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By: Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

Book cover Little Daffydowndilly (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales")
Book cover Old Ticonderoga, a Picture of the Past (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales")
Book cover Fire Worship (From "Mosses from an Old Manse")
Book cover The Old Apple Dealer (From "Mosses from an Old Manse")
Book cover Sylph Etherege (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales")
Book cover Old News (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales")
Book cover The Intelligence Office (From "Mosses from an Old Manse")
Book cover Passages from a Relinquished Work (From "Mosses from an Old Manse")
Book cover Sketches from Memory (From "Mosses from an Old Manse")
Book cover Monsieur du Miroir (From "Mosses from an Old Manse")

By: Neil Goble

Book cover Master of None

By: Nelson Slade Bond (1908-2006)

Book cover Lighter Than You Think

By: Norman Duncan (1871-1916)

Book cover Christmas Eve At Swamp's End

Four selected chapters from The Measure Of A Man; A Tale of the Big Woods, by Norman Duncan. What could be more Christmasy than: Babies, especially a homeless one; a woman who loves; a man who protects; a cold night; glittering stars; poor working-men witnesses; gifts. ( Title page and david wales)

Book cover Harbor Tales Down North With an Appreciation by Wilfred T. Grenfell, M.D.

By: Norman Spinrad (1940-)

Book cover Subjectivity

By: O. Henry (1862-1910)

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry The Gift of the Magi

The Gift of the Magi is an O. Henry short story in which a young couple are very much in love with each other but can barely afford their one-room apartment. For Christmas, they each make a sacrifice to purchase a gift for the other, with ironic results. The moral of the story is that physical possessions, however valuable they may be, are of little value in the grand scheme of things. The true unselfish love that the characters, Jim and Della, share is greater than their possessions. O. Henry ends the story by clarifying the metaphor between the characters in the story, Della and James (or Jim), and the Biblical Magi...

Book cover Cabbages and Kings

This work is O. Henry's first published volume and is considered to be his only novel. The plot is composed of several short stories, which were inspired by the author's six-month stay in Honduras in the late 1890s. "The incidents embracing as they do, a variety of subjects, hang loosely together, so loosely in fact, that at times one finds no apparent connection between them at all, and yet in the end one sees how each is intimately related to the other. ...Written by a less able hand than O. Henry's the book might have been a sad jumble, perhaps comprehensible to none but the Walrus--but as it is, one finds a joy in its every obscurity...

Book cover Rolling Stones
Book cover Sixes and Sevens
Book cover Whirligigs

A collection of short stories.

Book cover Gentle Grafter

If Jefferson "Parleyvoo" Pickens had appeared in print just a few years later, he might have been the "Gentle Grifter" instead of the "Gentle Grafter", the name O. Henry picked for him. His situation as an ethical graft artist gives Jeff an extra impediment in pursuing his craft, but he never wanted it to be too easy. The result is fourteen delightful tales for us and a number of new partners for him. With those partners (he always has at least one) he works his way through a number of confidence games...

Book cover Heart of the West

A collection of short stories by the legendary O. Henry.

Book cover Waifs and Strays

These 12 O. Henry stories all deal with waifs and strays in one way or another; people who have somehow become adrift in the current of life. Will they find their way on their own or be helped by kind hearted folk or perhaps, stay a waif and stray, somehow outside the normal life of society? All naturally have the wonderful O. Henry beautiful way with words and people. So if you are in the mood to enjoy some sensuous sounds and convoluted flowing phrases unique to William Sydney Porter, give these a listen. And of course the endings cannot ever be predicted. Ever!

Book cover Options

O. Henry needs no introduction of course; the man who made the short story with the surprise ending famous. These 16 stories are all wonderful examples of his word sculpting art. They include: "The Rose of Dixie"; The Third Ingredient; The Hiding of Black Bill; Schools and Schools; Thimble, Thimble; Supply and Demand; Buried Treasure; To Him Who Waits; He Also Serves; The Moment of Victory; The Head-Hunter; No Story; The Higher Pragmatism; Best-Seller; Rus in Urbe; A Poor Rule

Book cover Heart of the West [Annotated]
Book cover O. Henry Encore

These 45 early stories, sketches and poems by the famed O. Henry, nearly all published under the pseudonym of the "Post Man", were discovered in the files of the Houston Post, 1895-1896, by Mary Sunlocks Harrell while she was conducting research in 1934-35 for her M.A. degree at the University of Texas. These writings were published just before O. Henry, or Will Porter as he was known at that time, fled to Honduras in July of 1896 after being charged with embezzlement.

