The Black Cat was a monthly literary magazine, publishing original short stories, often about uncanny or fantastical topics. Many writers were largely unknown, but some famous authors also wrote original material for this magazine. This is the ninth issue of volume 2 with the following five short stories: "The Man-Hunt of Mendocino", by Frank Bailey Millard: no one can stop the revenge of a mother for the murder of her son "Silas Bartle's Snake-Bite Cure", by Winthrop Packard: witness young Norris' dramatic struggle to survive a deadly snake bite "Tunnel Number Six", by Eugene C...

The first in a trilogy of the Reconstruction era - The Leopard's Spots (1902), The Clansman (1905), and The Traitor (1907), parts of this novel were incorporated in the 1915 silent movie classic, "The Birth Of A Nation". Set in North Carolina, the book explores the extreme social and racial tensions of the period as Confederates attempt to fight off "reconstructionist" policy, rebuild the war-torn South's economy, and grapple with the rampant "race question" of the day, whether the black and white races can ever live side by side as equals, i...

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.

CHATTERBOXBy J. Erskine Clarke, M.A.CRUISERS IN THE CLOUDS.In the chimney corner of a cottage in Avignon, a man sat one day watching the smoke as it rose in changing clouds from the smouldering embers to the sooty cavern above, and if those who did not know him had supposed from his attitude that he was a most idle person, they would have been very far from the truth. It was in the days when the combined fleets of Europe were thundering with cannon on the rocky walls of Gibraltar, in the hope of driving the English out, and, the long effort having proved in vain, Joseph Montgolfier, of whom we have spoken, fell to wondering, as he sat by the fire, how the great task could be accomplished...

This is a story about the life of a school girl. The story centres around the girls' college of St. Wode's, Wingfield. This is the place in all England where women who wish to distinguish themselves should go to receive training. The girls come from all classes of society, but the tale centres chiefly around the doings of the Gilroy girls and their benefactor, Mr. Parker.

What is a young man to do, when because of his pleasant disposition, and (of course) his considerable wealth, he finds himself besieged by bevies of eligible young women, some beautiful, some less so (some, even, his own cousins)? How on earth is he to protect himself from their onslaught and that of their mothers?

LibriVox’s Short Story Collection 055: a collection of 20 short works of fiction in the public domain read by a group of LibriVox members, including stories by J. M. Barrie, O. Henry, Jerome, Joyce, London, Saki, R. L. Stevenson, Trollope, Wilde and Wodehouse.

The second original tragedy written by Gothic writer Matthew Lewis, Adelgitha; or, The Fruits of a Single Error is a markedly more serious affair than his melodramatic output, dealing as it does with a fallen woman who is mercilessly blackmailed by a ruthless tyrant when she spurns his advances. Set in Otranto during the High Middle Ages, and featuring fictionalized depictions of historical rulers Robert Guiscard and Michael Ducas , Adelgitha is an archetypal Gothic drama that, while not especially refined or meritorious in terms of quality, still manages to thrill in that deliciously overwrought way that Lewis knew how to sell...

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.

Hailed as one of the funniest writers of the 20th century, P. G. Wodehouse cheerfully radiates humor that is both sophisticated and popular. In Bill the Conqueror, Wodehouse creates an array of entertaining characters who gallop around England and America in quest of love and money. Our far-from-perfect hero Bill is a dissipated American former football player and man of action, who tangles with odious relatives, bumbling gangsters, suave white-collar crooks, and even his exasperating but well-meaning friend Judson, as he seeks to become worthy of the woman of his dreams, whichever one she might be. As you might expect, the course of true love never did run smooth.

This Maugham classic is set in England and Hong Kong and in a cholera --ridden Chinese village in the 1920's. A committed, principled, epidemiologist, Dr. Fane, falls in love with the beautiful, but vain and foolish, Kitty Garstin. She agrees to marry him only because she wishes to beat her sister to the altar. She soon commits adultery with a British official in Hong Kong, where they have relocated. Dr. Fane decides that she must accompany him to a small village, deep within China, where cholera is rampant; otherwise, he will reveal the betrayal, with grave consequences for all...

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.

From the Preface: I HAVE written "Impressions and Tales" upon the title-page of this volume, because I have included within the same cover two styles of work which present an essential difference. The second half of the collection consists of eight stories, which explain themselves. The first half is made up of a series of pictures of the past which may be regarded as trial flights towards a larger ideal which I have long had in my mind. It has seemed to me that there is a region between actual story and actual history which has never been adequately exploited...

