Short Stories & Anthologies Ebooks
Sometimes the best reading is short and sweet. Sometimes called flash fiction, short stories are bite-sized treats that pack a punch with powerful language, characters, and plots. Short stories and anthology ebooks gather the best of aficionados in the craft like Alice Munro, George Saunders, Raymond Carver, and more. Immerse yourself in the concise art of short fiction.
Sometimes the best reading is short and sweet. Sometimes called flash fiction, short stories are bite-sized treats that pack a punch with powerful language, characters, and plots. Short stories and anthology ebooks gather the best of aficionados in the craft like Alice Munro, George Saunders, Raymond Carver, and more. Immerse yourself in the concise art of short fiction.
Trending ebooks
Four Past Midnight Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Tales of Mystery and Imagination - Illustrated by Harry Clarke Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Her Body and Other Parties: Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Changing Planes Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (ReadOn Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5El Arte de la Guerra Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In Our Time: Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Yellow Wallpaper, The The Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (Heron Classics) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Skeleton Crew Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Selections from Fragile Things, Volume Two: 6 Short Fictions and Wonders Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ficciones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales, the New Translation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Tales of Mystery and Imagination Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Interpreter of Maladies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Cyberiad: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned: Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Girl in Hyacinth Blue Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Collected Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twelve Red Herrings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Short Stories of Mark Twain Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5100 Years of the Best American Short Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kama Sutra (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bloodchild: And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Lais of Marie de France Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
New & Noteworthy: Short Stories & Anthologies
A Ballet of Lepers: A Novel and Stories A never-before-published early novel and stories by the legendary musician, songwriter, and poet Leonard Cohen Before Leonard Cohen’s worldwide fame expanded to fourteen studio albums, Grammy awards, and late-career global tours, he yearned for literary stardom. The Canadian songwriter of iconic hits like “Hallelujah,” “Suzanne,” and “Famous Blue Raincoat” first ventured into writing in his early twenties, and in A Ballet of Lepers: A Novel and Stories, readers will discover that the magic that animated Cohen’s unforgettable body of work was present from the very beginning of his career. The pieces in this collection, written between 1956 and 1961 and including short fiction, a radio play, and a stunning early novel, offer startling insights into Cohen’s imagination and creative process. Cohen explores themes that would permeate his later work, from shame and unworthiness to sexual desire in all its sacred and profane dimensions to longing, whether for love, family, freedom, or transcendence. The titular novel, A Ballet of Lepers—one he later remarked was “probably a better novel” than his celebrated book The Favourite Game—is a haunting examination of these elements in tandem, focusing on toxic relationships and the lengths to which one will go to maintain them, while the fifteen stories, as well as the playscript, probe the inner demons of his characters, many of whom could function as stand-ins for the author himself. Cohen's work is meditative and surprising, offering playful, provocative, and penetrating glimpses into the world-weary lives of his characters, and a window into the early art of a storytelling master. A Ballet of Lepers, vivid in its detail, unsparing in its gaze, reveals the great artist and visceral genius as never seen before.
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCat Brushing A rousing and original debut story collection that probes the erotic, emotional, and intellectual lives of elder women, CAT BRUSHING will be published in the author’s 80th year. CAT BRUSHING, the provocative debut by Jane Campbell, vigorously explores the sensual worlds of thirteen older women, unearthing their passions, libidinal appetites, integrity, and sense of self as they fight against prevalent misconceptions and stereotypes of the aging. Written in spikey, incisive prose, this alluring cast of characters overcomes the notion that elder women’s behavior must be in some way monitored and controlled. Susan falls in love with her beautiful young caregiver Miffy, and embarks on an intense emotional relationship within the confines of her nursing home. Linda seeks out her former lover, Malik, despite having left him years ago to return to her settled marriage to Bill. Daisy, who, by a curious stroke of fate, finds herself at the funeral of her former boyfriend, Tim, relives their early life together, his betrayal of her and the anguish of that time. Martha, mourning her small dog whom she believes has been killed by the home care staff, works out how to manage a robot designed to record her behavior, and get her revenge. And the narrator of the title story, “Cat Brushing,” communes with her elegant, soft Siamese, reflecting on the sexual pleasures of her past. The timeless wisdom and dark wit of debut writer Jane Campbell inspires and challenges, shocks and comforts as she examines the inner lives of women who fight to lead the rest of their lives on their own terms.