By: Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde The Happy Prince and Other Tales

The Happy Prince and Other Tales (also sometimes called The Happy Prince and Other Stories) is an 1888 collection of stories for children by Oscar Wilde. It is most famous for The Happy Prince, the short tale of a metal statue who befriends a migratory bird. Together, they bring happiness to others, in life as well as in death. The stories included in this collection are:The Happy PrinceThe Nightingale and the RoseThe Selfish GiantThe Devoted FriendThe Remarkable RocketThe stories convey an appreciation for the exotic, the sensual and for masculine beauty.

The Fisherman and His Soul by Oscar Wilde The Fisherman and His Soul

”The Fisherman and his Soul” is a fairy tale first published in November of 1891 in Wilde’s “A House of Pomegranates”. It tells of a fisherman who nets and falls in love with a mermaid. But to be with her he must shed his soul, which goes off to have adventures of its own. Will forbidden love endure?

A Florentine Tragedy and La Sainte Courtisane by Oscar Wilde A Florentine Tragedy and La Sainte Courtisane

Two short fragments: an unfinished and a lost play. A Florentine Tragedy, left in a taxi (not a handbag), is Wilde’s most successful attempt at tragedy – intense and domestic, with surprising depth of characterisation. It was adapted into an opera by the Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky in 1917. La Sainte Courtisane, or The Woman Covered in Jewels explores one of Wilde’s great idées fixes: the paradox of religious hedonism, pagan piety. Both plays, Wildean to their core, revel in the profound sadness that is the fruit of the conflict between fidelity and forbidden love...

Book cover Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories is a collection of short semi-comic mystery stories. This collection exemplifies Wilde's sharp wit and dark humour. Stories in this collection include Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, The Canterville Ghost, The Sphinx Without a Secret, The Model Millionaire, and The Portrait Of Mr W H.

Book cover Selected Prose of Oscar Wilde

By: Owen Wister (1860-1938)

Red Men and White by Owen Wister Red Men and White

These eight stories are made from our Western Frontier as it was in a past as near as yesterday and almost as by-gone as the Revolution; so swiftly do we proceed. They belong to each other in a kinship of life and manners, and a little through the nearer tie of having here and there a character in common. Thus they resemble faintly the separate parts of a whole, and gain, perhaps, something of the invaluable weight of length; and they have been received by my closest friends with suspicion. ...When...

The Jimmyjohn Boss and Other Stories by Owen Wister The Jimmyjohn Boss and Other Stories

This is the fifth published book of Owen Wister, author of the archetypical Western novel, The Virginian. Published in 1900, it comprises eight Western short stories.

By: P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975)

A Man of Means by P. G. Wodehouse A Man of Means

A Man of Means is a collection of six short stories written in collaboration by P. G. Wodehouse and C. H. Bovill. The stories all star Roland Bleke, a nondescript young man to whom financial success comes through a series of “lucky” chances, the first from a win in a sweepstake he had forgotten entering. Roland, like many a timid young man seeks love and marriage. In this pursuit his wealth is regularly a mixed blessing. The plot of each story follows its predecessor, sometimes directly, and occasionally refer back to past events in Bleke’s meteoric career...

The Man With Two Left Feet, and Other Stories by P. G. Wodehouse The Man With Two Left Feet, and Other Stories

The Man With Two Left Feet, and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on March 8, 1917 by Methuen & Co., London, and in the United States in 1933 by A.L. Burt and Co., New York. All the stories had previously appeared in periodicals, usually the Strand in the UK and the Red Book magazine or the Saturday Evening Post in the US. It is a fairly miscellaneous collection — most of the stories concern relationships, sports and household...

By: Padraic Colum (1881-1972)

The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles by Padraic Colum The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles

This is Irish folklorist Padraic Colum's masterful retelling of many Greek myths, focusing on Jason and the Argonauts' quest to find the Golden Fleece. He also includes the stories of Atalanta, Heracles, Perseus, Theseus, and others.

