“The emotional range and depth of [Willis’s stories], the clarity and deftness, are astonishing.”—Alice Munro The characters in these thirteen masterful and engaging stories exist on the edge of danger, where landscapes melt into dreamscapes and every house is haunted. A drug dealer’s girlfriend signs up for the first manned mission to Mars. A girl falls in love with a man who wants to turn her into a bird. A teenaged girl and her best friend test their relationship by breaking into suburban houses. A wife finds a gaping hole in the floor of the home she shares with her husband, a hole that only she can see. Full of longing and strange humor, these subtle, complex stories—about the love between a man and his pet crow, an alcoholic and his AA sponsor, a mute migrant and a newspaper reporter—show how love ties us to each other and to the world. The Dark and Other Love Stories announces the emergence of a wonderfully gifted storyteller whose stories enlarge our perceptions about the human capacity to love.

Two strangers in Paris ...One passionate, earth-shattering kiss.He was the artist upstairswith the tantalizing smile and laughing eyes.He was the devil inviting me to sin,seducing me to dance in the bright moonlight.He was desire and need.When he touched me, my body sang.My soul came alive.But I belonged to another man,and he didn't want to let me go.

“Charming. . . . A moving testament to the diversity and depths of love.” —Publishers Weekly You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be swept away—in less time than it takes to read this paragraph. Here are 175 true stories—honest, funny, tender and wise—each as moving as a lyric poem, all told in no more than one hundred words. An electrician lights up a woman’s life, a sister longs for her homeless brother, strangers dream of what might have been. Love lost, found and reclaimed. Love that’s romantic, familial, platonic and unexpected. Most of all, these stories celebrate love as it exists in real life: a silly remark that leads to a lifetime together, a father who struggles to remember his son, ordinary moments that burn bright.

ONE OF THE MOST LOVED NOVELS OF THE DECADE. A long-lost book reappears, mysteriously connecting an old man searching for his son and a girl seeking a cure for her widowed mother's loneliness. Leo Gursky taps his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he’s still alive. But it wasn’t always like this: in the Polish village of his youth, he fell in love and wrote a book…Sixty years later and half a world away, fourteen-year-old Alma, who was named after a character in that book, undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family. With virtuosic skill and soaring imaginative power, Nicole Krauss gradually draws these stories together toward a climax of "extraordinary depth and beauty" (Newsday).

A French teacher who collects fiancés; a fortune-teller who fails to predict the heartbreak of her own daughter; an aging cowboy seduced by a city girl . . . these are some of the unforgettable people who live in these pages. In Vanishing and Other Stories, secrets are both kept and unearthed, and lives are shaped by missing lovers, parents, and children. With wisdom and dexterity, moments of dark humor, and a remark- able economy of words, Deborah Willis captures an incredible array of characters that linger in the imagination and prove that nothing is ever truly forgotten.

In a dark, dark room, in a soft, soft voice, tell a scary story! Newly reillustrated, this classic I Can Read full of spooky stories is perfect for beginning readers who love a bit of a scare. Victor Rivas’s silly and spooky art will introduce a new generation to stories inspired by traditional folktales like “The Teeth,” “In the Graveyard,” “The Green Ribbon,” “In A Dark, Dark Room,” “The Night It Rained,” “The Pirate,” and “The Ghost of John.” The original edition has won many state awards and is an ALA Notable Children’s Book. In a Dark, Dark Room is a Level Two I Can Read book, geared for kids who read on their own but still need a little help.

A selection of four stories of romance, passion, and the supernatural includes tales of a vampire and a governess, an altruistic witch, and a ghostly protector

It only took one rowdy night with his brothers to flip Griffin's world upside down. One unlucky encounter saddled them with a family curse and the promise of doomed relationships. Word spread quickly, and rumors about that night made them the most eligible yet untouchable bachelors in Port Snow, Maine. Then Ren Winters, the new girl in town, crashed into his life. Her thirst for a fresh start gave Griffin hope that maybe, just maybe, he could have one, too. Everyone wishes for that second chance ... -- adapted from back cover

Singing, dancing, murder and magic, the theft of a painting, a short trip to hell, a grand adventure and a despondent green monster. Nine short stories by the author of the non-fiction book Secrets of the Golden Gate Bridge and the novels Stealing The Marbles and Meter Maids Eat Their Young - A Love Story.

It's rare to find a child whose very first best friend wasn't a fuzzy teddy bear or downy blanket. Whether clutched securely in little arms each night or dragged gamely through the playground each day, these fiercely loved companions universally ease the uncertainties and loneliness of childhood. DIRTY WOW WOW AND OTHER LOVE STORIES celebrates the lives of fifty transitional love objects: a sweetly poignant collection of stuffies, blankies, lovies, and dolls who inspired and comforted their owners. Bundles of love and warmth fashioned from fluff and fur, these cherished friends have a lifetime of stories sewn up in their tattered bodies--a trip to Paris smushed in a suitcase, a secret hiding spot behind the family liquor cabinet, an interminable wait in the lost-and-found bin before a joyous reunion at home. With stunning photographs that reveal the personalities within, this thoughtful tribute is at once funny and oddly soothing-like a certain shabby buddy who's tucked away but never forgotten. Hear the NPR Weekend Edition interview with the authors of Dirty Wow Wow Reviews"This charming book would be a perfect gift for collectors and also an offbeat surprise for new parents." -Minneapolis Star Tribune "Dirty Wow Wow's striking photographs and brief narratives stir up vivid memories of . . . long-lost companions." -Southwest Spirit Magazine "This clever work, peppered with sumptuous snapshots of raggedy dolls, pays tribute to the beloved companions of childhood." -Entertainment Weekly's "Must List" View the gallery of entries from the Show Us your Dirty Wow Wow Contest