This 1913 story is far more than a Christmas tale. It is a story about spiritual wisdom; the seeking of wisdom, the getting of wisdom, even when the seeking and the getting is obscure. Henry Collinton is an 81 year old, widowed, Episcopal Church bishop. The story opens on the morning of the Bishop’s last Christmas and ends with his death that night. We see him encounter four to him important people throughout the day, three friends and the Nazarene, the Christ, he has followed all his life...

A lonely, convalescing 12 year-old boy and his attractive mother, who is in a loveless marriage, meet a gentleman while vacationing at a European resort. Seeking an enjoyable way to pass the time, the man schemes to seduce the woman with the unwitting help of the boy. The son, puzzled by the developing relationship, becomes increasingly isolated and suspicious as he loses his childish innocence in this gripping coming-of-age novella. This work is translated from the original German, Brennendes Geheimnis, which has also been recorded for Librivox...

This is a collection of P.G. Wodehouse's short stories published in The Strand from 1918 to 1922. (kirk202) Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE (15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years, and his many writings continue to be widely read.

Now that the railroad has come through, Christie Tucker's parents have decided to save enough for her to go to her well-to-do Uncle Daniel for a one-day visit, on Christmas, which is also Christie's birthday. It's her first trip away from home -- and on the cars! Of course, the trip doesn't turn out exactly as expected. That one day, and how Christie lived it, has consequences that keep coming! Addressed by the author to girls, it is still a pleasant story for adults, too.

The last of Dickens' Christmas novellas (1848), The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain centres around Professor Redlaw, a teacher of chemistry, whose personal life has been marred by sorrow and, he feels, by wrongs done to him in his past. He is haunted by his ghostly twin, who offers him the opportunity to forget completely all 'sorrow, wrong and trouble', claiming that this will make him happier. Redlaw wavers, but finally accepts this offer, discovering too late that there are conditions attached to it which cause him to infect with this unwanted 'gift' nearly everyone with whom he comes in contact...

Canadian novelist Guy Morton's Rangy Pete is one of a trio of westerns he wrote in the 1920s (the other two being Black Gold and Wards of the Azure Hills). In this one, the Gary Cooper-esque title character, Rangy Pete, goes up against the Dervishers, and outlaw clan that's been stirring up trouble for the peaceable folks of Triple Butte. In so doing, he encounters a beautiful blue-eyed girl-bandit who promptly throws a lasso around his heart. As the action heats up, the grandeur of magnificent western landscape does battle with the picturesqueness of Rangy's colorful cowboy argot, and the reader comes out the winner...

Hans of Iceland was written in 1821 and is the very first novel written by young Victor, years before he became the great Hugo. It has all the ingredients of a gothic novel: dreadful murders by the hand of a human monster, a young hero in love with the destitute heroine, royal court-intrigues and rebellious uprising, all set in dungeons, dark towers and the untamed nature of Norway.This audio-book has been recorded as Dramatic Reading with all the voices performed by one single reader, including laughs, sobs, groans, occasional screams and a lot of growls. I hope you will enjoy listening to this adventurous journey just as much as I enjoyed recording it. - Summary by Sonia

Cranford is set in a small market town populated largely by a number of respectable ladies. It tells of their secrets and foibles, their gossip and their romances as they face the challenges of dealing with new inhabitants to their society and innovations to their settled existence. It was first published between 1851 and 1853 as episodes in Charles Dickens’ Journal Household Words. Appended to this recording is a short sequel, The Cage at Cranford, written ten years later and published in the journal All the Year Round...

Idomen (1843) is the creative-nonfiction memoir of the beautiful and brilliant American poetess Maria Gowen Brooks, who was compared in the 19th century to Byron and Swinburne. In it she tells the story of an ill-fated love affair she had twenty years earlier while traveling with her young son in Canada following the death of her much older husband. The traumatic breakup led to suicide attempts on her part, which romantic masochist Brooks byronically relates in full, albeit changing everybody's name...

