Short Stories Books - Page 9

True to the Game

Teri Woods

Amazon Price: $10.19 List Price: $14.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Grand Central Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 71 new & used starting at $3.75

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Short Stories -> United States
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> United States -> African American -> General
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Contemporary

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

GREAT!!!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is one of the first books I read and it had me hooked to Hood books ever since!!! This book was great and I recommend this book to anyone who likes to read hood books!!!!

I Loved It... 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I liked this book im reading part 2 right now... keep up the good work Ms. Woods....

And this is what all the fuss was about? 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

After hearing all the hype about this book,I just had to read it and see what this so called classic was all about.And honestly I didnt see what all the fuss was about cause to me,this book was just ok.It started off kind of slow and she introduced too many unnecessary characters,The book really didnt hold my attention till almost the very end.The flow of this book was just off.And Gena wasnt smart at all..How are you going to be a drug dealers girl and not have any cash saved up...just dumb and green as hell.But any way I will read part 1 and 2 out of curiosity even though the reviews are terrible.

Editorial Review:

It's the late 1980s, and Gena, a young girl from the projects, meets Quadir, a millionaire drug dealer, and falls madly in love. Quadir builds a massive empire while fighting his rivals and enemies. Gena faces the challenges of holding onto her man, her house, her car, and the cash. Both of them find themselves caught up in a vicious yet seductive world, and learn that success in this game is no easy win. Gena and Quadir also learn
that once you're in, there's no way out, 'cause everyone stays in forever....True.

Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!

Art Spiegelman

Amazon Price: $18.15 List Price: $27.50 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Pantheon Amazon Marketplace: 55 new & used starting at $15.73

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Memoirs
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Breakthrough Book 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

The real title of this book is "Portrait of The Artist as A Young...", but I have taken the artistic liberty to rename it, my reasons shall become clear.




Art Spiegelman is an amazing artist. He is also a tortured artist, ravaged by guilt, and yet, through his work (some of which is self therapy), his genius shines through. As is very clear in 'Breakdowns', this book celebrates the major themes and movements in his life. The suicide of his mother in 1968, the Auschwitz stories his father told, his exposure to Robert Crumb and the underground movement can all be found and traced through the art/text. Primarily a book designed to reprint 'Breakdowns', his 1978 poorly received collection, it is the addition of the pre-and post breakdown material that provides more solid glimpses into his psyche.


If you were to sit Mr Spiegelman down and ask him the question, what is art to him, this book would be your answer. If you were to ask him to plot the major influences in his life, the answer is this book. Ask him about his career as artist for Topps, and he just might not say anything, but everyone remembers those marvelous stickers. As him where Maus came from, he would direct you to the section of Breakdown after the Introduction, and then discuss his father and Uncle. If you were to ask him to lend you $50, the answer would probably be no.... However, as a piece of autobiographical illustrato, it is remarkable for its' passion and poignancy.



Considered a failure in 1978, 'Breakdown' led him to Maus. Today, this book is perfectly timed and a good companion piece to his Pulitzer prize winning tome, and should be considered a successful (if not odd), glimpse into the 'art' of Art.




Viewed as a collection of short stories we find delightful touches like 'Auto Destruction', Introduction, Maus, As the Mind Reels, A Little Passion, Prisioner on the Hell Planet (drawn in a woodcut style), and Ace Hole. Sure, they are for Adults Only as the book cover says, and now 'underground' is 'mainstream', and the 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young...' is a success.


Congratulations Mr Spiegelman. You were ahead of your time.


Tim Lasiuta

Editorial Review:

For the last 40 years, comics artist Art Spiegelman has been influential in both pushing the limits of the medium, as well as bringing underground "comix” to the forefront of popular culture. He's perhaps most famous for Maus, the story of his parents' experience in the Holocaust, which earned him a special Pulitzer Prize Letters award in 1992. More recently, his work has appeared in the New Yorker--including the stunning, somber post-9/11 cover--and he was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2005. We sent him a few questions about Breakdowns, and he was kind enough to respond with this handwritten document. See the full image with more questions and answers. [JPEG, 389K]

The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume 1: The Frontier Stories

Louis L'Amour

Amazon Price: $16.32 List Price: $24.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Bantam Amazon Marketplace: 53 new & used starting at $10.39

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Genre Fiction -> Westerns -> Louis L'Amour
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Genre Fiction -> Westerns -> General
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Genre Fiction -> Westerns -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Louis L'Amour at his best 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

An excellent introduction to one of the greatest American storytellers. A very good gift to anyone who admires American Western courage, independence, and sense of honor.

