Archives for posts with tag: Karen Joy Fowler

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The Story Collection Storybundle is ends today June 2 at Midnight Eastern Time, 9 p.m. Pacific Time, at https://storybundle.com/storycollection!

You’ll receive:

Collected Stories by Lewis Shiner

The extensive and multi-genre collection was prepared as an ebook for Storybundle, includes forty-one stories, and has an Introduction by Karen Joy Fowler. Shiner was a finalist for the Philip K Dick Award, the Hugo Award, and the Nebula Award.

Errantry: Strange Stories by Elizabeth Hand

Hand won the World Fantasy Award four times, the Nebula Award twice, the Shirley Jackson Award twice, the Mythopoetic Award, and was a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book Author.

The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories by Walter Jon Williams

Two stories in this collection won the Nebula Award. Williams was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist and placed numerous times for the Nebula and Hugo Awards.

The bonus books, which complete your bundle, are:

What I Didn’t See: Stories by Karen Joy Fowler

The collection won the World Fantasy Award and the title story won the Nebula. Fowler wrote The Jane Austen Book Club, a New York Times Bestseller made into a film, and won the 2013 PEN/Faulkner for We are all completely beside ourselves.

6 Stories by Kathe Koja

The collection was created by the author exclusively for Storybundle. Koja won the Bram Stoker Award and was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist.

Strange Ladies: 7 Stories by Lisa Mason

The collection received five stars from the San Francisco Review of Books. Mason was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist, a San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book Author, and a New York Times Notable Book Author.

Women Up to No Good by Pat Murphy

Two stories in the collection were nominated for the Nebula. Murphy won the Nebula Award twice, the World Fantasy Award, and the Philip K Dick Award.

Wild Things by C. C. Finlay

The collection is an ebook exclusive for Storybundle and has a new Afterword. A multi-award-nominated author, Finlay is the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

It’s difficult to locate some of the stories in anthologies and magazines that have gone out of print. The authors of the Story Collection Storybundle have done the work of assembling their collections. All you have to do is enjoy!

Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to stock up your ereader with world-class, award-winning reading for summer vacation and beyond!

Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever! Download yours right now at https://storybundle.com/storycollection. Thank you for your readership!

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AllCoversLarge

The Story Collection Storybundle is ends today June 2 at Midnight Eastern Time at https://storybundle.com/storycollection!

At StoryBundle, you the reader name your price—whatever you feel the books are worth. You may designate a portion of the proceeds to go to a charity. For The Story Collection Storybundle, that’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (“SFWA”). SFWA champions writers’ rights, sponsors the Nebula Award for excellence in science fiction, and promotes numerous literacy groups.

For $5 (or more, if you wish), you’ll receive the basic bundle of three books in any eBook format worldwide. For $12 (or more, it’s up to you), you’ll receive five bonus books as well. That’s eight stellar ebooks to add to your e-library.

The basic bundle includes:

Collected Stories by Lewis Shiner

The extensive and multi-genre collection was prepared as an ebook for Storybundle, includes forty-one stories, and has an Introduction by Karen Joy Fowler. Shiner was a finalist for the Philip K Dick Award, the Hugo Award, and the Nebula Award.

Errantry: Strange Stories by Elizabeth Hand

Hand won the World Fantasy Award four times, the Nebula Award twice, the Shirley Jackson Award twice, the Mythopoetic Award, and was a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book Author.

The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories by Walter Jon Williams

Two stories in this collection won the Nebula Award. Williams was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist and placed numerous times for the Nebula and Hugo Awards.

The bonus books, which complete your bundle, are:

What I Didn’t See: Stories by Karen Joy Fowler

The collection won the World Fantasy Award and the title story won the Nebula. Fowler wrote The Jane Austen Book Club, a New York Times Bestseller made into a film, and won the 2013 PEN/Faulkner for We are all completely beside ourselves.

6 Stories by Kathe Koja

The collection was created by the author exclusively for Storybundle. Koja won the Bram Stoker Award and was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist.

