Between 2011 and 2014, I wrote eight short stories. I had been writing stories since I was about six. Weird scenarios would enter my head and I would feel compelled to write about them. Blood in Water relates on Abby who makes an awful discovery about her family. Dead Letter Room samples the life of lonely Finch at his workplace. Outside enters the disturbed mind of an ex-convict and What Goes Around considers the makings of a bully. On the surface all appear to delve into diverse worlds and minds. But this isn’t quite so. They are all about alienation. My other stories are the same: alienation. It goes right back to my early children’s mysteries of the Seventies. How strange. I hadn’t noticed. The reason is that I would make my own personal discovery in 2016. I was fifty-one years old and living with my partner and two children. Until then, I was completely unaware of a vital truth about myself. This truth has leaked into my stories and creations without my realisation. This account is true. Relevant diary entries have been included as well as illustrations. Analyses and further dissections provides an insight into the force behind these stories, and ventures into the strange phenomena I have discovered. It’s like a ghost language.

Severed hands, dead monkeys, swarming insects, pickled body parts and menacing pygmies proliferate in this collection of short stories. They also feature ancient Southern plantations, isolated manor houses, places where ghosts like to lurk and places where spiritual and physical decay presides.

Cory McNab is a member of the Navy's Marine Mammal Program where he is partnered with a search-and-recovery dolphin named Kaj. Their new mission is to locate a spy submersible lost in North Korean waters. First they must win the trust of the Navy SEALs who are assigned to deal with the problem.

The House of Ferro has dominated the city-state of Verona since its creation, made mighty by their magia del ferro, financial acumen, and ties to the imperial throne. The House of Ishikawa arrived on Verona's shores a few years later, made powerful and wealthy by way of their rare, priceless magia d'acqua. A short time later, murder and vengeance exploded into a feud that has lasted for generations-and by decree of Hardegin-principe, will end now or else. Royal decrees cannot so easily quell generations of hate and bloodshed, but ancient feuds cannot stop love. Determined to be together, young Ferro Carac and Ishikawa Arata decide to run away and leave their families behind. But on the night they depart, Arata is murdered, and Carac is wrongfully blamed for it, betrayed by everyone he trusted. Fifteen years later, Carac is long dead of disease while in prison, and Verona is abuzz with nervous excitement over the betrothal of Ferro Selinah to Ishikawa Naoki. Unhappy with the pending marriage, Naoki spends most of his time drinking and sleeping. On the way home from a bar one night, accompanied by the sister come to drag him home, they are attacked by a bandit-and saved by an intriguing man who goes by the name of Dante...

Reaching the heavens from here on earth is not hard when you take a journey through Short Stories from the Earthly but Heavenly. These are stories that will make you look into your inner self while asking yourself questions like, 'Could this be me?' or 'Do I really act like that?' We, as a people, sometimes do not live up to our expectations or the expectations of others. Short Stories from the Earthly but Heavenly deals with everyday life problems and many different life situations, such as death, selfishness, encouragement, inspiration, egotism, betrayal, and even issues such as low self-esteem. Short Stories from the Earthly but Heavenly will enlighten you to see that only through God's word lies the solution.

This book is the first collected volume to be entirely dedicated to the work of contemporary Anglo-American writer Patrick McGrath. It follows the international conference that was held in his presence at Perpignan University, France, in May 2011. It comprises nine chapters (as well as an introduction and an index) written by scholars specializing in Gothic and American literature, each dealing with specific aspects of McGrath’s work. The volume seeks to encompass the author’s whole literary production to date, spanning a 25-year writing career. It also features an exclusive afterword written by the author himself, who attended all the papers given during the conference with great attention and often intensely enthusiastic reactivity. The editor’s intention is twofold. The idea was first to provide a comprehensive survey of Patrick McGrath’s writing, returning to the aspects that are usually associated with the author’s work, such as his artful narrative control, his inclination for stories of “transgression and decay”, as well as his long-lasting reflexive relationship with the Gothic and the Grotesque. Yet the aim of this volume is also to open new directions for the study of McGrath’s texts, taking into account the noticeable evolution of the writer’s literary production, its growing Americanization and gradual distanciation with modes of excess. It seems that it is no longer possible to tag McGrath’s work as neo- or ‘postmodern’ Gothic. His books’ growing complexity and change of horizons call for fresh investigations. This book will be of interest to students of McGrath’s work, scholars of the Gothic and its contemporary manifestations, as well as to all academics specializing in contemporary American fiction.

Do you like thrilling tales of romance, intrigue and moral dilemmas? Does the intricacy of Chinese culture fascinate you? Welcome to A Pale Skin where traditional Chinese values take on modern beliefs, often with catastrophic consequences. A greedy businessman who will do anything and harm anyone for success; an ill-fated musician whose destiny is dictated by the man she will marry; a young girl sold into a violent marriage by her own father and a thief so desperate in the pursuit of wealth that he accidently causes the death of a young girl. Every character pays a price for greed, lust, anger and jealousy; at their own hand or somebody else's. With stories about love, death, violence and lies, A Pale Skin will question your beliefs about honesty, love, death and life itself.