National Network for Equitable Library Service

Four writers, four different perspectives on the problematic notion of purity."All purity is created by resemblance and disavowal." With this sentence as a starting point, four authors each write a novella considering the concept of purity, all from astonishingly different angles. Jean Marc Ah-Sen writes about love blooming between two writers belonging to feuding literary movements. Emily Anglin explores an architect's search for her twin at a rural historic house. Devon Code documents the Wittgensteinian upheavals of the last days of an elderly woman.

The characters in Pigeon Soup & Other Stories are navigating relationships and grappling with issues of translocation, language and identity, religion and culture, and food. These tales portray the dark places they inhabit physically, emotionally, or metaphorically, with twists that sometimes provide a flicker—or even a bright beam—of hope. The collection begins with a light offering of Pigeon Soup, in which two Canadian university students who have arrived in Italy to help in an earthquake relief mission accept a ride from a quirky taxi driver.

Adapted from family stories told across Newfoundland and passed down over generations, these 10 spine-tingling tales traverse centuries and introduce readers to nooks and the Island's nooks and crannies. This spooky collection features black-and-white illustrations as well as traditional context on each story and the art of storytelling in Newfoundland.

Patricia Robertson's new collection of short fiction, Hour of the Crab, is a work of insight and mastery, each story demonstrating an original vision, intriguing characters, and sophisticated skill. Readers will travel with Robertson's vivid characters, sharing their journeys, their challenges, their complicated choices. They will also discover other worlds - from an eleventh-century monastery in France to a near-future British Columbia where apocalyptic wildfires seem to be never-ending.

Twelve short stories about love, loss, failure, and acceptance by an award-winning author. The daughter of an alcoholic desperate to be loved. A father reliving a failed dream though his teenaged son. A struggling immigrant surprised to discover that money does not buy happiness. A creative boy struggling to please his dead father. An eco-warrior defying her entire town for what she believes is right. A father unable to reconcile the assault of his daughter with the world he raised her to believe in. A gay pastor in self-imposed exile from church and family.

With birth, death, contemplation, and close calls, Send More Tourists... the Last Ones Were Delicious explores how we respond to the weight of social expectations. From the hidden pressures of wall paint and tarot card predictions, to the burden of phone numbers and the dismembering of saints, Waddleton takes us on a surrealist road trip through the missteps of her vivid characters with honesty and compassion. These are stories of survival.

Evoking Beyoncé's Lemonade for a teen audience, these authors who are truly Octavia Butler's heirs have woven worlds to create a stunning narrative that puts Black women and gender-nonconforming individuals at its center. A Phoenix First Must Burn will take you on a journey from folktales retold to futuristic societies and everything in between. Filled with stories of love and betrayal, strength and resistance, this collection contains an array of complex and true-to-life characters through which you cannot help but see yourself reflected.

In the days when hunger could be cultivated and practiced as an art form, the individuals who practiced it were often put on show for all to see. One man who was so devout in his pursuit of hunger pushed against the boundaries set by the circus that housed him and strived to go longer than forty days without food. As interest in his art began to fade, he pushed the boundaries even further. In this short story about one man's plight to prove his worth, Franz Kafka illustrates the themes of self-hatred, dedication, and spiritual yearning.

This collection of transgressive stories has been compiled through a rigorous nomination and vetting process and hand-selected by Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, as the best of The Cult workshop. These stories run the gamut from horrific and fantastic to humorous and touching, but each leaves a lasting impression. Some may say even a scar.

Kat Howard has already been called a "remarkable writer" by Neil Gaiman, and her "dark and enticing" (Publishers Weekly) debut novel, Roses and Rot, was beloved by critics and fans alike.Now you can experience her collected shorter works, including two new stories.