The first story in this collection of short stories, The Ghostwriter, is about a very successful thriller writer who seems to be possessed by the spirit of Charles Dickens. This leads him to battle his inner demons and question his atheistic attitude. The second story is called Something To Do and features an ordinary man who decides to become a writer. His quotidian task is complicated by slightly obsessive thoughts relating to an old flame. The third story entitled Toby's Little Eden focuses on a strapping young man who is happily dormant and isolated in his beautiful garden in North London but the arrival of a new young housekeeper leads him to reluctantly come out of his shell. Found Wanting is about a man who seeks to gently nudge his wife back into prostitution but is he pushing at an open door? The final story, Carlington Park G.C. is really a series of comical sketches featuring the groundstaff of a new golf course in North Manchester.

The winner of a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men's Science Fiction and bestselling novel, Secret Matter returns to print in a revised edition for the 21st century. Kevin Anderson is moving along through his life, finishing up college, and getting ready to leave New York for an internship rebuilding San Francisco after an immense earthquake. Then the Visitors arrive; a race of human-like aliens touch down in several cities around the globe, including SF, and nothing will ever be the same. When Kevin's company is given a contract to build a facility for the Visitors, he forms a friendship with 'Bel, one of their number. But is 'Bel so alien after all? They seem so human, albeit much larger, but they possess some odd characteristics and seem to be hiding something. What secrets do they carry, and where, exactly, are they from? Before Kevin can get to the bottom of his questions, political disasters and miscommunications occur, and the Visitors are expelled. 'Bel and his emissaries are very clear that certain actions on the part of the U.S. will have grave consequences upon his people and their world, but no one listens except Kevin, who has fallen in love with 'Bel. Now the young man is on a mission to unravel the Visitors' secrets in order to prevent the death and destruction of Visitors and millions of Americans.

The only way to make sense of our lives is to tell stories. So is it coincidence that we see the same seven basic plot points repeated over time and across cultures? What if the stories we tell give us clues to our deepest desires, and to the meaning of the reality we live in? In Reality and Other Stories, Peter Dray and Matt Lillicrap explore how seven story archetypes - Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, The Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy and Rebirth - are not only universal, but also found in the story of Christ. As they unpack each example, they demonstrate how our deepest longing find fulfilment in Jesus' story. This is not just another Christian apologetics book. Reality and Other Stories is an ideal gift to give to new Christians and those just beginning to explore faith. The authors show the power of storytelling to affect our lives, and through examples of story archetypes demonstrates that the life of Jesus truly is the story at the heart of reality. Reality and Other Stories will help you explore Jesus’ story for yourself and better understand how through Jesus, we can discover the true story of reality that gives ultimate purpose to our lives.

Prepare to be amused, moved, disturbed. These stories by a master of idiosyncrasy visit a world where wit has heft, charm has shadow, and human beings act out all the complicated nuances of love. In the title story, a young man waiting in the Hotel Eden discovers—as others have—that Eden is not a permanent domicile. In "Zanduce at Second," a baseball player turned killer-by-accident undergoes a surprising transformation. We root for escaped felon Ray (“A Note on the Type”) as he carves his name on a culvert wall. We drive the sweltering summer streets of Phoenix as a nineteen-year-old narrator goes through an unsettling sexual awakening ("Oxygen"). In these and other stories, whether his characters are getting sabotaged by nightcaps or encountering nudists on a rafting trip, Carlson takes us to new places in a new way.

Twelve stories featuring odd characters. In A Note on the Type, a convict develops an interest in typography and on his escape proceeds to cover walls in graffiti, Zanduce at Second is on a baseball player whose balls kill people, and The Chromium Hook is on a killer madman. By the author of Betrayed by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

"London, 1865 Vera Sorokina loves reading the Penny Dreadfuls and immersing herself in tales of adventure, mystery, and romance. Her own days are filled with the often mundane work of running the book and print shop she owns with her father. The shop offers her the freedom and income to employ and protect the poverty-stricken Londoners she's come to care about, and it gives her father something to do other than long for their hometown of St. Petersburg. She is grateful for the stability in their lives, but she often feels lonely. Brogan Donnelly was born and raised in Ireland, but has lived in London for several years, where he's built a career as a Penny Dreadful writer. He has dedicated himself to the plight of the poor with the help of his sister. His membership in the secretive Dread Penny Society allows him to feel he isn't entirely wasting his life, yet he feels dissatisfied. With no one to share his life with but his sister, he fears London will never truly feel like home. Brogan and Vera's paths cross, and the attraction is both immediate and ill-advised. Vera knows from past experience that writers are never to be trusted, and Brogan has reason to suspect not everything at her print shop is aboveboard. When the growing criminal enterprise run by the elusive and violent Mastiff begins targeting their area of London, Brogan and Vera must work together to protect the community they've both grown to love. But that means they'll need to learn to trust each other with dangerous secrets that have followed both of them from their home countries"--