Tom and his father are arguing about Tom's latest idea, a photo telephone. Mr. Swift is adamant that the idea will not work, but Tom has some ideas in mind, and refuses to back down. Tom read about a recent news event where a photograph was transmitted over telegraph lines, and there is no functional difference between the wires used for a telephone to those used in telegraphs. In the meantime, some shady occurrences are happening in the neighborhood. Tom and Ned are almost run over by a speeding motor boat, operated by a con-artist known as Shallock Peters. The feud between Mr. Peters and Tom begins when Mr. Peters refuses to acknowledge the accident. The animosity between the two only grows deeper as Mr. Peters tries to buy Tom out of some of his inventions, under the guise of making a profit. Tom refuses to allow anyone other than himself permissions to his patents, and this infuriates Mr. Peters. Later, Tom learns that his good friend, Mr. Damon, is having serious financial troubles. As the plot gets thicker and thicker, one of Tom's airships is stolen, and then Mr. Damon unexpectedly disappears. All this while Tom is desperately trying to get his latest invention working.

A short story collection from bestselling fantasy author Garth Nix, including an Old Kingdom novella, a short story set in the same world as Shade's Children, and another story set in the world of A Confusion of Princes.

Timberland Writes Together explores each writer’s take on optimism and serves as a catalyst for community conversations; myriad and far ranging.Supported by its Foundation, Timberland Regional Library invited writers and artists within the library district to submit work for consideration. Nearly two hundred writers and artists rose to the Library’s challenge: Submit a story or work of art that conveys a sense of optimism - any genre, any time period. Timberland Writes Together includes fifteen southwest Washington writers and one artist: Anthea Sharp, Jim Tweedie, Pam Anderson, Keith Eisner, Meagan Macvie, Caelyn Williams, Beth Anderson, Laura Koerber, Edward Marcus, Suzanne Staples, Llyn De Danaan, Eve Hambruch, Jessie Weaver, Barbara Yunker, Kim K. O’Hara and Kathryn Wanless.

A collection of sixteen short stories involving love triangles. Includes stories written by Renée Ahdieh, Rae Carson, Brandy Colbert, Katie Cotugno, Lamar Giles, Tessa Gratton, Bethany Hagen, Justina Ireland, Alaya Dawn Johnson, E. K. Johnston, Julie Murphy, Garth Nix, Natalie C. Parker, Veronica Roth, Sabaa Tahir, and Brenna Yovanoff.

For time immemorial, the goddesses of fate have decided which human threads will shine and which will be cut short. But even the fates have off days. Fate Delivers a Prince by Andrew Grey: Finding love shouldn’t be that difficult for a diplomat’s son, except Cheyenne is part of a grand tradition of werewolves, and a werewolf with a skin condition needs more help than most mortals. When Chay meets the prince of his dreams, it takes Clotho’s intervention to keep him from letting go. Jump by Mary Calmes: When two lovers die, their threads of life are collected instead of scattered, as one of them was the brother of a god. Can the fates reunite two lovers whose threads should have twined together for eternity? Or will Cassidy allow Raza’s interest to pass his pale mortal self by? Believed You Were Lucky by Amy Lane: The gods’ meddling isn’t always welcome. It’s given Leif good luck but poor fortune, and Hacon a family curse he’s lived in fear of all his life. But when Leif’s good luck saves Hake’s life, Hake has to reevaluate everything he’s ever believed about luck, life and love.

A new short story from 2012 Scotiabank-Giller Prize finalist Russell Wangersky. In his first published short story since his critically acclaimed collection, Whirl Away, Russell Wangersky returns with a story about a lonely, ill old man, who is living alone in his house. Sick in bed for three days, Arthur Simmons ponders life, living and the sometimes difficult relationships he has with family members. The last of his generation, Simmons is both stubborn and desperate -- a quietly explosive mix. Russell Wangersky is critically acclaimed writer whose most recent short story collection, Whirl Away, was a finalist for the Scotiabank-Giller Prize. He has also won the British Columbia National Award for Non-Fiction (Burning Down the House: Fighting Fires and Losing Myself)), the BMO Winterset Award (The Glass Harmonica) and has been nominated for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (The Hour of Bad Decisions). He is a newspaper editor and columnist based in St. John's, Newfoundland.

The fictional town of Liverwood’s main employer is the potash mine that seems to arc over the town and everything people do. With a novel-like persistence to detail, Trettwer’s stories observe how the townspeople thread their way through the thorn-fields of their relationships, which are complicated by their addictions and obsessions and by the numbing constancy of their lives. In the background the mine looms large, its four-rotor boring machines rumble deep under the earth, while six kilometers away, Liverwood town life embraces their rhythm. In assembling Trettwer’s links between stories, we witness elimination of the romanticism often associated with small-town simplicity, and see the exposure of the unhappiness, corruption, and the exploitation that drive the town’s human affairs. The stories disclose the fears of those whom the mine has orphaned, like Lourdes whose life forward was always fraught with uncertainty that had to be met with bravado; the stories describe all the hard-drinking and the uncertain young men like Dillon, Darryl, and Blake, or the young women driven by lust that leads to unwanted pregnancies. In Thorn-Field small-town life is anything but idyllic. Rather it becomes a collage of human foibles and peoples’ dangerous vulnerabilities.

Laure Baudot's This One Because of the Dead is a collection of stories about the power of what goes unsaid – of the truths people keep hidden from each other, which guide their relationships and their decisions in unexpected ways. A former ballet dancer and her boyfriend who is about to scale Mt. Everest struggle with the contradictions between what they want from life and what they need from each other. A man on a business trip in Tokyo navigates culture shock as well as the muddy waters of life back home. An ex-babysitter, called to testify against one of her former clients, recalls her own complicated history with him.

These twelve new short stories from Astrid Blodgett explore the consequences of grief and denial and single moments that change perceptions, lives, and attachments forever. Crisp prose and unexpected plot twists move relatable characters through vivid outdoor settings and interior depths. A child negotiates adult behaviour when an injured dog is put down. An older sister bribes a younger one to go on her first date. A family canoe trip launches from Disaster Point. A woman wants to hurl her granddaughter's birthday cake out the window. This Is How You Start to Disappear shows all the heartbreaking ways we evolve when coping with change or trauma.