Showing results by publisher "Brilliance Audio" in Short Stories

Oksana Zabuzhko, Ukraine's leading public intellectual, is called upon to make sense of the unthinkable reality of our times. In this breathtaking short story collection, she turns the concept of truth over in her hands like a beautifully crafted pair of gloves. From the triumph of the Orange Revolution, which marked the start of the twenty-first century, to domestic victories in matchmaking, sibling rivalry, and even tennis, Zabuzhko - manages to shock the listener by juxtaposing things as they are.

For Larison, a man off the grid and on the run, the sleepy northern California town of Arcata, gateway to the state's fabled Lost Coast, seems like a perfect place to disappear for a while. But Arcata isn't nearly as sleepy as it seems, and when three locals decide Larison would make a perfect target for their twisted sport, Larison exacts a lifetime of vengeance in one explosive evening.

From Daniel Mallory Ortberg comes a collection of darkly mischievous stories based on classic fairy tales. Adapted from his beloved Children's Stories Made Horrific series, The Merry Spinster takes up the trademark wit that endeared Ortberg to listeners of both The Toast and his best-selling debut Texts from Jane Eyre. Sinister and inviting, familiar and alien all at the same time, The Merry Spinster updates traditional children's stories and fairy tales with elements of psychological horror, emotional clarity, and a keen sense of feminist mischief.

On the surface, Amelia Vernet appears to be the great detective's quiet sixteen-year-old cousin. But her innocent exterior conceals an important fact: Amelia is a member of the Fangborn, a secret family of werewolves, vampires, and oracles sworn to protect Ordinary humans, and she uses her Fangborn werewolf gifts to help Holmes solve the curious cases that cross the doorstep of 221B Baker Street.

Amora dares explore the way women love each other - the atrophy and healing of the female spirit in response to sexual desire and identity. These thirty-three short stories and poems, crafted with a deliberate delicacy, each capture the candid, private moments of women in love. Together, these stories and the women who inhabit them reveal an illuminating portrait of the sacred female romance, with all its nuances, complexities, burdens, and triumphs revealed.

To protect humans from evil yet remain undetected, the Fangborn follow strict rules - but werewolf Jack Parker just keeps breaking them. Failing to disclose his relationship with a Normal could cost him his powers, yet there's something irresistible about waitress Emily Vargas. For one thing, she seems to have no past - at least not one she'll talk about. Jack has kept his affair from the Family but not from his partner, Sully. Lucky for Jack, Sully has more important things to do than report him - like the duo's strange new assignment.

June 16, 1692. Relic dealer Georg Ayndorfer is found slain in the Chapel of St. Quirinus of Tegernsee. Was it the holy rage of St. Quirinus himself, or was Ayndorfer murdered by jealous colleagues? Georg Asam, a famous artist commissioned to paint a fresco in the chapel, feels compelled to investigate.

The third Bride novel is a charm - from the #1 New York Times bestselling author. Sinjun Sherbrooke is bored with the London season, until she spies Colin Kinross across a crowded dance floor - and offers to be his bride...

When the villagers of Godestone report a series of bizarre and troubling events, Sir Hugo, his heavily pregnant wife, Lady Alice, and her distant kinsman Father Gilbert are honor bound to investigate, for they are “born to the Fang,” shape-shifters dedicated to fighting evil in secret. And the events are worrying indeed - stolen farm implements, a mutilated goat, and now a missing child. Their investigation is further complicated by the arrival of Robert Fynch, who was drawn to the scene by the tales of mysterious happenings in the village.

Okano, a convenience store employee with a troubled past, is but one of the many unforgettable characters found in this collection of four stories. Among the others are three boys facing a frightening lesson in mortality, a woman using garbage to fill a hole in her heart, and a nurse struggling to cope with the oft-brutal cycle of birth, life, and death. Remaining constant even as it fades in and out of view is the great Mount Fuji, one of Japan’s Three Holy Mountains. It serves as the anchor for these characters’ lives, and for Randy Taguchi’s Fujisan, an exploration of redemption, discovery, loss, and remembrance.

