In these nine delightfully funny stories, readers will discover how the Moomin family spend their first Christmas out of hibernation, how they save young Ninny from permanent invisibility, and what happens when Moomintroll catches the last dragon in the world.

Ben loves Cath. Ben's psychiatrist is a nosy meddler. Ben's psychiatrist has got to die.Cath doesn't know Ben's real name. She doesn't know what he's done. She certainly doesn't know about his precise control over every one of the providential coincidences that make their relationship so special. Ben's psychiatrist does know, and as it happens, Ben's psychiatrist is Cath's Psychiatrist too. Ben has decided - the man has hypnotized his last patient."Snap" is a horror story with crime and psychological elements. It runs the gamut from bizarre romance to murder procedural to Edgar Allen Poe.

A collection of short stories for kids featuring elves, gnomes, fairies, leprechauns, dinosaurs, superheroes, and other supernatural themes. These are fantasy tales grounded in reality.This is a collection of six short stories for children. The stories contain ghosts, a creepy old house, dinosaurs, superheroes, elves, fairies, a gnome, and a leprechaun but at it's heart, they are about the child protagonists and the lessons they learn or the changes they bring out. The stories are about the children and what they learn and the change that they can inspire..

How might the Olympian Gods we know from reading change if we were to allow our imaginations to see their true ages? Time changes all people — even gods — and when their day-to-day mischievous lives no longer play a role in human affairs, what then do they become? New York sculptor Minus Orth has an idea. He'll explain this all, and give our imaginations the figures to uphold."I want to read this book. I must read this book." — Amazon Breakthrough Novel AwardMinus Orth's "eccentricities ... make him the iconoclast he is intended to be."— Publishers WeeklyNoted author Mark Beyer, along with Siren & Muse Publishing, bring you a story about obsession, identity, and art. How might the Olympian Gods change if we were to allow our imaginations to see their true ages? Time changes all people — even gods — and when their day-to-day mischievous lives no longer play a role in human affairs, what then do they become? The image of shriveled skin is too apt to ignore. And, above all, what do we associate with the aging of these gods within the condition of our modern times?Minus Orth has an idea which can explain this, and give our imaginations the figures to uphold. He is sculpting the mighty figures of myth — and the not-so-mighty — in an art cycle he has titled "Mythical Gods in Their Twilight" without the least irony. And his creations have not come without a price.Noted author Mark Beyer, along with Siren & Muse Publishing, bring you a story about obsession, identity, and art.Minus Orth walks dogs for a living and sculpts for his life. He has a girlfriend, Belinda, who’s itching to get married. His friend, Peter N, has reaped artistic success that’s both inspirational and a thorn. He plays poker with a quartet of exiled aristocrats. And at Minus’s art co-op, the residents live on the fringe of society. One day Minus crosses paths with Karen Kosek, best remembered as a culture critic of the 1960s. Karen dropped out of sight years ago. Now she dresses as a bag lady — ragged clothes, a garbage smell, and bulging plastic bags she carries as if they hold the secrets to the good life. Minus orchestrates a tenuous relationship with Karen, and discovers in her a woman who has not been trampled underfoot, but is burrowed deeper in society’s crust than anyone could imagine.Thus begins an odyssey in which Minus becomes obsessed with Karen’s past and present, obsessed with creating his sculpture cycle, and with the role artists play in society’s split personality. “Do you have what it takes to make something beautiful?” is a question that comes to the minds of many characters in this story. Their answers are hilarious, confused, self-delusional, virtuous, or simply truthful, because the people who create beauty are different from those who value beauty, and far afield from the powers able to help it flourish … or destroy it.

An NYRB Classics Original Tove Jansson was a master of brevity, unfolding worlds at a touch. Her art flourished in small settings, as can be seen in her bestselling novel The Summer Book and in her internationally celebrated cartoon strips and books about the Moomins. It is only natural, then, that throughout her life she turned again and again to the short story. The Woman Who Borrowed Memories is the first extensive selection of Jansson’s stories to appear in English. Many of the stories collected here are pure Jansson, touching on island solitude and the dangerous pull of the artistic impulse: in “The Squirrel” the equanimity of the only inhabitant of a remote island is thrown by a visitor, in “The Summer Child” an unlovable boy is marooned along with his lively host family, in “The Cartoonist” an artist takes over a comic strip that has run for decades, and in “The Doll’s House” a man’s hobby threatens to overwhelm his life. Others explore unexpected territory: “Shopping” has a post-apocalyptic setting, “The Locomotive” centers on a railway-obsessed loner with murderous fantasies, and “The Woman Who Borrowed Memories” presents a case of disturbing transference. Unsentimental, yet always humane, Jansson’s stories complement and enlarge our understanding of a singular figure in world literature.