By: Pansy (1841-1930)

Divers Women by Pansy Divers Women

A collection of short stories, highlighting some of the best and worst characteristics we women are capable of in our Christianity and in our home life.

By: Patrick Fahy

Book cover The Mightiest Man

By: Paul Ernst (1899-1985)

Book cover The Radiant Shell

By: Paul Lohrman

Book cover The Big Tomorrow

By: Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (1913-1966)

Book cover The Game of Rat and Dragon

By: Paul W. Fairman (1916-1977)

The Beasts in the Void by Paul W. Fairman The Beasts in the Void

By: Perceval Gibbon (1879-1926)

Book cover The Second Class Passenger Fifteen Stories
Book cover Vrouw Grobelaar and Her Leading Cases Seventeen Short Stories
Book cover Those Who Smiled And Eleven Other Stories

By: Perley Poore Sheehan (1875-1943)

Ten-foot Chain by Perley Poore Sheehan Ten-foot Chain

True love can survive anything. Or can it? Four popular authors were lunching with an editor and the question came up: "What mental and emotional reaction would a man and a woman undergo, linked together by a ten-foot chain, for three days and nights?" The 4 very popular authors each had strong but divergent opinions of what would happen to such a couple chained together for 3 days and nights. The result was these fascinating stories. Does true love scoff at the small difficulty of constant proximity?...

By: Peter Baily

Book cover Accidental Death

By: Phaedrus (c. 15 BC - c. AD 50)

The Fables of Phaedrus by Phaedrus The Fables of Phaedrus

The fable is a small narrative, in prose or verse, which has as its main characteristic the aim of conveying a moral lesson (the “moral”), implicitly or, more normally, explicitly expressed. Even though the modern concept of fable is that it should have animals or inanimated objects as characters – an idea supported by the works of famous fabulists such as Aesop and La Fontaine – Phaedrus, the most important Latin fabulist, is innovative in his writing. Although many of his fables do depict animals or objects assuming speech, he also has many short stories about men, writing narratives that seem to the modern eye more like short tales than fables...

By: Philip José Farmer (1918-2009)

Book cover They Twinkled Like Jewels

By: Philip K. Dick (1928-1982)

The Crystal Crypt & Beyond the Door by Philip K. Dick The Crystal Crypt & Beyond the Door

Two early science fiction stories by the wonderful craftsman, Philip K. Dick. In the Crystal Crypt, taken from the 1954 Planet Stories, the war between Mars and Terra is about to erupt and earth has only merchants and salesmen to fight; can they carry out their mission? Beyond the Door is a story that asks and answers the question: what lives beyond the door? And is it dangerous?

Book cover The Gun
Book cover Beyond Lies the Wub & The Skull

Two stories in the inimitable Philip Dick style. What is a Wub? A 400 pound slovenly, fat, ungainly, drooling animal that looks like a cross between a walrus and an enormous hog? Well, yes that is pretty much what he looks like and for 50 cents, a good bargain no matter how he tastes. The hungry spaceship crew expect to find out. Of course the Wub may not entirely agree but it doesn't have much to say about it. The second story, The Skull, is a skilful mesh of time travel, unscrupulous governments, prisoners, and religion. With an assassin thrown in for good measure. Enjoy!

Book cover The Skull
Book cover Beyond the Door

By: Poul William Anderson (1926-2001)

Book cover The Valor of Cappen Varra
Duel on Syrtis by Poul William Anderson Duel on Syrtis

By: Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870)

Book cover How The Redoubt Was Taken 1896

By: R. R. Merliss

Book cover The Stutterer

By: Rabindranath Tagore

Mashi and Other Stories by Rabindranath Tagore Mashi and Other Stories

A collection of short stories written iin English by the Nobel prize winning Bengali writer.

The Hungry Stones and Other Stories by Rabindranath Tagore The Hungry Stones and Other Stories

This is a collection of short stories written by the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. The stories contained in this volume were translated by several hands. The version of The Victory is the author's own work. The seven stories which follow were translated by Mr. C. F. Andrews, with the help of the author's help. Assistance has also been given by the Rev. E. J. Thompson, Panna Lal Basu, Prabhat Kumar Mukerjii, and the Sister Nivedita.

