Leech dives into the stories and lives of contemporary Nepalis struggling to belong to new worlds. In Kathmandu, they are caught between tradition and progress. In America, it is no different. A leech caught inside a man’s nostril reveals fissures of class; a middle-aged Nepali man tries to come to terms with his sexuality in a deeply conventional social system; a professor worries about his immigrant status; a young couple try to bridge the silences in their relationship after moving to America. Each story explores the distance between home and abroad, desire and reality, allegiance and treachery.

An extraordinary collection from the architect of the Polity universe, Neal Asher's The Gabble - And Other Short Stories reveals a universe of unbridled imagination, and each one is a delight in itself. Much of Neal Asher’s fiction is set in the galactic civilization he calls the Polity, an alliance of human-populated worlds. And in this collection of thirteen marvellously inventive and action-packed short stories, Asher is on top form. You can expect conflicted humans, fiendishly clever plot twists, extraordinary technologies and so much more. The discerning reader can also savour tales of alien poisons, the walking dead, the Sea of Death, and the putrefactor symbiont. No one does weird, wonderful and downright gruesome aliens better than Neal Asher, so prepare to visit his favourites. Sample the lifestyles of creatures such as the gabbleduck and the hooder, as Asher takes you on a wild ride into his vividly-imagined futures.

A New York Times Notable Book Winner of the Bram Stoker Award "One of the best collections of the 21st century." — Stephen King A chilling collection of psychological suspense and literary horror from the multiple award-winning author of the national bestseller The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts. A masterful anthology featuring nineteen pieces of short fiction, Growing Things is an exciting glimpse into Paul Tremblay’s fantastically fertile imagination. In “The Teacher,” a Bram Stoker Award nominee for best short story, a student is forced to watch a disturbing video that will haunt and torment her and her classmates’ lives. Four men rob a pawn shop at gunpoint only to vanish, one-by-one, as they speed away from the crime scene in “The Getaway.” In “Swim Wants to Know If It’s as Bad as Swim Thinks,” a meth addict kidnaps her daughter from her estranged mother as their town is terrorized by a giant monster . . . or not. Joining these haunting works are stories linked to Tremblay’s previous novels. The tour de force metafictional novella “Notes from the Dog Walkers” deconstructs horror and publishing, possibly bringing in a character from A Head Full of Ghosts, all while serving as a prequel to Disappearance at Devil’s Rock. “The Thirteenth Temple” follows another character from A Head Full of Ghosts—Merry, who has published a tell-all memoir written years after the events of the novel. And the title story, “Growing Things,” a shivery tale loosely shared between the sisters in A Head Full of Ghosts, is told here in full. From global catastrophe to the demons inside our heads, Tremblay illuminates our primal fears and darkest dreams in startlingly original fiction that leaves us unmoored. As he lowers the sky and yanks the ground from beneath our feet, we are compelled to contemplate the darkness inside our own hearts and minds.

“A glowing story of friendship, growth, and a steadfast first love, as teenage Maisie negotiates the forests of the heart and of World War II Scotland with equal determination.” —Elizabeth Wein, New York Times bestselling author of Code Name Verity A romantic historical YA novel featuring strong female characters from the acclaimed author of Wait for Me. It’s 1942, and as the war rages in Europe, Maisie McCall is in the Scottish Highlands swinging an axe for the Women’s Timber Corps. Maisie relishes her newfound independence working alongside other lumberjacks—including the mysterious John Lindsay. As Maisie and John work side by side felling trees together, Maisie can’t help but feel that their friendship has the spark of something more to it. And yet every time she gets close to him, John pulls away. It’s not until Maisie rescues John from a terrible logging accident that he begins to open up to her about the truth of his past, and the pain he’s been hiding. Suddenly everything is more complicated than Maisie expected. And as she helps John untangle his shattered history, she must decide if she’s willing to risk her heart to help heal his. But in a world devastated by war, love might be the only thing left that can begin to heal what’s broken.