Strange Ladies: 7 Stories by Lisa Mason

The collection received five stars from the San Francisco Review of Books. Mason was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist, a San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book Author, and a New York Times Notable Book Author.

Women Up to No Good by Pat Murphy

Two stories in the collection were nominated for the Nebula. Murphy won the Nebula Award twice, the World Fantasy Award, and the Philip K Dick Award.

Wild Things by C. C. Finlay

The collection is an ebook exclusive for Storybundle and has a new Afterword. A multi-award-nominated author, Finlay is the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

But never mind the authors’ accolades and accomplishments. The collections are a feast for the mind—amazing, far-ranging, thought-provoking, dark, disturbing, witty, and—dare I say it?—just a damn good read.

It’s difficult to locate some of the stories in anthologies and magazines that have gone out of print. The authors of the Story Collection Storybundle have done the work of assembling their collections. All you have to do is enjoy!

If you love short stories as much as I do, you’ll find a delightful cornucopia of literary riches. The Story Collection Storybundle is unique and diverse. Browse selections among them or devour an author’s entire offering. That’s what I love about stories. The choice is yours!

So there you have it, my friends. The Story Collection Storybundle ends today, June 2, 2016, at Midnight Eastern Time, 9 p.m. Pacific Time. Load up your ereader for summer vacation and beyond!

Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever! Download yours today at https://storybundle.com/storycollection and enjoy world-class, award-winning reading right now and through the summer months. Thank you for your readership!

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The Story Collection Storybundle
Curated by Lisa Mason

I love short stories. There’s nothing like a good story to satisfy your fiction fix in the course of a busy day, a tiny universe savored over a lunch hour, on a train commute, with a glass of wine at the end of the day.

Because of its compression, its fewer moving parts, a story may be more highly crafted than a novel. A famous story may represent an author’s style and vision more succinctly than any one of his or her books. Think of “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” by Ernest Hemingway, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allen Poe. Or how about “What I Didn’t See” by Karen Joy Fowler, “The War At Home” by Lewis Shiner, “Love and Sex Among the Invertebrates” by Pat Murphy . . .

But wait a minute! We’ve got those last three stories in the Story Collection Storybundle. And we’ve got more than stories, we’ve got multi-award-winning and award-nominated story collections.

The authors have assembled their short fiction written over a decade—sometimes over two or three decades—of their careers. Stories published in wide-ranging and diverse magazines and anthologies, many which may be difficult to find now, some of which may have gone out of print. The authors have done the hard work of gathering up these amazing stories and all you, the reader, need to do is enjoy!

But never mind the authors’ accolades and accomplishments. The collections are a feast for the mind—amazing, far-ranging, tragic, disturbing, thought-provoking, witty, and—dare I say it?—just a damn good read.

Oh, the places you’ll go! Trek to Africa in search of gorillas in Karen Joy Fowler’s “What I Didn’t See.” Journey to Paris in search of an antique spool of recording wire in Lewis Shiner’s “Perfidia.” Explore the mysteries of a little boy’s life in Walter Jon Williams’ “Daddy’s World.” Search for the Folding Man in Elizabeth Hand’s “Errantry.” Embark on a cross-country car trip with three mysterious strangers in Lisa Mason’s “Destination.” Defy conventional society in Pat Murphy’s “A Flock of Lawn Flamingos.” Learn the dark powers of a voodoo doll in Kathe Koja’s “Baby.” Search for resources on asteroids in C.C. Finlay’s “The Frontier Archipelago.”

As always at Storybundle.com, you the reader name your price—whatever you feel the books are worth. You may designate a portion of the proceeds to go to a charity. For the Story Collection Storybundle, that’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (“SFWA”). SFWA champions writers’ rights, sponsors the Nebula Award for excellence in fantasy and science fiction, and promotes numerous literacy groups.

The basic bundle (minimum $5 to purchase, more if you feel the books are worth more) includes:

  • Collected Stories by Lewis Shiner

This extensive and multi-genre collection was prepared as an ebook for Storybundle, includes forty-one stories, and has an Introduction by Karen Joy Fowler. Shiner was a finalist for the Philip K Dick Award, the Hugo Award, and the Nebula Award.

