A powerfully evocative portrait of an alternative community in the early 1970s, told with a child's-eye simplicity by a young resident. Short fiction from an author whose work has been described by World Fantasy Award-winner Jeff VanderMeer as Rapacious, intelligent and witty.

Moll, a young nun, lies in the infirmary of St Mary’s Priory, Belstone, having been bled to cure a migraine. Left to rest, she is just falling into a doze, smiling as she dreams of her beloved Virgin Mary, when she suddenly awakes, realising in terror that she can’t breathe. But she is too weak to fight for her life… It’s 1321 and Lady Elizabeth of Topsham, prioress of St Mary’s, is struggling to retain her position in the face of devastating opposition. Not only is St Mary’s in the worst possible state of disrepair due to lack of funds, but Sister Margherita, her treasurer, has accused her of lascivious disregard, claiming that, instead of paying for a new roof, Elizabeth has given money to the new vicar, a man she often sees alone – at night. Many of the nuns are convinced that Margherita would make a better prioress – especially now it has been confirmed that Moll was murdered on her sickbed. Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King’s Peace, together with his old friend Bailiff Simon Puttock, are summoned immediately by the Bishop of Exeter’s representative to investigate. There is no doubt that the threefold vows of obedience, chastity and poverty are being broken with alarming frequency. When a second nun is murdered, they face their most difficult case yet. The path to the truth twists and turns with the sinister forces of primitive passions and secret ambitions, finally leading them to a dangerous wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Other Stories of the Four Million: A Madison Square Arabian Night; The Rubaiyat of a Scotch Highball; The Pendulum; Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen; The Assessor of Success; The Buyer from Cactus City; The Badge of Policeman O'Roon; Brickdust Row; The Making of a New Yorker; Vanity and Some Sables; The Social Triangle; The Purple Dress; The Foreign Policy of Company 99; The Lost Blend; A Harlem Tragedy; The Guilty Party — an East Side Tragedy; According to their Lights; A Midsummer Knight's Dream; The Last Leaf; The Count and the Wedding Guest; The Country of Elusion; The Ferry of Unfulfilment; The Tale of a Tainted Tenner; Elsie in New York; and the title story.

The year is 1319 and Tavistock's fair has drawn merchants to Devon from all over England and beyond. Keeping the streets clean and the locals in order is no easy task, for the influx of visitors and their money puts temptation in the way of cut-purses and other villains. But no one expects a murder, and butcher Will Ruby is stunned to discover a corpse – a headless corpse at that. Former Knight Templar Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, and Simon Puttock, bailiff of Lydford, have just arrived in Tavistock as guests of Abbot Robert Champeaux when the body is found. The crime falls within the Abbot's jurisdiction, and when he asks Simon and Baldwin to investigate, they can hardly refuse. But with an unidentifiable victim, they're badly hampered in their inquiries. Nonetheless there's no shortage of suspicious behaviour to spur them on. Elias, the cook near whose shop the gruesome remains were found, clearly has something to hide. A surprisingly aggressive young monk has been behaving in an ungodly fashion. And the town is awash with strangers, any one of whom could be concealing a sinister past. Can Simon and Baldwin unravel the complex web of intrigue that has brought death to Tavistock, as the undercurrents of anger and violence that lie beneath the bustling activity of the fair grow ever fiercer?

A daringly ironic attack on racism American-style.

Science Fiction. 3035 words long.

After years on the run, Burke is desperate to return to his native New York, the only way he can reconnect with his outlaw "family." But to survive in their part of the City, where reputation is everything, Burke must take major risks to reestablish his presence. So when a Mafia man contacts him about the murder-as-message of his sixteen-year-old daughter - the offspring of what he calls an "outside the tribe" affair that he must keep secret at all costs - Burke's depleted bankroll persuades him to step out of the shadows and do something he hasn't done in years...actually investigate a crime.Burke needs cover to penetrate the teenage subculture of the Long Island town where the girl lived and died, so he puts together a crew of gifted role-players, including a pair of lesbian "power exchangers" who market their special brand of sex on the Internet. When Burke himself surfaces as a casting director, seeking tomorrow's stars for a movie to be shot on location, the investigation quickly spins off into uncharted depths. What he discovers is a new kind of filmmaking, a new kind of violence, and a predator unlike any he's ever known. When they meet head-on over a brutal work of cinema verite, only one of them will survive the final cut.

Ocean lives her life alone. She ran away from home and learned not to make contact. With anyone. Until she meets Terin. Can his gentle demeanour make her trust again? Or will she run from him as well?

This thrilling sequel to The Guns of Navarone reunites members of the Allied team that silenced the giant guns of Navarone and sends them on a desperate bid to assist a ragtag band of Partisan forces trapped by two armoured divisions of the German army in the rugged mountains of Yugoslavia.