Editorial Review:

With more than 120 titles still in print, Louis L'Amour is recognized the world over as one of the most prolific and popular American authors in history. Though he met with phenomenal success in every genre he tried, the form that put him on the map was the short story. Now this great writer – who The Wall Street Journal recently compared with Jack London and Robert Louis Stevenson – will receive his due as a great storyteller. This volume kicks off a series that will, when complete, anthologize all of L'Amour’s short fiction, volume by handsome volume.

Here, in Volume One, is a treasure-trove of 35 frontier tales for his millions of fans and for those who have yet to discover L'Amour’s thrilling prose – and his vital role in capturing the spirit of the Old West for generations to come.

When the Morning Comes (Sisters of the Quilt, Book 2)

Amazon Price: $11.19 List Price: $13.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: WaterBrook Press Amazon Marketplace: 50 new & used starting at $7.56

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Short Stories -> United States
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> United States -> General
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> United States -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Her relationship with fiancé Paul Waddell in tatters, Hannah Lapp has fled her secluded Old Order Amish community in hopes of finding a new home in Ohio with her shunned aunt. Hampered by limited education and hiding her true identity, Hannah struggles to navigate the confusing world of the Englischers.

Back in Owl’s Perch, Pennsylvania, Paul is wracked with regret over his treatment of Hannah. Fearing for her safety, he tries to convince Hannah’s remaining allies–brother Luke, best friend Mary, and loyal Matthew Esh–to help search for his love. Hannah’s father, however, remains steadfastly convinced of her sinful behavior. His blindness to his family’s pain extends to her sister, Sarah, who shows signs of increasing instability.

Convinced her former life is irreparably destroyed, Hannah finds purpose and solace in life with her aunt and in a growing friendship with Englischer Martin Palmer. Will the countless opportunities in her new life persuade Hannah that her place is amongst the Englischers — or will she give in to her heart’s call to return home and face her past?

From the Borderlands: Stories of Terror and Madness

Stephen King, Whitley Strieber

Amazon Price: $7.50 List Price: $7.50 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Warner Books Amazon Marketplace: 48 new & used starting at $2.46

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( K ) -> King, Stephen -> General
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( K ) -> King, Stephen -> Paperback
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> Monteleone, Thomas

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Shockingly weak 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

In the early to mid-nineties, White Wolf (oh, how I miss their original fiction line) published a set of four anthologies under the title of BORDERLANDS. The only real rule was that there weren't any. Authors were encouraged to experiment. Clichés and common subject matter were to be avoided. These turned out to be four of the best collections of dark fiction ever published. The stories were original, diverse, and memorable.

After a nine-year gap, this fifth anthology finally appeared. What a disappointment.

FROM THE BORDERLANDS is filled with rambling, forgettable, often incoherent rubbish. The ubiquitous Bentley Little, an author who has essentially built a career on writing the same novel over and over, seems to think he can put any kind of bizarre nonsense down on paper and get it published. Unfortunately for us, he's right. (Little is the only author to have appeared in all five anthologies.) His piece appears to have been transcribed directly from a bad dream he might have had. It makes no sense - an absolute head-scratcher. Far too many of the stories are like this. The worst are both incoherent and tedious, like Barbara Malenky's "A Thing," whose narrator is barely literate.

Seeing the editors gush praise about each entry in the introductions only adds insult. I actually thought the Monteleones must have been on drugs when they read for this volume.

Out of twenty-five stories, only a few are worth a look:

"Rami Temporalis" by Gary Braunbeck: Joel has one of those faces, the kind anyone can trust, even a complete stranger. One day, he finds out why. Though the ending is anticlimactic considering the grand nature of what is revealed, this story involves a truly interesting philosophical idea and is exactly the kind of imaginative tale that should appear in these books.