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife Ceremony: Stories The long-awaited first short story-collection by the author of the cult sensation Convenience Store Woman, tales of weird love, heartfelt friendships, and the unsettling nature of human existence With Life Ceremony, the incomparable Sayaka Murata is back with her first collection of short stories ever to be translated into English. In Japan, Murata is particularly admired for her short stories, which are sometimes sweet, sometimes shocking, and always imbued with an otherworldly imagination and uncanniness. In these twelve stories, Murata mixes an unusual cocktail of humor and horror to portray both the loners and outcasts as well as turning the norms and traditions of society on their head to better question them. Whether the stories take place in modern-day Japan, the future, or an alternate reality is left to the reader’s interpretation, as the characters often seem strange in their normality in a frighteningly abnormal world. In “A First-Rate Material,” Nana and Naoki are happily engaged, but Naoki can’t stand the conventional use of deceased people’s bodies for clothing, accessories, and furniture, and a disagreement around this threatens to derail their perfect wedding day. “Lovers on the Breeze” is told from the perspective of a curtain in a child’s bedroom that jealously watches the young girl Naoko as she has her first kiss with a boy from her class and does its best to stop her. “Eating the City” explores the strange norms around food and foraging, while “Hatchling” closes the collection with an extraordinary depiction of the fractured personality of someone who tries too hard to fit in. In these strange and wonderful stories of family and friendship, sex and intimacy, belonging and individuality, Murata asks above all what it means to be a human in our world and offers answers that surprise and linger.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Buffalo Is the New Buffalo “Education is the new buffalo” is a metaphor widely used among Indigenous peoples in Canada to signify the importance of education to their survival and ability to support themselves, as once Plains nations supported themselves as buffalo peoples. The assumption is that many of the pre-Contact ways of living are forever gone, so adaptation is necessary. But Chelsea Vowel asks, “Instead of accepting that the buffalo, and our ancestral ways, will never come back, what if we simply ensure that they do?” Inspired by classic and contemporary speculative fiction, Buffalo Is the New Buffalo explores science fiction tropes through a Métis lens: a Two-Spirit rougarou (shapeshifter) in the nineteenth century tries to solve a murder in her community and joins the nêhiyaw-pwat (Iron Confederacy) in order to successfully stop Canadian colonial expansion into the West. A Métis man is gored by a radioactive bison, gaining super strength, but losing the ability to be remembered by anyone not related to him by blood. Nanites babble to babies in Cree, virtual reality teaches transformation, foxes take human form and wreak havoc on hearts, buffalo roam free, and beings grapple with the thorny problem of healing from colonialism. Indigenous futurisms seek to discover the impact of colonization, remove its psychological baggage, and recover ancestral traditions. These eight short stories of “Métis futurism” explore Indigenous existence and resistance through the specific lens of being Métis. Expansive and eye-opening, Buffalo Is the New Buffalo rewrites our shared history in provocative and exciting ways.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Partition A thrilling new story collection from acclaimed writer Don Lee exploring Asian American identity, spanning decades and continents "Don Lee is one of those masterful storytellers who is both classic and modern, who can transport you into any setting, with any character." —The TODAY Show, recommended by author Weike Wang "The organizing conceit of all [Lee’s] fiction has remained consistent: Asian Americans are not monoliths . . . Lee narrates from a collective perspective, his stories offering a kaleidoscopic vision of all the ways it feels to be yellow." —New York Times Book Review "Nine stories feature complicated Asian American characters living insightfully depicted lives in the worlds of moviemaking, restaurants, and bedrooms." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review "Familiar joy is immediate as one reenters Lee’s signature worlds of brilliant resonance and quiet depth. In his first short story collection since his lauded Yellow debut, Lee again questions identity, unlikely relationships, and fleeting connections . . . While Lee' s devotees will joyfully relish casually dropped references to previous titles, new readers should savor plenty of first-time delight." —Booklist, STARRED review "The Partition is flat-out brilliant: a witty, kaleidoscopic tear through questions of race and identity in America today by a writer who has wrought luminous fiction from these issues for years. Don Lee's collection offers vivid, entertaining proof that ethnicity is never straightforward or easy—no matter who we are, or where we stand." —Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad Twenty-one years after the publication of his landmark debut collection Yellow, Don Lee returns to the short story form for his sixth book, The Partition. The Partition is an updated exploration of Asian American identity, this time with characters who are presumptive model minorities in the arts, academia, and media. Spanning decades, these nine novelistic stories traverse an array of cities, from Tokyo to Boston, Honolulu to El Paso, touching upon transient encounters in local bars, restaurants, and hotels. Culminating in a three-story cycle about a Hollywood actor, The Partition incisively examines heartbreak, identity, family, and relationships—the characters searching for answers to universal questions: Where do I belong? How can I find love? What defines an authentic self?