Yael Navas unravels the mystery of the suicide who didn't really kill himself.Yael Navas in a tale of rope, suicide, and betrayal.

Little Girl Lost! When E’steem finds Melissa, a lost little girl wandering around Times Square, she runs afoul of Brimstone Jack, a demon pimp out to get a payday at the child’s expense. Can the Devilish Diva beat back Jack and his exotic army of demon dancers and help the lost little girl get back home?Adar Rahid has only been a general for two months, but his problems are already multiplying. He has his hands full with a father who wants to kill him and Helam Morgol, another general who is secretly laying plans to take over the Rarbon city government. When Adar interrupts a brutal attack he is quick to accuse Helam of being the orchestrator, but reconsiders after a confrontation with Helam leaves him wondering if Helam is just as much of a pawn as he. While events unfold Adar Rahid struggles to find a distinction between his methods and those employed by Helam Morgol as both take drastic actions to gain the upper hand. Readers are taken on an adventure between dueling generals in this tale of epic fantasy and science fiction. This action packed story is based in the War of the Fathers universe and happens twenty three years before the events in War of the Fathers. This is the second of four parts.

Romulans. They define treachery in the extreme, practicing suspicion to the highest degree. They don’t trust the Federation especially Humans. And Humans reciprocate. A Romulan and a Human are thrust together in the turmoil of Romulan politics. War between the Empire and the Federation nears. Trust between the Human and the Romulan will be all they have to stop war and escape retribution.Romulans. A race that defines treachery in the extreme, they practice suspicion to the highest degree. They trust no one. Not even each other. In particular, they don’t trust the Federation especially the Humans. Like the other species comprising the Federation, Humans return the favor. Trusting Romulans leads to disaster. A Human female and a Romulan female are thrust together into a turmoil that is leading the Romulan Empire and the Federation into war. They must find a way to avoid such a catastrophe. And, they must try to understand the relationship they find themselves in. The forces seeking to impale their heads onto sharp pointed sticks are relentless. Trust in each other will be all the two females have.This story is set in the universe that is Star Trek The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. This part of the Universe though is not bounded by the principles of StarFleet nor even the rules of Romulus.This is The DrearGyre.

A young girl has survived the concentration camps of the horrible Vacont, and now she has to find some way to adapt to what most people consider normal life. A story about getting over the pain that life gives us, friendship and most importantly, hope.Written by 16 year old Aura Redwood for an English project that ended up being a lot longer than it needed to be.Four decades had passed since the last Relic war ravished the oppositional lands of Windpass Isles and Gaedia – a war that ceased in a bloodied truce.Drewth is a Light Elemental and Commander knight under Western Gaedia’s lordship, Syndirin - a high wizard and the king’s Arbiter. Syndirin, with questionable and unclear motive, promotes Drewth as his apprentice, and commences the personal training of Drewth in the ways of magic. Drewth then becomes the unwitting subject of Syndirin’s experimental meddle with the mythical powers of Darkened Light, despite the danger, and despite what sacrifice.Torius, a castle knight in Southern Windpass Isles kingdom and Mundane-born, is taken captive by a conspiratorial clique under Lord Syndirin, where he discovers from these captors their insidious campaign to rekindle the long dead Relic war, in pursuit of Relic’s power.Enflamed by an unforgivable betrayal of Syndirin, vengeance transforms Drewth forever within – his Element undergoes a rare alteration, he turns renegade to Gaedia, and allies with Torius, the escaped prisoner of Syndirin’s clique. Together they battle for their lives out from the now enemy territory of Gaedia.They find themselves fatefully party to a band of peasant prisoners with rare abilities invoked from the trials they face in their likewise escape from the treasonous Arbiter, Syndirin.And if odds turn to favor in their fight for survival, there is still threat to hand of a devastating magic war, a campaign in itself to acquire both kingdom’s all-powerful Relics in the wake of their mutual destruction.

Two smashed bodies are found at the foot of an elementary school. Bill McCoy is called of his current case, another murder, to investigate. He doesn’t know why - until he sees the bodies. One of them isn’t exactly human.Two smashed bodies are found at the foot of an elementary school. Bill McCoy is called of his current case, another murder, to investigate. He doesn’t know why - until he sees the bodies. One of them isn’t exactly human.“The Six Story Fault” is a solvable science fiction mystery set in a deeply detailed world. It is written in the vein of an Asimov robot story, and inspired by Alan Moore’s Watchmen.

