Other books that might interest you

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  Top 10 Short Stories The -...

  Charles Dickens, Robert Louis...

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  The top 10 short stories of all time written by  British male authors. 
   
  Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. 
   
  In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?  
   
  The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  Here, in this volume are distilled the true merits of men and their words.  In literary terms the form takes many ways but crisply puts together and drives forward with narratives that reveal the width and depth of talents that justly remain household names to this day. 
  1 - The Top 10 - The British Men - An Introduction 
  2 - A Somewhat Improbable Story by G K Chesterton 
  3 - An Informer by Joseph Conrad 
  4 - The Signalman by Charles Dickens 
  5 - August Heat by W F Harvey 
  6 - The Monkeys Paw by W W Jacobs 
  7 - Lost Hearts by M R James 
  8 - The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling 
  9 - The Rocking Horse Winner by D H Lawrence 
  10 - The Interlopers  by Saki 
  11 - The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson

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  The Hair

  A. J. Alan

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  When the narrator finds a mysterious brass box in a curiosity shop, he is intrigued. It is heavy, round, and shaking it shows that it clearly contains something...but it cannot be opened. He buys the box and takes it home. With some effort, he manages to open it and discovers a plait of mysterious hair. After cleaning and examining the hair, he discards it on a piece of blank cardboard... or so he thinks. But then mysterious and sinister events begin to take place, and he discovers that the hair has terrifying powers, which he sets out to harness. Gripping and perverse!

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  Anything You Say Can and Will Be...

  Laurie Lynn Drummond

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  This riveting debut collection of short fiction about women cops comes from the author's real–life experience as a Baton Rouge police officer. In an entirely fresh and unique voice, these stories reveal the humanity, compassion, humour, tragedy and redemption hidden behind the "blue wall." Anything You Say Can and Will Be Used Against You centres on the lives of five female police officers. Each woman's story–like each call in a police officer's day–varies in its unique drama, but all the tales illuminate the tenuous line between life and death, violence and control, despair and salvation. Because the stories come from the author's own experience, they open a curtain on the truth behind the job–how officers are trained to deal with the smell of death, how violence clings to a crime scene long after the crime is committed, how the police determine when to engage in or diffuse violence, why some people make it from the academy to the force and some don't, and all the friendships, romances, and dramas that happen along the way. It illuminates not only how officers feel while they are in uniform, holding their guns, but also what they feel after they go home and put those guns aside.

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  Fickle Fortune or How Gladys...

  O. Henry

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  People all over the world enjoy the stories of a great American writer O. Henry. Irony and unpredictable plot captivate us from the first sentences. O. Henry's characters are ordinary American people, always described with humor. Here is a short story from the Rolling Stones (1912). Young and ambitious lawyer attempted to ask a lady from the honorable family for a marriage. She refuses because he is poor. But he  promises that after 15 years he'll return and marry her. Meanwhile another man tries to win her heart. Though money is the only thing that matters for this lady, that's why she easily changes her mind when it comes to choosing the future husband.A SmartTouch Media production.

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  At-Risk - Stories

  Amina Gautier

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  “Gautier writes with exhilarating insight and confidence about the lives of teenagers . . . at risk from themselves, their families and their friends.”—Margot Livesey, New York Times bestselling author   In Amina Gautier’s Brooklyn, some kids make it and some kids don’t, but not in simple ways or for stereotypical reasons. Gautier’s stories explore the lives of young African Americans who might all be classified as “at-risk,” yet who encounter different opportunities and dangers in their particular neighborhoods and schools and who see life through the lens of different family experiences.   Gautier’s focus is on quiet daily moments, even in extraordinary lives; her characters do not stand as emblems of a subculture but live and breathe as people. In “The Ease of Living,” the young teen Jason is sent down south to spend the summer with his grandfather after witnessing the double murder of his two best friends, and he is not happy about it. In “Pan Is Dead,” two half-siblings watch as the heroin-addicted father of the older one works his way back into their mother’s life; in “Dance for Me,” a girl on scholarship at a posh Manhattan school teaches white girls to dance in the bathroom in order to be invited to a party.   As teenagers in complicated circumstances, each of Gautier’s characters is pushed in many directions. To succeed may entail unforgiveable compro­mises, and to follow their desires may lead to catastrophe. Yet within these stories they exist and can be seen as they are, in the moment of choosing.   “Despite its title, this is not a debut composed of rapid shocks and dangers, but a quieter accumulation of heartbreaking pressures.”—Foreword Reviews

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  Redemption of the Dead: A DI...

  Luke Delaney

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  A chilling short story taking us back to DI Sean Corrigan’s days as a newly minted detective from Luke Delaney, ex-Met detective and author of Cold Killing. Perfect for fans of Mark Billingham, Peter James and Stuart MacBride. 
  1993. The Parkside Rapist has been terrorising the women of South London, and Detective Chief Superintendent Charlie Bannan is in need of a secret weapon if he’s going to catch this particular monster. 
  When fresh-faced PC Sean Corrigan is transferred to join the team, Bannan immediately spots his potential. Soon Sean will find himself exploring the scars his own dark past has left him in the race to help his new mentor catch their quarry before he goes on to commit more, and worse crimes… 
  The narrative is a thrilling ride, showcasing the best of urban and hard-boiled fiction. The suspense and mystery are skillfully interwoven, making it a standout in police procedural stories. 
  For fans of Rachel Lynch (Dark Game), Mark Billingham (Cry Baby), M J Lee (Where the Innocent Die), Peter James (Dead Man's Footsteps), and Angela Marsons (Bad Blood).

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