Who will find Hope? Although short, this story gives us a short insight to a teenage girl who was bullied. This is her last few hours before she takes her life.The story has been adapted more than once: the mysterious, somewhat murderous, Phantom of the Opera – the "Angel of Music," a disembodied voice who tutors Christine, a poor chorus girl, until she can take the stage and sing solo. But when she does, and is recognized by an old friend who is now a suitor, the Phantom reveals himself as a hideously deformed man, kidnapping Christine in a fit of jealousy - and the suitor must seek and rescue the girl in the hidden tunnels beneath the opera house. There are stories, books, movies (silent and otherwise), and a musical for the stage.But what if the Opera-house Ghost really was . . . dead?

Sixteen poems about portages, thunderstorms, and long sunny days, the experience of canoeing in summer.These sixteen poems celebrate canoeing lakes and rivers in that brightest of all times. The include poems about sun and wind, afternoon thunderstorms, bugs, love, and dry, dry riverbeds. And, yes, that wonderful moment when the sun is high, you’re on the lake, and you get a tailwind.This is part of the series, Canoeing Poems: A Year in Four Volumes.

Victor, a New York cop nearing retirement, moves among furniture in the disused attic of a house marked for demolition. Cabinets, desks, a damaged harp, an overstuffed armchair - the relics of a lost life of affluence he's finally come to sell. But when his brother Walter, who he hasn't spoken to in years, arrives, the talk stops being just about whether Victor's been offered a fair price for the furniture, and turns to the price that one and not the other of them paid when their father lost both his fortune and the will to go on ...

Will tonight be the night they each get their heart’s desire? Five high school juniors get ready for the dance they hope will change their lives forever It’s Saturday night—the evening of the Autumn Leaves Dance. Beth Rose is going solo in the dress she hopes will transform her from average student whom no one notices into someone special. Anne is the girl Beth Rose wishes she could be: beautiful and smart, with impeccable grades and the perfect boyfriend. But would everyone think Anne was so flawless if they knew her secret? Emily asked a boy she just met to take her to the dance—and he accepted. Now, with fifteen minutes to go, Emily hopes he shows up. The whole dance was Kip’s idea, and she doesn’t even have a date. Molly hasn’t got a single female friend, but all the boys love her. She has a date for the dance, but has already set her sights on another guy—somebody else’s boyfriend. For these Westerly High juniors, their first formal dance will hold heartbreak, danger, and the thrilling promise of love.

In Jack Campbell’s New York Times bestselling Lost Fleet series, Campbell’s hero Captain Black Jack Geary explores the furthest reaches of space. Here, Campbell explores what kinds of problems mankind might face as our horizons expand. The third in a series of collections of Campbell’s short stories includes some of Campbell’s favorite stories, and some of his earliest. A brand new author’s note accompanies each story. “Lady Be Good” is one of Campbell’s most popular stories, winner of Analog Magazine’s “AnLab” reader poll for Best Short Story and cited in Gardner Dozois' Year’s Best SF. The Lady Be Good is an old ship, running obscure routes, not all on the right side of the law, with her loyal first officer Kilcannon and reclusive captain. When Kilcannon decides to rescue the survivors of an attack on a Vestral Company ship, a mysterious new passenger thanks him by asking difficult questions about the Lady, with unexpected answers. In “Kyrie Eleison,” the Verio shipwrecked centuries ago on an out-of-the-way planet, and the descendants of the ship’s survivors have gotten along as well as they can by following the orders that were passed on to them. But those orders weren’t intended to govern life on the planet’s surface, and when the Bellegrange arrives on a rescue mission, her captain will have to reckon with the unexpected social order on the planet. In “Do No Harm”, a ship is so technologically advanced that it can repair itself--but turning over the keys might not be the best idea. And in “Down the Rabbit Hole,” a series of failed attempts at faster-than-light travel lead to a novel approach: sending an untested Naval captain out in a space ship to see if he can figure out what’s gone wrong. With eleven stories in all, AD ASTRA is the most multi-faceted introduction to the short fiction of Jack Campbell, and an essential complement to his bestselling book-length work.

Barbara Pym is a master at capturing the subtle mayhem that takes place in the apparent quiet of the English countryside. Fifty-something sisters Harriet and Belinda Bede live a comfortable, settled existence. Belinda, the quieter of the pair, has for years been secretly in love with the town's pompous (and married) archdeacon, whose odd sermons leave members of his flock in muddled confusion. Harriet, meanwhile, a bubbly extrovert, fends off proposal after proposal of marriage. The arrival of Mr. Mold and Bishop Grote disturb the peace of the village and leave the sisters wondering if they'll ever return to the order of their daily routines. Some Tame Gazelle, first published in Britain nearly 50 years ago, was the first of Pym's nine novels.