It is the third of Huysmans' books to feature the character Durtal, a thinly disguised portrait of the author. He had already featured the character of Durtal in Là-bas and En route, which recounted his conversion to Catholicism. La Cathédrale continues the story. After his retreat at a Trappist monastery, Durtal moves to the city of Chartres, renowned for its cathedral. Huysmans describes the building in great detail. - Summary by Wikipedia

This book tells the story of the Fentriss sisters and their mother. They are educated and rich. They live in a suburb. They are looking for love. Their quest for love leads them to many different places. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about it: "the novel persuaded certain moralistic people that a woman could be seduced without being immoral". It was scandalous for the time because of the frank descriptions of sexuality and relationships. Yet to the modern readers it may seem as if someone wrote this book only a few years ago...

A Joseph Muller Mystery originally published in 1905 in German as "Die blaue Dame" . Translated by American writer and translator, Grace Isabel Colbron in 1922 as The Lady in Blue. A mysterious old house, an unexplained scream in the night, the death of a beautiful young girl. Was it suicide? Or something more sinister at work? - Summary by J.M.Smallheer

”Let no one make you think that you are too young to serve God. That is not true. As soon as you know right from wrong, you are old enough to begin taking the right way. As soon as you are old enough to be punished for doing wrong, you are old enough to give your heart to God, and to follow Christ.” So Rev. Ryle speaks to children of all ages. He does not speak down to children, for even the littlest ones can understand great spiritual truths. Instead, he teaches them in simple language what it means to be a true follower of Jesus and challenges them to live a better life whatever their age by following Jesus’ example – messages we adults could profit from as well...

Nick Carter is a fictional detective who first appeared in 1886 in dime store novels. Over the years, different authors, all taking the nom de plume Nicholas Carter, have penned stories featuring "America's greatest detective". In this story, Nick receives a letter foretelling of a murder. His wife, Edith, believes it was from a woman... but who is the Brown Robin, and why taunt the great detective? - Summary by Lynne Thompson

This is the third book in the Dorothy Dale series, written under the house pseudonym of Margaret Penrose. "Girls have to have secrets, or they wouldn't be girls, and we have now got ours." In this, the third book in the Dorothy Dale series, written under the house pseudonym of Margaret Penrose, Dorothy proves herself to be a good friend to Tavia. Amid suspicion and worry for her chum, she undertakes the perilous task of 'rescuing' her and saving her reputation with minimal help from her cousins Nat and Ned White and without spreading her concerns, in the hope they be unfounded.

The author used a yearly calendar to focus on pieces written by Southern authors. Many of these writers are little known, having created for their own enjoyment or peace of mind, not necessarily for publication.

A collection of ghost stories featuring Flaxman Low, the first psychic detective of fiction. The stories were first written for Pearson's Magazine and the tales were disconcertingly being promoted by Pearson as "real ghost stories". - Summary by Rapunzelina

This is the eighth 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. This collection about animals includes tales and essays about the many creatures of land, sea, and air!

The story of a Quaker family's journey from Ohio to Nebraska beginning in 1856. They encounter a mystery which leaves them an orphan girl who will forever change their lives. Blizzard, the Civil War, and Indians and more Indians fill this great adventure which tests their faith and ingenuity while shaping their loves and futures.

This book draws together some of Jane Austen's earliest literary efforts. It includes "Love & Freindship" and "Lesley Castle" both told through the medium of letters written by the characters. It also contains her wonderful "History of England" and a "Collection of Letters" and lastly a chapter containing "Scraps". In these offerings, we may see the beginnings of Miss Austen's literary style. We may also discern traces of characters that we encounter in her later works. G. K. Chesterton in his preface, for example, says of a passage in Love and Freindship; "...

Red Sensua's knife came up dripping—and the two adventurers knew that chaos and bloody revolution had been unleashed in that shadowy kingdom of the fourth dimension.

Dick Brewster is implicated in a murder and comes to his aunt's farm to hide. His Aunt Sarah stands by him in his need and they all move to the city in the effort to clear his name. She investigates on her own account and.... - Summary by The Author Cast list: Lily Ann, Help at the farm: Devorah Allen Aaron Flint, the hired man: Alan Mapstone Mrs. Brewster, from New York: TJ Burns Helen Brewster, her daughter: Jenn Broda Leonard Fillmore, a young country lawyer: skypigeon Sarah Newcomb, sister of Mrs...

The Black Cat was a monthly literary magazine, publishing original short stories, often about uncanny or fantastical topics. Many writers were largely unknown, but some famous authors also wrote original material for this magazine. The eleventh issue of volume 2 comprises the following five short stories: "Her Bare Foot", by William C. Hudson: what is the mystery behind the continued warnings about her bare foot ? "Miss Phoebe and Mr. Lorton", by Charles Sloan Reid: a long-lost letter is finally found to change the fate of two people "A No Quorum Night", by L...

