National Network for Equitable Library Service

Seventeen-year-old Zelda Bailey-Cho has her future all planned out: improv camp, then Second City, and finally Saturday Night Live. She's thrilled when she lands a spot on the coveted varsity team at a prestigious improv camp, which means she'll get to perform for professional scouts-including her hero, Nina Knightley. But even though she's hardworking and talented, Zelda's also the only girl on Varsity, so she's a target for humiliation from her teammates. And her twenty-year-old coach Ben is cruel to her at practice and way too nice to her when they're alone...

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.

A story about the secrets we keep, the friends we make, and the food we cook.

As Little Bridge Island Public Library's head of children's services, Molly Montgomery hopes the messiest thing in her life will be her sticky-note covered desk. But fate, in the form of a newborn left in the restroom, has other ideas. So does the sheriff who comes to investigate the "abandonment."

After a messy public breakup, soap opera darling Jasmine Lin Rodriguez finds her face splashed across the tabloids. When she returns to her hometown of New York City to film the starring role in a bilingual romantic comedy for the number one streaming service in the country, Jasmine figures her new "Leading Lady Plan" should be easy enough to follow, until a casting shake-up pairs her with telenovela hunk Ashton Suárez.

After a scandalous secret turns their fairy-tale wedding into a nightmare, Rebecca "Bex" Porter and her husband Prince Nicholas are in self-imposed exile. The public is angry. The Queen is even angrier. And the press is salivating. Cutting themselves off from friends and family, and escaping the world's judgmental eyes, feels like the best way to protect their fragile, all-consuming romance. But when a crisis forces the new Duke and Duchess back to London, the Band-Aid they'd placed over their problems starts to peel at the edges.

Brynn and Kinsey are long-time frenemies from summer camp, so there's no way Kinsey is going to tell Brynn that they're half-sisters. She's keeping this bombshell, and a few others as well.

Sloan Monroe still can't seem to get her life back on track after losing her fiancé. A lost pup with "take me home" eyes makes Sloan start to feel more like herself, but Tucker's owner, Jason, wants Tucker back. Sloan's not about to give up her dog without a fight. But as their flirty texts turn into long calls, Sloan can't deny a connection. Is it possible for Sloan to survive another heartbreak?

American Bex Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister Lacey was always the romantic, the one who daydreamed of being a princess. But it's adventure-seeking Bex who goes to Oxford and meets dreamy Nick across the hall, and Bex who finds herself accidentally in love with the heir to the British throne.

Imogen is supposed to be on the most romantic weekend of her life, and instead she's quickly realized that her current boyfriend definitely isn't "The One" and is actually One Big Mistake. Frankie is fed up. Fed up with her good-for-nothing husband and her four unappreciative children. Well, they hardly notice her anyway; maybe it's time to shake it up a little. Grace thought she had the perfect life--gorgeous little boy and perfect, hardworking husband--or rather, she did until she realized her husband was shagging his "work."