Short story. Erasmus stalks the halls of his lonely ancestral manor, awaiting the visit of his estranged brother, Leopold, and Leopold's new bride. But what else does the prodigal bring home with him?

Short fiction. Fame is a long, hard road. Sacrifices must be made. But when you've earned it, it seems everyone wants a piece of you.

Short fiction. "So I left him for dead, and I ran. I had no choice." The hunt has gone on for centuries. But tonight - tonight, one way or another - it ends.

Short fiction. If you could change anything about your life - anything - what would you change? And what would you sacrifice?

Short fiction. There are few enough rewards to the work. But today, Alisha will see that the mortician gets what's coming to him.

Short fiction. In all the decades they had been married, he had never cheated on her, nothing so banal. Yet his fixation on a long-departed younger model at last became more than she could stand.

Short fiction. Two orphaned children, plucked from the streets by a cruel master, escape into their art.

"I forgot to ask you where you work.""I'm a mermaid.""A ... beggin' your pardon?"She laughed, fluttering her fingers over her mouth."I'm an attraction here at the park. I dress up in a costume with a tail, and there's a big fish tank rigged so it looks as if I'm lying underwater, and people pay their dime to come look at me. I get a dollar a week and a place to live. It's not much to do, but it lets me daydream all day."***Featured as Daily Literat...

A concise and lively history of California, the most multicultural state in the nation“A masterful history.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“Faragher takes the reader on a captivating journey through myriad twists and turns of California’s multicultural history, enlivened by stories of people who rarely penetrate our traditional state chronicles.”—Carlos E. Cortés, University of California, RiversideCalifo...

"Altogether superb; a worthy memorial to the victims of two and a half centuries past."--Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewIn 1755, New England troops embarked on a "great and noble scheme" to expel 18,000 French-speaking Acadians ("the neutral French") from Nova Scotia, killing thousands, separating innumerable families, and driving many into forests where they waged a desperate guerrilla resistance. The right of neutrality; to live in peace from the imperial wars waged betwe...

"[A] fascinating account of the twisted threads of murder, ethnic violence and mob justice in 19th century Southern California." —Jill Leovy, author of Ghettoside: A History of Murder in America, in the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles is a city founded on blood. Once a small Mexican pueblo teeming with Californios, Indians, and Americans, all armed with Bowie knives and Colt revolvers, it was among the most murderous locales in the Californian fronti...

This classic book offers a lively and penetrating analysis of what the overland journey was really like for midwestern farm families in the mid-1800s. Through the subtle use of contemporary diaries, memoirs, and even folk songs, John Mack Faragher dispels the common stereotypes of male and female roles and reveals the dynamic of pioneer family relationships. This edition includes a new preface in which Faragher looks back on the social context in which he formulated his original thesis and...