Showing results by publisher "W. F. Howes Ltd" in Anthologies & Short Stories

Ralph Drayton, a disgruntled writer in search of Green Man legends in the countryside, comes across the site of a car crash on the isolated Old North Road. The young couple in the car seem unhurt, but strangely, they resist his offers to help them to the nearby village. His chance encounter soon becomes more than he bargained for.

The closing down of the steelworks meant the end of being in work - but John and his pal don't intend it to be the end. "Keep hens! That's the answer."

When an ageing rock band visit an old country house in an attempt to inspire some new material, they awaken more than their creativity in the woods surrounding the mansion. Whilst the band might not seem keen to rekindle their former rock-and-roll lifestyles, their agent, Troy, is insistent that fame is within their grasp. But is the price of success too high?

Here's a modern romantic comedy about love, loyalty, and limos from GMTV presenter Fiona Phillips. A Day to Remember is Jo's successful business, but when her right-hand man, Steve, runs away with their receptionist and the limo, Jo is left to pick up the pieces. Bookings are a mess, her home life is in chaos, and then her son accidentally damages the new neighbour's Mercedes. Far from a day to remember, it's turning into a week she'd rather forget.

In Hello Everybody, A.M. Homes shows that when you’re young, when your world is sheltered and your options for exploration limited, even a visit to a friend’s house becomes an anthropological expedition; each family, an as-yet unknown tribe. In Whose Story is it and Why is it Always on her Mind? Homes explores the nature of therapy and trauma through the generations.

The World Doesn't Require You announces the arrival of a generational talent, as Rion Amilcar Scott shatters rigid genre lines to explore larger themes of religion, violence and love - all told with sly humor and a dash of magical realism. Established by the leaders of the country's only successful slave revolt in the mid-19th century, Cross River still evokes the fierce rhythms of its founding.

A teenage girl with a taste for violence holds a burglar hostage in her house on New Year's Eve; a middle-aged couple examines the intricacies of their marriage as they prepare to throw a party; and a real estate mogul in the throes of grief buys up all the property on an island only to be accused of madness by his daughters. These stories, infused with humour and pathos, excavate brilliantly the latent desires and motivations that drive life forward.

When Maggie Taylor, a cake decorator, and Chad Robertson, a lawyer from Nashville, Tennessee, meet at a wedding in Cornwall, it's not under the best circumstances. They have both been assigned to 'the reject table' alongside a toxic collection of grumpy great-aunts and bitter divorcees. Maggie has grown used to being the reject, but when Chad helps her out of a wedding cake disaster, she begins to wonder whether the future could hold more for her....

Welcome to a London on the cusp of the 21st century. And meet Anthony, Alison and Lucy. Anthony is the disillusioned junior partner of a city insolvency firm; Alison is his PR-director wife; Lucy is the girl he has secretly been in love with for the past 17 years. This is the story of how Anthony and Lucy are brought together again and the emotional consequences for the people involved.

A small boy and his grandmother set sail for China in the mud of her backyard; a supermarket car park becomes a graveyard of strewn blueberries; migratory birds fly over a marshland ringing with the sound of wooden spoons on kitchen pots; and the breaking of a silence between two roommates leads to disquieting revelations. Eliza Robertson's delicate and startling stories tell of the adventure of the ordinary and the magic within the everyday.

Eloise Blake has been fascinated by Prospect House, the shadowy Gothic house opposite, ever since she moved to the village of Hookfield. When its new owner turns out to be crime author Ross Farrell, Eloise is determined not to be distracted by him. Love, she thinks, is only true in fairy tales. But is Ross the Prince Charming she thought didn’t exist, or is he a beast in disguise?

Rob and Karen are enjoying a relaxing and idyllic holiday by the beach of Sicily, taking in the local culture and beautiful scenery. When offered a daytrip to visit the Cathedral - an impressive cave system accessible only by sea - they happily accept. However, in the depths of the caverns, they see far more than stalactites and mineral formations. For in this cave lurks a beast that legends are made of....

Cleveland is now a city of zombies and a penal colony. Cahill, a criminal serving his sentence decides to forgo joining the surviving men in order to live on his own. At first he’s terrified of zombies, but that terror gives way to curiosity and he begins to conduct research in order to understand the creatures better.

BriannaSusannaAlana is named for the three sisters who tell the story. Brianna is the youngest, six years old; Susanna is 10; and Alana is nearly 13. When a murder is committed in the apartment block nearby, the three sisters are forced to consider their world in a new way. Each sister tells her story of the day the murder, each story weaves through her sisters, touching down on remembrances and imaginings.

In The Only Meaning of Oil-Wet Water, two old friends, Pilar and Hand, reunite in Costa Rica for a kind of loveless love affair. Pilar takes two planes from Champaign, Illinois to San José, rents a car, and meets Hand in Playa Alta on the Pacific coast because she wants to sleep with Hand and Hand wants to surf.

An affecting tale of the struggle to retain one’s humanity in the face of societal breakdown. With the population sliding toward unemployment, homelessness and desperation, one woman ekes out a living fashioning “reborns” for clients of a particular taste.

As editor of literary journal McSweeney's, Dave Eggers has been partly responsible for a rejuvenation of short fiction in the USA. At the same time, he has also developed his own unique, funny, and endlessly inventive take on the short story form. In "Quiet", Tom visits Erin - a friend and former co-worker living overseas.

What begins as innocent correspondence between a librarian in Seattle and a book shop owner in London gradually spirals out of control.

Wyoming 1880. Childhood sweethearts Rose McKinley and Will Hyde have always been destined to marry, and with their parents just as keen on the match, there is nothing to stop them. Except perhaps Cora, Rose’s younger sister. Lovesick and hung up on Will, she is sick of the happy couple. So when the handsome Mr. Galloway comes to town and turns Rose’s head, Cora sees an opportunity to get what she wants: Will.

The story of the Cumbrian witches in the small village of Bleaberry Beck is told in hushed tones and a quiet reverence that speaks of superstition and fear. Richard Henderson, Medieval Studies student at Oxford University, couldn’t be less intrigued. Picking up a ‘poppet’ from the village shop, he happily set off home with this birthday present for his little sister. But the faceless wooden doll holds the secret to a chilling curse.