Seven stories, chapters, essays, or poetry about Christmas or around Christmas. - Summary by david wales

A young man of good family with a long distinguished military tradition indicates that he will not follow his ancestors' path into the army. Dire results ensue. Benjamin Britten in 1970 wrote an opera based on this story. (

In this small book Rosalind Goforth tells many stories of 'diamonds' in China that have been tested and come out pure in the King of Kings' hand for His service. Sketch 9 speaks of the awful facts of the "heathen" that Rosalind Goforth had witnessed. Although she speaks of these as being confined to merely non-Christian persons, many of these evils are characteristics of people in countries generally classified as "Christian". Please be advised that this fact may cause this chapter to be offensive to some.

This historical novel is set in the 1100s in France and Jerusalem, following the First Crusade. Part of the story of Guy of Lusignan is told through the eyes of his fictional sister, Elaine. Guy travels to the Holy Land to reclaim it from the Saracens. Elaine follows afterward, finding upon arrival that her brother has fallen in love with Sybil, the sister of the leper king of Jerusalem. Queen Sybilla, a real historical character, is surrounded by political intrigue as she prepares to ascend the throne, which threatens her upcoming marriage to Guy of Lusignan...

A fictional "history" of Robert Walker, a dedicated clergyman in the English Lake District, this work, which started as a short magazine 'tale', examines how the lower echelons of the church produces dedicated, religious men, while those who head the church are self-serving and power hungry.

"Dodo Wonders" is the third and last of the "Dodo" novels by E.F. Benson, author of the "Mapp and Lucia" series as well as numerous stand-alone novels and short stories. Dodo was rumored to be based on Lady Margot Asquith; when questioned about it, Lady Asquith reportedly replied that Benson had taken nothing from her for the character of Dodo "except her drawing-room." "Dodo Wonders" takes Benson's characters, the glittering socialite Lady Dodo Chesterford, her husband, and friends into World War I-era England...

Rich and beautiful American girls heading to England to find themselves noble titles through marriage, and using their New World wealth to prop up the waning strength of the aristocracy, was almost a staple of late Victorian literature. "The Buccaneers," Edith Wharton called them, and their day is not over yet (think of Downton Abbey's Earl of Grantham, and his American heiress countess). In Lady Barbarina, however, Henry James explores the obverse of this old tale: what if the wealth is in the hands...

Alexandre Dumas weaves the compelling story of Siamese twins who are separated physically but never in spirit. When one of the brothers is murdered, the other leaves Corsica for Paris to avenge the killing. Dumas brings this thrilling tale to life with his fascinating descriptions of Italy and France and his powerful portrayal of the undying love of brother for brother.

Bealby is the comical story of the escapade of a thirteen-year-old boy when he rebels against his placement as a steward's-room boy in the great house of an estate named Shonts and flees—not, however, before thoroughly upsetting a weekend party where the nouveau riche couple renting Shonts is entertaining the Lord Chancellor. - Summary by Wikipedia

The Benson Murder Case – A Philo Vance Story is the first of a series of twelve popular mysteries set in New York during the Jazz Age. S. S. Van Dine is the nom de plume of prominent art critic, and member of New York’s avant-garde, W. H. Wright. He rapidly became one of the country’s best-selling authors and the series remained immensely popular for decades, as Philo Vance was featured in dozens of movies, plays and radio shows. Van Dine’s novels marked a sharp departure from earlier detective fiction...

While L. M. Montgomery is better known for her novels, such as Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon, she also wrote hundreds of poems. Her love of beauty, nature, and the sea is evident in this, the only volume of her poetry published during her lifetime.

The House of the Dead is a novel published in 1861 by Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky, which portrays the life of convicts in a Siberian prison camp. Dostoyevsky himself spent four years in exile in such a camp following his conviction for involvement in the Petrashevsky Circle. This experience allowed him to describe with great authenticity the conditions of prison life and the characters of the convicts. The narrator, Aleksandr Petrovich Goryanchikov, has been sentenced to penalty deportation to Siberia and ten years of hard labour...

"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...

