Brief stories for busy people. This collection contains 555 tales. All are of five words.This is a story collection. All are of five words. Why five words, you ask? Well, six is conquered territory. Four is far too short. Five, you’ll find, is perfect.Each one is a snapshot. (That’s like all stories, really. Beginnings result from deliberate decisions. Happily ever after is illusion.) You’re thrown into each scene. You’re given clues, signs, fragments. Your imagination does the rest. Read these for your enjoyment. Or use them as inspiration. There are 555 in here. It’s all about the fives.

Electrum was looking forward to a quiet retirement. Then the prince fell in love with a common merchant girl from another realm. The captain of the guard wanted to stop all commerce, and the Silver Gate to the Tween World was showing signs of wear. Electrum found himself in the middle of the conflicts, and might face being exiled. This wasn’t the way he had pictured his last year of employment.In a magical land, three young women, Gwynn, Mirela and Rosina have escaped their village after it was ransacked by ogres and are on a quest to bring three magical items to the wizard in the east. Hunted by ogres and witches they must use all their strength and courage to make their journey.

A sports business text examining the role of enticements such as Bobbleheads on marketing and promotion plans.A memorable collection of epitaphs and obituaries for the age of digital confession. Artists, athletes, activists, entertainers, evil-doers, rich widows, philosophers. . .40 poems from eight years in a lesbian novelist's on-line diary salute the famous dead—and tackle onslaughts of the ambition, desire, daydreaming, self-berating, fear of aging, loneliness and faithless women common to contemporary America. Sharply observed, often humorous, Dug for Victory also offers an anti-war record of existence in Brooklyn, New York during the days and years following the attacks on nearby Lower Manhattan.

Layton has bullies, but what hurts the most is that his best friend, Rick, has betrayed him.Layton has bullies but what hurts him the most is that his best friend, Rick, betrayed him. Together, Rick and his bullies take pleasure in tormenting him daily. At a birthday party, when he's humiliated by them, he decides to get back at them for good. Finding inspiration in the old vampire movies, he frightens them out of their wits. "A cute and entertaining story. Simple enough for young ones to understand, and get a few laughs," Channing at Trees for Children, 501C. Genre: Middle Grade Age recommendation: 5 to 14 years

William found a photo in a book that haunted him. He needed to follow up and was finally able to talk to a person who could tell him who were the people in the photo and under what circumstances it had been taken. You'll find yourself thinking about this story long after you read it.Dreamcatcher is a short story prequel to The 8th Mayan Prophecy. John and Mary Windwalker are blessed with a daughter, Grace. But they are stunned when two different shamans make virtually identical predictions about their daughter's future. Living in Northeastern Minnesota, Grace finds herself, the object of bullying when she moves into middle school. An unlikely ally comes to her defense.

First hand anecdotal account by the then SDM of Mhow and presently the collector of Indore Mr. P Narahari along with Miss. P. Jehangir, who penned the case study about the civil rights of the people living in Cantonment- Mhow; came together to showcase the history and the socio-economic neutral balance for civilian rights and Army cantonment.Who Owns Mhow? is the first hand experience of an IAS officer Mr. P. Narahari & his fellow friend Mr. P. Jehangir about small town named Mhow ( abbreviation for Military headquarters of War). This book out poured the anecdotes from P. Narhari's posting as an SDM in 2014 to the very heart of central India. It gives us the detailed and insightful understanding of the entire social, political, geographical and topological first hand account of the formulation of Mhow. One of the most important task for Sub Division Officer(SDO) Revenue & Sub Division Manager(SDM), Mhow is liasoning with the Army. Since, it was the cantonment and Army area, the discussion in the entire book anecdotes upon the interaction of civilians & non civilians living and finding a neutral ground to build the socio-economic upfront for the town. In this book and ex -SDM and now posted as the collector of Indore, Madhya Pradesh; showcases the very front view with in depth understanding of many civilians were seen running pillar to post as resumptions were being done by the Army. This book will be of interest for all the original inhabitants of Mhow, the civilians who own Mhow & the non-civilian temporary residents. This book can be of academic interest because of primary sources of data such as Gazetteers of British, Holkar & Indian governments. This book can be of interest for Research Fellows on Mhow.This inspired the authors to come up with book.