  • Errantry: Strange Stories by Elizabeth Hand

Hand won the World Fantasy Award four times, the Nebula Award twice, the Shirley Jackson Award twice, the Mythopoetic Award, and was a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book Author.

  • The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories by Walter Jon Williams

Two stories in this collection won the Nebula Award. Williams was a New York Times Bestseller, placed as a Philip K Dick Award Finalist and numerous times for the Nebula and Hugo Awards.

To complete your bundle, beat the bonus price of $12 and you’ll receive another five amazing, award-winning books:

  • What I Didn’t See: Stories by Karen Joy Fowler

The collection won the World Fantasy Award and the title story won the Nebula. Fowler wrote The Jane Austen Book Club, a New York Times Bestseller made into a film, and won the 2013 PEN/Faulkner for We are all completely beside ourselves.

  • 6 Stories by Kathe Koja

The collection was created by the author exclusively for Storybundle. Koja won the Bram Stoker Award, won the io9.com award for one of the ten best first novels that shook the world, and was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist.

  • Strange Ladies: 7 Stories by Lisa Mason

The collection received five stars from the San Francisco Review of Books. Mason was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist, a San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book Author, and a New York Times Notable Book Author.

  • Women Up to No Good by Pat Murphy

Two stories in the collection were nominated for the Nebula Award. Murphy won the Nebula Award twice, the World Fantasy Award, and the Philip K Dick Award.

  • Wild Things by C. C. Finlay

The collection was prepared exclusively as an ebook for Storybundle and has a brand-new Afterword. A multi-award-nominated author translated in over two dozen languages, Finlay is the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

So there you have it! A super-collection from some of the most talented storywriters in any genre. Devour an author’s entire offering or browse stories from collection to collection. The choice is yours with the Story Collection Storybundle!

Stock up your ereader with award-winning fiction that’s perfect for your summer vacation. The Story Collection Storybundle is both historic and unique, an excellent addition to your elibrary providing world-class, award-winning reading right now, through the summer, and beyond.

–Lisa Mason, Curator

The Story Collection Storybundle ends June 2, 2016 at Storybundle. The bundle is easy to read on computers, smartphones, and tablets, as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get multiple DRM-free formats (.epub and .mobi) for all books.

When the bundle is gone, it’s gone. So act now and download yours today!

It’s super easy to give the gift of reading with StoryBundle, thanks to our gift cards – which allow you to send someone a code that they can redeem for any future StoryBundle bundle – and timed delivery, which allows you to control exactly when your recipient will get the gift of StoryBundle.

Why StoryBundle? Here are just a few benefits StoryBundle provides.

  • Get quality reads: We’ve chosen works from excellent authors to bundle together in one convenient package.
  • Pay what you want (minimum $5): You decide how much these fantastic books are worth to you. If you can only spare a little, that’s fine! You’ll still get access to a batch of thrilling titles.
  • Support authors who support DRM-free books: StoryBundle is a platform for authors to get exposure for their works, both for the titles featured in the bundle and for the rest of their list. Supporting authors who let you read their books on any device you want—restriction free—will show everyone there’s nothing wrong with ditching DRM.
  • Give to worthy causes: Bundle buyers have a chance to donate a portion of their proceeds to charity. The Story Collection Storybundle forwards your donations to Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
  • Receive bonus books to complete your bundle. When you beat our bonus price of $12, you’re not just getting three books, you’re getting eight!

StoryBundle was created to give a platform for independent authors to showcase their work, and a source of quality titles for thirsty readers. StoryBundle works with authors to create bundles of ebooks that can be purchased by readers at their desired price. Before starting StoryBundle, Founder Jason Chen covered technology and software as an editor for Gizmodo.com and Lifehacker.com.

For more information, visit our website at storybundle.com, Twitter us at @storybundle, Like us on Facebook, and Plus us on Google Plus. For press inquiries, please email press@storybundle.com.

