From the author of Rule 34 and Halting State, a tale of deception, engineering, and the most unlikely rocket propulsion technology imaginable. "A Tall Tail" by award-winning science fiction author Charles Stross is a Tor.com Original set in a compelling alternative universe. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

"A Tall Tale About The Dog With The Polka Dotted Tail" is a cute and lovable story about an outcast dog, with a most unusual tail, who learns that he is perfect just the way he is.

Beginning readers will love this I Can Read adventure starring a doggy construction crew, gently adapted from James Horvath’s popular picture book of the same title. Top dog Duke and his crew of construction-worker dogs are ready to knock down an old building and build up a shiny new one. With cranes, bulldozers, dump trucks, and cement mixers all on the job, these busy dogs have a lot to do. Will they finish the new building in time? Build, Dogs, Build is a Level One I Can Read book, which means it’s perfect for children learning to sound out words and sentences.

The perfect addition to every family’s home library and just right for sharing aloud, American Tall Tales introduces readers to America’s first folk heroes in nine wildly exaggerated and downright funny stories. Here are Paul Bunyan, that king-sized lumberjack who could fell “ten white pines with a single swing”; John Henry, with his mighty hammer; Mose, old New York’s biggest, bravest fireman; Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, who could “outgrin, outsnort, outrun, outlift, outsneeze, outsleep, outlie any varmint”; and other uniquely American characters, together in one superb collection. In the tradition of the original nineteenth-century storytellers, Mary Pope Osborne compiles, edits, and adds her own two cents’ worth—and also supplies fascinating historical headnotes. Michael McCurdy’s robust colored wood engravings recall an earlier time, perfectly capturing all the vitality of the men and women who carved a new country out of the North American wilderness.

A trapper gets his comeuppance in this Southern tall tale! Otis Steele was a hungry old trapper near Uncertain, Texas. One night he cut the tail off a strange creature as it ran away from him, and he fried it up and ate it with gusto. Otis filled his belly and went to bed, but as he lay alone in his cabin, he heard the wind begin to howl. Young readers will chill to the thrills of this rhyming story when the creature returns, looking for his "taileebone."

After Kiki hears a noise in the woods, her imagination runs wild?much to her embarrassment when the ?truth? finally emerges from the bushes.Jennifer Dussling lives in Highland Park, NJ.Lyndon Mosse lives in New York City.

This is the story of Buddy Hobbs, an elf who feels a little out of place at the North Pole. But what Buddy lacks in elfin abilities, he makes up for in Christmas cheer!