Anthologies & Short Stories

Reuben thought he’d spend the rest of his life with Beth, until she broke his heart six months ago. He’s not even remotely over her, so he’s devastated to hear she’s getting married—this weekend. Now he’s faced with the ultimate question: what should he do on the day of the wedding? Grieve? Disrupt the ceremony? Or do everything in his power to pretend it’s not happening? Enlisting the help of his friends, Reuben is all set to mark the occasion with distraction on a grand scale: Ferraris, champagne, and a VIP box at the races.

Here we have the 109th edition of the LibriVox Short Story Collections.

The Trial for Murder is a short story written by Charles Dickens. It was originally published under the title To Be Taken with a Grain of Salt as a chapter in Dr. Marigold's Prescriptions in an extra Christmas volume of the weekly literary magazine, All the Year Round. It was later published in 1866 in a collection of ghost stories known as Three Ghost Stories, along with The Haunted House and The Signal-Man.

Who’s story is this? Nobody. - Who’s nobody? The average working man. This story is very old but very relevant. The common man’s opinions are disregarded. His needs are manipulated. But of course the story makes clear that he is key to society. The story shows that. Then the narrator comes in and rather dramatically reinforces that point in the final three paragraphs just in case you missed it the first time. Yes, there’s a pretty high soapbox. Yes, it’s pretty holier than thou.

The Schoolboy's Story is a short stories by Charles Dickens. Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular.

What Christmas is as We Grow Older is a short Christmas story by Charles Dickens. Time was, with most of us, when Christmas Day encircling all our limited world like a magic ring, left nothing out for us to miss or seek; bound together all our home enjoyments, affections, and hopes; grouped everything and every one around the Christmas fire; and made the little picture shining in our bright young eyes, complete.

Per la prima volta insieme tre brevi gialli ambientati in Sicilia, tre storie da tempo introvabili, che confermano lo straordinario talento inventivo...

The Seed of McCoy written by Jack London: The Pyrenees, her iron sides pressed low in the water by her cargo of wheat, rolled sluggishly, and made it easy for the man who was climbing aboard from out a tiny outrigger canoe. As his eyes came level with the rail, so that he could see inboard, it seemed to him that he saw a dim, almost indiscernible haze. It was more like an illusion, like a blurring film that had spread abruptly over his eyes.

Sometimes the biggest story of your life happens before you’re even born… and sometimes, you get to discover it. One email is all it takes to turn Mala’s life upside down… an email from a stranger 10,000 miles away. Now, as memories from her childhood swirl up in familiarity, she sees them in a different light, as though they’re puzzle pieces that have a new way to fit together. Everything is the same, yet everything is different… The story she thought she knew is true, but there’s been another truth running beneath it the whole time.

Full of amusement, this series of fictional tales starts with a Galwayman’s arrival in Tipperary’s post-famine days and portrays the daily lives of a hillside community.

The Heathen is a short story by Jack London. John Griffith "Jack" London (born John Griffith Chaney, January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916) was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone. He is best remembered as the author of The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life".

Hailed as “The Paris Review of BIPOC literature,” Kweli Journal has been a launching pad for many of today’s most celebrated writers. This powerful anthology marks the journal’s 15th anniversary, showcasing 15 unforgettable stories curated by founder Laura Pegram. With a foreword from award-winning author Edwidge Danticat, the narratives included in this vivid anthology explore the devastation of leaving home and the struggle to adapt to reimagined lives, lost loves, distant families, and buried pasts.

Una fabulosa novela corta en torno al ajedrez donde los límites de la inteligencia analítica se tocan con el totalitarismo.

In a quiet, timeless bookshop—where every shelf cradles secrets of lost days and every well-worn page murmurs forgotten dreams—the solitary Book Collector has spent his life safeguarding memories too fragile to be left unspoken. Hardened by a past filled with unnameable loss, he has grown accustomed to the steady rhythm of solitude amid the rustle of paper and the soft glow of lamplight. Then, one fateful afternoon, a mysterious young boy wanders in. His eyes, wide with innocent wonder, seem to carry an inexplicable pull—a spark that unsettles the collector’s carefully maintained reserve.

