Showing results for "The Story of a Mother" in Science Fiction & Fantasy

Life is hard enough for a teenage girl in 1950s suburbia without having a mother who may—or may not—be a witch. A single mother at that. Sure, she fits in with her starched dresses, string of pearls, and floral aprons. Then there are the hushed and mystical consultations with neighborhood women in distress. The unsavory, mysterious plants in the flower beds. The divined warning to steer clear of a boyfriend whose fate is certainly doomed.

In The Story of a Mother, a mother, watching over her sick child, briefly closes her eyes, and Death comes. Rushing outside to pursue Death, she encounters various spirits who offer conditional advice. When she finally finds her child, Death offers her a terrible choice. First published in 1847, this story has been adapted for film several times.

A child is gravely ill and his mother has already spent three nights at his bedside. Then, a strange man knocks on the door and she bids him enter to shelter from the cold. But, it was death himself at the door and he made the most of the mother falling asleep to steal her son. So, she decided to go after him. - Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a Danish author, poet and artist.

Join Joanne Harris on a beautiful journey through her gloriously reimagined take on traditional British folktales. Drawing inspiration from The Child Ballads, this collection brings together her award-winning novellas A Pocketful of Crows, The Blue Salt Road and Orfeia. Published in one beautiful volume for the first time, this collection also includes a brand new introduction by Joanne Harris, and three original short stories.

Jendara is a woman of many roles: trader, pirate, islander - and mother. Having left behind her life of piracy, Jendara and her young son, Kran, are back in her native Ironbound Archipelago, looking to make an honest living as seaborne traders. But when Kran goes missing and the threat of a goblin attack looms, Jendara has no choice but to take up her ax once more if she wants to save her new friends - and her son.

Thornton W. Burgess was a bird-watching, berry-picking student of nature, who took up writing children's stores including those collected in "Old Mother West Wind 'Where' Stories" (1918). He writes about talking animals, but his characters remain true to their real-life counterparts. Each story explains how Old Mother Nature gives special attention to each creature's needs -- where Grandfather Frog got his big mouth, for example, and where Mr. Quack the duck got his webbed feet.

Four-year-old White Heron begins her journey as a master shaman when she arrives in Teotihuacan with her sister Quilla and Mama Couen. Her fledgling skills prove the only defense against a priest of the Lord of Darkness in The Mother Serpent's Daughter, a short story prequel to the historical fantasy novel, Zero Time.

"Mother Urban's Booke of Dayes" originally appeared in Dark Faith, published by Apex Publications. The late Jay Lake was the author of 10 novels and more than 300 published stories. In 2004 he won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Over his long career he was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and many other awards.

After an argument over who does more work on a daily basis, Father Time and Mother Nature exchange responsibilities for a 24-hour period. Chaos ensues...

Not Your Mother's Goose proves that fairy tales and nursery rhymes aren't just for kids anymore. Envision it as the Cliffs Notes of children's stories - if Cliffs Notes was overtaken by Dave Barry or the folks at The Onion. Not Your Mother's Goose is a series of totally irreverent, mega-sarcastic fairy-tale recaps, along with a host of hilarious fake news stories and headlines ranging from Rapunzel getting a bikini wax to Old McDonald bombing on Wheel of Fortune after only buying vowels.

Earth lies abandoned. When the Makers left for the stars, civilization descended into ruin. Asp, one of the last remaining sentient cities, fights against the ravages of time, but his resources are dwindling. When at last he swallows his pride and seeks the help of the primitive peoples that remain, he learns the true meaning of courage.

Marriage counselor Nancy Werlock didn't want to take over the family business. Unfortunately for her, fate and a bunch of conniving but well-meaning spirits, have other plans. Now Nancy finds herself fumbling through exorcisms and training a sexy new apprentice. Because for Werlock women, the family business is demonology. And at the Three Wishes Boutique, the customer may not always be right, but he may very well be possessed.

Mary is a gas-station attendant with an epileptic son who can barely make ends meet, when she makes them meet at all. She has dreams of a forbidden love but can’t focus on those dreams when she can’t even buy her son’s medicine. She has a real knack for staying calm under pressure and steadfastly does what she needs to, in order to keep food on their table and a roof over their heads.

Mothers and daughters tend to be pretty close. They tend to share almost everything - but what happens when they end up sharing everything? Is it so bad that a mother and daughter are having sex with the same men? Is it bad that the daughter was taught everything she knew about sex by her nymphomaniac mother? Enjoy the unraveling of this convoluted plot as the author switches lanes.