United States

There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating.

“These are dangerous stories. The kind that warp reality and threaten to change the world” warns guest editor Hugh Howey in his introduction. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024 promises a treasure trove of audacious characters, daring worldbuilding, and twisted realties. A sibling duo of supernatural hitmen. A traveling spellbreaker and his trusty alligator mount. Superheroes registering for work. Sentient spaceships with an AI-human interface grow up together with their human pilots.

My family's roots run deep, and my responsibilities are clear. My family and Rhodes Hotels, my family business. As a father first, I've always put my daughter above everything, living in a carefully maintained world close to my ex-wife, ensuring peace. I never expected to fall in love again and find the kind of passion I had with Aurora. I thought it would be easy, but when I introduced her to my daughter, it shattered the delicate balance of my life, forcing me to make regrettable choices that hurt the only woman I ever loved.

“There have never been as many exquisitely built stories in existence than there are now,” proclaims guest editor Lauren Groff in her introduction. This abundance led to a volume of robust stories with the nerve to push against narrative expectations. The Best American Short Stories 2024 boasts a collection of twenty stories that “buzz with their own strange logic.” Daring and resonant, the stories in this volume invite in Groff “a feeling that both the author and I were simultaneously discovering something together.”

Détroit, fin des années 1970. Hannah et Wes Jarrett forment l'une des familles les plus en vue de l'élite blanche et bourgeoise. Mais entre les galas caritatifs et les déplacements d'affaires, ils se croisent à peine et n'ont plus en commun que leurs deux enfants, choyés par la gouvernante. Par ailleurs, des gros titres abominables font la une des journaux : des cadavres de garçons sont retrouvés nus, sans vie, comme exposés au public. Par un meurtrier dont on ne sait rien, et que les médias s'empressent de nommer Babysitter.

Prohibition is in full swing, and the glamorous life of upper-class Kansas City is everything Rose (Luna) Lane ever hoped it would be. Being married to her best friend isn’t so bad either, considering their agreement to keep their real love lives out of the public eye. However, try as she might to continue her life of anonymity, her popularity as a land developer’s wife—and as a successful club owner—draws even more attention to her personal endeavors. Soon, the balancing act between the life of Luna and Rose becomes a full-time job itself, making visiting home harder than ever before.

Emily Dickinson lived as a recluse in Amherst, Massachusetts, dedicating herself to writing a "letter to the world" - the 1,775 poems left unpublished at her death in 1886. Today, Dickinson stands in the front rank of American poets. This considered collection includes thiry-eight poems that were published between Dickinson's death and 1900. They express her concepts of life and death, of love and nature, and of what Henry James called "the landscape of the soul."

"Cos'è giusto? Se si vuole una cosa è giusto prendersela. Se si vuole fare una cosa è giusto farla". Sesso facile, cocaina, feste sempre più trasgressive, auto di lusso, rock a tutto volume: a Los Angeles i giovanissimi che frequentano l'ambiente patinato degli studios cinematografici hanno tutto e non desiderano più niente. In un mondo illuminato dai bagliori spettrali dei videoclip e svuotato di ogni sentimento, Clay, Blair, Daniel e Julian, biondi e abbronzati, esplorano le pieghe infernali del "paradiso" californiano in un crescendo di immoralità e devastazione interiore che presto sconfina nell'orrore.

In his introduction, guest editor S. A. Cosby observes that writing short stories is “a special skill that combines brevity with wit and cleverness and the hint of the existential malaise that imbues crime fiction with its gravitas.” The stories in this collection overflow with gravitas in the most unexpected ways: a cryptic note left on a windshield, a murder for hire meets a game of Mouse Trap, a swipe right on a dating app goes horribly wrong.

Avalee Elvis prides herself with being able to fix just about anything. . . except her past. Unable to put the puzzle of her life together, she pours heart and soul into making neglected places whole again. As the owner of Lowcountry Lost, Avalee spends her days in hot-pink Carhartt overalls and a tool belt reclaiming Lowcountry properties. Making them beautiful again releases the deep sigh that soothes the hurt she holds.

Melanie Jenkins, newly single and desperate for change, swaps her ER scrubs for a stethoscope and a one-way ticket to Crazy Town. Her destination? The mansion of Rhonda Miltmore—hypochondriac extraordinaire and self-appointed Cupid. Enter Brent Miltmore: Wall Street titan with an emotional portfolio in dire need of diversification. When he takes a tumble (literally), guess who becomes his reluctant caretaker? Yep, his childhood nemesis.

Often, when speaking of what he has called the poetic operation of language, Scott Cairns has characterized that event as our “glimpsing an indeterminate, inexhaustible enormity within a discrete space.” This is the poet's continuing fascination with lacunae, those spaces, those openings that offer more within than appearances can register from outside the ostensible covert of their terms. Cairns is here focused upon how an image, a word, or—in the case of the Theotokos—a womb can contain the uncontainable.

The Sisters of Blue Mountain Beach is a gripping tale revolving around the lives of three remarkable women who suddenly go missing in the devastating aftermath of a ferocious hurricane on Florida's renowned 30A.