What I Didn't See Cover Final

What I Didn’t See: Stories by Karen Joy Fowler
Whether Karen is portraying a modern rebellious teenager sent by her parents to a horrifying camp for juvenile delinquents, a turn-of-the-century photographer taking pictures of relics found at an archeological dig, or a midcentury woman sent on a safari to hunt gorillas in Africa, you the reader may be sure she will delve deeply into her characters’ hearts and minds, reveal unexpected thoughts and feelings, and spin unusual plots supported by meticulous research and extrapolation. Enjoy this award-winning collection by this bestselling author in The Story Collection Storybundle.
–Lisa Mason

Karen Joy Fowler takes the short story in directions readers could never anticipate, and her latest collection from the wonderful Small Beer Press, What I Didn’t See: Stories, offers up numerous delights for the smart and creative reader. From the wham-bang start of “The Pelican Bar” to the Hemingway-esque title story, Fowler takes you from the past to the future in stories that feature speculative fiction elements, or are starkly true to life. Cast your preconceived notions aside and settle in to explore the human mysteries Fowler mines with abandon. This is literature at its most intriguing, and a reminder of how bold and daring a gifted writer can be.”
—Colleen Mondor, Bookslut

Visit Karen at http://karenjoyfowler.com for more about her stories and books.

So there you have it, my friends. The Story Collection Storybundle is live! You the reader name your price—whatever you feel the books are worth. You may even designate a portion to go to a charity. Savor traditionally published, multi-award-winning stories from diverse and varied publications which the authors have collected for you.

The Bundle includes What I Didn’t See (a World Fantasy Award Winner) by Karen Joy Fowler (the New York Times bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club), Collected Stories by Philip K. Dick Award Finalist Lewis Shiner, Errantry by four-time World Fantasy Award-winning Elizabeth Hand, The Green Leopard Plague by two-time Nebula Award-winning Walter Jon Williams, Women Up to No Good by multi-award-winning Pat Murphy, Strange Ladies: 7 Stories by New York Times Notable Book Author Lisa Mason, Wild Things by C. C. Finlay, the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and 6 Stories by Bram Stoker Award-winning Kathe Koja.

The time has come, the end is near. The Story Collection Storybundle lasts only until this Thursday, June 2, 2016 at https://storybundle.com/storycollection. Grab this golden opportunity while it lasts, and enjoy world-class reading over the summer and beyond.

AllCoversLarge

The Story Collection Storybundle is ends June 2, 2016 at Midnight Eastern, 9 p.m., Pacific, at https://storybundle.com/storycollection!

At StoryBundle, you the reader name your price—whatever you feel the books are worth. You may designate a portion of the proceeds to go to a charity. For The Story Collection Storybundle, that’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (“SFWA”). SFWA champions writers’ rights, sponsors the Nebula Award for excellence in science fiction, and promotes numerous literacy groups.

For $5 (or more, if you wish), you’ll receive the basic bundle of three books in any eBook format worldwide. For $12 (or more, it’s up to you), you’ll receive five bonus books as well. That’s eight stellar ebooks to add to your e-library.

The basic bundle includes:

Collected Stories by Lewis Shiner

The extensive and multi-genre collection was prepared as an ebook for Storybundle, includes forty-one stories, and has an Introduction by Karen Joy Fowler. Shiner was a finalist for the Philip K Dick Award, the Hugo Award, and the Nebula Award.

Errantry: Strange Stories by Elizabeth Hand

Hand won the World Fantasy Award four times, the Nebula Award twice, the Shirley Jackson Award twice, the Mythopoetic Award, and was a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book Author.

The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories by Walter Jon Williams

Two stories in this collection won the Nebula Award. Williams was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist and placed numerous times for the Nebula and Hugo Awards.

The bonus books, which complete your bundle, are:

What I Didn’t See: Stories by Karen Joy Fowler

The collection won the World Fantasy Award and the title story won the Nebula. Fowler wrote The Jane Austen Book Club, a New York Times Bestseller made into a film, and won the 2013 PEN/Faulkner for We are all completely beside ourselves.