For as long as she can remember, beautiful Laurel deCourtney has loved Matthew Hughes and has always assumed the handsome landowner and consummate gentleman loves her in turn. But with her coming out now three years behind her, Laurel is starting to get a little anxious. Why hasn't Matthew proposed? What is he waiting for?

Dale Peck’s debut is a tour de force in which Martin and John find each other again and again: in a trailer park, a high-end jewelry store, a Kansas barn, and later, in New York City, living under the shadow of the AIDS epidemic. Though their names remain the same, their identities are constantly shifting, creating a fractured view of loss and desire in the early years of the AIDS crisis. Vaulting through self and history, Martin and John is one of the most remarkable novels to emerge from an America ravaged by disease.

The 1925 New York edition of Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time trails readers through the years before, during, and after World War I. The collection’s first two stories, “Indian Camp” and “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife,” introduce Hemingway’s semiautobiographical character Nick Adams as a child. In total, seven stories portray the young man’s coming of age. All fourteen, including interspersed vignettes, embody the themes that Hemingway would return to throughout his career: alienation, grief, loss, and separation, as well as the regenerative powers of nature.

Lawyer David Hamill is ready to start over. Fresh off of a divorce, he plans to recharge in Lake Tahoe on his way to his new job at a prestigious law firm in San Francisco. When David’s new sports car—an indulgence he barely could afford but couldn’t resist—runs dangerously low on gas on his late-night road trip, the sign for the truck route offers hope for a place to fill up. Then his car loses speed and power on the winding isolated highway, leaving David stranded with few options in high desert country.

"The Big Guys" - Flash fiction, winner of the Derringer Award. "A Fistful of Cozy" - A satire of the mystery cozy genre. "Cleansing" - An ancient crime of biblical proportions. "Lying Eyes" - Solve it yourself, given the clues."Perfect Plan" - Another solve it yourself. Don't you remember One Minute Mysteries and Encyclopedia Brown? "Piece of Cake" - Another solve it yourself, originally featured in Woman's World.

Stephanie Bloomfield returns home to Orchard Valley, Oregon, when her father, David, suffers a heart attack. She and her two sisters, Valerie and Norah, are gathering at his side, praying he’ll live, fearing he’ll die.

Live and work together, or lose everything that matters…The ultimatum tilts Dru Hampton’s contented life in Chandlerville, Georgia, on its ear. The man that Vivian, her cantankerous boss and benefactor, wants Dru to partner with -live- with - is Brad Douglas, who’s let Dru down every way a man can. Sheriff’s deputy Brad has come a long way since his rebellious youth. He’s back home to care for Vivian, his ill grandmother. He’s stayed out of her way all these years to make up for the hurt he once caused.

When his deep space mission goes awry, Lieutenant Jehrico Stiles crash-lands on an unknown planet. With breathable air, drinkable water, and a friendly native species, the planet seems almost utopian. The only trouble is, Stiles is starving. The planet’s vegetation is toxic, and there’s nothing else to eat. As his hunger grows and his body weakens, his definition of edible starts to change. He discovers that sometimes survival means doing things you would rather not—and eating things that would rather not be eaten.

Eleven-year-old gumshoe Simon Sez may operate out of a tree house, but this pint-sized shamus is as tough as long division and meaner than an older sister. After Simon's heart is broken by the most beautiful dame on the playground, rich kid Bunky Matthews shows up at his HQ begging for help retrieving two hundred stolen snickerdoodles. Simon figures a new case might be just the ticket to get his mind off his troubles.

Annabelle Thompson has worked hard to escape the shadow of her mother's checkered past. But just as Annie's finally realizing her dream of opening a restaurant, the one man who could pull her off course comes back into town: Luke Jacobs, scion of Sweet Hill's most prominent family.