Under the shadow of gray clouds, three children venture into the woods, where they spot the corpse of an old man on a scaffold. Suddenly a wild figure emerges, with long fingernails and tangled hair. It is the Hattak fullih nipi foni, the bone picker, who comes to tear off rotting flesh with his fingernails. Only the Choctaws who adhere to the old ways will speak of him. The frightening bone picker is just one of many entities, scary and mysterious, who lurk behind every moment of this spine-tingling collection of Native fiction, written by award-winning Choctaw author Devon A. Mihesuah.

*100 Selected Poems* by Emily Dickinson offers listeners a carefully curated glimpse into the profound and enigmatic world of one of America’s most celebrated poets. This collection brings together poems that explore themes central to Dickinson’s life and work, such as nature, solitude, love, death, and immortality. Her writing style—marked by unique punctuation, innovative rhythms, and striking imagery—invites listeners into her introspective observations and keen philosophical insights.

First published in 1732 by Benjamin Franklin when he was just 26, Poor Richard's Almanack was issued annually for the next 25 years. Extremely popular with readers of the day, the Almanack was a fascinating compilation of weather predictions, recipes, jokes, and delightful aphorisms — many representing Franklin's common-sense philosophy, and others, proverbs from the past.

Detective Arias hunts for a murderer on a liberal arts campus that prides itself on its progressive curriculum but is rife with jealousy, racial and sexual tensions, and a hierarchy as real and destructive as a medieval fortress. DJ Arias, good at his job because he sees the worst in people, is challenged by the college community, a neighborhood recluse, and a young Latino gardener he sent to jail ten years ago for a hit-and-run accident.

I have been in a low depression, partly due to the fact that I read Disability's summary of my condition, and it made me feel week, unable, and unworthy. It made me feel like all of my hopes and dreams are just grandiose overly optimistic fantasies. But they aren't. These 42 poems remind me of the abilities I do have. So I publish them for you, so you will drink in their optimism and feel better about your suffering, as all is not lost for either me nor you.

A soul-warming love story, nestled in an inspiring tale of the American Dream and an Indian Dream shattered by the evils of globalization—that pays homage to a generation of immigrants who held their heads low so one day, their children lift could theirs high.

Una hija descubre la grieta en su familia: sus padres están separados y la casa en la que crecen ella y sus hermanos se va poblando de recuerdos. En junio de 2006, el padre de Karina —la protagonista de esta historia— encabeza una lucha popular para que el gobierno de Oaxaca caiga y se haga justicia. Una lucha que trae consigo el estigma de la cárcel. Una lucha que deja una ciudad en llamas. A la par de lidiar con el abandono paterno y la persecución social, Karina intenta descubrir quién ha sido y quién es ahora como mujer.

All thirty-four-year-old Mae Van Dorn wants is to live alone, with little connection to the oodles of people who have always let her down. But she soon finds herself living with her estranged brother in a town she’s never been to and working for the founder of the local megachurch, though she’s as misanthropic as they come. The pastor seems to not be quite as Christian as he should be, but the people in his orbit may just teach Mae that the human race isn’t so bad after all.

In einer kleinen Stadt in Kentucky haben sich fünf Außenseiter gefunden: Opal, eine 80jährige, die in einem Sex-Pistols-T-Shirt und in Cowboystiefeln herumläuft (gelesen von Cordula Trantow); Aurora, eine wunderschöne Frau im Rollstuhl (gelesen von Cosma Shiva Hagen); Ray, ein junger Iraker auf der Suche nach dem Amerikaner, den er im 1. Golfkrieg verwundet hat (gelesen von Feridun Zaimoglu); Ember, ein frühreifes kleines Mädchen (gelesen von Charlotte Roche) und Luster, ein extrem wortgewandter Afroamerikaner, der ständig auf Drogen zu sein scheint, tatsächlich aber völlig nüchtern durchs Leben geht (gelesen von Jan Josef Liefers).

Humanitarian Award-Winning poetry by Gary Revel. Winners include "A Mother"—won a top place ribbon at Holistic.com. Other winners at Poetry.com, Famouspoets.com, Poemhunter.com and more.

All American Waste is a collection of poetry that you won't be able to put your finger on. Focusing on the struggles of being a young adult in America, and the seemingly futile search to find what is left of the "American Dream," the poems within the book dance from relatable to powerful, and powerful to bizarre. They put the spotlight on the mundanity of everyday life, the importance of mental health, and the beauty of our fragile environment. There is truly a poem for every person in this book!

Entre la taïga et la toundra, un jeune couple inuit du Nunavik se découvre et apprend à s’aimer. Accompagnés de leurs chiens, les qimmiit, Saullu et Ulaajuk parcourent un continent encore sauvage, tous libres et solidaires. Quelques décennies plus tard, une avocate est dépêchée sur la Côte-Nord pour défendre un meurtrier inuk dont les victimes sont d’anciens policiers de la Sécurité du Québec. Sa quête de justice l’emmènera au-delà de ce qu’elle avait imaginé.