A lost wager obliges a Duke to bring a pretty nobody into fashion for the London Season. Irksome duty turns into something quite different as he falls under the spell of his protege's innocent charm. Gabriella would rather help run her father's veterinary practice than fit into fashionable society but the more time she spends with the dashing Duke, the more conflicted she is. Could this be love?He lost a wager . . . but won a treasure. Due to a lost wager, the Duke of Ravenham is obliged to bring a pretty little nobody from the country into fashion among the high-sticklers of London Society. Ravenham would never refuse a debt of honor, no matter how unorthodox, so he overlooks Miss Gordon's vulgar relations to do what is necessary, escorting the unsophisticated chit to balls, etc. But what he expects to be an irksome duty turns out to be something quite different as he falls under the spell of his protege's innocent charm. When he lost that wager, he definitely never counted on losing his heart as well! First impressions can be deceiving. Miss Gabriella Gordon only came to London at her mother's and sister's insistence, for she'd much rather assist in running her father's veterinary practice than attempt to fit into fashionable society. No sooner has she arrived in London than the exalted (and exceedingly handsome) Duke of Ravenham comes to call. The reason is less than flattering, however: due to a lost wager, the Duke is forced to bring Gabriella into fashion, a "favor" she would certainly refuse if her family would let her. But the more time she spends in the dashing Duke's company, the more conflicted she feels— particularly when she discovers they have more in common than she ever dared dream.

Peter stands up to his older brother who stole from him.Lindsay Matthews has reached a critical and painful decision to leave her home because the man she has loved for many years has pushed her away and said to leave him alone. In the middle of a casual dinner between the two, Lindsay disappears and Nick Cates is bewildered by Lindsay’s sudden withdrawal from their life-long friendship because he isn’t aware that he has hurt her. These two need to work through the issues and will need the assistance of a rodeo rope trick. Lindsay is book two of the Stage West series.

Lauren has a secret. Colby has a problem. But when they find each other, everything falls into place. Lauren is the new girl in town with a dark secret. Colby is the football hero with a dream of something more. In alternating chapters, they come together, fall apart, and build something stronger than either of them thought possible--something to truly believe in.

Boy meets girl after dark, at the conclusion of the circus... for a rendezvous both bitter and sweet.excerpt:“I got you a rum and coke,” he said, “without the rum.”She smiled again as her fingers enclosed the glass and he noticed for the first time her nails, long and perfectly rounded, the color of dark twilight sparkling with starlets.“Oh that’s okay,” she said, still smiling. “I don’t care as long as it’s cold and carbonated, and non-alcoholic.”She lifted the glass and he lifted the bottle and for a moment they watched each other drinking. He noticed the curl of hair dropping down like a long and delicate spring brushing each cheek. And then he noticed her darkly kohled eyes. “Would you like to play some pool?” He asked the question just to say something, and disengaged his eyes from her gaze to look over her left shoulder where the table stood. The triangle rack lay roughly centered upon a lit green velvet field next to the unmarked white ball. “I don’t know,” she said. “How good are you?”“I’m okay.”“Better than me, then; I’m not good at all.”

The story of Stephen Desmonde, an English painter who struggles for recognition in a conventional world, sacrificing everything for his passion for art. The title is a reference to John Keats' 1818 poem, Endymion, which begins, "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever."

An Austrian pastor helps a Jewish family escape the Nazis, but their elderly grandmother must stay behind. He hides her in the church, caring for her and learning from her, until one fateful Christmas Eve.Pastor Gottlieb finds it difficult to preach with Nazis in the pews, but since the Anschluss, he has no choice. When a Jewish family seeks his help, he willingly agrees, seeing it as a way to oppose the troops that have invaded Austria.He hides the family in the church, in a service corridor behind the organ pipes. The younger family members plan their escape to New York, but soon realize their elderly grandmother is too frail for the trip.

From an empty hotel room in London, Scott Drake takes a freewheeling trip across the East of England and back again. On trains, in cars, and on foot, the journey lets him say goodbye to the people he has loved and lost; finally allowing him to let go of the pain of the past and find peace in the present.‘There are other places to go; places I shouldn’t have put off visiting for as long as I have. This’ll be the last of my sudden disappearances. The last time I’ll be a summer breeze, gone too soon…’From an empty hotel room in London, Scott Drake takes a freewheeling trip across the East of England and back again. On trains, in cars, and on foot, the journey lets him say goodbye to the people he has loved and lost; finally allowing him to let go of the pain of the past and find peace in the present.The tenth and final short story in the ‘Diamonds’ collection is about love, survival, and finding ways to appreciate the beautiful things that make life worth living.