The Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung, also sometimes translated as The Transformation) is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It has been cited as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century and is studied in colleges and universities across the Western world. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed (metamorphosed) into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. The cause of Samsa's transformation is never revealed, and Kafka never did give an explanation...

The Letters of a Portuguese Nun (Les Lettres Portugaises) were first published anonymously in Paris in 1669. The five passionate letters in book form were a publishing sensation since their appearance, with five editions in the first year, followed by more than forty editions throughout the 17th century. A Cologne edition of 1669 stated that the Marquis de Chamilly was their addressee, but, aside from the fact that she was female, the author's name and identity remained unknown. The letters were...

Probably the most famous allegory ever written of the Christian life, The Pilgrim's Progress follows the journey of Christian from his first encounter with the Evangelist, through his trials and doubts and as he meets various people who help and hinder him in his journey towards the Celestial City to meet his King. Part 2 follows the journey of Christian's wife and sons as they follow him along the same path past the Slough of Despond, the Castle Despair and Vanity Fair. This version was edited in 1909 by the Rev...

The Randolphs is the sequel to Household Puzzles, and opens shortly after the previous book ends. It follows the "leadings of the Randolph family", as Tom puts it in the last chapter. Helen's discontent with life, Grace's ill-matched engagement, and Maria's self-sufficiency -- how God works all of it out despite the stubbornness of the participants.

Young peoples book of adventure in aviation with young women in the lead rolls. This is in the earlier days of aviation.

In science-fiction, as in all categories of fiction, there are stories that are so outstanding from the standpoint of characterization, concept, and background development that they remain popular for decades. Two such stories were Murray Leinster's The Mad Planet and Red Dust. Originally published in 1923, they have been reprinted frequently both here and abroad. They are now scheduled for book publication. Especially for this magazine, Murray Leinster has written the final story in the series. It is not necessary to have read the previous stories to enjoy this one...

The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish is, all at once, a satire, a treatise on natural philosophy, a work of proto-science fiction, and a defiant venture into a scientific world where women were not usually allowed. It tells the tale of a young Lady who is kidnapped by a man that tries to sail away with her. Through divine interference, however, the ship is tossed into a storm and everyone but the Lady perishes. Blown up to the North Pole, she inadvertently passes into to another world, the Blazing World, where she is almost immediately made supreme ruler...

The short stories of Giovanni Verga, one of the leading authors of Italian verismo, or realism, tell mostly of working-class characters in rural, 19th-century Sicily. One of these stories, "Rustic Chivalry," or "Cavalleria rusticana," was the basis for the opera of the same name by Mascagni.

A lawyer is leaving his office on the top floor of an office building. He sees the shadows of two men fighting through the clouded glass of an office door followed by a shot from the office across the hall. He goes to investigate. He finds no sign of either victim or assailant despite the fact that no one could have passed him in the hallway without being seen. A murder has been committed, that of the banker. Who is the murderer? A business associate, the banker’s beautiful ward, or a mysterious...

Bill Nye was a respected journalist who also became known as a humorist. His short pieces range from a description of a visit to a friend residing in Ludlow prison, to “advice” to a son, to a wry commentary on his visits to Oakland, California. From real estate “investments” to accounts of less than ideal train passengers, Mr. Nye had his eye trained on the ironies of life, addressing them in the only sure way to preserve sanity, with humor.

In this detective novel, the young doctor Humphrey Jardine stumbles upon a corpse during a walk near Hampstead Heath in the middle of the night. However, when he returns to the spot with a police officer, the corpse has disappeared. And this is just the start of a series of strange and sometimes life threatening events. Had it really been a dead man he had seen? And if so, who was it? And what is the role of the mysterious Mrs. Samway, who keeps popping up wherever he goes? He will need the help of Dr...

This is the first book written by Homer Greene, whose primary occupation was lawyer. It tells of 14-year-old Tom Taylor, and his 12-year-old blind brother Bennie, who work in the Pennsylvania coal mines in the late 1800s, earning money for an operation for the younger lad. A story of strikes and mine "falls" (cave-ins) along the way.

