Curated by Lisa Mason

I love short stories. There's nothing like a good story to satisfy your fiction fix in the course of a busy day, a tiny universe savored over a lunch hour, on a train commute, with a glass of wine at the end of the day.

Because of its compression, its fewer moving parts, a story may be more highly crafted than a novel. A famous story may represent an author's style and vision more succinctly than any one of his or her books. Think of "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" by Ernest Hemingway, "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allen Poe. Or how about "What I Didn't See" by Karen Joy Fowler, "The War At Home" by Lewis Shiner, "Love and Sex Among the Invertebrates" by Pat Murphy . . .

But wait a minute! We've got those last three stories in the Story Collection StoryBundle. And we've got more than stories, we've got multi-award winning and award nominated story collections. The authors have assembled their short fiction written over a decade—sometimes over two or three decades—of their careers. Stories published in wide-ranging and diverse magazines and anthologies, many which may be difficult to find now, some of which may have gone out of print. The authors have done the hard work of gathering up these amazing stories and all you, the reader, need to do is enjoy!

But never mind the authors' accolades and accomplishments. The collections are a feast for the mind—amazing, far-ranging, tragic, disturbing, thought-provoking, witty, and—dare I say it?—just a damn good read.

Oh, the places you'll go! Trek to Africa in search of gorillas in Karen Joy Fowler's "What I Didn't See." Journey to Paris in search of an antique spool of recording wire in Lewis Shiner's "Perfidia." Explore the mysteries of a little boy's life in Walter Jon Williams' "Daddy's World." Search for the Folding Man in Elizabeth Hand's "Errantry." Embark on a cross-country car trip with three mysterious strangers in Lisa Mason's "Destination." Defy conventional society in Pat Murphy's "A Flock of Lawn Flamingos." Learn the dark powers of a voodoo doll in Kathe Koja's "Baby." Search for resources on asteroids in C.C. Finlay's "The Frontier Archipelago."

As always at Storybundle.com, you the reader name your price—whatever you feel the books are worth. You may designate a portion of the proceeds to go to a charity. For the Story Collection StoryBundle, that's Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America ("SFWA"). SFWA champions writers' rights, sponsors the Nebula Award for excellence in science fiction, and promotes numerous literacy groups.

The initial titles in the Story Collection StoryBundle (minimum $5 to purchase) are:

• The Green Leopard Plague by Walter Jon Williams
  Two stories in this collection won the Nebula Award. Williams was a New York Times Bestseller, placed as a Philip K Dick Award Finalist and numerous times for the Nebula and Hugo Awards.
• Collected Stories by Lewis Shiner
  This extensive and multi-genre collection was prepared as an ebook for StoryBundle, includes forty-one stories, and has an Introduction by Karen Joy Fowler. Shiner was a finalist for the Philip K Dick Award, the Hugo Award, and the Nebula Award.
• Errantry: Strange Stories by Elizabeth Hand
  Hand won the World Fantasy Award four times, the Nebula Award twice, the Shirley Jackson Award twice, the Mythopoetic Award, and was a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book Author.

If you pay more than the bonus price of just $12, you get all three of the regular titles, plus five more:

• Women Up to No Good by Pat Murphy
  Two stories in the collection were nominated for the Nebula Award. Murphy won the Nebula Award twice, the World Fantasy Award, and the Philip K Dick Award.
• Strange Ladies: 7 Stories by Lisa Mason
  The collection received five stars from the San Francisco Review of Books. Mason was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist, a San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book Author, and a New York Times Notable Book Author.
• Six Stories by Kathe Koja
  The collection was created by the author exclusively for StoryBundle. Koja won the Bram Stoker Award, won the io9.com award for one of the ten best first novels that shook the world, and was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist.
• What I Didn't See: Stories by Karen Fowler
  The collection won the World Fantasy Award and the title story won the Nebula. Fowler wrote The Jane Austen Book Club, a New York Times Bestseller made into a film, and won the 2013 PEN/Faulkner for We are all completely beside ourselves.
• Wild Things by C.C. Finlay
  The collection was prepared as an ebook for StoryBundle and has a brand-new Afterword. A multi-award-nominated author translated in over two dozen languages, Finlay is the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

So there you have it! A super-collection from some of the most talented storywriters in any genre. Devour an author's entire offering or browse stories from collection to collection. The choice is yours with the Story Collection Storybundle!

Stock up your ereader with award-winning fiction that's perfect for your summer vacation. The Story Collection Storybundle is both historic and unique, an excellent addition to your elibrary providing world-class, award-winning reading right now, through the summer, and beyond.

—Lisa Mason, Curator

The bundle is available only from May 11 to June 2, 2016 via http://www.storybundle.com. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get multiple DRM-free formats (.epub and .mobi) for all books!

It's also super easy to give the gift of reading with StoryBundle, thanks to our gift cards – which allow you to send someone a code that they can redeem for any future StoryBundle bundle – and timed delivery, which allows you to control exactly when your recipient will get the gift of StoryBundle.

Why StoryBundle? Here are just a few benefits StoryBundle provides.

• Get quality reads: We've chosen works from excellent authors to bundle together in one convenient package.
• Pay what you want (minimum $5): You decide how much these fantastic books are worth to you. If you can only spare a little, that's fine! You'll still get access to a batch of exceptional titles.
• Support authors who support DRM-free books: StoryBundle is a platform for authors to get exposure for their works, both for the titles featured in the bundle and for the rest of their catalog. Supporting authors who let you read their books on any device you want—restriction free—will show everyone there's nothing wrong with ditching DRM.
• Give to worthy causes: Bundle buyers have a chance to donate a portion of their proceeds to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
• Receive extra books: If you beat the bonus price, you'll get the bonus books!

StoryBundle was created to give a platform for independent authors to showcase their work, and a source of quality titles for thirsty readers. StoryBundle works with authors to create bundles of ebooks that can be purchased by readers at their desired price. Before starting StoryBundle, Founder Jason Chen covered technology and software as an editor for Gizmodo.com and Lifehacker.com.

For more information, visit our website at storybundle.com, tweet us at @storybundle and like us on Facebook. For press inquiries, please email press@storybundle.com.