Love Bites is a collection of thirteen stories set in Europe and North America. They trace foreigners, drifters and eccentrics linked by their need for acknowledgment and belonging. How do these characters survive physically and psychologically on unfamiliar ground whether as tourists, or strangers in new cities or in new situations which jolt them out of the security of the familiar? Recurring themes are of isolation, loss, and a desire for connection when strangers reach out to other strangers for stability. A mysterious older woman and an alienated foreigner lost on a crowded London street, bond in their search for home. A single woman consults a soothsayer in London about family problems before he lures her into his own conflict. An acting student steps into a dusty music hall past when she auditions for ‘the star-maker’. A former life model and her overgrown son prey on a Canadian tourist in a Parisian garden. Interconnected scenes in Montreal, Paris and Toronto are linked by bizarre accidents and those who witness them. An elementary school boy, fascinated by his elderly neighbor, adopts the Candyman as an absent father. A woman, left by her partner in Paris wakes up with a phantom appendage and wanders Paris as a hermaphrodite. A honeymooning couple, marooned on a remote Hawaiian island, is forced to strip for their survival. An expat escapes into a new life in Paris until her ex-boyfriend reappears, reminding her of the impact of loss. An elderly woman, suffering from dementia is nearly eaten to death by her beloved pets running rampant in her home. Love Bites reveals a kaleidoscope of human experience wherein the reader is enticed into tales of everyday exiles, witnesses, and saviors. Despite emotional or geographical displacement, the characters in this collection all have one thing in common: their need to find home.

Maya, a misogamist, falls in love while trying to prevent her closest friend from being married to an orthodox. Maya, a lawyer who handles divorces, struggles with her mother's wish to marry her off and her distaste for matrimony. Maya watched her parents divorce as a child, which destroyed her faith in love and fostered hatred. On the other hand, Priya is a girl who has lived a life of comfort but wants to stand on her feet and become independent by opening a bakery. She had recently applied for a course in baking to make her dream come true, But her parents and Rahul (her fiance) discourage her because they are convinced she doesn't need a job. After all, she would soon wed a diamond merchant. Everything starts falling out of place for Priya when the marriage dates are preponed, putting Priya’s dream at stake. The childhood friends Priya, Kunal, and Maya plan a trip where they rekindle the lost love and friendship, but at a price. Maya is taken aback when Priya's brother, Dhruv, whom she despises, joins them on the trip. As the days pass, they become fond of each other, turning from enemies to lovers. Priya starts doubting her decision to marry Rahul when she starts having feelings for Kunal. These good times eventually end when Priya confesses about her soon-to-be marriage to Rahul, which she had kept a secret from Maya and Kunal, fearing their reaction. Rahul is an unworthy guy for Priya who body shames her and tries to control her life. The plot develops as Maya and Kunal support Priya's happiness by attending her wedding despite the conflict. During this period, Priya understands her love for Kunal, who helps her realise her worth and fight against all the injustices done to her in the past. On the other hand, Maya realises her love for Dhruv through her constant jealousy when she sees him with other women at the wedding. The story ends when Priya finally takes a stand against the unfair treatment, leaves the marriage, and opens her bakery after pursuing the course. Maya gets engaged to Dhruv, and love steps into her life again after all these years.

Jack London was one of the first writers to earn a living in part from his writings in commercial fiction magazines. London's writings reflect the change in his political views. He is best known for his novels The Call of the Wild and White Fang. Stories in this collection include LOVE OF LIFE, A DAY'S LODGING, THE WHITE MAN'S WAY, THE STORY OF KEESH, THE UNEXPECTED, BROWN WOLF, THE SUN-DOG TRAIL, NEGORE, and THE COWARD, LOVE OF LIFE (excerpt) ""This out of all will remain - They have lived and have tossed: So much of the game will be gain, Though the gold of the dice has been lost."" THEY limped painfully down the bank, and once the foremost of the two men staggered among the rough-strewn rocks. They were tired and weak, and their faces had the drawn expression of patience which comes of hardship long endured. They were heavily burdened with blanket packs which were strapped to their shoulders. Head- straps, passing across the forehead, helped support these packs...