Frey and his Wife is a Nordic Saga, but written in a saga style by a 20th Century Englishman. It tells the tale of Gunnar, a Norwegian wrongly accused of murder who flees across the mountains to the pagan forests of Sweden. There he meets 'Frey' a Norse god, and a young woman who has become his wife. Animosity develops between Frey and Gunnar over the local ritual of human sacrifice which leads to an interesting outcome. The tale develops themes of religion, idolatory, and love, set in the time when Christianity was starting to displace pagan religion in Scandinavia. (Kevin Green)

When the veteran captain of the St. Mary's baseball team is forced to resign at the beginning of the season, the choice for his replacement falls quickly upon the star pitcher. But can the new captain manage to rally the team, cope with detractors, and win the coach's confidence--all while still keeping his pitching arm in shape? And when fresh disasters threaten to wreck the big game, is there anything he can do to save it?

"Deadwood Dick", the straight shooting, hard riding hero of the dime novel series "Deadwood Dick" takes on train robbers and other villans in this rip-snotrin', tale of the old west. Deadwood Dick has made his way through many dangerous escades before his, but has he met his match this time? Why is there a horseshoe brand burned into this chest? Will he save the heroine? Listen to this dashing story as our hero puts himself in danger to protect the innocent and right wrongs in each exciting chapter.

Two temple statues, one with the most beautiful of features, the other a hideous sight, are at the core of this tale of adventure and the supernatural. Carved by Chinese craftsmen, they have stood to either side of the great Buddha for hundreds of years, worshipped and protected by generations of priests.Taken together, they represent human nature in balance, the spiritual with the bestial, the Soul with the Body. But what if they are separated? Ancient legend warns of disaster to anyone who disturbs that balance...

A collection of twenty stories featuring ghoulies, ghosties, long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night. Expect shivers up your spine, the stench of human flesh, and the occasional touch of wonder.

Science fiction is a genre encompassing imaginative works that take place in this world or that of the author’s creation where anything is possible. The only rules are those set forth by the author. The speculative nature of the genre inspires thought and plants seeds that have led to advances in science. The genre can spark an interest in the science and is cited as the impetus for the career choice of many scientists. It is a playing field to explore social perspectives, predictions of the future, and engage in adventures unbound into the richness of the human mind.

Fifteen short stories by Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE (1869 – 1951), an English short story writer and novelist, one of the most prolific writers of ghost stories in the history of the genre. He was also a journalist and a broadcasting narrator. S. T. Joshi has stated that "his work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's…"

John Ackworth was the pen name of the Rev. Frederick R. Smith, a Methodist minister who was born in Snaith, Yorkshire, but spent much of his career as a circuit preacher in Lancashire. Beckside Lights is the sequel to his popular collection of stories Clog Shop Chronicles. Set in the fictional village of Beckside (said to be somewhere between Manchester and Bolton), the book consists of 12 tales of everyday life in a close-knit Methodist community, which continue with a third volume, Doxy Dent (1899)...

This is the tenth collection of our "coffee break" series, involving public domain works that are between 3 and 15 minutes in length. These are great for work/study breaks, commutes, workouts, or any time you'd like to hear a whole story and only have a few minutes to devote to listening. The theme for this collection is "war and conflict" - From battles to pub brawls to divorce, studying human conflict has produced some of the most powerful pieces of writing.

Charles Felix was the pseudonym of Charles Warren Adams, an English Lawyer and publisher and is now known to have been the author of "The Notting Hill Mystery", thought to be the first full length detective novel in English. The story first appeared as an eight part serial in a weekly magazine in 1862, and was subsequently published as a single volume novel in 1865. The story deals with the then newly emerging field of 'mesmerism' which we now know as hypnotism, and its use in the planning and execution of three truly devious crimes...

Joel, a crippled boy, cannot play with the children and has nothing to care about. Rabbi Phineas helps him to find something he can do and tells him the reason that he is so kind is because of a boy from his hometown of Nazareth. Soon stories are going about everywhere of miracles, and some people think that the Messiah has come. Then someone tells Joel he should ask for his back to be healed. Will Joel be able to find the miracle worker?