By: Ralph Sholto

Book cover The Clean and Wholesome Land

By: Randall Garrett (1927-1987)

Book cover The Destroyers
Book cover Belly Laugh
Book cover Fifty Per Cent Prophet
Book cover The Bramble Bush
Book cover ...Or Your Money Back
Book cover Suite Mentale
Book cover The Measure of a Man
Book cover In Case of Fire
Book cover Heist Job on Thizar
Book cover The Asses of Balaam
Book cover Viewpoint

By: Ray C. Noll

Book cover A Fine Fix

By: Raymond Z. Gallun (1911-1994)

Book cover The Eternal Wall

By: Rex Ellingwood Beach (1877-1949)

Book cover Pardners
Book cover Laughing Bill Hyde and Other Stories

By: Richard E. Lowe

Book cover When I Grow Up

By: Richard F. Thieme

Book cover Pleasant Journey

By: Richard Harding Davis (1864-1916)

Book cover The Amateur

On the steamer on his way to London, Austin Ford meets a young woman, who is going to London to find her missing husband. Being a specialist in finding people, Mr. Ford agrees to help her in her quest. However, something appears to be not quite right about the lady and her story...

Book cover The Lost House

Austin Ford, the London correspondent of the New York Republic, is spending some idle time in the American Embassy chatting with the Second Secretary, when suddenly a note is brought in. This note is an appeal for help, found in the gutter in a dark alley. The writer claims to be a young girl, who is kept against her will locked up in a lunatic asylum by her uncle. Although the Second Secretary tries to convince him that there is nothing to it, the journalist is determined to follow the lead...

Book cover The Make-Believe Man

Adventure was what our protagonist was looking for, when he boarded the steamer "Patience" for his holiday, and when one has a man with such a vivid imagination like Joseph Forbes Kinney as a travel companion, who seems to find adventures at every turn of the road (and if not, he manufactures them), the two travellers are sure to stumble into trouble...

The Boy Scout and Other Stories for Boys by Richard Harding Davis The Boy Scout and Other Stories for Boys

RICHARD HARDING DAVIS, as a friend and fellow author has written of him, was “youth incarnate,” and there is probably nothing that he wrote of which a boy would not some day come to feel the appeal. But there are certain of his stories that go with especial directness to a boy’s heart and sympathies and make for him quite unforgettable literature. A few of these were made some years ago into a volume, “Stories for Boys,” and found a large and enthusiastic special public in addition to Davis’s general readers; and the present collection from stories more recently published is issued with the same motive...

My Buried Treasure by Richard Harding Davis My Buried Treasure

"This is a true story of a search for buried treasure. The only part that is not true is the name of the man with whom I searched for the treasure. Unless I keep his name out of it he will not let me write the story, and, as it was his expedition and as my share of the treasure is only what I can make by writing the story, I must write as he dictates. I think the story should be told, because our experience was unique, and might be of benefit to others. And, besides, I need the money." (From the text)

Book cover Men of Zanzibar

This is the story of Hemingway, who, after a hunting trip in Uganda, settles in Zanzibar for a while to live among the English-speaking expatriate community on that island. While keeping his true identity well to himself, he falls in love with Ms. Polly Adair, the American Belle of the little society. But when he asks her to marry him, it seems that Ms. Adair has a secret...

Book cover Episodes in Van Bibber's Life
Book cover Once Upon A Time
Book cover A Charmed Life
Book cover The Reporter Who Made Himself King
Book cover The Man Who Could Not Lose
Book cover Billy and the Big Stick
Book cover The Consul
Book cover The Nature Faker
Book cover The Messengers
Book cover The Frame Up
Book cover The Log of the Jolly Polly
Book cover A Question of Latitude
Book cover Wasted Day

This is a delightful little story about the most successful banker on Wall Street, who finds his philanthropic side when one of his former employees is arrested and needs someone to vouch for his character..

Book cover Peace Manoeuvres
Book cover Cynical Miss Catherwaight

This is the story of Miss Catherwaight, collector of "dishonored honors" - medals of honor pawned by the persons they were awarded to. Part of Miss Catherwaight's collection are also the stories behind each award, and she tends to look down on their former owners for giving them away - until she finds a particular token in the shape of a heart...

By: Richard O. Lewis

Book cover A Bottle of Old Wine

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