The story of an exciting test of wits between world-class thief Arsène Lupin and master detective Herlock Sholmes. Translated from the French. - Summary by Andy Harrington

From celebrated crime author Rex Stout, creator of the long-running Nero Wolfe detective stories, comes this early mystery, that served as an inspiration to the first Nero Wolfe novel Fer-de-Lance, of a golfer who, while out on the greens, clutches his chest and keels over from an apparent heart attack. But the coroner rules it a poisoning, and the president of the country club, Canby Rankin, takes it upon himself to track down the killer. - Summary by Ben Tucker

Tanks and the future of war is what Murray Leinster speculates about in this story. Written in the 1920's he observed the terrible new inventions that were used in World War I to kill people, armored tanks and poisoned gas and then tells us how war will be fought in the future. In this case the war will occur in 1932 and be between the US and the 'Yellow enemy'. It was published in the very first issue of Astounding Stories of Super Science, January 1930. It is science fiction in the sense that it guesses what the future will hold for man based on developing the technology that was coming into being at the time, the 1920's...

A charming collection of nine short stories for children with a moral weaved in each. These were originally published as separate booklets, under the series title "Stories for God's Little Ones".

Two former school friends, now both military men, meet again and discover both are trying to lose themselves to public gaze. Dick West has inherited the family estate, but is out of favor. "The Red Window" was used during periods of civil unrest to warn cavaliers of danger. Now, West awaits a message in the red window from his cousin, to say his grandfather has relented and forgiven him - but a handkerchief around the old man's neck complicates matters.

Written from the midst of the struggle for female suffrage, Constance Elizabeth Maud’s novel No Surrender (1911) is a Call to Arms. It is a dramatic narrative portraying key players and historical events in the battle for the Vote for Women in Britain. Jenny Clegg is a Lancashire millgirl working long, hard hours under unhealthy conditions in order to support her mother and younger siblings, only to have her father take possession of her savings. In order to seek the rights to improved work conditions, equal pay, and many other human rights, she joins the movement of women seeking political representation...

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...

Judith Richards is seated alone in her father's library at midnight, when a man enters, rifles her father's safe, and is examining his loot when a steel blade darts thru the portières, pierces him and he falls dead to the floor. Judith meanwhile has remained undisturbed, for she is seated with her back to the intruder and she is, moreover, stone deaf. When she finally rises to leave the room, she discovers the crime, and recognizes the victim as the stepson of her uncle. Detective Ferguson comes to the conclusion that the murder must have been an inside job, and the members of the household come under suspicion...

It is Paris sometime after the Franco-Prussian War (1870--Germany won--the French Second Republic collapsed--France embittered). A French poet and a German composer come to admire one another's work and decide to collaborate on an opera. There are costs to pay. ( david wales)

These stories have been written in the hopes of giving some pleasant qualms to their reader, if by chance, anyone be occupying in their perusal a leisure half-hour before he goes to bed when the night and the house are still, he may perchance cast an occasional glance into the corners and dark places of the room where he sits, to make sure that nothing unusual lurks in the shadow. For this is the avowed object of ghost stories and such tales as deal with the dim unseen forces which occasionally and perturbingly make themselves manifest. The author therefore fervently wishes his readers a few uncomfortable moments. Preface - by E.F. Benson

Nick Carter is a fictional detective who first appeared in 1886 in dime store novels. Over the years, different authors, all taking the nom de plume Nicholas Carter, have penned stories featuring "America's greatest detective". In this story, Nick finds himself in a quandary. He must choose between helping a friend, with a dubious past or arresting a master crook, long thought dead, but now setting up a new scam. Will he save his friend or, with the help of his assistants, stop the thief in his tracks?

The Great War is over and the soldier boys are back home, but some of them just can't settle down again. Neither can the girls who helped out both on the foreign and the home front. Dr. Ward notices, but doesn't know how to help until one Sunday after his sermon, when something happens to change the lives of many in their town.

Eamont was an opium clipper built in Cowes. It was the subject of an 1891 book, A cruise in an opium clipper, by Captain Lindsay Anderson. Eamont was involved in the opening of Japan to foreigners in 1858, serving as a dispatch boat between Nagasaki and Shanghai, and was one of the first vessels to open up a trade with Formosa…. The Eamont was sent on some very dangerous trips. She was one of the first vessels to open up a trade with Formosa, and made the first survey of the port of Taku, which she entered by bumping over the reef in spite of a tremendous surf beating upon it at the time, a most daring performance...