Hagar Stanley, a beautiful young Gypsy, is driven by sexual harassment to leave her tribe and seek refuge with her uncle Jacob, a miserly London pawnbroker. He dies after teaching Hagar the business, and she takes over running the popshop till the legitimate heir can be traced. In the odd assortment of objects that pass across her counter, Hagar uncovers one mystery after another. Some items are linked to actual crimes, others to iniquitous acts of human deceit and betrayal. Whether investigating independently or alongside the police, Hagar combines her native shrewdness with woman's intuition to help untangle the webs of wickedness she encounters, that justice might prevail in the end...

The way we feel about another person, or about objects, is often bound up in associations that have no direct connection with the person or object at all. Often, what we call a "change of heart" comes about sheerly from a change in the many associations which make up our present viewpoint. Now, suppose that these associations could be altered artificially, at the option of the person who was in charge of the process.... (from the Blurb )

When the God-fearing Herzog of Thuringia dies, the Irish missionary settlements face the wrath of his bitterly heathen wife, Geila, and her son, now Herzog Hedan. But when Hedan falls in love with Bilihild, a young Christian maiden, he offers peace to his Christian subjects if Bilihild will become his wife. As Bilihild strives to love her new husband and protect her people, she faces increasing difficulty and danger, especially from her jealous mother-in-law. As the clouds thicken around her, Bilihild must put her entire reliance on the God whom she honors and loves.

"The storm had descended swiftly, sweeping in suddenly from the sea, driving across the downs to the hills at high speed, blotting out the faint rays of a crescent moon and hiding the country-side beneath a pall of blackness, which was forked at intervals by flashes of lightning." - Book's opening sentence

World War I stories, as told through the eyes of someone who was there, but leavened with humour and an eye for the ridiculous side of human nature. This is a collection of McNeile's early short stories, drawing on his experiences with the Royal Engineers Corps. These are the memoirs which describe the experiences that made him who he was, and gave him his famous name "Sapper". The first half is made up of separate stories, the second half is selected accounts from the life of "Jim Denver" in Ypres and France.

CLARA VAUGHAN, the young heroine, narrator, and namesake for R. D. Blackmore’s early detective novel, is determined to solve the mystery of her father’s murder—a crime that occurred when she was only 10 years of age. The third volume of the trilogy concludes the account of Clara’s adventures, romances, and encounters with many eccentric characters while she finally unravels the mystery. As Clara explains to the reader in an early chapter: “How that deed was done, I learned at once, and will tell. By whom and why it was done, I have given my life to learn.” R. D. Blackmore, undoubtedly better known for his later novel Lorna Doone, published this book anonymously in 1864.

"The Machine Stops" is a science fiction story by E. M. Forster. After initial publication in 1909 the story was republished in Forster's The Eternal Moment and Other Stories in 1928. After being voted one of the best novellas up to 1965, it was included that same year in the populist anthology Modern Short Stories. In 1973 it was also included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two. The story is particularly notable for predicting new technologies such as instant messaging and the Internet...

In "An Anonymous Story," Chekhov continues to explore his favorite themes of superfluous men, ironic rakes, exploited women, and the dangers of social conventions to human happiness. The Anonymous Narrator is a feckless, would-be revolutionary who gets himself hired on as a flunkey in the household of the young useless aristocrat Orlov, hoping to spy out some useful information for the Cause. Orlov seduces the beautiful Zinaida Fyodorovna away from her husband but quickly tires of her. The Narrator, another in the long line of Russian literary superfluous men, allows Orlov to use him to deceive Zinaida Fyodorovna, hating himself for it all the while...

A provincial youth of wealth and noble status refuses to employ himself in the typical occupations of the higher classes, thus acquiring a reputation as a lazy good-for-nothing. In reality, he is intensely sensitive to the injustices perpetrated by his social class upon the working classes of town and country, and resolves to become a common laborer, taking employment as a house painter and ikon gilder. All classes of society around him respond to this revolutionary action with bewilderment and ridicule, even the lowest workmen feeling threatened by this insolent shaking of the cosmic structure...