Adult

In this new anthology, Neil Gaiman pierces the veil of reality to reveal the enigmatic, shadowy world that lies beneath. TRIGGER WARNING includes previously published pieces of short fiction --- stories, verse, and a very special "Doctor Who" story that was written for the 50th anniversary of the beloved series in 2013 --- as well as “Black Dog,” a new tale that revisits the world of AMERICAN GODS, exclusive to this collection.

For the commitment-averse women in the 11 stories of SINGLE, CAREFREE, MELLOW, falling in love is never easy and always inconvenient. Maya is in love with both her boyfriend and her boss. Sadie’s lover calls her as he drives to meet his wife at marriage counseling. Nina is more worried that the Presbyterian minister living above her garage will hear her kids swearing than that he will find out she’s sleeping with her running partner. These ladies grapple with love amidst everything from unwelcome houseguests to disastrous birthday parties.

George Washington was famously unknowable, a man of deep passions hidden behind a facade of rigid self-control. Yet before he was a great general and president, Washington was a young man prone to peevishness and a volcanic temper. His greatness as a leader evolved over time, the product of experience and maturity but also a willed effort to restrain his wilder impulses. Focusing on Washington’s early years, Robert Middlekauff penetrates his mystique, revealing his all-too-human fears, values and passions.

Bill Browder made his fortune heading the largest investment fund in Russia after the Soviet Union’s collapse. But when he exposed the corrupt oligarchs who were robbing the companies in which he was investing, Vladimir Putin turned on him and had him expelled from Russia. Following the murder of his principled young tax attorney, Browder embarked on an unrelenting quest for justice, exposing the towering cover-up that leads right up to Putin.

THERE’S SOMETHING I WANT YOU TO DO is a collection of 10 interrelated stories, the first five named after virtues, the second after vices. Charles Baxter’s point is that all of us cover the spectrum of moral qualities, as do his characters --- from the pediatrician conflicted about his work to the altruistic missionary who contracts a disease in Ethiopia and, upon returning stateside, commits robbery to pay for medicine. In Baxter’s world, as in life, decisions are rarely easy.

On a sweltering day in August 1942, Frankie Washburn returns to his family’s rustic Minnesota resort for one last visit before he joins the war as a bombardier. But before the homecoming can be celebrated, the search for a German soldier, escaped from the POW camp across the river, explodes in a shocking act of violence, with consequences that will reverberate years into the future for all of them and that will shape how each of them makes sense of their lives.

It’s 1903, and Nora Kelly falls for an attractive but dangerous man who sends her running back to the Old World her family had fled. She takes on Paris, mixing with couturiers, artists and "les femmes Americaines" of the Left Bank, such as Gertrude Stein and Sylvia Beach. But when Nora stumbles into the centuries-old Collège des Irlandais, a good-looking scholar, an unconventional priest and Ireland’s revolutionary women challenge her to honor her Irish blood and join the struggle to free Ireland.

Dee Aldrich’s marriage is falling apart, and she’s starting to believe that her husband has his eye on a new life. Just as she begins determining the course of the future, she makes a discovery that will change her life: her mother left her a lot of money, and her own husband seems to know more about it than Dee does. Now, before it’s too late, she must investigate her suspicions and untangle conspiracy from coincidence, using her mother’s advice to steer her through the blind spots.

Embittered and distrusting, Vida is harassed by Delphi’s racist sheriff and haunted by the son she lost to the world. Hazel, too, has lost a son and can’t keep a grip on her fractured life. After drunkenly crashing her car into a manger scene while gunning for the baby Jesus, Hazel is sedated and bed-ridden. Hazel’s husband hires Vida to keep tabs on his unpredictable wife and to care for his sole surviving son. Forced to spend time together, the two women find they have more in common than they thought, and together they turn the town on its head.

When the BP oil spill devastates the Gulf coast, those who made a living by shrimping find themselves in dire straits. For those who inhabit the town of Jeannette, these desperate circumstances serve as the catalyst that pushes them to enact whatever risky schemes they can dream up to reverse their fortunes. Gus Lindquist, a pill-addicted, one-armed treasure hunter, is obsessed with finding the lost treasure of pirate Jean Lafitte. His quest brings him into contact with a wide array of memorable characters who ultimately find themselves on a collision course with each other.