AN ENGLISHMAN'S CONTINUING SEARCH THROUGH SPACE AND TIME FOR A DECENT CUP OF TEA... Arthur Dent's accidental association with that wholly remarkable book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has not been entirely without incident. Arthur has traveled the length, breadth, and depth of known, and unknown, space. He has stumbled forward and backward through time. He has been blown up, reassembled, cruelly imprisoned, horribly released, and colorfully insulted more than is strictly necessary. And of course Arthur Dent has comprehensively failed to grasp the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. Arthur has finally made it home to Earth, but that does not mean he has escaped his fate. Arthur's chances of getting his hands on a decent cuppa have evaporated rapidly, along with all the world's oceans. For no sooner has he touched down on the planet Earth than he finds out that it is about to be blown up...again. And Another Thing...is the rather unexpected, but very welcome, sixth installment of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It features a pantheon of unemployed gods, everyone's favorite renegade Galactic President, a lovestruck green alien, an irritating computer, and at least one very large slab of cheese.

Alexander McCall Smith's wildly popular 44 Scotland Street series chronicles life in a corner of Edinburgh brimming with wit and humor. Newlywed painter and sometime somnambulist Angus Lordie might be sleepwalking his way into trouble with Animal Welfare when he lets his dog Cyril drink a bit too much lager at the local bar. The longsuffering Bertie, on the cusp of his seventh birthday party, has taken to dreaming about his eighteenth, a time when he will be able to avoid the indignity of unwanted girl attendees and the looming threat of a gender-neutral doll from his domineering mother Irene. Matthew and Elspeth struggle to care for their triplets, contending with Danish au pairs and dubious dukes to boot, while the narcissistic Bruce faces his greatest challenge yet in the form of an over-eager waxologist. As ever, when Alexander McCall Smith visits 44 Scotland Street, fun is sure to follow.

You've eaten too much candy at Christmas…but have you ever eaten the face off a six-footstuffed Santa? You've seen gingerbread houses…but have you ever made your own gingerbread tenement? You've woken up with a hangover…but have you ever woken up next to Kris Kringle himself? Augusten Burroughs has, and in this caustically funny, nostalgic, poignant, and moving collection he recounts Christmases past and present—as only he could. With gimleteyed wit and illuminated prose, Augusten shows how the holidays bring out the worst in us and sometimes, just sometimes, the very, very best.

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

This book tells the story of an impoverished, embarrassment-prone Drone Archibald "Archie" Moffam (pronounced "Moom"), and his difficult relationship with his art-collecting, hotel-owning millionaire father-in-law Daniel Brewster. Archie's attempts to ingratiate himself with Brewster only get him further into trouble.

Waylines is a magazine of science-fiction, fantasy, and horror. Our goal is to capture the "bang" in speculative fiction - that mindbending, wow factor. Issue 6 features interviews with Wesley Chu and film maker David Karlak, with stories by Anaea Lay and Andrew S. Williams.Waylines is a magazine of science-fiction, fantasy, and horror. Our goal is to capture the "bang" in speculative fiction - that mindbending, wow factor. Issue 6 features interviews with Wesley Chu and film maker David Karlak, with the following stories:1 Anaea Lay takes us on a walk on the dark side in, “A Long Fuse to a Slow Detonation” -- a journey into the mind of a woman skirting the edge of sanity.2 Andrew S.Williams goes to the opposite end of the spectrum with a whimsical tale of a computer tech and his struggle with customer complaints for the X-7000 Teleporter in, “Best Regards.”

Santa Claus takes up the challenge when a girl asks him for a star for Christmas, employing a few tricks up his red and white sleeve to get the job done. Can he make the girl's Christmas her best ever yet? A free of charge, Christmas themed short story, totalling 1600 words.Santa Claus takes up the challenge when a girl asks him for a star for Christmas, employing a few tricks up his red and white sleeve to get the job done. Can he make the girl's Christmas her best ever yet?A free of charge, Christmas themed short story, totalling 1600 words.

