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  PU-239 and Other Russian Fantasies

  Ken Kalfus

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  The acclaimed short story and novella collection by “a virtuoso of the dismal comedy of Soviet life”—and the basis for the HBO film PU-239 (The New York Times). 
   
  Ken Kalfus traverses a century of Russian history in tales that range from hair-raising to comic to fabulous. The astonishing title story follows a doomed nuclear power plant worker as he attempts to hawk plutonium in Moscow’s black market. In “Budyonnovsk,” a young man hopes that the takeover of his town by Chechen rebels will somehow save his marriage. 
   
  Set in the 1920s, “Birobidzhan” is the bittersweet story of a Jewish couple journeying to the Soviet Far East, where they intend to establish the modern world’s first Jewish state. The novella, “Peredelkino,” which closes the book, traces the fortunes of a 1960s literary apparatchik whose romantic intrigues inadvertently become political. In these and other stories, Kalfus captures the famously enigmatic Russian psyche. 
   
  A PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist

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  The Purple Swamp Hen and Other...

  Penelope Lively

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  A glimmering collection of new short fiction from the Booker Prize winner and national bestselling author of How It All Began  
  In such acclaimed novels as The Photograph, Family Album, and How It All Began, Penelope Lively has captivated readers with her singular blend of wisdom, elegance, and humor. Now, in her first story collection in decades, Lively takes up themes of history, family, and relationships across varied and vividly rendered settings.  
  In the title story, a Mediterranean purple swamp hen chronicles the secrets and scandals of Quintus Pompeius's villa, culminating with his narrow escape from the lava and ash of Vesuvius. "Abroad" captures the low point of an artist couple's tumultuous European road trip, trapped in a remote Spanish farmhouse and forced to paint a family mural and pitch in with chores to pay for repairs to their broken-down car. Other stories reveal friends and lovers in fateful moments of indiscretion, discovery, and even retribution - as in "The Third Wife," when a woman learns her husband to be a serial con artist and turns a house hunting trip into an elaborately staged revenge trap.  
  Each of these delightful stories is elevated by Lively's signature graceful prose and eye for the subtle yet powerfully evocative detail. Wry, charming, and keenly insightful, The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories is a masterful achievement from one of our most beloved writers.

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  The Black Cat

  William J. Wintle

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  William James Wintle (1861-1920) was a Welsh writer who established himself as an author before becoming an Oblate for the Abbey of Caldey Island in Wales. It was there that he wrote a series of horror stories for the enjoyment of eight boys who attended the abbey.Wintle noted that the stories were originally told on Sunday nights while "crouching over a wood fire on a wind-swept island off the Western shore".'The Black Cat' tells the story of a man who hates cats and finds himself haunted by a mysterious spectral black cat which gradually becomes more powerful and threatening. Before long he realizes that the cat aims to kill him and in an exceptionally horrific fashion....

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  The Problem of the Five Marks

  Melville Davisson Post

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  Melville Davisson Post (1869-1930) was an American author best known for his detective stories.The Problem of the Five Marks tells the tale of a young American who arrives in Paris with secret instructions from his father for the head of the Paris Police. All he knows is that it pertains to the recent death of his Great Aunt.The senior detective whisks him off to Belgium, where he meets a mysterious and beautiful young woman with a dog-cart and her paralysed father, who are not the poor peasants they appear to be. Before he knows it, he is on the trail of the mysterious 'Five Marks' which will lead to a fabulous treasure.

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  Classic Short Stories - Volume...

  H. P. Lovecraft, Ford Maddox,...

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  Stories are one of mankind’s greatest artistic achievements.  Whether written down or spoken they have an ability to capture our imagination and thoughts, and take us on incredible journeys in the space of a phrase and the turn of a page. 
   
  Within a few words of text or speech, new worlds and characters form, propelling a narrative to a conclusion with intricate ease. Finely crafted, perfectly formed these Miniature Masterpieces, at first thought, seem remarkably easy to conjure up. But ask any writer and they will tell you that distilling the essence of narrative and characters into a short story is one of the hardest acts of their literary craft.  Many attempt, but few achieve.

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  Spirit of Christmas The (version 2)

  Henry Van Dyke

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  A collection of short Christmas works by the author of The Story of the Fourth Wise Man (Summary by D. Leeson).

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