"In stories both absurd and all-too-real, Christopher Evans paints a portrait of the uncanniness of modern life through characters trapped in the space between expectation and reality. Nothing Could Be Further from the Truth is peopled by strays -- those who fall for the allure of nostalgia, grapple with male fragility, deny familial trauma, and acquiesce to authority. Resignation and reinvention are always a breath apart for these characters whose...

Nuns that appear out of thin air, a dinner party at the Goebbels', Quebec's very own Margaret Thatcher, and a grandma that just won't die until the archangel comes back, Songs for The Cold of Heart is a tall tale that bounces from provincial Rivière-du-Loup in 1919 to Nagasaki, from 90s Berlin to Rome, and beyond. This is the novel of a century -- long and stuffed with parallels, repeating motifs, and unforgettable characters -- with the passion...

"Bit Rot, a new collection from Douglas Coupland that explores the different ways 20th-century notions of the future are being shredded, is a gem of the digital age. Reading Bit Rot feels a lot like bingeing on Netflix ... you can't stop with just one. 'Bit rot' is a term used in digital archiving to describe the way digital files can spontaneously and quickly decompose. As Coupland writes, 'Bit rot also describes the way my brain has been feeling...

Presents a selection of the best works of short fiction of the past year from a variety of acclaimed sources.

The O. Henry Prize Stories 2014 gathers twenty of the best short stories of the year, from thousands published in literary magazines. The winning stories roam the world, from Nigeria to Venice, from an erupting volcano in Iceland to a brothel in the old Wild West. They feature a dazzling array of characters: a young American falling in love in Japan, a girl raised by snake-handling fundamentalists, an old man mourning his late wife, a fierce guard...