"N0072-JK1" by Adam Corbin Fusco: I'm a sucker for stories that are done as scientific transcripts. You know that they are gradually building to something awful but you can't stop reading: the horror story in its purest form. The deeper unease, I think, comes from knowing that humans are, in fact, capable of doing terrible things in the name of research, and that maybe it isn't far-fetched at all. This one involves a study of the nature of tickling, one that leads to sinister and disturbing conclusions.

"Infliction" by John McIlveen: A delinquent father goes in search of his runaway daughter and finds that sometimes the only way to erase old scars is to create new ones.

"Around It Still the Sumac Grows" by Tom Piccirilli: A man returns to his high school after twenty years to retrieve something he left behind. Piccirilli's tales usually have a surreal quality to them, but not so much that you feel like he's blowing hot air (which is how I felt about most of the stories here.) Besides, I've revisited my old school many years later as well, and it is indeed a surreal experience.

Collections like this make me sad, this one even more so because I'm aware of the potential it had. BORDERLANDS number five is largely a waste of time. I hope the good stories get reprinted somewhere else.

The O. Henry Prize Stories 2008 (Prize Stories (O Henry Awards))

Laura Furman

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Anchor Amazon Marketplace: 53 new & used starting at $6.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Short Stories -> Anthologies
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Short Stories -> United States
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Short Stories -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Good Read 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

All in all a good read, Some of the stories didn't impact me as much as I would have hoped, but for me the hightlight was Anthony Doerr's piece, it was brilliantly conceived with unforgettable imagery.

Editorial Review:

An annual collection of the twenty best contemporary short stories selected by series editor Laura Furman from hundreds of literary magazines, The O. Henry Prize Stories 2008 is studded with extraordinary settings and characters: a teenager in survivalist Alaska, the seed keeper of a doomed Chinese village, a young woman trying to save her life in a Ukrainian internet café. Also included are the winning writers' comments on what inspired them, a short essay from each of the three eminent jurors, and an extensive resource list of literary magazines.

Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings (New Directions Paperbook)

Jorge Luis Borges

Amazon Price: $12.55 List Price: $13.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: New Directions Amazon Marketplace: 53 new & used starting at $8.70

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Borges, Jorge Luis
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Classics -> General AAS
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> History & Criticism -> Criticism & Theory -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 42 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Like a Science Textbook, Man! Gimme a Break! 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Borges was a hep cat, man, I'll concede that & seems to read a bit but his stories read like friggin' medical textbooks! Fine for scientists & other geeks of that type but a bit dull for the average reader. My favorite story was `Garden of Forking Paths,' which is the clearest story & easiest to understand. The `Secret of the Sect of the Phoenix' I'm assuming deals with Freemasonry though Borges claims it was homosexuality. But then he claimed a lot of weird things.
Borges is like digesting an overdose of fiber, long, arduous, excruciating at times, & in the end stinky, heavy, & a little too black.

Editorial Review:

If Jorge Luis Borges had been a computer scientist, he probably would have invented hypertext and the World Wide Web.

Instead, being a librarian and one of the world's most widely read people, he became the leading practitioner of a densely layered imaginistic writing style that has been imitated throughout this century, but has no peer (although Umberto Eco sometimes comes close, especially in Name of the Rose).

Borges's stories are redolent with an intelligence, wealth of invention, and a tight, almost mathematically formal style that challenge with mysteries and paradoxes revealed only slowly after several readings. Highly recommended to anyone who wants their imagination and intellect to be aswarm with philosophical plots, compelling conundrums, and a wealth of real and imagined literary references derived from an infinitely imaginary library.

The Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka

Amazon Price: $9.95 List Price: $9.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Waking Lion Press Amazon Marketplace: 25 new & used starting at $4.35

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( K ) -> Kafka, Franz
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Classics -> General AAS
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Short Stories -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The Disabilities Embedded in our Prejudices 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

It was the genius of this classic work by Kafka, Metamorphosis, to stretche our imagination beyond reasonable limits. The fundamental, even primordal, conflict between parental love and gratitude for a son's sacrificial support of the family with the guilt of being repulsed by the horrible physical and behavioral disfigurment that inexplicably happens to the son pulls us into the awful struggle. Kafka makes us want help for this poor creature, but it is a horrible creature all the same. While the ending seems, in one sense, to be a relief, it seems also to condemn the reader for feeling relief.