Three daughters organize their parents' 50th wedding anniversary celebration. The union has been a tempestuous one,but change is about to happen at the most unexpected of occasions.Bella,Bea and Bianca work hard to ensure that their parent's 50th wedding anniversary celebration goes with a swing. Timo and Bertha have weathered the storms of a difficult union,with too many secrets kept quiet for the sake of the family. There's a limit on how long a good man can do the right thing though,and freedom and joy look more attractive than servitude and misery. Someone is about to make their escape bid...

'Dani's Shorts' is a collection of 500 word short stories based on the elements given in the Iron Writer Challenge. These 28 short stories show a range of Dani's favourite writing styles, including pair dialogues, internal thoughts and sardonic parodies.If you are 'up to the Challenge', then go to...https://theironwriter.com/'Dani's Shorts' is a collection of 500 word short stories based on the elements given in the Iron Writer Challenge. These 28 short stories show a range of Dani's favourite writing styles, including pair dialogues, internal thoughts and sardonic parodies.If you are 'up to the Challenge', then go to...https://theironwriter.com/"I hope you find the stories creative, serious, humorous, filled with pointless nonsense and poignant emotions. I hope you get angry, I hope you laugh, I hope you cry. I hope you share this work with everyone you know. Isn’t that what good writing is for?"B Y Rogers (The Iron Writer Challenge)

From the second collection of 17 stories in My Other Shorts & Formal Tales. A Sunday country market is livened up by a gate-crashing, old lady. A fiercely independent migrant, Polish WW2 survivor from out of town. She wants to set up to sell a range of memorabilia, home cooking and sweets. Immediately charming the regular stall-holders with stories and skills. She has other skills; unrevealed.A story from the second collection of 17 stories in My Other Shorts & Formal Tales. The Sunday country market stalls are livened up by the gate crashing of an out-of-towner. The aged old lady, a Polish migrant and surviving veteran of WW2, wants to set up her own stall to sell a wide range of Polish memorabilia, bric-a-brac, home cooking and home made sweets. She immediately charms the other regular stall holders with her wonderful cooking, skills and many stories. She has other skills, unrevealed.

Welcome to an amazing world where a fox trots and a leopard changes its spots. But even here, politicians remain incorrigibly corrupt. We try to understand why politicians shed crocodile tears when crying wolf, why dogs of war bark up the wrong tree, why bureaucrats cover up when curiosity kills the cat, and how politicians cleverly mix apples and oranges after upsetting the apple cart.Once upon a time, there were some woods lovely, dark and deep. Here, on an auspicious day, you could see a fox trot or a leopard change its spots. You might see pigs fly and eagles getting high. You would also notice that using on-the-spot thought, or off-the-cuff rebuff, the fly in the ointment, fish out of water, bee in the bonnet, bats in the belfry, moth near a flame, the stuck pig… all these endangered, proverbial personalities escape their inevitable fates.But even in such an amazing world, where members of the animal kingdom show off by vocalizing vociferously or dare to dream by visualizing vividly, there is one group of brute beings that remains stubbornly selfish. That’s right. Our politicians continue to go from bad to barbaric, from corrupt to cockroachy.Politically Panchatantraed is a short-story, tall-tale series, stolen and adapted from the ancient collection of animal fables from India, The Panchatantra. Written around the third century BC in Sanskrit, The Panchatantra has enthralled and entertained countless generations of avid and awed readers, with stories of fine and friendly animals getting along famously with fickle and foolish humans. Over the centuries, The Panchatantra has gone global, with over two hundred versions in over 50 languages. With a youthful, impressionable audience that extends from third world hutholds to ultra urban zip codes, one should not be surprised to see copies of The Panchatantra sitting shyly on splintering slabs in shabby shacks, or stylishly setup on shiny sliding shelves in stately skyscrapers.But all versions, all translations of these folk fables remain true to the original, and no re-teller has been irresponsible enough to disgustingly deform or pathetically parody these tales. Till now. After all, in today’s confusingly complex world, tales of animated animals and their audacious adventures, artistic acumen and altruistic aspirations are not enough.We need to know why politicians shed crocodile tears when crying wolf, why dogs of war usually bark up the wrong tree, why those in power try to cover up when curiosity kills the cat or you smell a rat, how politicians cleverly mix apples and oranges after upsetting the apple cart… This is where Politically Panchatantraed comes into play.Today, the woods have turned lousy, dreadful and depraved. Political predators with insatiable hunger for power and unquenchable thirst for wealth, hunt unscrupulously for bliss, benefit and bounties beyond. Cool, shady foliage has given way to crooked, shady corporations. And the lofty, life lesson morals at the end of folk tales have been forced into retirement due to lack of interest. But despite all those political wolves in cheap clothing trying to pull the wool over our eyes, the power of the people, and their no-nonsense common sense, will hopefully guide society toward a storybook ending. With a little help from a Holy Cow, of course.

