives; Bunny waits eagerly for her absent sister's postcards for advice on how to live.

Here, in her first collection in eight years, McCorkle collects 11 brand-new stories bristling with her characteristic combination of wit and weight. In honeymoon shoes, mud-covered hunting boots, or glass slippers, all of the women in these stories march to a place of new awareness, in one way or another, transforming their lives. They make mistakes, but they don’t waste time hiding behind them. They move on. They are strong. And they’re funny, even when they are sad.

Survive. Journey along the dark roads of one American female and experience the manifestation of truths she found in the form of folktales, short stories, and prose. Step into a world of allegory where things are not always as they seem. Blood, sex, violence, emotion, healing, truth, and love appear as apocalyptic characters, mythological beings, and raw verse.

This delightful collection of short stories from acclaimed writer Susan Gabriel (The Secret Sense of Wildflower, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012 and an Amazon number one best seller) is rich in humor as well as mystery and meaning. Whether white or black, living or dead, down home country or upscale urban, Gabriel's characters are quirky, poignant, and deep.

A young girl’s family is murdered, leaving her an instant orphan. When her aunt realizes the child’s trauma had left her mute, she decides the trouble isn’t worth the financial incentive. Justice is placed into a foster home on a beautiful Texas ranch where she meets Bruce, the ranch hand, and Cammy, the housekeeper/nanny. Her passion for the horses and ranch hand’s dog begins to tear down the walls she’d been stuck with since the tragedy. But when a family decides to adopt the girl, after months of being at the ranch, Justice runs away.