In this dark and compelling short novel, Fyodor Dostoevsky tells the story of Alexey Ivanovitch, a young tutor working in the household of an imperious Russian general. Alexey tries to break through the wall of the established order in Russia, but instead becomes mired in the endless downward spiral of betting and loss. His intense and inescapable addiction is accentuated by his affair with the General’s cruel yet seductive niece, Polina. In *The Gambler*, Dostoevsky reaches the heights of drama with this stunning psychological portrait.

Letters Home represents Sylvia Plath's correspondence from her time at Smith College in the early fifties, through her meeting with, and subsequent marriage to, the poet Ted Hughes, up to her death in February 1963. The letters are addressed mainly to her mother, with whom she had an extremely close and confiding relationship, but there are also some to her brother Warren and her benefactress Mrs Prouty. Plath's energy, enthusiasm and her passionate tackling of life burst onto these pages, providing us with a vivid and intimate portrait of a woman who has come to be regarded as one of the greatest of twentieth-century poets. In addition to her capacity for domestic and writerly happiness, however, these letters also hint at Plath's potential for deep despair, which reached its crisis when she holed up in a London flat for the terrible winter of 1963.

From the author of Cry, The Beloved Country comes a powerful novel of terror and remorse "written in exquisitely balanced prose" (Chicago Sun-Times) about a white policeman who has an affair with a native girl in South Africa.After violating his country's ironclad law governing relationships between the races, a young white South African police lieutenant must struggle alone against the censure of an inflexible society, his family, and himself.

“Once upon a time there was a father who, because he had grown old, called together his sons and daughters—four, five, six, eight in number—and finally convinced them, after long hesitation, to do as he wished. Now they are sitting around a table and begin to talk . . .” In an audacious literary experiment, Günter Grass writes in the voices of his eight children as they record memories of their childhoods, of growing up, of their father, who was always at work on a new book, always at the margins of their lives. Memories contradictory, critical, loving, accusatory—they piece together an intimate picture of this most public of men. To say nothing of Marie, Grass’s assistant, a family friend of many years, perhaps even a lover, whose snapshots taken with an old-fashioned Agfa box camera provide the author with ideas for his work. But her images offer much more. They reveal a truth beyond the ordinary detail of life, depict the future, tell what might have been, grant the wishes in visual form of those photographed. The children speculate on the nature of this magic: was the enchanted camera a source of inspiration for their father? Did it represent the power of art itself? Was it the eye of God? Recalling J. M. Coetzee’s Summertime and Umberto Eco’s The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, The Box is an inspired and daring work of fiction. In its candor, wit, and earthiness, it is Grass at his best.

From the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of WAIT FOR YOU, this is the story of Cam and Avery’s sizzling romance as you’ve never seen it before, told exclusively from Cam’s perspective… Cameron Hamilton is used to getting what he wants, especially when it comes to women. But when Avery Morgansten comes crashing into his life – literally – he finally meets the one person who can resist his soulful baby blues. But Cam’s not ready to give up – he can’t get this feisty and intriguing girl out of his head. Avery has secrets, secrets that keep her from admitting the feelings Cam knows she has for him. What will it take to help him break down her barriers and gain her trust? Or will he be shut out of Avery’s life, losing his first real shot at the kind of love that lasts forever?

Step into the past through three historical mysteries that reach from Imperial Rome to Victorian London. A Soupçon of Poison (Kat Holloway Victorian Mysteries) Kat Holloway, a young cook who is highly sought after by the wealthy of Victorian London, becomes embroiled in murder and must clear her name. Only the mysterious Daniel McAdam, who is much more than he seems, can come to her aid. Blood Debts (Leonidas the Gladiator Mysteries) Leonidas, freedman, once the most popular gladiator in Rome and champion of the games, now must fight for his life outside the arena. A man who owed him money was murdered, and Leonidas is a prime suspect. With the assistance of Cassia, daughter of a Greek scribe who has been bestowed upon him as his slave, Leonidas fights for justice in the back lanes of Imperial Rome. The Necklace Affair (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries) Captain Lacey agrees to help a society matron discover what has become of her cherished diamond necklace and to clear her maid, who has been arrested for its theft. Lacey quickly becomes enmeshed in scandal and past secrets, and finds himself competing with the underworld criminal, James Denis, for the necklace's retrieval. This collection includes three novellas of about 25,000-30,000 words each.

