Pines and Plains Libraries

A collection of stories set along America's East Coast and featuring themes related to guests and visitors explores unconventional friendships, frustrated loves, mortality, and aging.

Eleven sparkling stories of family, love, and art from New York Times–bestselling author David Lipsky
My mother doesn’t know that I owe my father three thousand dollars.
 
From the opening line of the acclaimed title story—a Best American Short Stories selection that first appeared in the New Yorker—to the tender last scene of “Springs, 1977,” this pitch-perfect...

A collection of the twenty best contemporary short stories selected by series editor Laura Furman from hundreds of literary magazines, The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2010 brings to life a dazzling array of subjects: a street orphan in Malaysia, a cowboy and his teenage bride, a Russian nanny in Manhattan, a nineteenth-century Nigerian widow, and political prisoners on a Greek island. Also included are essays from the eminent jurors on their favorite...

An account of how the author came to be a writer and selections from his writer's notebook augment stories juxtaposing fantasy and truth, and peopled with outrageous and courageous characters.

"Grab a flashlight, crawl under the covers, and dive into the twisted, unexpectedly hilarious world of Rowley Jefferson's imagination. You'll meet zombies, vampires, ghosts, and much more in these comically terrifying tales. Rowley's spooky stories might leave you laughing, but beware--you could end up sleeping with the lights on!" --

In her thrilling new book, Lauren Groff brings the reader into a physical world that is at once domestic and wild-a place where the hazards of the natural world lie waiting to pounce, yet the greatest threats and mysteries are still of an emotional, psychological nature. A family retreat can be derailed by a prowling panther, or by a sexual secret. Among those navigating this place are a resourceful pair of abandoned sisters; a lonely boy, grown up;...

"This powerful collection of short stories traces an emotional arc inspired by Madeleine L'Engle's early life and career, from her lonely childhood in New York to her life as a mother in small-town Connecticut. In a selection of eighteen stories discovered by one of L'Engle's granddaughters, we see how L'Engle's personal experiences and abiding faith informed the creation of her many cherished works. Some of these stories have never been published;...

"A holiday gift for all P.D. James fans to stand alongside her bestselling The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories: six previously uncollected stories from the beloved "Queen of Crime"--Swift, cunning murder mysteries from throughout her extraordinary career. Put your feet up and enjoy a good read! Longtime P.D. James fans will devour these short tales of criminality and deception, each one a pleasure, evocative and engrossing. Including several stories...

"A master storyteller at his best--the O. Henry Prize winner Stephen King delivers a generous collection of stories, several of them brand-new, featuring revelatory autobiographical comments on when, why, and how he came to write (or rewrite) each story. Since his first collection, Nightshift, published thirty-five years ago, Stephen King has dazzled readers with his genius as a writer of short fiction. In this new collection he assembles, for the...

Includes 4 memorable selections spanning the career of famed American humorist: "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," "The £ 1,000,000 Bank Note," "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg," and "The Mysterious Stranger."