Clement Seadon is a young man of free spirit and a lust for a life of independence. However after receiving an odd request from a lawyer he is compelled to involve himself in the prevention of a dangerous plot to swindle an heiress. - Summary by Howard Skyman

Billie Bradley fell heir to an old homestead that was unoccupied and located far away in a lonely section of the country. How Billie went there, accompanied by some of her chums, and what queer things happened, go to make up a story no girl will want to miss. This is the first book in the "Billie Bradley" series, a mystery series for girls.

This is one of the early Billy Whiskers books where he bears the title, “Junior.” Billy jumps the fence on the farm and heads west for adventures with sheep, wolves, cowboys and Indians, and meets a dog named Stubby who becomes his companion on this and future adventures. - Summary by Larry Wilson

This is book #15 in the Outdoor Girls series. Mollie Billette is appointed as the new leader of the Outdoor Girls, replacing Betty Nelson, who has now married Allen Washburn. Dogs start to go missing around Deepdale, with no clues to where they are going. The Girls travel to Foaming Falls, and while staying in a haunted house, they hear strange noises!

The same distinguished writer who gave you such thrilling stories of far places as “The Brazen Peacock” and “Lou-Lou” knows the odd corners of his own country too—as witness this exciting story of adventure among the untamed Beaver Islanders. - Summary by Blue Book Magazine

"Masters of the Vortex" is a 1960 novel by E.E. "Doc" Smith which incorporates and expands upon three short stories, "The Vortex Blaster", "Storm Cloud on Deka", and "The Vortex Blaster Makes War". Somewhat confusingly, it was originally published under the title "The Vortex Blaster", the same name as the first short story, before being republished as "Masters of the Vortex". It is the final novel, or a spinoff, of The Lensmen stories. It follows the adventures of Neal "Storm" Cloud, a brilliant mathematician who makes it his personal mission to snuff out wiild nuclear vortexes all over the galaxy, at great risk to his own safety...

Imagine it's early 1900's and you want to get away from it all. So you head to Two Palms, Arizona. Where for entertainment, people await the arrival of the daily stage coach. Gold mining is an avocation. There is desert everywhere, deadly rattlers, no paved roads, some people travel in model T's which they call flivvers. They must carry their own water, gasoline and tire patch kits for the many blowouts they encounter. The heat is blinding! The nearest "big" town is Meteorite which has an ice cream shop, a post office and a stage coach head office...

Don and Gil Winthrop inherited their father's business to construct a railroad in a developing location in upstate New York. Engineers themselves, though young, they decided to carry on his work despite their inexperience. They have to fight their way through troubles instigated by a competing contractor, and a vindictive foreman of his who holds a dark secret of his own.

1850 - A year before, the Californian "gold-fever" broke out, a party of emigrants, numbering nearly one hundred under the command of Caleb Mitchell, felt fairly secure as they traveled the hard trail to find gold. However, security is marred by a sad accident in Mitchell's family early on. The quest for Gold can be complicated and dangerous, especially when it involves Outlaws! Can dreams prevail, or what and how much will be lost in this Western Outlaw tale? Note: The author of this book is Joseph Edward Badger, who also wrote under the pseudonym Harry Hazard...

The recent death of Frank Morris' father, Owner and Editor of the Green River Argus, has left his 18 year-old son, Frank to take up the challenge of running the paper. In the months preceding his death, Frank's father had hired a man, Mr. Jebb, to run the paper in his absence. Unfortunately Mr. Jebb had purposefully mishandled the paper to diminish its value so the local powerhead, Squire Roach, could purchase it at a bargain. Now Frank needs his wits, ingenuity, and salesmanship to help the Argus to regain its stature in the community.

