Showing results for "The Bell" in Short Stories

Madison Smartt Bell’s celebrated debut story collection about the daily struggles of life in America. Engrossing and brimming with insight, Bell’s early stories are remarkable for their ambition of scope and the author’s deft rendering of human diversity.

Remember that hunky guy on YouTube who caught your eye? The one with the awesome pecs and killer smile? I bet you couldn't stop watching his videos. Just imagine if you had a chance to meet him and all your fantasies started coming true. There's only one catch: Between you and your dream guy is his less-than-pleased boyfriend. They say that love conquers all, but can love conquer love?

Herman Melville is now seen as one of the great figures in American literature, a man who expanded the role of the novel and gave new and complex depths to the meaning of a story. His best work uses the form of the novel or the story as a means of carrying and discussing concerns about the nature of humanity, the role of God, and a sometimes satiric, sometimes bitter, examination of colonialism and capitalism.

The second collection of a witch's dozen of weird or horrific tales from Brian Lumley, author of the internationally best-selling Necroscope and Vampire World series.

Celebrity stylist Kailey Robbins wants a second chance with the love of her life, ex-military pilot Joe Hannigan, but can she convince him that this time she'll settle down into small town life?

An assault survivor realizes she can rewind time and relives the experience in order to erase it. A teen athlete wonders why she isn’t more afraid of death when the plane carrying her team catches fire. The daughter of a superhero ruminates on how her father neglected his children to pursue his heroics. Two shut-in depressives form a bond on Twitter while a deadly virus wipes out most of the population of North America. The stories in Erase and Rewind probe the complexities of living as a woman in a skewed society.

A genealogy test sparks a woman’s reflection on the two accounts of her life--the real one and the one she’s always told the world--in this poignant short story by Cheryl Strayed, the bestselling author of Wild. In 1964, teenage Geraldine Waters was sent away by her parents to an unwed mothers’ home, where she gave up her newborn for adoption. Ever since, she’s lived an alternative narrative. Decades later, it’s time for Geraldine to reconcile the telling of her life, to finally grieve, and to discover what happened to that part of her past that slipped away.

In the middle of the night, from the depths of the woods, comes a chiming bell. The rumors surrounding the mysterious bell point fingers at a widower named Mr. Thorpe. After working a day with him, Walter Jones learns that he isn't the monster they portrayed, but he is hiding one.

Originally published in The New Haven Review, this story features a young married couple who struggle through the rough landscape of Southern Illinois in the late 1950s. They argue over the purchase of a five-dollar-a-month Sears and Roebuck kitchen table, but it ends up saving lives.

Shelby is struggling with parenthood, marriage, a passive-aggressive mother, and unemployment. But she also has a sweet escape in her beloved Hallmark movies. When a secret admirer promises to sweep her away into a world of those same romantic tropes, the temptation is so heady, Shelby can already smell the pumpkin spice. But this rom-com dream has a whiff of conspiracy....

"The whip had cut him like a knife in a dozen places...." But the friar still won't talk about church gold. Is there any chance of mercy from the horrifying leader of the tomb robbers?

Christmas is that season...that season of pleasant surprises...delicious smells...and family and friends to share the holidays with. This Christmas, Sandy Bay’s lovable bakery owner, Meghan Truman, gets a whole lot more than she bargained for...plus a dead body at the door of her favorite restaurant. Some people would rather sweep this murder under the carpet but something smells awfully fishy about the events surrounding it. Will Meghan join Detective Irvin to find the murderer or will this event serve to etch unpleasant memories of this most wonderful time of the year?

Delightful short stories for kids: "The Elephant's Bell".

Diana loves vampire romance novels, and the series she just finished, Dark Love, was the best one yet. If only she had such an exotic life! Then one morning before dawn, after her graveyard shift at the diner, a stranger appears with promises too fantastic to be true. Diana couldn’t possibly run away with a creature that should not exist.

Since he was a child, Jack’s been tormented by the Imp—a diabolical unseen presence that feeds his darkest impulses with horrifying images. To protect others from the monster’s twisted desires, Jack lives in self-imposed exile, a plan that’s worked well…until Celia. His new neighbor’s warmth and charisma break through Jack’s defensive walls, but letting her in means exposing her to the Imp.

Daniel Sykes is one of the country's most notorious serial killers. And Jacob Deaver is tasked with writing his biography. For the fledgling true-crime author, it is the opportunity of a lifetime; a guaranteed best seller. But not everyone is sold. Camille Grisham, the former FBI agent responsible for Sykes' capture, thought that the worst chapter of her life had finally been closed, until Deaver approaches her in a coffee shop with a most unwelcome proposition.

Debut collection of short stories by indie Australian author Morgan Bell. A cross-section between dreams and reality. An examination of the horrors of life, with plenty of peering, in the form of vignettes, micro fiction, flash fiction, and short stories. Themes include fear, time, aging, anxiety, and jealousy. This collection of 15 stories contains bizarre medical conditions, industrious creatures, conniving cops, killers, dead bodies, a rescue mission, homoeroticism, nonchalant students, a secret garden, and the road to hell.

Beloved author Jill McCorkle offers an intimate look at the moments when a person’s life changes forever. A woman uses her hearing impairment as a way to guard herself from her husband’s commentary. A telephone lineman strains to communicate with his family even as he feels pushed aside in a digital world. And a young couple buys a confessional booth for fun, only to discover the cost of honesty.

After the Great War forced the races of Earth to be blended into a single race, bored scientists tinkered with DNA. First they created decorative pets. Then they created decorative humans.

Here are ten short stories of murder and revenge compiled into one novella...for your listening enjoyment.