Ian Watson is one of the most prolific short story writers in contemporary science fiction, with a range and invention that others might envy. In this collection we move from a ghostly occurrence in Catalonia to a memorably hallucinatory and atmospheric tale of eggs and ectoplasm in pre-glasnost Russia. The Times said of Watson that his 'stories are springloaded with effect, compressed with a drama that, in others, might take a novel to eke out', a judgement confirmed by he dozen stories collected here.

About the Book A COLLECTION OF MACABRE STORIES FROM INDU MENON, WHO IS CONSIDERED TO BE KAMALA DAS’S SUCCESSOR A Gond tribal activist is kidnapped by the goons of a giant mining company forcibly acquiring land in his village. In order to defame him, they shoot a porn film with him and a young prostitute who turns out to be his childhood sweetheart; a cobbler skins his daughter’s hanging corpse to make the special ‘Cinderella shoes’ he had once promised her; an LTTE female tiger accused of plotting the assassination of an Indian leader ruminates on the deaths of a Sri Lankan Tamil separatist leader and a French priest who tried to assassinate Louis XV on the same date centuries apart; a nurse with bovine features stalks a female patient whose live-in partner confronts the lesbian cow and is assaulted by her. Indu Menon’s stories are not for the fainthearted. At the centre of all that blood, gore and broken bones lies the inveterate spirit of wronged women, who refuse to go down without a fight. Her stories live unvarnished life truths. With the imagination of a poet, in lyrical and inventive prose, her narratives startle the reader by refusing to draw the line between lived and imagined terrains. Many consider Indu Menon a successor to Kamala Das, having inherited the same insouciance and outlook. This collection may well help us imagine what Das would have written if she were alive today.

This is Valerie’s second book of short stories as edited by her daughter Shelly Barber. Born in Melbourne, the family moved to Brisbane in 1970. She enjoys a great relationship with her three children and five grand children and has lived on the Sunshine Coast with her partner for the past 19 years. Here is a short reference to the stories. Tangles. A tale of mayhem when three mates go fishing but the crazy antics involve a lot more than catching fish. Life Changes. Zara decides to start a new life in the small town of Imbil in search of love. When a disaster befalls her newly renovated cottage, she then has to rethink her life yet again. One for the Merryman. Leo had been a popular Movie Star. But was most unhappy at the thought of turning 70. His two nieces decided to throw him a party that he wouldn’t forget and the outcome was going to change his life forever. The Exchange. When two inmates were given the chance of a life time, they took it with both hands and ended up with a life they had only been able to dream of. But it wasn’t without its share of dramas. Cousin George. Gina’s cousin George was a famous movie star. In between his filming, he usually caught up with Gina and this was no exception. The problem was, this time it turned out to be quite exceptional.

Bestselling author Michele Bardsley cooks up stories about hearth and home, love and loss, truth and hope in her anthology: A Mother Scorned and Other Stories. The collection includes the dark suspense story, A Mother Scorned, which won the Grand Prize in the 72nd Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition as well as the EPPIE-winning novella, Midnight Intentions. Go on ... take a bite of gourmet fiction!

These stories, in all their narrative voicings, deal with sorrow and still seek to find life’s joys. Despite conflicts, contradictions, sacrifices, surprises and ironies, the haunted and hunted characters try to comprehend death in detail. In so doing, the human spirit rises up and triumphs against the incomprehensible and bewildering aspects of life, love and death.

A man can fall in and out of love with a simple cheek-kiss, commit tender crimes of the heart, and enjoy gay passion to its fullest. Who wouldn’t like to fall in love with a sexy medium in “Run Like a Girl?” What happened “Last Night on Smithfield Street,” when two attractive men collide for the first time? And who is the mysterious, queer vampire who shares a “Tongue-Bite” with each of his victims? In the title story, radio show host Kye Shore wants to marry soon. Could a snowy weekend in the woods cause him to fall in love with Mr. Right, or will it forever be "The Boyfriend Season?" In “Jogger,” a young, muscular athlete is being stalked, but has he fallen for his stalker? And why is “Kai’s Underwear” being mailed to James Anthony’s apartment? What bizarre and sexy game is transpiring in his so-called normal life? The ten short stories in this collection embrace the lives of queer men, their lust-driven lovers, and boyfriend relationships both romantic and problematic.