A 'Gambling Man' tries to win the money but will he win the girl? What kind of man kidnaps a child and leaves him alone in a cold dark place? In a relationship, can 'A Worm Really Turn'? In the future, men live alone in capsules depending on the mainframe computer to take care of everything. An R.A.F. officer seeks 'Cold Revenge' when he discovers the real truth behind his parents' accident. How do you gain revenge on a wife who no longer has any interest in your marriage? A top radio disc jockey is supposed to entertain his public, not murder them!

In the viceroyalty of Nueva España, a hierarchy exists between the Spaniards and the indigenous people of América del Norte. The Inquisition seeks to redeem native souls through conversion and control, but for many who refuse to submit, there is only one fate - death. The military keeps the peace for Madrid. As tensions escalate between the indigenous population and their colonial masters, Mikicia finds himself captured by the Inquisition and an ambitious soldier, Vicente. While their past has common threads, they fray in the present due to conflict and duty.

Life thwarts Floyd’s goals sooner or later. A rival challenges his new invention. His buried gold is confiscated by HM Treasury. He is wrongly charged with arson. He is unfairly dismissed. He campaigns to change part of English punctuation, yet inadvertently continues to use it afterwards. Helping a friend lands him in hospital. What has he done to deserve all this?

When small-town cop Clay Donovan dies saving his wife, Brynn, he believes his heroic act will be his legacy. But death has other plans. His partner Jones, a reaper hiding in plain sight, reveals a dark truth: it was Brynn's time to die, not his. Defying fate, Clay chooses to spend his borrowed moments saying goodbye, a choice that sends him to Pandore—a gritty, unyielding purgatory where souls pay for past sins. Now trapped in this shadowy realm, Clay finds himself guided by Darcey, a sly fiend with a taste for chaos.

Listen to the conversation as you sit in the corner of the snug in Mulligan's pub. The Teacher, The Sergeant, and the Parish Priest, aided by the Barman, are in session, and little of what happens in this Dublin inner city parish will escape their attention.

You are in the capital city of Ireland. Like any city, there are problems. Your job is to find Irish solutions to Irish problems. Your team includes your beautiful Russian assistant Alice and the dangerous ex-army ranger, called the PMC, who has a slightly scrambled brain. Your customers include gangsters, police, business men, politicians, and tailors each with a unique problem.

A collection of short medical stories about medical misadventures in the daily life of medical professionals.

A new Latin master. A strange sentence. A figure at the window. When boys at a quiet English school begin seeing things that shouldn't be there—and writing things they don't understand—a mystery begins to unfold, darker than any textbook could explain. In A School Story, M. R. James blends scholarly detail with creeping dread to deliver a haunting tale of the past refusing to stay buried. Quiet horror with a bite.

An Episode of Cathedral History is one of M. R. James's most quietly chilling tales—a masterwork of subtle horror, antiquarian mystery, and creeping dread. Behind the stone walls of a venerable English cathedral, the past stirs with a presence that should have remained undisturbed. In this haunting narrative, the mundane slips imperceptibly into the macabre. A scholar's inquiry unlocks a forgotten secret; shadows lengthen; and something long sealed away begins to wake.

Edited by the award-winning author, Niamh McAnally, Stories of Place will take you on a whirlwind journey across the globe courtesy of nine international writers whose tales span the genres of thriller, adventure, mystery, coming-of-age, LGBTQ+, young adult, and literary fiction, as well as the vast spectrum of the human experience. Each story is titled using the innovative geocode system What3Words, which uses three words to identify a precise location on Earth.

Delve into the darkness and discover the world of your nightmares. Eighteen terrifying tales of what lurks behind the veil. A make-belief monster becomes all too real, a mother's hate doesn't stop at death, a late-night work call becomes a fight between life and death, a urban legend becomes all too real. Filled with supernatural and paranormal thrills and chills. These are not your mother's bedtime stories. You have been warned.