Anna Quindlen first visited London from a chair in her suburban Philadelphia home--in one of her beloved childhood mystery novels. She has been back to London countless times since, through the pages of books and in person, and now, in Imagined London, she takes her own readers on a tour of this greatest of literary cities. While New York, Paris, and Dublin are also vividly portrayed in fiction, it is London, Quindlen argues, that has always been the star, both because of the primacy of English literature and the specificity of city descriptions. She bases her view of the city on her own detailed literary map, tracking the footsteps of her favorite characters: the places where Evelyn Waugh's bright young things danced until dawn, or where Lydia Bennett eloped with the dastardly Wickham. In *Imagined London, * Quindlen walks through the city, moving within blocks from the great books of the 19th century to the detective novels of the 20th to the new modernist tradition of the 21st. With wit and charm, Imagined London gives this splendid city its full due in the landscape of the literary imagination. Praise for *Imagined London: * "Shows just how much a reading experience can enrich a physical journey." --New York Times Book Review "An elegant new work of nonfiction... People will be inspired by this book." --Ann Curry, Today "An affectionate, richly allusive tribute to the city." --Kirkus Reviews

We Live in Water is a darkly comic, moving collection of short stories that veer from comic tales of love to social satire to suspenseful crime fiction, from hip Portland to once-hip Seattle to never-hip Spokane, from a condemned casino in Las Vegas to a bottomless lake in the dark woods of Idaho. This is a world of lost fathers and redemptive con men, of meth tweakers on desperate odysseys and men committing suicide by fishing. In "Thief," an aluminum worker turns unlikely detective to solve the mystery of which of his kids is stealing from the family vacation fund. In "We Live in Water," a lawyer returns to a corrupt North Idaho town to find the father who disappeared thirty years earlier. In "Anything Helps," a homeless man has to "go to cardboard" to raise enough money to buy his son the new Harry Potter book. In "Virgo," a local newspaper editor tries to get back at his superstitious ex-girlfriend by screwing with her horoscope. Also included are the stories "Don't Eat Cat" and "Statistical Abstract of My Hometown, Spokane, Washington," both of which achieved a cult following after publication online.

A nobleman devoted to defending queen and country and a noblewoman wild enough to match his every step race to disrupt the plans of a malignant intelligence intent on shaking England to its very foundations. Lord Drake Varisey, Marquess of Winchelsea, eldest son and heir of the Duke of Wolverstone, must foil a plot that threatens to shake the foundations of the realm, but the very last lady—nay, noblewoman—he needs assisting him is Lady Louisa Cynster, known throughout the ton as Lady Wild. For the past nine years, Louisa has suspected that Drake might well be the ideal husband for her, even though he’s assiduous in avoiding her. But she’s now twenty-seven and enough is enough. She believes propinquity will reveal exactly what it is that lies between them, and what better opportunity to work closely with Drake than this latest mission with which he patently needs her help? Unable to deny Louisa’s abilities or the value of her assistance and powerless to curb her willfulness, Drake is forced to grit his teeth and acquiesce to her sticking by his side if only to ensure her safety. But all too soon, his true feelings for her surface sufficiently for her, perspicacious as she is, to see through his denials, which she then interprets as a challenge. Even while they gather information, tease out clues, increasingly desperately search for the missing gunpowder, and doggedly pursue the killer responsible for an ever-escalating tally of dead men, thrown together through the hours, he and she learn to trust and appreciate each other. And fed by constant exposure—and blatantly encouraged by her—their desires and hungers swell and grow… As the barriers between them crumble, the attraction he has for so long restrained burgeons and balloons, until goaded by her near-death, it erupts, and he seizes her—only to be seized in return. Linked irrevocably and with their wills melded and merged by passion’s fire, with time running out and the evil mastermind’s deadline looming, together, they focus their considerable talents and make one last push to learn the critical truths—to find the gunpowder and unmask the villain behind this far-reaching plot. Only to discover that they have significantly less time than they’d thought, that the villain’s target is even more crucially fundamental to the realm than they’d imagined, and it’s going to take all that Drake is—as well as all that Louisa as Lady Wild can bring to bear—to defuse the threat, capture the villain, and make all safe and right again. As they race to the ultimate confrontation, the future of all England rests on their shoulders. Third volume in a trilogy. A historical romance with gothic overtones layered over an intrigue. A full length novel of 129,000 words. Praise for the works of Stephanie Laurens “Stephanie Laurens’ heroines are marvelous tributes to Georgette Heyer: feisty and strong.” Cathy Kelly “Stephanie Laurens never fails to entertain and charm her readers with vibrant plots, snappy dialogue, and unforgettable characters.” Historical Romance Reviews. “Stephanie Laurens plays into readers’ fantasies like a master and claims their hearts time and again.” Romantic Times Magazine **