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Part of the new Dark Season CollectionSarah has always loved the quiet and solitude of ice fishing. Miles from the nearest neighbor, her family's frozen lake has always been a peaceful sanctuary. Until today. Something cold and twisted has chosen her, something with a monstrous hunger. Alone on the frozen lake, she will learn that nature's appetites run darker and deeper than she ever imagined.See Inside for Content Warnings Read more

"The Deep South’s true detective" - Men’s Journal"Ace Atkins is the Southern Noir King" - Lisa Unger, the New York Times bestselling author of THE NEW COUPLE IN 5BFor the first time in print, a new short story in the award-winning, bestselling Quinn Colson series.Dontell Briggs was a quiet man, a respectable figure in Tibbehah County, Mississippi, working as a janitor at the local high school. But when bulldozers threaten his dilapidated house and family land – a calculated move to make him sell – he picks up a rifle to protect his property.Sheriff Quinn Colson, a former U.S. Army Ranger turned Southern lawman, respects Briggs and recognizes the county’s corrupt power structure he’s facing. Skinner, a long hated and despised county supervisor in particular, wants to see Briggs arrested and taken off his own land.Quinn has less than twenty-four hours to understand the tangled mystery that lies within the kudzu-covered Briggs property and to save Briggs from himself. He promises to kill anyone who steps foot on his land. That includes the sheriff.An exciting return to Tibbehah County from the undisputed master of Southern Noir, Ace Atkins Read more

"Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory" is a short story set in the world of Martha Well's Murderbot Diaries. This story was originally given free to readers who pre-ordered Network Effect, the fifth entry in the series. The events of "Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory" occur just after the fourth novella, Exit Strategy.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied. Read more

No sooner is Maomao settled back in the royal capital than she’s dragged off to a meeting of the named clans, and despite the posh surroundings, intrigue is the order of the day. Old grudges come to the surface, new ones threaten to break out into fights, and...is that a hint of love in the air? Maomao will have to navigate the twisting politics and conflicting priorities of the different clans—including hers—if she wants to survive one of the liveliest meetings around! Read more

A god's vessel? Anet has never known life outside the temple. Despite her years of faithful service, she had never laid eyes on the great serpent who guards their lands. The god who requires a vessel for his offspring every five seasons. It is a privilege Anet can only dream of and the time has come again. Who will be chosen for the most pleasurable of honors? Read more

The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story by American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine. It is regarded as an important early work of American feminist literature for its illustration of the attitudes toward the mental and physical health of women in the 19th century. It is also lauded as an excellent work of horror fiction.The story is written as a collection of journal entries narrated in the first person. The journal was written by a woman whose physician husband has rented an old mansion for the summer. Forgoing other rooms in the house, the couple moves into the upstairs nursery. As a form of treatment, the husband forbids the journal writer from working or writing and encourages her to eat well and get plenty of air so that she can recuperate from what he calls a "temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency", a common diagnosis in women at the time. As the reader continues through the journal entries, they experience the writer's gradual descent into madness with nothing better to do than observe the peeling yellow wallpaper in her room. Read more

An original short story by New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci.Frank Becker is a highly sought after, expert assassin. When Becker takes a mysterious job, he has no idea that it will force him to delve deeply into his own past. Undeterred by obstacles he is determined to complete his assignment. But he may realize too late that his success will permanently alter his future. Read more

Their radio is sabotaged. The wolves are gathering outside. And for the increasingly desperate mercenaries, the worst is yet to come in chapter three of The Boy in the Iron Box: the box is empty.In the wake of an inexplicable disappearance, Liev and his men use their tactical skills to last the night—by going hunting. Following a small, bare footprint in the snow leads only to the realization that someone, or something, is hunting them.From Academy Award–winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro comes The Hunted, chapter three of The Boy in the Iron Box, a blood-chilling serialized novel about an ancient secret that was never meant to be unleashed, featuring exclusive interior artwork. Each chapter can be read or listened to in one breathless sitting. Read more

An Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestseller.In this surprising essay, international bestselling humor writer David Sedaris shares the rewards of a book tour and his devoted readers’ worst-kept secrets.Dismissed by a bored author at a book signing, a betrayed young man named David Sedaris made a vow. Someday, when it was his turn at the table, he’d connect with his readers. The experience has been even more revealing than he’d hoped.In this hilarious and perceptive essay, the celebrated humorist reflects on the unusual patterns of forced socialization between author and audience, and the obligations and sometimes surprising returns of not-so-chance encounters with strangers: jokes, secrets, insights, and even charity. Read more

Luciel and his comrades have defeated Dongahar and his demonified men, and the Church of Saint Shurule is safe—for now. But there is no time to rest, as the fight is far from over. A letter written by the traitor himself tells Luciel all about the demonification experiments Blanche and Illumasia have been carrying out, and much to the masochist sage’s dismay, he can no longer delay his journey to these nations.To survive the trials ahead, he’ll need new allies, starting with a certain magic artificer he’s been meaning to recruit for some time. But the real dilemma lies in choosing where to go first: the dukedom of Blanche—Lumina, Nadia, and Lydia’s home nation? Or the Illumasian Empire, which has been causing Luciel nothing but trouble from the start?If it were up to him, Luciel would steer clear of both, but alas, the world won’t save itself! Read more

