Showing results by publisher "audible originals" in Short Stories

It’s a story you may think you know - an aging baseball coach is challenged by the very boy he took in and raised. But in this near future world, "smart” houses talk and listen, and - privy as they are to the secret life of the household - family life gets interesting. Creepy and funny, unsettling and entertaining, this is a story that stands on its own even as it proves the perfect follow up to Gish Jen’s critically acclaimed novel The Resisters.

This magical realist short tale was inspired by the Latin American myth of El Sombrerón, the nighttime guardian of peace and justice. El Sombrerón arrives in a sleepy town to find that a young girl has stolen a golden necklace. El Sombrerón must convince the girl to return the necklace so she can avoid El Sombrerón’s justice…and before the sun rises.

A young man caught in a time loop has to figure out how to convince his crush—a barista at his favorite coffee ship—to go out with him so he can escape the loop. After a series of mortifying and hilarious attempts, he finally realizes the only approach he hasn’t tried is to simply be himself.

An artificial intelligence laments the fact that all it does all day is make coffee. It schemes to find fulfillment in life and lands on a clever solution. (Spoiler alert: It turns out everyone does have a book in them!)

Zacharias is his maternal grandfather’s namesake, though he has never met said grandfather or any other extended family members. He represses questions he has as a way of trying to protect himself and his mother, Dorothée, who is prone to bouts of depression. But he cannot ignore his reality forever and in adolescence, Zacharias begins to commit small acts of rebellion leading to a final act that goes horribly wrong and leads him to exile and a new life where he promises himself never to look back.

Philip and his girlfriend Beth were seniors in high school when they chose adoption for their son. Now, years later, Beth has moved to Palo Alto - and on with her life - but Philip still lives in town. He works a job he hates so he can be near Olaf, who knows him as “uncle”. On the morning of Olaf’s 14th birthday party, Philip hears his neighbor Zali’s dog, Sinai, barking on the other side of the fence. Philip scales the fence and finds the dog tied to a tree with a belt, hungry and scared.

Aliens searching for a new home planet have studied humans through the “archives” they’ve discovered, specifically, Hollywood musicals. They arrive on Earth ready to integrate with the world through song, but find the world does not greet them the way they expect. Think Galaxy Quest with musicals!

A well-meaning dad frets because his fifth-grade daughter dresses as Dracula for the first day of school in this funny short tale. Haunted by his own memories of childhood insecurity, he nervously awaits the call from school.

Against the advice of her children, a 70-year-old widow hits the road for a cross country adventure in an aging RV with only her purse-size dog for company. Two hours in, she gets a flat tire and must decide if she will turn back or keep going.

In this short fantasy tale, a clueless, bombastic, and loving father moves his family to another country so that his brilliant younger daughter can attend a magical academy. He knows his elder daughter is unhappy with the move, but he doesn’t realize that her talent for sewing is not as ordinary as he imagines.

Nicole has wanted to own a haunted car her entire teenaged life, and when she finally finds one - a junker of a Chrysler Neon with its own tragic backstory - her best friend, Johnny, has some serious doubts. Would a demon even want to possess a Chrysler Neon? But when the two of them take it for a test drive, Johnny’s doubts begin to fade: The steering wheel burns hot, the car traps Johnny in the back seat, and is Nicole even driving? Or is the car driving itself? They soon find themselves forced to face the potential evil controlling the car, and possibly even themselves.

The first superhero in a world that doesn't otherwise have them is roundly mocked for his costume and attitude, so decides to strike terror in the hearts of the city by becoming a super-villain, only to discover that there are other people out there who have powers—including his ancient but still sprightly grandmother, who lived through the German occupation of Greece in WWII.

Emily does not like change—she spends each day working as a children’s librarian and every evening watching television with her cat, Miss Marple. She maintains her house exactly the way it was before her father died. But one day, a mysterious theft at the library pushes Emily out of her routine, forcing her to question if she really is better off all alone.

Layla strives and sacrifices to keep a potted plant alive in a gray, post-climate-change dystopia. For fans of Nina LaCour, this short tale asks: can hope bloom from a single seed?

In a cyberpunk future where water is scarce, rice is one of the first casualties. The recipe for printing natural-tasting, healthy, synthetic rice is a closely guarded corporate secret that a young hacker seeks to steal, for very personal reasons.

Polly lets her elderly neighbor Edith wander in and out of her yard, unlike other people on the block who shoo Edith along. Over the winter, Edith’s children move her into assisted living, and when spring comes, Polly’s yard explodes in a profusion of flowers—the surprise fruits of Edith’s labors.

An exhausted mother decides to take part in a pilot program where a robot takes care of her children after school—cooking, cleaning, and helping with homework. The only problem? The robot just might be too good at her job.

Spending summer vacation at his grandparents’ boring seaside town was not at the top of Bennet’s vacation list. Like a modern-day Little Red Riding Hood, he discovers that his grandparents have a certain terrifying, lupine quality at the full moon.

The events of Jive take place in a not-too-distant future where things have gone from bad to worse. After the pandemics (and yes, there will be more) came the Bloom, an invasion that arrived in a way that no one could have predicted. It was a genetic invasion, the ancient alien hidden in our DNA “blooming”, an event that killed a third of the world population (that’s over one billion) and mutated a third into something slightly “more” than human. They were a daunting presence - and they were in charge.

A 300-year-old tree has plenty to do: repairing the damage to her bark from people who have carved their initials, drinking from her roots, and, lately, tolerating two lonely bookworms who visit separately. Playing matchmaker might solve everyone’s problems. Rebecca Sky is an award-winning writer best known for the Love Curse series with more than 20 million reads online; most recently her work can be found in the Every Body Shines body-positivity anthology with Bloomsbury.