From the Canadian Short Story Library, twelve stories from Desmond Pacey, a major figure in Canadian Literature and criticism. The twelve stories are typical of Pacey's story-telling technique and what emerges from them is a distinctive, even powerful optimism, charity, tolerance and deep understanding of human nature. The sombre side of life is honestly portrayed and juxtaposed against the importance of love as a unifying force. These stories, presented in a simple straightforward manner, reveal man as he is: fragile, vulnerable, capable of crude, selfish and irrational behaviour, subject to defeat and despair; but also, heroic, enlightened, capable of strength, wisdom, hope and joy.

Ten years ago, Craig Johnson wrote his first short story, the Hillerman Award'winning 'Old Indian Trick.' This was one of the earliest appearances of the sheriff who would go on to star in Johnson's bestselling, award-winning novels and the A&E hit series Longmire. Each Christmas Eve thereafter, fans rejoiced when Johnson sent out a new short story featuring an episode in Walt's life that doesn't appear in the novels; over the years, many have asked why they can't buy the stories in book form. Wait for Signs collects those beloved stories and one entirely new story, 'Petunia, Bandit Queen of the Bighorns' for the very first time in a single volume, regular trade hardcover. With glimpses of Walt's past from the incident in 'Ministerial Aide,' when the sheriff is mistaken for a deity, to the hilarious 'Messenger,' where the majority of the action takes place in a Port-A-Potty, Wait for Signs is a necessary addition to any Longmire fan's shelf and a wonderful way to introduce new readers to the fictional world of Absaroka County, Wyoming.

Angst, seduction, escape and extinction control these many tales-a whisper in the ear convinces a lady to take the plunge, another to take up surfing, and a young man to jump in front of a moving train-and there is joy in settling a score with despised neighbours and a conspiracy under the California sun. Some sketches are laced with passion and loss-a son comes to know his mother from a series of letters following her death, while a face transplant changes a man's life, but with it comes the unwanted pursuit of the donor's wife-while others show murderous aspirations and an irrepressible desire for release. Always vital, Vita opens wide the windows into our many lives.

An artist cooks a Jamaican meal for her straying lover, thinking she might just have the one ingredient that will ensure he never leaves her. A beautiful woman slips into the sea near her Jamaican home and disappears on the eve of a reunion with her Scottish fianc. A white law student and a black harlot do a sexual tango in a shanty with fatal results. Like a tropical breeze, the whiff of exotica blows through the lives of Bernadette Dyer’s characters, whether they are Jamaican immigrants grappling with everyday existence in Canada or residents of Jamaica itself encountering the uncommon and the fabulous under the torrid Caribbean sun. Ghosts haunt crumbling estates, lovers despair amid crashing waves and wind- whipped vistas, dislocated newcomers seek better lives in faraway lands. Magic may be found anywhere, and the wistful and the winsome walk side by side through concrete-and-steel canyons of the inner city or along cliffs where they may topple into a raging surf or collide with an epiphany of boundless possibility.

I tell you, do not go near that place. Do not go near it. Graywolves guard the ground there. Girls are growing from guts, enough for a body and language all the way out of this world. An eight-year-old trauma victim is enlisted as an underground courier, rushing frozen organs through the alleys of Eastern Europe. A young janitor transforms discarded objects into a fantastical, sprawling miniature city until a shocking discovery forces him to rethink his creation. A brazen child tells off a pack of schoolyard tormentors with the spirited invention of an eleventh commandment. A wounded man drives eastward, through tears and grief, toward an unexpected transcendence. Lidia Yuknavitch's bestselling novels The Book of JoanThe Chronology of WaterVerge is a viscerally powerful and moving survey of our modern heartache life.

Valery the Great is a crackling, electric collection of dark humour that follows the bizarre and beautiful lives of its protagonists. Sometimes sweet and gentle, sometimes sharply sarcastic, the unique narrative voices in this collection are always powerfully touching.

Praise for Valery the Great: "15 Finest Book Covers in Spring Fiction This Year" selection (Something Daily blog) “By turns comic, pathetic, and tenderly tragic, Valery the Great is a charming collection.” (Quill & Quire) “Her voice is scathing, very funny, her stories twisting at the end to leave me a bit stunned. … I loved this book, a short story collections whose curation had as much thought put into it as the stories themselves, a fantastic package with a gorgeous design. In addition to considerable talent, there is furious energy at work here, McCluskey giving it her all, and as a result, reading was a pleasure.” (Pickle Me This) “McCluskey is at her finest when she uses sharp humour and skillful, economic description to communicate her fatalistic worldview.” (The Globe and Mail)

A woman becomes obsessed with a story about her family from 1890-when a naked, mute girl stumbled onto their property-and whether or not it really happened. A self-help guru and his chief strategist take their most affluent and unstable clients on a harrowing nature hike that destroys their company. A young convict in a prison creative writing class chronicles the rise and fall of his cellblock's resident peacemaker. A rural neighbourhood is mesmerized by the coming of a strange and powerful new homeowner who is in the middle of reinventing herself. The stories of Use Your Imagination! are about stories, about the way we define and give shape to ourselves through all kinds of narratives, true or not. In seven long stories, Kris Bertin examines the complex labyrinth of lies, delusions, compromise, and fabrication that makes up our personal history and mythology. Sometimes funny, strange, or frightening, these stories represent Bertin's follow-up to his critically acclaimed, award-winning debut, Bad Things Happen.

Us, Now is a collection of stories connecting Newfoundland and Labrador to the world via racialized NL Newfoundlanders. These are stories that fit George Elliot Clarke's thinking on what a truly Canadian national tale might be: local, yet connected, broadly and diversely. They are at their essence about the concept of home, finding home, feeling at home, and communicating about home. The catalogue has it right: these writers create "new visions of an in-the-present-moment Newfoundland."

Villains have all the fun-everyone knows that-and this anthology takes you on a wild ride through the dark side! The top villains from sixteen urban fantasy series get their own stories-including the baddies of New York Times bestselling authors Jim Butcher, Kevin Hearne, Kelley Armstrong, Seanan McGuire, and Jonathan Maberry. For every hero trying to save the world, there's a villain trying to tear it all down. In this can't-miss anthology edited by Joseph Nassise (The Templar Chronicles), you get to plot world domination with the best of the evildoers we love to hate! This outstanding collection brings you stories told from the villains' point of view, imparting a fresh and unique take on the evil masterminds, wicked witches, and infernal personalities that skulk in the pages of today's most popular series. The full anthology features stories by Jim Butcher (the Dresden Files), Kelley Armstrong (the Cainsville and Otherworld series), Seanan McGuire (October Daye), Kevin Hearne (The Iron Druid Chronicles), Jonathan Maberry (Joe Ledger), Lilith Saintcrow (Jill Kismet), Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville), Joseph Nassise (Templar Chronicles), C.E. Murphy (Walker Papers), Steven Savile (Glasstown), Caitlin Kittredge (the Hellhound Chronicles and the Black London series), Jeffrey Somers (The Ustari Cycle), Sam Witt (Pitchfork County), Craig Schaefer (Daniel Faust), Jon F. Merz (Lawson Vampire), and Diana Pharaoh Francis (Horngate Witches).