Planet X91 the beginning is a sci-fi adventure series. Onboard shuttle number one in hyper sleep are Clay Silver 16, Florian Fawkes 15 Josh Quinn 12. They wake five minutes before they crash. The three have to be a team to survive. What dangers will they discover? Will they be rescued? One bad mistake and the newest human colony of three will be extinct. Two questions remain. Who did it and why?Clay, Florian and Josh make a pact to vote on everything they do. To guarantee Florian survives, her safety is put first. Every move they make has to be planned. The building they landed near turns out to be a spaceship. Reading the ledger on what species of animals were on board the craft the trio uncovers the secret of what had been in the cages. For twenty years the animals have roamed free. Now they are hungry for human blood. Abandoned and alone the three young adults have to fight to survive.

A short story. In a post-apocalyptic world survivors take shelter for the night in a shack while trying to care for one of their members who is sick.A series of short interconnected tales set in the Ark Project Universe.Several hundred years in the future and humanity has reached the stars. Great fleets are sent out to look for intelligent alien life, little do they know that first contact will come from a most unlikely place.What should have been a momentous and great occasion instead turns into something that leads humanity down a dark and dangerous path. There are some who refuse to follow this new path and plan in one form or other to rebel. However, these plans prove futile in the face of a truly alien and deadly foe that threatens everyone. A Novelette of 14,800 words, this is a future science fiction story.This is the first book in The Ark Project Trilogy. The complete Ark Project Trilogy is also available as a complete set.

Legendary blue diamond is set in Australia mid 1800’s when bushrangers and the gold rush were active. Jessica Hayes steals her blue diamond from under the nose of her husband’s murderer. Bushrangers steal the diamond from her. She sets out to get it back and enlists the help of an aborigine man, Lightening Dawn. They fall in love. The bushrangers want the diamond back and threaten their lives.Some say the legendary blue diamond commenced in Australia in 1850 when a man who had skin, the colour of the night sky and a woman who had skin the colour of the sun were united as one. Jessica Hayes was robbed. Her blue diamond ring was stolen from her finger and she sets out to get it back. Lightening Dawn is an aboriginal black tracker. Together they set out to get it back. Soon they come face to face with the bushranger. He warns Jessica he’ll stop at nothing to take back what she stole including her death. On the trail of the blue diamond Jessica and Lightening Dawn fall in love. Will love triumph?

A loller is a shirker, a slacker, a goof-off, an idler, a goldbrick, a dirtball, a ne’er-do-well—all of which define Claude Amognes’s behavior quite nicely. So he’s a good-time Charlie who smokes and drinks too much and does as little work as necessary; but while all these things are true, he’s also a delightful Falstaffian character. He's what makes reading this book such rollickingloll v. lolled, lolling, lolls—intr. 1. To move, stand, or recline in an indolent or relaxed manner. 2. To hang or droop laxly. loller n. That’s the dictionary definition. A loller is a shirker, a slacker, a goof-off, an idler, a goldbrick, a dirtball, a ne’er-do-well—all of which define Claude Amognes’s behavior quite nicely. He’s lazy and selfish; he gets into trouble taking short-cuts at work at the power company while depending on the union to bail him out; having got his job only because his father was the union president, he is never in danger of working himself to death—in fact, taking advantage of the sick-leave policy his father negotiated years ago, he has no difficulty in using the slightest indisposition to generate a week or two of sick leave where he can recover by fishing and boozing. So he’s a good-time Charlie who smokes and drinks too much and does as little work as necessary; but while all these things are true, he’s also a delightful character and fully human. He loves his daughter Jamie and in his own way also loves his long-suffering wife Joan. He alone makes reading this novel wonderful, rollicking fun. Years ago when he began his career with the electric company as a meter-reader, he’d been attacked by fleas in a basement and had to flee for his life, swatting and scratching up a storm. That incident had earned him the nickname “Bugsy” with his union brothers. Later after a scheme to get full disability and a comfortable annuity fell through when Mr. Schulke, his boss, had video proof he was faking his headaches, this traumatic attack of fleas comes in handy. Delightful in a Falstaffian way as Claude is, he is surrounded by dozens of other fully realized characters who add breadth and depth to this wonderful novel. At one point we even get the point of view of a trout! In short, The Jig of the Union Loller is a page-turner. It offers quite a picture of work in America along with much wit and wisdom about human behavior and the human condition.

"The precariousness of travel is revealed in this unnerving new collection of stories." Introduced by Ali Smith
 Translated for the first time from the Swedish by Silvester Mazzarella Translated into English for the first time, Travelling Light takes us into new Tove Jansson territory. A professor arrives in a beautiful Spanish village only to find that her host has left and she must cope with fractious neighbours alone; a holiday on a Finnish Island is thrown into disarray by an oddly intrusive child; an artist returns from abroad to discover that her past has been eerily usurped. With the deceptively light prose that is her hallmark, Tove Jansson reveals to us the precariousness of a journey - the unease we feel at being placed outside of our millieu, the restlessness and shadows that intrude upon a summer.