Full of delightful fairy tales, charming poems and engaging stories, this is the fourth volume of the "My Bookhouse" series for little ones. Originally published in the 1920's as a six volume set, these books, edited by Olive Beaupre Miller, contained the best in children's literature, stories, poems and nursery rhymes. They progressed in difficulty through the different volumes.

You who have read "The Mad Planet" by Murray Leinster, will welcome the sequel to that story. The world, in a far distant future, is peopled with huge insects and titanic fungus growths. Life has been greatly altered, and tiny Man is now in the process of becoming acclimated to the change. We again meet our hero Burl, but this time a far greater danger menaces the human race. The huge insects are still in evidence, but the terror they inspire is as nothing compared to the deadly Red Dust. You will follow this remarkable story with breathless interest...

Nick Carter is a fictional detective who first appeared in 1886 in dime store novels. Over the years, different authors, all taking the nom de plume Nicholas Carter, have penned stories featuring "America's greatest detective". Nick is approached by a young friend with a sorry tale to tell. His inheritance from his father, some valuable diamonds, have been stolen, his uncle murdered during the robbery and his cousin brutally assaulted. Who could the perpetrators be, and how did they know of the diamonds so recently arrived from South Africa? You can be sure Nick will solve the riddle.

A cunning killer prowls the winding corridors of an old hospital in this thriller by the author of "Murder Takes the Veil". (From original jacket)

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.

Evil lurks in the hearts and minds of men and many nefarious schemes are hatched by these gangsters, mob bosses and super villains. But thankfully, equally brave, talented detectives are there to track them down and thwart their twisted plans. These six stories, along with two "true fact detective shorts" were in the magazine Hooded Detective, January 1942. Are they well written? well, no, but they are fun. Here are a few of the blurbs: "They had expected spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner, but were served instead, hot lead, with a little bit of blood on the side...

Character Building is a compilation of speeches, given by Mr. Booker T. Washington, to the students and staff of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now known as Tuskegee University).Booker T. Washington was one of the most prominent leaders in advancing African-American civil rights. Born into slavery and freed as a young boy, he rose through the ranks of education to eventually earn his position as principal of Tuskegee. Under his guidance, the school was built, by students and for students, to give them a deeply meaningful education...

Johnson's only novel, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, was originally published anonymously in 1912. It is a fictional novel written as a memoir of an unnamed biracial narrator who grew up in the South during the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction eras. It is a story in which the narrator relates how as a young boy he initially assumed that he was white, and how his notions of racial identity were suddenly turned upside down one day—how from that moment on he was inclined to view himself and the world about him from the perspective of blackness. The novel received very little notoriety until Johnson republished it in 1927, this time taking full credit as its author.

Young Dr Ellis, a struggling new physician, is enjoying a quiet evening smoking and enjoying conversation with his journalist friend Cass, when their mysterious neighbour, Mrs Moxton, bursts in upon them with startling news - her husband has been murdered! Rushing to the scene, the two men discover Mr Moxton, stabbed in the back. They investigate the body thoroughly, but find no real clues to his assailant except for a mysterious series of markings, scrawled in blood on the dead man's sleeve. - Summary by Don W. Jenkins

Dixon lived through Reconstruction, and believed it ranked with the French Revolution in brutality and criminal acts. The Traitor (1907), the final book in his trilogy which also includes The Leopard’s Spots (1902), and The Clansman (1905), spans a two-year period just after Reconstruction (1870-1872), and covers the decline of the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina. Dixon, whose father was an early Klan leader, maintained that the original Klan, the “reconstruction Klan” was morally formed in desperation to protect the people from lawlessness, address Yankee brutality, and save southern civilization...

The continuing saga of those rambunctious Rover Boys, brothers Dick, Tom, and Sam, takes them to the Great Lakes region of the northern U.S.. Expect the usual adventure and ultimately heroic encounters with bad apples, like arch-enemies the Baxter clan and simpering Josiah Crabtree.

Despised by Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, What Is To Be Done? is a fascinating, sympathetic story of idealistic revolutionaries in mid-nineteenth century tsarist Russia; translator Nathan Haskell Dole affirms in his preface his conviction that it is a thriller that no one can put down once s/he begins it. Its variegated cast of characters includes Vera Pavlovna, a boldly independent woman in a time of great oppression, and the inspirational radical Rakhmetov. The author wrote the novel from the depths of the infamous Peter & Paul Fortress of St...

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...

