There are two sides to every story. A little girl finds a strange beast in the woods and takes it home as a pet. She feeds it, shows it off to her friends and gives it a hat. But that night it escapes. Then the beast tells the story of being kidnapped by the girl, who forcefed it squirrel food, scared it with a group of beasts and wrapped it in wool. Can the two beasts resolve their differences? An eye-opening story that makes you look at things from a different perspective. 'Roberton's premise is as sublime as it is simple, with a subtle message. [...] Totally delightful.' - Kirkus Reviews

The Granta Book of the American Short Story is a selection of the best works of American short fiction published in the last 50 years. -- Publisher details.

'Rich. . . eclectic. . . a feast' Telegraph This landmark collection brings together forty writers that reflect over a hundred years of Italy's vibrant and diverse short story tradition, from the birth of the modern nation to the end of the twentieth century. Poets, journalists, visual artists, musicians, editors, critics, teachers, scientists, politicians, translators: the writers that inhabit these pages represent a dynamic cross section of Italian society, their powerful voices resonating through regional landscapes, private passions and dramatic political events. This wide-ranging selection curated by Jhumpa Lahiri includes well known authors such as Italo Calvino, Elsa Morante and Luigi Pirandello alongside many captivating new discoveries. More than a third of the stories featured in this volume have been translated into English for the first time, several of them by Lahiri herself.

It’s 1870 and the Siege of Paris is in full swing, where the French-Prussian war has brought daily life to a halt. Wearied, starving, and strung out on absinthe, two men meet by chance at their favourite fishing spot. "Two Friends" follows Morissot and Sauvage as they make their way into no man’s land and drink away the miseries of the war. A powerful short story that extolls the virtues of French patriotism and dramatises the cruelties of war. Maupassant’s portrayal yearns for a return to ordinary life and real human connections, through plain philosophy and simple language suited to the styles of Flaubert and Hemingway. Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) was a famous French writer, often referred to as the father of the short story. A prolific writer, his best known works include "Bel-Ami", "Une Vie" and "The Necklace", alongside some 300 short stories, travel books, and poetry. A master of style and dramatic narrative, Maupassant’s stories are drawn to themes of war, the working class, and the human condition. One of his greatest influences was Gustave Flaubert, who introduced him to some of the central names of the time such as Emile Zola, Ivan Turgenev, and Henry James.

The Large Print Edition of "Best Short Stories Book One" by AZ Writers contains over 40 captivating stories written by 37 different authors possessing an outstanding range of talent. Unlike many other Short Story collections, in this book, the reader will experience the writing voice and style of many authors. Whereas in most other collections the reader is confronted with a dozen or more stories written by one author who writes stories with the same voice, the same style, and with the same plot, which after a story or two, becomes quite boring. Or, as in many other collections, the reader will find stories written 100 years ago by authors who are no longer with us. In "Best Short Stories Book One" by AZ Writers, the reader will find a contemporary multi-genre collection of stories by dozens of authors who are still, as of this writing, on the green side of the grass. AZ Writers "Best Short Stories Book One" includes memoir stories, historical fiction, creative non-fiction, and many other well-written pieces that will amuse, intrigue, and captivate the reader. A few of these stories may make you laugh, and a few may bring a tear to your eye. In this collection, you will find well-crafted stories with irony, sarcasm, adventure, mystery, crime, and a couple of stories with a bit of romance.

One World Two is the eagerly awaited follow-up to One World and another globe-trotting collection of stories. But it is more than simply an anthology of short fiction, as it contains representative literature from all over the world, conveying the reader on thought-provoking journeys across continents, cultures and landscapes. One World Two is even more ambitious than Volume One in its geographic scope, featuring twenty-one writers drawn from every continent. Most of the stories are unique to this volume, while others are appearing for the first time in English (Egypt's Mansoura Ez-Eldin and Brazil's Vanessa Barbara). The themes and writing styles are as richly diverse as their writers' origins. The collection is built around a loose theme of building bridges. It is interested in the human condition as a dynamic central line linking individuals, cultures and experiences: east and west, north and south, and, perhaps most importantly, past, present and future. This book features established stars such as Edwidge Danticat (Breath, Eyes, Memory), Viet Thanh Nguyen (The Sympathizer) and Aminatta Forna (The Hired Man) and authors who are steadily building a reputation such as Fan Wu, Ana Menéndez and Daniel Alarcon. In order of appearance, the authors are: Yewande Omotoso, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Heidi North-Bailey, Ana Menéndez, Mathew Howard, Okwiri Oduor, Desiree Bailey, Vamba Sherif, Alice Melike Ulgezer, Daniel Alarcon, Mansoura Ez-Eldin, Aminatta Forna, Nahid Rachlin, Samuel Munene, Vanessa Barbara, Ret'sepile Makamane, Fan Wu, Olufemi Terry, Balli Kaur Jaswal, Chris Brazier, and Edwidge Danticat. Edited and compiled by Ovo Adagha and Chris Brazier.