National Network for Equitable Library Service

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.

This collection of tales is for fans of ghost-story writer Mary Downing Hahn's scary but not too scary books. Even the stories without actual ghosts are spooky. Each tale turns something ordinary-a pigeon, a white dress, a stranger on the bus, a puppet-into a sinister link to the supernatural. For the human characters, secrets from the past or careless behavior in the present can lead to serious trouble. All the stories have a young person as their central character, so all will resonate easily with young listeners who enjoy the eerie, the creepy, and the otherworldly.

The heart and spirit of an indomitable people travel far in time and space … The unexpected luxury of a day spent at the home of a Hollywood star leads three old friends to share secret facets of their lives, both tragic and triumphant. Excited to retu to the home of her youth after a lifetime spent away, a woman lea s that the life of a childhood friend has been a bleak, awful shadow of her own. The streets of Vancouver seem to glitter with promises of love and success, but a young man is forced to perceive the grittier reality that hides beneath.

This Ramshackle Tabernacle is a collection of short stories set in and around the fictional villages of St. Lola and St. Olga in northeastern Ontario. Whether reflecting on the broken lives of others in the community or mourning the death of a friend who drowned in a freak fishing accident, the characters in this collection face tragedy with grace, humour and perseverance.

These stories deal with both the rundown and ruined aspects of our humanity but also with the redeeming and renewing love that can hold a community together when tragedies threaten to make it crumble.

Strays, Ed Kavanagh’s first work of fiction since the award-winning novel The Confessions of Nipper Mooney, features ten memorable stories that explore the lives of those who somehow find themselves adrift. In “The Strayaway Child” a ninety-year-old woman recalls her girlhood during the Great Depression when she was a “sad, silent little nobody”; in “The Red Merc” a boy learns deep truths about his often absent father; and in “The Wind” a Newfoundlander in a big Canadian city struggles with issues of identity.

Now in its sixth year, the Cuffer Prize is sponsored by The Telegram and Creative Book Publishing in St. John's. It showcases some of the best short fiction from Newfoundland and Labrador writers, both new and established. Entries in 2012 touch on numerous themes -- relationships in their death throes, the loss of a parent of child, impending Armageddon, the strong pull of addiction and the perils of the sea. The stories were reviewed by Cuffer Prize judges Ramona Dearing, Joan Sullivan and Russell Wangersky, and selected by editor Pam Frampton.

Without readers and writers, newspapers could not survive. Recently, The Telegram and Creative Book Publishing embarked on a special project meant to inspire word-lovers across the province - The Cuffer Prize. Intended as a salute to the best in locally crafted short fiction, The Cuffer Prize was launched in March 2008. It attracted nearly 200 entries from Newfoundland and Labrador, representing a variety of genres: romance, children's literature, folk tales, science-fiction and thriller.

Now in its fourth year, the Cuffer Prize is sponsored by The Telegram and Creative Book Publishing. It showcases the best short fiction from Newfoundland and Labrador writers, both young and established. Entries in 2010 ran the gamut from high-end literary fiction to science fiction, humour, and even horror. The stories were then reviewed by acclaimed authors Joan Sullivan, Russell Wangersky, and Kathleen Winter. The Cuffer Anthology 2011 will showcase the best of these entries.

Now in its fifth year, the Cuffer Prize is sponsored by The Telegram and Creative Book Publishing. It showcases short fiction from Newfoundland and Labrador writers, both new and well-established. The best entries from the 2011 competition appear in this anthology, and they run the gamut of writing styles; they're gritty, poignant, cheeky -- sometimes downright disturbing -- but all are compelling and meticulously crafted. Open the cover and turn the pages -- you won't want to stop reading till the end.