Phil Thurston was born on the range where the trails are dim and silent under the big sky. It was the place his father loved, the place he had to be. After the death of his father when he was five, his mother brought him back to the city, where he grew up and became a writer. To revive his stale writing, he returns to the West, and may just find what he is really missing.

Matilda Sophia Hanson, whose father has recently died in their country of Barbadoes in the West Indies, must live for a time with family friends in England. The Harewood family is astonished at how spoiled, rude, and uneducated the child is. However, with seemingly endless patience and love, they help Matilda work to conquer her bad temper, and become a sensible, good, and well-informed young lady. This story reminds children and adults alike, though you have many battles with yourself, you must never relinquish hope and be assured you will find every victory easier than the last...

Niels Klim’s Underground Travels, originally published in Latin as “Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterraneum” (1741) is a satirical science-fiction/fantasy novel written by Ludvig Holberg, a Norwegian-Danish dramatist, historian, and essayist, born in Bergen, Norway. It was his first and only novel. It describes a utopian society from an outsider’s point of view, and often pokes fun at diverse cultural and social topics such as moral, science, sexual equality, religion, governments, and philosophy.

If you've read and loved the exciting classic The Scarlet Pimpernel then you'd probably be delighted to follow the further adventures of the dashing Sir Percy Blakeney. El Dorado by Baronness “Emmuska” Orczy depicts the intrepid swordsman and escape artist in the role of savior of the French royal family. Published in 1913, El Dorado was the fourth in the Pimpernel series of eleven books, numerous short stories and other related writings about her famous British adventurer. However, Orczy did not always follow a strict chronological sequence while publishing the novels and hence, there is plenty of overlap between the time frames of the stories...

First Published in 1908, The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy is the 4th book in the classic adventure series about the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Baroness Emma Orczy (full name: Emma (”Emmuska”) Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orczi) (September 23, 1865 – November 12, 1947) was a British novelist, playwright and artist of Hungarian noble origin. She was most notable for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel. Castles in the Air, a short novel or perhaps more like a collection of short stories with memories of a French rogue in the early 19th century Paris, was published in 1921 and about it I quote from the foreword: In very truth my good friend Ratichon is an unblushing liar, thief, a forger–anything you will; his vanity is past belief, his scruples are non-existent...

Created by Baroness Orczy, author of the famous Scarlet Pimpernel series, The Old Man in the Corner was one of the earliest armchair detectives, popping up with so many others in the wake of the huge popularity of the Sherlock Holmes stories. The Old Man relies mostly upon sensationalistic “penny dreadful” newspaper accounts, with the occasional courtroom visit for extra laughs. He narrates all this information (while tying complicated knots in a piece of string) to a Lady Journalist who frequents the same tea-shop.

This is a sequel novel to the Scarlet Pimpernel. The second Pimpernel book written by Orczy, it comes (chronologically) third in the series and should be read after Sir Percy Leads the Band and before The Elusive Pimpernel.

A gentle, yet deliciously humourous series of anecdotes following the life of the main character and his wife, Eliza.

Barry Pain's parody takes a sharp knife to ASM Hutchinson's best selling novel 'If Winter Comes'.We follow the professional and marital decline of long suffering (and loving it), Luke Sharper, as his marriage to Mabel flounders while his love for Jona flourishes. It could only end in tears.....Or could it? (

A rollicking parody of the Margot Asquith memoirs, in which Pain’s character, Marge, beguiles us with the most personal details of her dysfunctional family, and delights in relating every cringing, if not wholly accurate, minutiae of her exciting private life.

Bored with his life as a wealthy businessman's only son, Travers Gladwin learns of a plot by a renowned art burglar to rob his house, so rather than thwart the planned burglary, he borrows a police uniform from a friend and decides to confront the robber by posing as an officer. When the burglar arrives at the house, he tries to pass himself off as Travers Gladwin. From there, things only get more complicated, including the arrival of the burglar's girlfriend who believes that her beau is the wealthy man's son. Comical and timely, the book was made into a movie multiple times, each hugely successful.

Whether you're a parent or a child, a young reader or an older one, the Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter is indeed just that – a treasure chest of delightful, charming little stories full of animals and people. Beatrix Potter today has spawned a whole industry of merchandise, games and theme parks, but the stories remain as fresh and sparkling as they were when they first came out in 1901. The Great Big Treasury contains three collections compiled into one enchanting volume - The Giant Treasury of Peter Rabbit, Further Tales of Peter Rabbit and The Giant Treasury of Beatrix Potter...

What can we say about the delightful Beatrix Potter stories? Starting with the naughty Peter Rabbit and his mis-adventures, progressing through The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle whose funny name is just the start of the interesting things about her, then expounding on the Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, and many many more, these stories are all gems of the art of story telling. This is your chance to enjoy reading them aloud and recording them for children to enjoy listening to in the years and decades to come. Aren't you curious to learn more about the Fierce Bad Rabbit? Or the Tale of the Two Bad Mice? This is your chance to read aloud. And remember to have fun !!

Joel Shore, newly appointed captain of the whaling ship Nathan Ross following his brother’s apparent demise as captain of the same ship, elects to make his first cruise as captain to the very location where his brother had last been seen – the Gilbert Islands, in order to try to learn more about what happened to his brother. The focus of this tale is of that voyage halfway around the globe and the adventures which he and his crew encounter.

The Dueling Machine is the solution to settling disputes without injury. After you and your opponent select weapons and environments you are injected into an artificial reality where you fight to the virtual death… but no one actually gets hurt. That is, until a warrior from the Kerak Empire figures a way to execute real-world killings from within the machine. Now its inventor Dr. Leoh has to prevent his machine from becoming a tool of conquest. – The Dueling Machine, written with Myron R. Lewis, first appeared in the May, 1963 issue of Analog Science Fact & Fiction.

The Armine family, in particular the young Ferdinand Armine, is in great financial difficulties. Ferdinand's grandfather has burdened the family estate with large debts, which his father did not manage to diminish. Ferdinand himself is not disposed to live with his small income alone, and during his time in Malta with his regiment, he incurs debts of his own. The only thing that can easily pay for his debts and restore the house of Armine now is for Ferdinand to marry well, and the chosen wife for him is his cousin Katherine, the heiress to their grandfather's wealth...