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homesickness The second book from the “exact and poetic” (New York Times) author of critical smash Young Skins, winner of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35, Homesickness is an emotionally resonant and wonderfully wry collection that follows the lives of outcasts, misfits, and malcontents from County Mayo to Canada. When Colin Barrett’s debut Young Skins published, it swept up several major literary awards, and, in both its linguistic originality and sharply drawn portraits of working-class Ireland, earned Barrett comparisons to Faulkner, Hardy, and Musil. Now, in a blistering follow up collection, Barrett brings together eight character-driven stories, each showcasing his inimitably observant eye and darkly funny style. A quiet night in a local pub is shattered by the arrival of a sword wielding fugitive; a funeral party teeters on the edge of this world and the next, as ghosts simply won’t lay in wake; a shooting sees a veteran policewoman confront the banality of her own existence; and an aspiring writer grapples with his father’s cancer diagnosis and in his despair wreaks havoc on his mentor’s life. The second piece of fiction from a “lyrical and tough and smart” (Anne Enright) voice in contemporary Irish literature, Homesickness marks Colin Barrett out as our most brilliantly original and captivating storyteller.
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFive Tuesdays in Winter "Five Tuesdays in Winter moved me, inspired me, thrilled me. It filled up every chamber of my heart. I loved this book." —Ann Patchett By the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers and Euphoria comes a masterful new collection of short stories Lily King, one of the most "brilliant" (New York Times Book Review), "wildly talented" (Chicago Tribune), and treasured authors of contemporary fiction, returns after her recent bestselling novels with Five Tuesdays in Winter, her first book of short fiction. Told in the intimate voices of complex, endearing characters, Five Tuesdays in Winter intriguingly subverts expectations as it explores desire, loss, jolting violence, and the inexorable tug toward love at all costs. A reclusive bookseller begins to feel the discomfort of love again. Two college roommates have a devastating middle-aged reunion. A proud old man rages powerlessly in his granddaughter's hospital room. A writer receives a visit from all the men who have tried to suppress her voice. Romantic, hopeful, brutally raw, and unsparingly honest, this wide-ranging collection of ten selected stories by one of our most accomplished chroniclers of the human heart is an exciting addition to Lily King's oeuvre of acclaimed fiction.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mestiza Blood A short story collection of nightmares, dreams, desire and visions centered around the Chicana experience. The stunning, star-reviewed V. Castro weaves urban legend, folklore, life experience and heartache in this intimate anthology of modern horrors. From the lauded author of The Queen of the Cicadas (which picked up starred reviews from PW, Kirkus and Booklist who called her "a dynamic and innovative voice") comes a short story collection of nightmares, dreams, desire and visions focused on the Chicana experience. V.Castro weaves urban legend, folklore, life experience and heartache in this personal journey beginning in south Texas: a bar where a devil dances the night away; a street fight in a neighborhood that may not have been a fight after all; a vengeful chola at the beginning of the apocalypse; mind swapping in the not so far future; satan who falls and finds herself in a brothel in Amsterdam; the keys to Mictlan given to a woman after she dies during a pandemic. The collection finishes with two longer tales: The Final Porn Star is a twist on the final girl trope and slasher, with a creature from Mexican folklore; and Truck Stop is an erotic horror romance with two hearts: a video store and a truck stop. FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing Independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Discover more in Short Stories & Anthologies
There’s more to discover in Short Stories & Anthologies
David Foster Wallace Ruined My Suicide: And Other Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Curse, Or the Plight of the Unseen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn The Gloaming: Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Muscle & Domme Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hermit and Other Stories: Studio Arago Review Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Outer Harbour Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Deadly Affair: Unexpected Love Stories from the Queen of Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBubbly, Bicycles and Brides Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrifles Light as Air Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond Other Worlds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew Beginnings: A Thistle Bay Short Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeasonal Work: Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Midnight Sun Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5News from the New American Diaspora: And Other Tales of Exile Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrees Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMischief: Fay Weldon Selects Her Best Short Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hills Like White Elephants Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Guests Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Woman with Horns and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Old Faithful: Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Surprising Place: Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll the News I Need: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Midwinter Sacrifice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHoly Days of Obligation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Quarter to Midnight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSmall Horrors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings2br02b Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOpium and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Songs & True Magic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEarth vs The Lava Spiders Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Of Gods and Men: 100 Stories from Ancient Greece and Rome Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbounds with Gaieties Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dreaming Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings