Short collection of horror stories by World Fantasy Award-nominated author Simon Kurt Unsworth. What happens when the mundane, the everyday, the boring, are not what they seem? Can those things we ignore each day of our lives suddenly turn, harm us?Should we confident, or is the best way to stay safe to be uneasy?Contains 4 stories: Button, Dog, Excision and Plastic, each of which looks at a different aspect of how the humdrum can become something to be feared, From plastic...

A strait-laced waitress serves up a shock for the great date she ran out on in this heartwarming surprise baby romance by a USA Today bestseller.Waitress Darcy Penn is the smart, sensible type—flirting with the extremely cute guy in the bar just isn't her usual style. As for ending up in his hotel room? Definitely not! Sneaking out while he's in the bathroom to avoid the post-sex awkwardness? Much more like it. . . .If Darcy had stuck around, Jeff No...

In the Magic ex Libris series, Nicola Pallas is one of the most powerful magic-users in the world, able to overpower her enemies with little more than a whistle. She's also known for raising chupacabras in her barn.This 5000-word short story introduces Nicola as a young girl, new to magic and unfamiliar with her potential. A woman brings a strange creature to Nicola's father, the local veterinarian. That injured animal--Nicola's first encounter with a chupacabra--leads her into a l...

Deep in rural Wales, a farmer is struggling through lambing season when he becomes aware that his land is being stalked by a badger-baiter who brings with him the stark threat of violence. Built of the interlocking fates of these two solitary men, this is a searing story of isolation and loss, from a writer of uncommon gifts.

WINNER OF THE VICTORIAN PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARDS C.J. DENNIS PRIZE FOR POETRYSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2011 WESTERN AUSTRALIAN PREMIER'S BOOK AWARDSDisarming, warm, and always accessible, Cate Kennedy’s poems make ordinary experiences glow. Everything that suffuses her well-loved prose is here: compassion, insight, lyrical precision, and the clear, minimalist eye that reveals how life can turn on a single moment. Musing on the undercurrents and ...

A fast paced sci-fi adventure, A Game of War blends dizzying excitement with a whirlpool of emotions to keep you gripped from beginning to end. Like ‘The Hunger Games'? You'll love this.A Game of War so far:Ally flies and dad shoots. She’s got a gift for flying, always has, even before she joined the Game.The Game?A weekly contest between slaves, winner takes all, losers get to walk home, assuming they survive that i...

"Once upon a time..."All the best stories begin that way. Once upon a time, Jack climbed a beanstalk. Cinderella did go to the ball.Once upon a time, his parents died.When your parents are killed in front of you on the one day of the year when all crime is legal, what do you do?You prepare for next year. You prepare for payback...-Specially commissioned by NBC Universal for the release of the film The Purge: ...

A compilation of short horror stories by Laurie Bowler where you can find the creepiest and most gruesome happenings and monsters.Blood will be spilt, bodies will be torn apart, lives will be ruined and mostly a shiver will creep down your spine when you are reading these stories!The Sand Monster: The creature that humans ran away from seeks his revenge after disobeying his mother, and hides under the sand to capture his prey. As his hunger begins to spin out of control, he ...

A wonderfully strange yet poignant tale of accepting the truth about oneself.Magrit lives in an abandoned cemetery. She is as forgotten as the tiny graveyard that surrounds her. One night a passing stork drops a strange bundle into the graveyard. Master Puppet, her friend and advisor, tells her it is an awful, ugly, terrible thing and that she should get rid of it. But Magrit has other ideas.

With his life in complete meltdown in this world, Simon Cadwallader finds himself unexpectedly transported into an alternative reality. Hallucinogenic dream or a parallel universe? Either way, he arrives completely disorientated and with no memory of his previous life – not even his own name.As he gradually gets his bearings, it becomes apparent that our amnesiac hero is an unwitting participant in a game about which he knows nothing. Indeed, as the story unfolds, the absolutely pi...

A semi biographical account of a minor operation, along with the accompanying incompetence and exasperation that seem to skip along hand in hand whenever the National Health Service is involved.

Shock, crime, horror! Nine tough, thrilling, chilling tales - most published in leading men's magazines. Stories from 'Man', 'Man Junior', 'Pocket Man', 'Squire' and other male mags.In 'Night Flight to Amsterdam', a millionaire's life depends on stealing another man's coat.In 'The Round Metal Tomb' a con escapes jail by being welded into a 44-gal drum. It seems the perfect ploy - until he discovers where the drum will be stored!In 'So Very Lifelike' the wife of a weal...