6 Stories by Kathe Koja

The collection was created by the author exclusively for Storybundle. Koja won the Bram Stoker Award and was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist.

Strange Ladies: 7 Stories by Lisa Mason

The collection received five stars from the San Francisco Review of Books. Mason was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist, a San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book Author, and a New York Times Notable Book Author.

Women Up to No Good by Pat Murphy

Two stories in the collection were nominated for the Nebula. Murphy won the Nebula twice, the World Fantasy, and the Philip K Dick Awards.

Wild Things by C. C. Finlay

The collection is an ebook exclusive for Storybundle and has a new Afterword. An award-nominated fantasy author, Finlay is the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

But never mind the authors’ accolades and accomplishments. The collections are a feast for the mind—amazing, far-ranging, thought-provoking, witty, and—dare I say it?—a damn good read.

It’s difficult to locate some of the stories in anthologies and magazines that have gone out of print. The authors of the Story Collection Storybundle have done the work of assembling their collections. All you have to do is enjoy!

If you love short stories as much as I do, you’ll find a delightful cornucopia of literary riches. The Story Collection Storybundle is unique and diverse. Browse selections among them or devour an author’s entire offering. That’s what I love about stories. The choice is yours!

So there you have it, my friends. The Story Collection Storybundle ends in five days on June 2, 2016, at Midnight Eastern Time. Once it’s gone, it’s gone! Download yours today at https://storybundle.com/storycollection and enjoy world-class, award-winning reading right now and through the summer months.

AllCoversLarge

The Story Collection Storybundle is Live at https://storybundle.com/storycollection but you must act now! Only week left until June 2, 2016, after which it’s gone!

At StoryBundle, you the reader name your price—whatever you feel the books are worth. You may designate a portion of the proceeds to go to a charity. For The Story Collection Storybundle, that’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (“SFWA”). SFWA champions writers’ rights, sponsors the Nebula Award for excellence in science fiction, and promotes numerous literacy groups.

For $5 (or more, if you wish), you’ll receive the basic bundle of three books in any eBook format worldwide. For $12 (or more, it’s up to you), you’ll receive five bonus books as well. That’s eight stellar ebooks to add to your e-library.

The basic bundle includes:

Collected Stories by Lewis Shiner

The extensive and multi-genre collection was prepared as an ebook for Storybundle, includes forty-one stories, and has an Introduction by Karen Joy Fowler. Shiner was a finalist for the Philip K Dick Award, the Hugo Award, and the Nebula Award.

Errantry: Strange Stories by Elizabeth Hand

Hand won the World Fantasy Award four times, the Nebula Award twice, the Shirley Jackson Award twice, the Mythopoetic Award, and was a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book Author.

The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories by Walter Jon Williams

Two stories in this collection won the Nebula Award. Williams was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist and placed numerous times for the Nebula and Hugo Awards.

The bonus books, which complete your bundle, are:

What I Didn’t See: Stories by Karen Joy Fowler

The collection won the World Fantasy Award and the title story won the Nebula. Fowler wrote The Jane Austen Book Club, a New York Times Bestseller made into a film, and won the 2013 PEN/Faulkner for We are all completely beside ourselves.

6 Stories by Kathe Koja

The collection was created by the author exclusively for Storybundle. Koja won the Bram Stoker Award and was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist.

Strange Ladies: 7 Stories by Lisa Mason

The collection received five stars from the San Francisco Review of Books. Mason was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist, a San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book Author, and a New York Times Notable Book Author.

Women Up to No Good by Pat Murphy

The collection includes two stories nominated for the Nebula Award. Murphy won the Nebula twice, the World Fantasy Award, and the Philip K Dick Award.

Wild Things by C. C. Finlay

The collection is an ebook exclusive for Storybundle and has a new Afterword. A multi-award-nominated author, Finlay is the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

But never mind the authors’ accolades and accomplishments. The collections are a feast for the mind—amazing, far-ranging, thought-provoking, disturbing, witty, and—dare I say it?—a damn good read.

