National Network for Equitable Library Service

From one of America's preeminent literary voices comes a new story collection that proves once again why the writing of Luis Alberto Urrea has been called "wickedly good" (Kansas City Star), "cinematic and charged" (Cleveland Plain Dealer), and "studded with delights" (Chicago Tribune). Examining the borders between one nation and another, between one person and another, Urrea reveals his mastery of the short form.

For years Frederick Lowell has quietly managed the estate of the revered novelist Edward Goodwin. Though the author of only one novel, that book has gone on to sell hundreds of millions of copies, keeping Lowell comfortable as well as Goodwin's ne'er-do-well and feckless children. Then word comes that a sequel to the novel may in fact exist, and Lowell becomes a detective, navigating a series of startling twists that take him from a Hamptons retreat to a state penitentiary, from a Westchester homestead to a decaying Southern hotel.

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church's double standards and their own needs and passions.

The Scent of Almonds and Other Stories is a collection of short stories from the number-one international best-seller Camilla Lackberg. Perfect for fans of Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo. The Scent of Almonds - It's less than a week until Christmas, and policeman Martin Mohlin is begrudgingly accompanying his girlfriend to a family reunion on the tiny island of Valön outside of Fjällbacka. The connection to the mainland is cut off by a snowstorm, and when the domineering patriarch, Ruben, collapses during Christmas dinner, Martin is forced to intervene.

The Nine Billion Names of God and Other Stories, the third volume in the Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke, is comprised of those 22 stories which Clarke considered personal favorites among his own work at the time.

In appearance Hercule Poirot hardly resembled an ancient Greek hero. Yet reasoned the detective like Hercules he had been responsible for ridding society of some of its most unpleasant monsters. So, in the period leading up to his retirement, Poirot makes up his mind to accept just twelve more cases: his self-imposed Labors. Each would go down in the annals of crime as a heroic feat of deduction.

In Homecoming, the Brennans run Quentin's restaurant in Dublin for the owner, who lives abroad. But what will happen when he suddenly pays a visit? Telling Stories sees Irene's fiancé turning up the night before the wedding with a face as white as the dress that is to be worn the next day. Then trouble starts. In Needy, Heather is painfully aware that Valentine's Day declarations of love should be viewed with suspicion, even if the sender is the one she loves. And in The Interview, Bessie is deaf and needs a place in a special school. But will she pass the interview?

Blackfoot storyteller Alexander Soop plunges us into a shocking well of imagination in his debut collection of short stories, Midnight Storm Moonless Sky. From hauntings on the Highway of Tears to fearful gatherings of ghosts and the sorrows of racism, Soop combines the social anxieties of Indigenous life with spellbinding flights and frights of speculative fiction.

In Siksikaitsitapi: Stories of the Blackfoot People, seven authors share their stories that come from both from legend and from their personal experiences, with stories in both Blackfoot and English languages. The book is illustrated with beautiful full-colour pictures and photos which help convey these stories from Blackfoot traditional and contemporary traditions and cultures. The Blackfoot Confederacy is made up of the Siksika, Kainai, Piikani, and Amskapi Piikuni Nations of Southern Alberta and Montana.

This collection of delicately crafted short stories captures the joys and sorrows of homesteaders working to create a community on the frontier. Throw another log on the fire and curl up with this heart-warming book.