This anthology contains the following 10 short stories: The Dungeon Date: Geoffrey is seduced by a crazy beautiful woman who plans to kill him for his dodgy calls on the field. Fiona and the Red Dragon: A young girl dreams about dragons and how to make the different dragon races stop fighting each other, which has unintended consequences. The Robot Date: The clueless Geoffrey goes on a date with a robot, just to find out the truth when his robot date is hit by lightning. The Ladyboy Date.Geoffrey's ex-girlfriend set him up on a date, with ladyboy! The Matrix Date: Jasmine Xi convinces Geoffrey that the only to stop his cycle of terrible dates is to confront the author who runs the Martrix. Jared Pond and the Tajikistani Ram: Jared Pond is sent to Tajikistan to collect a ram for Scurry Morrissette. Unfortunately, the local dictator uses Jared as a pawn to infiltrate the opposition, and in the end, Jared is deported for refusing to have sex with the dictator's daughter. The Coming out of Dwayne Beesly: A flash fiction story about a man who is disowned by his Hollywood mother for coming out as straight. The Father Resurrection: After seeing her mother crying, Diah decides to travel back in time to stop her father from dying. However, changing timelines come with unforeseen consequences. The Champagne Incident. A cowardly fireman fails to save a burn victim due to his phobia of popping champagne cork. Or is there another dark secret behind his actions? Fiona and Ptolemaeus: Fiona uses her imagination to dream of ancient Egypt where she meets Ptolemaeus, the founder of the geocentric model for the universe.

This final classic collection reveals Somerset Maugham’s unique talent for exposing and exploring the bitter realities of human relationships in tales of love, infidelity, passion and prejudice. The stories range from “The Lotus Eater” where a man envisions a life of bliss in the Mediterranean, to the astringent tales of “The Outstation” and “The Back of Beyond” in Malaya and South East Asia. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

This Anthology contains the following short stories: 1 Diah Lubis and the Roman God. 2 Jared Pond and the Gregorian Faceoff. 3 Fiona and the Halloween Alien. 4 Jared Pond and the Kiribati Confrontation. 5 Jared Pond and the Pirate Treasure. 6 Fiona and the Healthy Lollies. 7 Fiona and the Einstein Encounter 8 Fiona and the Elven King 9 Fiona and the Purest Diamond. 10: Fiona and the Vikings.

The Collected Short Stories of Louis L’Amour, Volume 4, Part 1 kicks off this collection of L’Amour’s classic adventures and includes his very first published short story. Here are timeless tales of danger and daring, wanderlust and heroism, filled with ordinary men and women facing often life-threatening challenges with courage, dignity, and honor. The first of two parts, this volume contains breathtaking thrills and dynamic characters: from the down-on-his-luck fortune hunter who risks everything to save a married couple in the wilds of Borneo to the mysterious hero aboard a downed airliner dangling six hundred feet above certain doom. This unique collection is guaranteed to delight readers again and again, proving why Louis L’Amour remains America’s favorite storyteller.

Unsurpassed for sheer storytelling excitement, Louis L’Amour’s tales of adventure continue in this new paperback series. Whether joining an American captain navigating a cargo ship through pirate-infested Japanese-controlled waters during World War II or marveling at the resourcefulness of a young woman pushed to the limits of endurance as she flees a killer through a primeval forest, these adrenaline-fueled tales of mystery, suspense, murder, and survival will keep your heart pounding long after their final pages. From stories numbering just a few intense pages to novella-length works, the tales in this action-packed anthology bear all the trademarks of the master’s touch: the historical accuracy, memorable characters, and timeless themes that have earned L’Amour his unique place among American authors.

From Hugo Award-winning editor Neil Clarke, the best science fiction stories of the year are collected in a single paperback volume. Keeping up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more―a task accomplishable by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to introduce the latest volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, a yearly anthology compiled by Hugo and World Fantasy Award–winning editor Neil Clarke, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers. The best science fiction scrutinizes our culture and politics, examines the limits of the human condition, and zooms across galaxies at faster-than-light speeds, moving from the very near future to the far-flung worlds of tomorrow in the space of a single sentence. Clarke, publisher and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed and award-winning magazine Clarkesworld, has selected the short science fiction (and only science fiction) best representing the previous year’s writing, showcasing the talent, variety, and awesome “sensawunda” that the genre has to offer.