It’s difficult to locate some of the stories in anthologies and magazines that have gone out of print. The authors of the Story Collection Storybundle have done the work of assembling their collections. All you have to do is enjoy!

If you love short stories as much as I do, you’ll find a delightful cornucopia of literary riches. The Story Collection Storybundle is unique and diverse. Browse selections among them or devour an author’s entire offering. That’s what I love about stories. The choice is yours!

So there you have it, my friends. The Story Collection Storybundle runs only until June 2, 2016, only eight more days! Load up your ereader for summer vacation and way beyond! Once it’s gone, it’s gone! Download yours today at https://storybundle.com/storycollection and enjoy world-class, award-winning reading right now and through the summer months.

What I Didn't See Cover Final

Here are the stories you’ll find in Karen Joy Fowler’s story collection, What I Didn’t See:

The Pelican Bar
Booth’s Ghost
The Last Worders
The Dark Always
Familiar Birds
Private Grave 9
The Marianas Islands
Halfway People
Standing Room Only
What I Didn’t See
King Rat

“An exceptionally versatile author . . . Fowler has “the best possible combination of imagination and pragmatism,” as she applies unique narratives into carefully crafted structures.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“In all these stories, Fowler (“Sarah Canary,” “The Jane Austen Book Club”) delights in luring her readers from the walks of ordinary life into darker, more fantastical realms. There, as one of her characters remarks, “Your eyes no longer impose any limit on the things you can see.” . . . Fowler’s closing story, “King Rat,” is a masterpiece. Reading more like a personal essay than fiction, it pays eloquent tribute to “the two men I credit with making me a writer.” Here’s a volume that serves as a fine introduction to Fowler, if you haven’t come across her before—and one that will deeply satisfy fans who’ve been with her from the beginning.”
Seattle Times

“One of those writers who can write an almost thoroughly mainstream realistic story and nearly convince us we’re reading SF, or write an SF story and convince us we’re reading mainstream realism.”
Locus

“That rare writer who can match the power of her novels with the power of her short stories. She works in the world of myth with great ease. We feel, reading her stories, that we are in our world, but some portion of it that connects vitally with everything else. What happens here is gripping, important, compelling, and often terrifying. Her new collection of stories, ‘What I Didn’t See’ offers readers perfect renderings of a New American Mythos”
Rick Kleffel, The Agony Column

Karen Joy Fowler takes the short story in directions readers could never anticipate, and her latest collection from the wonderful Small Beer Press, What I Didn’t See: Stories, offers up numerous delights for the smart and creative reader. From the wham-bang start of “The Pelican Bar” to the Hemingway-esque title story, Fowler takes you from the past to the future in stories that feature speculative fiction elements, or are starkly true to life. Cast your preconceived notions aside and settle in to explore the human mysteries Fowler mines with abandon. This is literature at its most intriguing, and a reminder of how bold and daring a gifted writer can be.”
—Colleen Mondor, Bookslut

“The practicality of her views is what makes them upsetting, a reminder how tragedies great and small affect people every day even if we aren’t privy to them. And that is where Fowler succeeds — even if her brutal boarding houses or Congolese misadventures aren’t real to us, post-traumatic stress disorder is. All of her narrators are survivors, and they tell their stories in blunt, practical ways we imagine they need to protect themselves.”
For Books’ Sakes

“Fowler cements her place in fiction history–genre or otherwise–not because of her fancy tricks but through sheer technique and her excellence in characterization.”
—Charles Tan, Bibliophile Stalker

Visit Karen at http://karenjoyfowler.com for more about her stories and books.

So there you have it, my friends. The Story Collection Storybundle is live! You the reader name your price—whatever you feel the books are worth. You may even designate a portion to go to a charity. Savor traditionally published, multi-award-winning stories from diverse and varied publications which the authors have collected for you.