Cattle rustling had gotten out of control in northern Wyoming, so Asa Swingley is tasked with assembling a host of men to tend to the matter using whatever means necessary. He selects Milt Bertram to be one of his lead assistants, but Bertram becomes sidelined during the trip from Texas, which causes him to grow suspicious of the true nature of this expedition. What ensues leads Bertram to better understand his possible conflict of interest and what he must do to set matters straight. - Summary by Roger Melin

In the Hands of the Cave-Dwellers is a classic adventure where the hero is an American sailor who saves a young Mexican from thugs. The story spreads to an Indian attack, the loss of the heroine to cave dwellers, her rescue, and the eventual happiness of hero and heroine who have overcome adversity. - Summary by Publisher

Originally written in Sanskrit by Somdev Bhatt, the Vetala Panchavimshati or Baitâl Pachchisi, also popularly known as Vikram Betal is a collection of tales and legends from India. Set in the 11th century, the tales intend to impart moral/social lessons. The practices may not be viable anymore to the letter but the basic message may still act as a guide to help live good lives. - Summary by dc

A young family's story of pioneer life consisting of a teenage daughter and her younger brother David, aka "Da", along with their dog , have unique adventures in the heart of the frontier wilderness, where they are thrust into mysterious and dangerous situations of survival amongst Canada's snows. The Story starts off as the children have been left alone in a log cabin presuming that their widowed father will return in 4 days. Eight days have now gone by with no sign of him. What has happened to their father and can these children survive on their own in their quest to find him, unscathed by the hardships they must endure in the Canadian wilderness? - Summary by Laurie Banza

Suspenseful stories about space travel and exploration of other planets. - Summary by TR Love

When a few men decide to go for looking for gold in the outback of Australia, days of extreme heat with no water and no rain in sight, make them turn back and give up the trip; all but two of them that is, Smith and Mandeville, aka the "Baker. Smith and Baker decide to tough it out and go after their dreams, chancing their lives to find "their luck". Little do they realize, they will put their lives in grave danger, and this quest for gold will turn into a nightmare. Life threatening food and water deprivation is a constant issue, and they had no idea they would stumble upon an unknown tribe of prehistoric white men that are head hunters and cannibals...

From the author of the popular "Billie Whiskers" books, comes this short collection of stories about --- well, dogs and puppies. Let's meet Gypsy, Pretty, Punch, Buster, Patsy, and Beans. - Summary by Larry Wilson

A harrowing and dramatic story of four siblings from Scotland who are poor, and orphaned. The eldest brother, Arthur, is guardian to his two brother's and one sister.) After the bank in Scotland fails, Arthur decides as family head, they will go to Canada to answer an ad to claim free farm land. Arthur is a former soldier, smart, honest, and a tremendously hard worker; his younger brothers are still in school, and Charley, Leaving their sister behind temporarily, they board a steamer for Canada, but they have no idea of the hardships and life threatening battles that await in the untamed land...

The Mysteries of London was a best-selling novel in mid-Victorian England. The first series was published in weekly instalments from 1844-46, priced at a penny each. Serialised novels sold in this way were known as Penny Dreadfuls … without any claim to literary greatness, they sought to provide ongoing entertainment for the popular audience. This book has it all -- vice, poverty, wealth, virtue, in every combination. Consider it a Victorian soap opera.Summary by Cori Samuel. Note: this project only covers half of volume 1. To be continued!

The novel, set in 1861, describes adventures of British expedition led by Captain John Hatteras to the North Pole. Hatteras is convinced that the sea around the pole is not frozen and his obsession is to reach the place no matter what. Mutiny by the crew results in destruction of their ship but Hatteras, with a few men, continues on the expedition. ( Wikipedia)

Amadis of Gaul (Amadís de Gaula, in Spanish) was not the first, but certainly one of the best known knight-errantry tales of the 16th century. Not only is its authorship doubtful, but even the language in which it was first written - Portuguese or Spanish. It is imagined to have been composed in the 14th century, but the known first printed edition came to light in Zaragoza in 1508, and the oldest extant version is in Spanish. The plot is the story of the brave knight Amadis, and starts with the forbidden love of his parents and his secret birth, followed by his abandonment near water...