Editorial Review:

The Metamorphosis, first published in 1915, is the most famous of Kafka's works, along with The Trial and The Castle. The story begins when a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, wakes up to find himself transformed into a giant insect. Curiously, his condition does not arouse surprise in his family, who merely despise it as an impending burden. As with all of Kafka's works, The Metamorphosis is open to a wide range of interpretations. Most obvious are themes relating to society's treatment of those who are different, the loneliness of isolation, and the absurdity of the human condition. Newly designed and typeset in a modern 5.5-by-8.5-inch format by Waking Lion Press.

Prom Nights from Hell

Meg Cabot, Stephenie Meyer, Kim Harrison, Lauren Myracle, Michele Jaffe

Amazon Price: $11.55 List Price: $16.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HarperTeen Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $9.65

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror -> Spine-Chilling Horror
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Short Story Collections

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Prom Nights From Hell 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a great set of stories that capture your attention completely since the first second, weather for the language used, the characters, scenes or title of the tale. In my opinion, the authors should put less magic in it, specially the last story, and most of them should be in first person, so you can feel the emotions of the characters better.

Editorial Review:

In this exciting collection, bestselling authors Meg Cabot (How to Be Popular), Kim Harrison (A Fistful of Charms), Michele Jaffe (Bad Kitty), Stephenie Meyer (Twilight), and Lauren Myracle (ttyl) take bad prom nights to a whole new level—a paranormally bad level. Wardrobe malfunctions and two left feet don't hold a candle to discovering your date is the Grim Reaper—and he isn't here to tell you how hot you look.

From angels fighting demons to a creepy take on getting what you wish for, these five stories will entertain better than any DJ in a bad tux. No corsage or limo rental necessary. Just good, scary fun.

It Happened One Night

Stephanie Laurens, Mary Balogh, Jacquie D'alessandro, Candice Hern

Amazon Price: $7.99 List Price: $7.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Avon Amazon Marketplace: 95 new & used starting at $0.34

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Short Stories -> United States
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> Australia & New Zealand
Subjects -> Romance -> Authors, A-Z -> ( L ) -> Laurens, Stephanie

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Good in parts 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Each story in this anthology is based on the same basic plot premise which was given to four different authors to see what they could make of it. Essentially the action takes place in a country inn, the two main protagonists have not seen each other for 10 years and have 24 hours to achieve a happy ever after ending.

I bought this for the Mary Balogh story because I don't generally like Laurens and have never read books by the other two. I left Balogh's till last and must admit I rather sped through the other three. I didn't find them particularly memorable. Laurens and d'Alessandro's stories were average at best with plenty of gratuitous sex in inappropriate places (rather a trademark of Laurens by now). Candace Hern's story was much better written and with a much more original plotline and kept my interest to the end. My purchase was worth it for Balogh's contribution though which was a very moving and believable tale of two lovers separated by force and misunderstanding when young and reunited by chance 10 years later. In spite of the shortened format its a complete story, with believable characters and very emotionally satisfying. I wish they'd put a collection of Balogh's short stories together in one book one day - she's written some great ones in anothologies over time.

PS. Although this has a Christmassy cover its not really a Christmas anthology. Each story is set in a different season.

Editorial Review:

It Happened One Night . . . and nothing was ever the same again!

Once upon a time, four superstar storytellers—New York Times bestselling authors Stephanie Laurens and Mary Balogh, along with Jacquie D'Alessandro and Candice Hern—came up with a delicious idea. What if they each wrote a story about a proper young lady stranded at a remote inn away from society's constraints? What would happen? And how long would it take for her to give in to desire?

In these four amazing tales, four heroines will come face-to-face with the men who got away . . . only to discover that, instead of anger, there is still a passionate connection that cannot be denied. And while each of their lives is quite different, and their pasts utterly unique, they will all make a common discovery—that one night can change everything . . . forever.