How could Chester Smith bet his wife in a poker game? And worse still, he lost! Trish was up a creek. Lost to a professional gambler, she felt doomed, until he made her a bargain. She couldn't be divorced for three years according to the law, so Gil Davis offered to take care of her if she'd be his companion for the next three years at his poker games. Sounded easy enough, but was it?

Bharati Mukherjee's work illuminates a new world of people in migration that has transformed the meaning of "America." Now in a Grove paperback edition, The Middleman and Other Stories is a dazzling display of the vision of this important modern writer. An aristocratic Filipina negotiates a new life for herself with an Atlanta investment banker. A Vietnam vet returns to Florida, a place now more foreign than the Asia of his war experience. And in the title story, an Iraqi Jew whose travels have ended in Queens suddenly finds himself an unwitting guerrilla in a South American jungle. Passionate, comic, violent, and tender, these stories draw us into the center of a cultural fusion in the midst of its birth pangs, yet glowing with the energy and exuberance of a society remaking itself.

The stakes are high, the game is on. In this sequel to Justine Elyot's bestselling 'On Demand', Sophie discovers a whole new world of daring sexual exploits. A dark, sensual romance for anyone lusting after more than 'Fifty Shades of Grey'. Sophie's sexual tastes have always been a bit on the wild side – something her boyfriend Lloyd has always loved about her. But Sophie gives Lloyd every part of her body except her heart. To win all of her, Lloyd challenges Sophie to live out her secret fantasies. As the game intensifies, she experiments with all kinds of kinks and fetishes in a bid to understand what she really wants. But Lloyd feature in her final decision? Or will the ultimate risk he takes drive her away from him?

After entering a house where a commotion has been overheard, two community police officers make a horrific discovery. Detective Inspector Olivia Hardy and Detective Sergeant Lauren Groves are dispatched to investigate, triggering a major investigation which ends up with Hardy being usurped as Senior Investigating Officer. It's yet another problem for Hardy, as she already suspects that husband Hal is having an affair. Meanwhile, as Groves descends into alcoholism after her husband's desertion, both officers' lives seem to be spiralling out of control. When a baby's body is found at the back of the police station, Hardy takes the unpleasant case, determined to succeed and show the world she's still capable – but things don't turn out exactly as planned... The second in the Fine Line series of gritty detective novels by acclaimed author Andrea Frazer.

Likoma Island in Lake Malawi is renowned throughout Africa for its exotic and treacherous beauty - and its secret history of human sacrifice, hidden treasure and unspeakable horror. A history that cannot be hidden forever. Lana Devereaux travels to Malawi seeking the truth behind her fathers disappearance near Likoma Island fifteen years ago. But Lana soon finds herself caught in a web of deciet, passion andack magic that stretches back over two hundred years and has ramifications that reach well beyond the shores of Lake Malawi.

Forces of cosmic justice grant certain murder victims the gift of reincarnation to avenge themselves, but at a terrible cost.This tale comes from Stories from the Plague Years, the debut short fiction collection of International Horror Guild Award- and Bram Stoker Award-winner Michael Marano.ChiZine Publications (CZP) curates the best of the bizarre, bringing you the most excitingly weird, subtle, dark, and disturbing literary fiction. Look for more titles in the ChiZine short stories collection to build your digital library.