The Bundle includes What I Didn’t See (a World Fantasy Award Winner) by Karen Joy Fowler (the New York Times bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club), Collected Stories by Lewis Shiner, Errantry by Elizabeth Hand, The Green Leopard Plague by Walter Jon Williams, Women Up to No Good by Pat Murphy, Strange Ladies: 7 Stories by Lisa Mason, Wild Things by C. C. Finlay, and 6 Stories by Kathe Koja.

But you must act now. The Story Collection Storybundle lasts only until June 2, 2016 at https://storybundle.com/storycollection. Once it’s gone, it’s gone!

AllCoversLarge

There, I said it.

You buy a novel, maybe out of love for the author, maybe because you read a book review somewhere and you’re curious.

You, the reader, now have a commitment. You must devote time, sometimes a lot of time, to reading that novel. You must be supportive, you must be loyal, you must forsake all other books while you read. You must see the book through till the last page, till The End do you part. It’s a marriage, right?

But a short story? This tiny universe may be consummated over a lunch hour, during a train commute, at the end of your day with a glass of wine. It’s disturbing, dark, witty, beautiful, done, no strings attached. The perfect fantasy affair.

And then you move on. No commitment unless you want one. You can search for another story by a different author, or return to the same author and sample more of whatever you desire.

So there you have it, my friends. The Story Collection Storybundle is live! You the reader name your price—whatever you feel the books are worth. You may even designate a portion to go to a charity. Savor traditionally published, multi-award-winning stories from diverse and varied publications which the authors have collected for you.

The Bundle includes What I Didn’t See (a World Fantasy Award Winner) by Karen Joy Fowler (the New York Times bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club), Collected Stories by Lewis Shiner, Errantry by Elizabeth Hand, The Green Leopard Plague by Walter Jon Williams, Women Up to No Good by Pat Murphy, Strange Ladies: 7 Stories by Lisa Mason, Wild Things by C. C. Finlay, and 6 Stories by Kathe Koja.

But you must act now. The Story Collection Storybundle lasts only until June 2, 2016 at https://storybundle.com/storycollection. Poof! Once it’s gone, it’s gone!

We’re pleased to present Pat Murphy’s Introduction to Women Up To No Good:

“I love writing short stories.

It is, I freely admit, a foolish vice. As a career strategy, writing short stories is just barely better than being a poet. There’s no money in it. If you want to make a living, better write a novel or two—or better yet, a series of fat books with similar themes. Short stories get no respect. Novels are reviewed; short stories, not so much.

But I love reading short stories. When I have fifteen minutes to spare, I can dive into a short story—experience another world, live another life—and emerge in plenty of time to get back to my real life.

And I really do love writing short stories. I can carefully examine every word and nuance of a short story, polishing each one. I can keep the entire piece in mind at once—no sprawling plot lines and extra bits that dangle off the edges. I can take risks and experiment—it’s only a short story; why not try something daring?

In many ways I think short stories are like the first little mammals in the days of the dinosaurs, way back in the Mesozoic Era. Short stories are hot-blooded little beasts, packing a lot of energy into a very small space. These furtive critters are always looking nervously over their furry shoulders at great hulking novels that could accidentally stomp them flat with one enormous reptilian foot.

Until recently, the life of a short story has usually been wretchedly short. Most of the stories reprinted here first appeared in magazines, enjoying a brief moment of glory when the magazine came out, then vanishing with publication of the magazine’s next issue. Short stories are the mayflies of the literary world—appearing briefly only to vanish again, ephemeral, a flash of light in the darkness.

But that’s changing.

With ebooks like this one, a short story can have a new life in electronic form. This, I think, suits the nature of the short story—ephemeral, experimental, a flash of light in the darkness.

Untreed Reads, the publisher of this collection, has been publishing some of my early short stories as ebooks. New readers and reviewers have been discovering and appreciating work that was unavailable for years.

As a lover of short stories (my own and those of others), I celebrate this wonderful new world. I say leave the bookshelves to the novels, those great and lumbering beasts. Let the short stories, small and agile, occupy the new spaces as they quietly plan world domination.”