After overcoming all the obstacles in his path and even defeating a god, Hajime Nagumo has finally made it back home to his family. Now he’s enjoying peaceful days with his parents, while Yue and the others begin to learn more about Japanese culture. But while he thought he’d get to return to his peaceful everyday life, he finds that now he has to deal with overbearing fathers-in-law, a not-so-normal school life, and all the attention Yue and the others end up attracting! Read more

"The Signal-Man" is a first-person horror/mystery story by Charles Dickens.The railway signal-man of the title tells the narrator of an apparition that has been haunting him. Each spectral appearance precedes a tragic event on the railway on which the signalman works. The signalman's work is at a signal-box in a deep cutting near a tunnel entrance on a lonely stretch of the railway line, and he controls the movements of passing trains. When there is danger, his fellow signalmen alert him by telegraph and alarms. Three times, he receives phantom warnings of danger when his bell rings in a fashion that only he can hear. Each warning is followed by the appearance of the spectre, and then by a terrible accident.   Read more

When Charlotte Cocoriara’s engagement was broken, she regained game knowledge of a fantasy world and decided to use her unique insights to become Sharon, an adventurer and Healer. Alchemist Tarte and Sharon’s apprentice rescue Pope Tithia, who is on the run from a mutinous cardinal who took over the cathedral in Zille. Determined to help Tithia win back the church, Sharon works hard to grind the levels of her entire party. When she discovers that the cardinal is trying to summon L’lyeh, Goddess of Darkness, she ventures into the Abbey to thwart his attempt once and for all. Read more

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At age three, Tafelina Lowell Lera Duval was disowned by her birth parents, but was that actually a blessing in disguise? Raised in a remote region of Ozeria by the kind earl of Peylon, she was allowed to hunt in a forest full of monsters, invent magic tools based on memories of her previous life, and let her extraordinary magical talents flourish.But that all begins to change with the approach of her thirteenth birthday. As the child of a noble, she’s obligated to attend an academy meant to raise and educate the next generation of nobles. That means moving to the royal capital, a sprawling city quite unlike her beloved home.Lera soon feels like a fish out of water, and things only get worse with kidnappings, the appearance of her half sister, and more. But Lera’s not one to be disheartened easily and that isn’t about to change! Read more

As a powerful matriarchy reshapes the world, two men—old friends—confront the past and future in a bracing speculative short story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of Americanah.One night in Lagos, two former friends reunite. Obinna is a dutiful and unsophisticated stay-at-home husband and father married to a powerful businesswoman. Eze is single, a cautious rebel from his university days whose arrival soon upsets the balance in Obinna’s life. In a world where men are constantly under surveillance and subject to the whims of powerful women, more than Obinna’s ordered and accustomed routine might be on the line.Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Visit is part of Black Stars, a multi-dimensional collection of speculative fiction from Black authors. Each story is a world much like our own. Read or listen to them in a single sitting. Read more

After escorting Prince Willie to the capital of Knightley, Ryo feels a weight lift off his shoulders. He’s even managed to secure a position teaching the young prince how to use water magic. Life couldn’t be better!Before long, Ryo and Sera happily go on a sweets tour together. The two of them bond as they visit the other elves, but after they go their separate ways, a horde of monsters emerges from underneath the Temple! And then while he and Abel are trying to find the cause of this outbreak, an “island” falls from the sky and crashes right through the royal castle! As one crisis crops up after another, Sera struggles to protect her friends and is attacked by a powerful opponent.“Do you really think I’ll let you hurt the people I care about?!” Ryo will use his superhigh-pressure water currents to stave off a scheming enemy nation that has bared its fangs! The adventures of the strongest, freewheeling water magician continue in this frenetic fourth volume! Read more

In this short story by New York Times best-selling author Mary Kay Andrews, Atlanta private investigator/cleaning business owner Callahan Garrity knows there’s something fishy when 70-year-old Miss Loudene Jenkins is found dead by the old mill, and the 1920s costume jewelry she loved showing off is nowhere to be found. Read more

A frustrated lawyer finds release where she least expects it—and where she needs it most—in this exhilarating, sexy romp through the finest gluten-free indulgences in a New York City grocery store.After another long workday, the only thing Meredith wants is a nice big bowl of paleo maple-pecan coconola. But the hour-long checkout line at 7:00 p.m. at an all-organic supermarket stands between her and satisfaction, and the yupster mob is working her last nerve. Then, out of nowhere, a spontaneous flirtation with a stranger shows her there’s a lot more than coconola waiting for her in the bulk-food aisle.Meredith is part of The Fairer Sex, a collection of sexy, satirical, and sometimes harrowing short stories that explore the question: “What do women want?” The answer is different for every woman, but each can be read or listened to in a single sitting. Read more