A piercing portrayal of a group gathered in an Italian palace by the socially ambitious and self-professed lover of art, Mrs. Aldwinkle. Here, she yearns to capture the glories of the Italian Renaissance, but her guests ultimately fail to fulfill her naive expectations.

Another decade has elapsed, and William Browning Spencer has produced another superlative collection of short stories that commingle horror and humor. A number of these tales are cautionary ones. After reading "The Tenth Muse," you might not wish to interview a reclusive writer who wrote one wildly popular novel and has been silent for decades, even if your father was his closest friend. You might not wish to become a writer at all. "The Indelible...

"From the internationally best-selling author of Three Floors Up, a literary page-turner that delves into the deepening cracks in a carefully constructed public persona. A writer tries to answer a set of interview questions sent to him by a website. At first, they stick to the standard fare: Did you always know you would be a writer? How autobiographical are your books? Have you written any stories you would never publish? Usually his answers in these...