San Francisco. Summer, 1947. A dame walks into a saloon . . . It’s not every afternoon that an enigmatic, comely blonde named Stilton (like the cheese) walks into the scruffy gin joint where Sammy "Two Toes" Tiffin tends bar. It’s love at first sight, but before Sammy can make his move, an Air Force general named Remy arrives with some urgent business. ’Cause when you need something done, Sammy is the guy to go to; he’s got the connections on the street. Meanwhile, a suspicious flying object has been spotted up the Pacific coast in Washington State near Mount Rainer, followed by a mysterious plane crash in a distant patch of desert in New Mexico that goes by the name Roswell. But the real weirdness is happening on the streets of the City by the Bay. When one of Sammy’s schemes goes south and the Cheese mysteriously vanishes, Sammy is forced to contend with his own dark secrets—and more than a few strange goings on—if he wants to find his girl.

Great American humorist James Thurber's beloved and madcap fairy tale about an island society robbed of the wonders of the letter O—in a stunning Deluxe Edition featuring the original, full-color illustrations Littlejack has a map that indicates the existence of a treasure on a far and lonely island, and Black has a ship to get there. So the two bad men team up and sail off on Black's vessel, the Aeiu. The name, Black explains, is all the vowels except for O—which he hates since his mother got wedged in a porthole: They couldn't pull her in, so they had to push her out. Black and Littlejack arrive at the port and demand the treasure. No one knows anything about it, so they have their henchmen ransack the place—to no avail. But Black has a better idea: He will take over the island and purge it of O. The harsh limits of a life sans O (where shoe is she and woe is we) and how finally with a little luck and lots of pluck the islanders...

Her husband appears two weeks after she receives his urn. George suspects foul play from his wife. He is running a minus temperature. He wants to go to bed to warm up. She wants nothing to do with that idea.Ayalah is the only female warrior in all of Miltinoth, raised since she was orphaned as a child to be tough and wary. But she has a destiny beyond her skills with the blade: she is the holder of the first piece of an ancient prophecy. Legend says this prophecy was split into six parts long ago to keep a dark wizard from learning its secrets. Ayalah is determined to find and put together the other pieces in order to discover what the future holds for herself and for the world.The Wizard's Prophecy is JB Starre's first fantasy novel, though her literary fiction has appeared in print elsewhere. The Wizard's Prophecy was first published online as a serial novel with accompanying illustrations. The story is still free to read online, and new chapters post every week.

In this fifth release in a series, Ken takes the reader on a journey winds amongst stories ranging in settings from the eastern shores of England to the Gold Coast. These locations serve as the perfect backdrop for Ken's character's to come to life.'Lunch on Lowestoft Pier' is another of Ken's delightful collection of short stories. This time they are predominantly based in his home country England plus a few more from the Gold Coast just for variety. These stories, as always, are short and punchy, just the right length to read in your lunch break.In his fifth volume of short stories, Ken has something to offer everyone. New characters include nurses at work, secret service agents, school boys getting up to mischief and so on. Ken's ability to draw the reader into every day lives of regular people is most unique. You too can be immediately transported to a time and era that possibly no longer exists, so you can either reminisce, or choose your own adventure - in any event, your reading needs are more than catered for, with this smorgasbord of saga's. Whatever your choice, you will not be disappointed as the unexpected unfolds with every word, slowly revealing the conclusion like a mini Agatha Christie mystery.