Regina Miriam Bloch is a somewhat enigmatic figure in the world of Weird Fiction, having written only two slim volumes , yet her language and impact of writing style is unrivaled. The Swine-Gods and Other Visions is a haunting, at times grotesque, at times exuberant collection of strange and otherworldly fables, filled with pagan deities, bizarre allegorical parables and rich imagery unlike anything in print at the time. The dream worlds that Bloch creates, of priests sacrificing souls to boar-headed...

Dot and Tot of Merryland is a 1901 novel by L. Frank Baum. After Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, he wrote this story about the adventures of a little girl named Dot and a little boy named Tot in a land reached by floating on a river that flowed through a tunnel. The land was called Merryland and was split into seven valleys.

Ellis Parker Butler was an American author. He was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays. These are eight of his humorous short stories about life.

Ranny Ransome is an idealistic young man, devoted to exuberant gymnastic exercises and to fighting “flabbiness” in his own life, body and soul. He loves the girlish and athletic Winny Dymond, and particularly loves participating with her in the Combined Maze, a choreographed, intricate, exhilarating group gymnastic ritual in which the young men and women of the Polytechnic Gymnasium demonstrate their skills. Unfortunately, Ranny falls under the spell of the seductive Violet, a sexual free spirit who wants nothing more than to live an untrammelled life on her own terms...

In this May Sinclair wartime masterpiece, dashing newsman Walter Furnival is an absurdly good catch: handsome, successful, athletic, intelligent, an upstanding epitome of manhood and rectitude. Tasker Jevons is a puny, preposterous, impossible-looking, bombastic sports writer, without one single redeeming social grace. Imagine the jealous mortification of Furny when his enchanting young typist and love interest Viola Thesiger chooses the clownish Jevons as a lover, seeing in him a remarkable inner beauty not evident to anyone but her and (as he grudgingly but magnanimously admits) the long-suffering and devoted Furnival...

Subtitled, "Being an account of the problems solved by Astro, seer of secrets, and his love affair with Valeska Wynne, his assistant." Classic detective stories, with an atypical solver of them. Note, the book itself is published with no author name, which explains the introduction. Don't understand what I mean? Listen and find out! - Summary by TriciaG

The "forgotten" planet had been seeded for life, first with microbes and later with plants and insects. A third expedition, intended to complete the seeding with animals, never occurred. Over the millennia the insects and plants grew to gigantic sizes. The action of the novel describes the fight for survival by descendants of a crashed spaceship as they battle wolf-sized ants, flies the size of chickens, and gigantic flying wasps.

“To bury these, to christen those, And marry such fond folks who chose To change the tenor of their life And risk the matrimonial strife.” This was the humdrum life of Dr. Syntax before he set out on his bizarre and hilarious adventures, presented here in the form of satirical poem in 26 cantos. It’s a lot of fun!

The first chapter of a book is often the hook to draw a reader in. It could make you eager for more or realize it isn't for you. In this, the 8th First Chapter Collection, we offer you old favorites, such as Pride and Prejudice and The Call of the Wild. We tour the world, with Mexico and The Natural History of Selbourne, contemplate philosophy with Knowing and Being and relax with a Dissertation on Oriental Gardening with a side of Cakes and Cookies.

Frank Urwin and Richard Cleugh are two bachelor journalists sharing a flat in London. One evening while chatting, Urwin receives a telegram from a police acquaintance to come to the local police station at once. Urwin visits Inspector Patterson who is greatly agitated. Patterson invites Urwin for a drink and tells him of a strange occurrence at a local house. The two visit the house where they discover a dead young male and attractive young female. For some reason, Patterson is reluctant to report the apparent murders...

How differently people view life, society, and religion, depending on their perspective! Perry, the often sick young man that is learning to follow his Master; Eunice (Una), as close as a sister to Perry but not a Christian; Eleanor, the selfish socialite; and Tom, Eleanor's earnestly Christian brother, form the core of this story of life, love, marriage, and service.

Iracema (translated as Iracema, the Honey Lips: a legend of Brazil) is considered one of the most important books of Brazilian romanticism, but also of Brazilian literature as a whole. It's been called a poem in prose, a poetic novel, a fictional-historical novel, an indianist novel, an epic-lyric narrative, a mythic poem. The obvious difficulty in defining this work shows its many facets: legendary, narrative, poetic, lyric, mythic. The story revolves around the unexpected appearance of a Portuguese warrior in the lands of the Tabajara indians, on the shores of Ceará, Brazil, in the early years of the 16th century...