See an interview with Pat Murphy on Cartographic Analysis of the Dream State, one of the stories in Women Up To No Good at http://openbooksociety.com/article/pat-murphy-author-of-a-cartographic-analysis-of-the-dream-state-exclusive-intervie/

So there you have it, my friends. The Story Collection Storybundle is live! You the reader name your price—whatever you feel the books are worth. You may even designate a portion to go to a charity. Savor traditionally published, multi-award-winning stories from diverse and varied publications which the authors have collected for you.

The Bundle includes What I Didn’t See (a World Fantasy Award Winner) by Karen Joy Fowler (the New York Times bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club), Collected Stories by Lewis Shiner, Errantry by Elizabeth Hand, The Green Leopard Plague by Walter Jon Williams, Women Up to No Good by Pat Murphy, Strange Ladies: 7 Stories by Lisa Mason, Wild Things by C. C. Finlay, and 6 Stories by Kathe Koja.

But you must act now. The Story Collection Storybundle lasts only until June 2, 2016 at https://storybundle.com/storycollection. Once it’s gone, it’s gone!

“Always”

Karen Joy Fowler

How I Got Here:
I was seventeen years old when I heard the good news from Wilt Loomis who had it straight from Brother Porter himself. Wilt was so excited he was ready to drive to the city of Always that very night. Back then I just wanted to be anywhere Wilt was. So we packed up.

Always had two openings and these were going for five thousand apiece, but Wilt had already talked to Brother Porter who said, seeing as it was Wilt, who was good with cars, he’d take twenty-five hundred down and give us another three years to come up with the other twenty-five, and let that money cover us both. You average that five thousand, Wilt told me, over the infinite length of your life and it worked out to almost nothing a year. Not exactly nothing, but as close to nothing as you could get without getting to nothing. It was too good a deal to pass up. They were practically paying us.

My stepfather was drinking again and it looked less and less like I was going to graduate high school. Mother was just as glad to have me out of the house and harm’s way. She did give me some advice. You can always tell a cult from a religion, she said, because a cult is just a set of rules that lets certain men get laid.

And then she told me not to get pregnant, which I could have taken as a shot across the bow, her new way of saying her life would have been so much better without me, but I chose not to. Already I was taking the long view.

The city of Always was a lively place then – this was back in 1938 – part commune and part roadside attraction, set down in the Santa Cruz mountains with the redwoods all around.  It used to rain all winter and be damp all summer, too. Slug weather for those big yellow slugs you never saw anywhere but Santa Cruz. Out in the woods it smelled like bay leaves.

The old Santa Cruz Highway snaked through and the two blocks right on that road were the part open to the public. People would stop there for a soda – Brother Porter used to brag that he’d invented Hawaiian Punch, though the recipe had been stolen by some gang in Fresno who took the credit for it – and to look us over, whisper about us on their way to the beach. We offered penny peep shows for the adults, because Brother Porter said you ought know what sin was before you abjured it, and a row of wooden Santa Claus statues for the kids. In our heyday we had fourteen gas pumps to take care of all the gawkers.

Brother Porter founded Always in the early twenties, and most of the other residents were already old when I arrived. That made sense, I guess, that they’d be the ones to feel the urgency, but I didn’t expect it and I wasn’t pleased. Wilt was twenty-five when we first went to Always. Of course, that too seemed old to me then.

The bed I got had just been vacated by a thirty-two-year-old woman named Maddie Beckinger. Maddie was real pretty. She’d just filed a suit against Brother Porter alleging that he’d promised to star her in a movie called The Perfect Woman, and when it opened she was supposed to fly to Rome in a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis, only this plane would be called the Spirit of Love. She said in her suit that she’d always been more interested in being a movie star than in living forever. Who, she asked, was more immortal than Marlene Dietrich? Brother Porter hated it when we got dragged into the courts, but, as I was to learn, it did keep happening. Lawyers are forever, Brother Porter used to say.

Visit Karen at http://karenjoyfowler.com for more about her books and stories.

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