The Betrothed (I Promessi Sposi) presents a kaleidoscope of individual stories, which are all tied together by the story of Lucia and Renzo, two young persons of humble origin that are deeply in love with one another. However, despite their great attachment, they are prevented from marrying by the cruel Don Rodrigo, who has himself cast an eye on the beautiful and pious Lucia. Don Rodrigo menaces the priest who was to perform the wedding ceremony, who then refuses to do his duty. Thus threatened and prevented from being married, the couple is separated, and the narration follows each of them on their struggle to unite again...

Our hero, Peter Vibart, an Oxford graduate with no means of support but for 10 guineas he has inherited, sets out on a walking tour of the Kent countryside. Along the way, he meets many quaint and adoring characters as well as a few ne’er-do-wells, meets with several disasters and triumphs, and eventually he meets "The Woman," who leads him to even more disasters and triumphs. (Introduction by John Lieder)Proof-listened by Dawn Larsen and BainbridgeCatherine.

Johnny Reb & Billy Yank is an epic novel first published in 1905 by Alexander Hunter, a soldier who served in Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army from 1861 to 1865. The novel is noted for encapsulating most of the major events of the American Civil War, due to Hunter's obvious involvement in them. The "novel" is actually pulled from Hunter's own diaries during the war. He explains his reasons for publishing his accounts in the preface to the novel- "There were thousands of soldiers on both sides during the Civil War, who, at the beginning, started to keep a diary of daily events, but those who kept a record from start to finish can be counted on the fingers of one hand...

This is a collection of short stories of mystery and romance, set at sea, in the times of the great sea voyages.

Explorer Hiram Bingham discovered Machu Picchu in 1911, as recounted in his book Inca Lands, now released on Librivox at http://librivox.org/inca-lands-by-hiram-bingham/. In 1917, he became an aviator and organized the United States Schools of Military Aeronautics at eight universities to provide ground school training for aviation cadets, and then in Issoudun, France, Bingham commanded the primary Air Service flying school. He became a supporter of the Air Service in their post-war quest for independence from the Army and supported that effort, in part, with the publication of this book of his wartime experiences published in 1920 by Yale University Press.

This story presents through letters, poems and third-person commentary the love affair between a young man named Freeman Jones and a married woman named Elinor, lady of the castle he is visiting in Scotland. Events in the affair are traced from initial attraction through seduction to (somewhat) graphic sexual encounters and their aftermath. (Allegedly based on a real-life scandal, the author, in re-issuing his story two years later, transplanted the action to Italy, renaming the principals Fernando Jeronimi and Leonora.)

Alfred J. Church created 26 stories from the original Greek version of Virgil's Aeneid. He included well-known ones, such as "The Horse of Wood" and "The Love and Death of Dido," as well as many others perhaps less well-known, such as "King Evander" and "The Funeral Games of Anchises."

The young Count von Rudloff got himself into so much trouble with the Imperial Family in Berlin, that he sees no other way out of it than to fake his own death. Stumbling through different identities, he finally assumes - quite against his will - the identity of the Prince von Gramberg. At Gramberg Castle, he finds a web of intrigue, which threatens the safety of the young and beautiful Countess Minna. The Count von Rudloff decides to save the girl, but the intrigue is more complicated than it first appeared, and there are old enemies who are still waiting for their revenge...

Those who have read "Ashton-Kirk, Investigator" will recall references to several affairs in which the United States government found the investigator's unusual powers of inestimable service. In such matters, tremendous interests often stand dangerously balanced, and the most delicate touch is required if they are not to be sent toppling. As Ashton-Kirk has said: "When a crisis arises between two of the giant modern nations, with their vast armies, their swift fleets, their dreadful engines of war, the hands which control their affairs must be steady, secret, and sure...

This is a robust, rough and tumble, first-hand account of the early California gold rush years 1851-1854 by a Scottish adventurer and artist J. D. Borthwick. The first edition, published in 1857 was called Three Years in California. Reprints have used the more descriptive title The Gold Hunters.

The first flight to outer space became an actual fact – Mars would be the first stop. But before the spaceship took off, two insane enemies almost succeeded in preventing the departure. This science fiction story for teens was written by a Catholic priest.