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.

THE PERMANENT HUSBAND, also published as The Eternal Husband, is a psychological novella by the acclaimed Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The plot revolves around the intense and complex relationship between Velchaninov and Trusotsky. Velchaninov, the protagonist, is a former lover of the recently deceased wife of Trusotsky, the title character. Some critics have ranked this novella among Dostoeyevsky’s best works because of its style and structure. Alfred Bem has called it "one of the most complete works by Dostoyevsky in regards to its composition and development. – Adapted from Wikipedia An excellent commentary may be found here.

Despite a college education and a good family name, Barbara cannot get the teaching job she needs to help her mother and herself through some hard years. When she sees a need for a hired girl in her community, Barbara makes the unthinkable choice of lowering herself to the work of a servant. But is service really to be despised? And must all the challenges and snubs which come with the position rob her young life of its purpose, joy, and hopes and dreams? - Summary by HannahMary

This is a collection of 14 of William le Queux' best mystery stories.

"More Newspaper Articles by Mark Twain" fills in the gaps left by the first collection of newspaper articles: "Newspaper Articles by Mark Twain" . The missing articles, collected by twainquotes.com, consist of works printed in the Muscatine Journal, the Keokuk Daily Post, the New York Sunday Mercury, the Golden Era, the Californian, The Daily Dramatic Chronicle, San Francisco Bulletin, the New York Herald and travel letters originally printed in the Chicago Daily tribune. The earliest articles first appeared in 1853...

Join Space Medical Service officer Calhoun and his sidekick Murgatroyd the tormal on another exciting adventure, this time on what should be a routine visit to the planet Maya, which upon arrival appears to be completely devoid of all life!

Princess Casamassima can be read on several levels: first, as a political and social novel, exploring the anarchistic and revolutionary underground of London in the 1880s; secondly as a psychological study of such a movement on a young man (the protagonist, Hyacinth Robinson) who may or may not be descended from the aristocracy, but whose artistic nature shines out in the midst of the London slums; and thirdly, as an examination of the conundrum whether the world of art and culture is necessarily built on the abject poverty of others...

LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 recordings of The Smoke Upon Your Altar Dies by Rudyard Kipling. This was the Weekly Poetry project for January 6, 2013.Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist chiefly remembered for his tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kilping was one of the most popular writers in England, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and to date he remains its youngest recipient...

Lawrence’s first novel is set in Nethermere (his name for the real-life Eastwood in Nottinghamshire). The plot is narrated by Cyril Beardsall and focuses in particular on the relationship of his sister Lettie with two admirers, the more handsome and down to earth George and the more effete gentleman Leslie. She eventually marries Leslie although she is sexually attracted to George. George marries the conventional Meg and both marriages end in unhappiness. The countryside of the English midlands is beautifully evoked and there is powerful description also of the impact of industrialisation on both town and country.

The Markets of Paris is a remarkable work, and is the one which Zola calls his very best novel, and of which he is far more proud than of any others in his Rougon-Marquart series – prouder than of L’Assommoir. It must have been in his early manhood, when poor and friendless, he lived among the people, that much of the information which makes these pages so startlingly vivid, was acquired. How many mornings, long before dawn, must he have visited these markets – how many hours and days must he have spent there, to have mastered the habits, manners and ways of these people, who are a class by themselves, and of whom we do not lose sight, from the beginning to the end of the book...

A ghost story and love story all at once, set in medieval Portugal. Don Ruy is in love with Dona Leonor, but her husband has guessed his feelings and hatches a plan. Don Ruy rides right into a trap, but on the way, a dead man joins him and saves his life. - Summary by Carolin

Minos was such a lovely planet. Not a thing seemed wrong with it. Excepting the food, perhaps. And a disease that wasn't really. Originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction, October, 1950. Katherine Anne MacLean (born January 22, 1925) is an American science fiction author best known for her short fiction of the 1950s which examined the impact of technological advances on individuals and society.

Quoting from a "teaser" on the flyleaf: The well-known authority on criminology, Dennis Holt, inherited a house in a remote village, the sort of place in which, to quote himself, “nothing ever happens.” One night at fifty-three minutes past eleven , his attention was attracted by a peremptory tapping on the window pane. A moment later, the lower sash was slowly pushed up and a young girl appeared. “Let me in!” she whispered. “Please—I have hurt myself.” That was the beginning of a bewildering series of happenings in the life of Dennis Holt...