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...

A collection of short stories.

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...

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

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!

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

Full of delightful nursery rhymes, charming poems and engaging stories, folk and fairy tales, this is the first 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 - this first being intended for the youngest audience.

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” 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?

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...

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.

A novel, The Dragon of Wantley, was written by Owen Wister (best known as the author of The Virginian) in 1892. Published by Lipincott Press, the story is a comic "burlesque" (in the author's words), concerning the "true" story of the Dragon. It is a romantic story set at Christmastime in the early 13th century. The book was a surprise success, going through four editions over the next ten years. This is the 1895 edition.

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...

Members of the Family is a collection of eight short stories about people in the Wyoming Territory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

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.

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 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...

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.

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.

Six poignant short stories reminiscent of life as a transport rider in the Transvaal veld in the days of the gold rush in South Africa at the end of the 19th century. From an early age Fitzpatrick believed that life should be enjoyed to the full and his honest and often moving style of writing leaves one richer for having known him.

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?...

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...

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?

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!

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

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.

"Angel Food" consists of a series of short sermons for children on the truths of the Catholic Faith - but told with engaging stories, in a style and simple language that children can understand.The author was a parish priest in New York for many years during the mid 1900's. He was the author of several books for children, the most well known being the books in what is considered the "Angel Food" series.

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...

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...

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...

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...

"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)

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...

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..

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...

Reverend Richard Wilson went to the heart of Russia to find stories from the eastern outposts of Christianity, untouched by the renaissance or reformation. He found the nature of the stories quite different from those of more western cultures. His hope was to teach English children about their Russian counterparts in a way they would understand, so he retold the stories rather than sought translations.

An eleven year old who remains eleven for more than half a century! As a literary creation, Richmal Crompton's scalawag schoolboy has few peers. Along with his notorious gang of Outlaws, William Brown wreaks havoc not just on his family but also across the entire village. His long suffering family, the local shopkeepers and a host of unforgettable characters make the William series of 21 books a delightful and most amusing read. More William is the second in the long series written by Richmal Crompton Lamburn...

Thirteen short stories by one of the most famous writers in his day. Robert Barr was a British Canadian short story writer and novelist, born in Glasgow, Scotland. In London of the 1890s Barr became a more prolific author - publishing a book a year - and was familiar with many of the best selling authors of his day, including Bret Harte and Stephen Crane. Most of his literary output was of the crime genre, then quite in vogue. When Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories were becoming well known,...

Breckinridge Elkins is the roughest, toughest, fastest-shootin’, hardest-fightin’ feller in the Bear Creek settlement, and probably in the entire Humbolt Mountains. As he travels further from home, he single-handedly takes on outlaws, settles (and starts) feuds and tries his hand at romancing the girls. He also discovers a lot of strange customs among other folks, such as building houses out of boards and wearing clothes that ain’t buckskins. Set in Nevada during the late 1800’s, this collection of stories is a great rollicking romp through the American frontier as seen through the eyes of one of the most enjoyable characters created in the history of tall tales.

A mysterious door-way, an incident of ferocious violence, a respectable and popular scientist, well-known for his enjoyable dinner parties who suddenly changes his will, the brutal killing of an elderly Member of Parliament, a diabolical serum that can transform one person into another – truly the ingredients of a fast good thriller! Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has captured the imaginations of readers ever since it was first published in 1886. It met with tremendous success and the words “Jekyll and Hyde” entered the English language as symbols of two conflicting sides of the same personality...

New Arabian Nights is a collection of short stories which include Robert Louis Stevenson's earliest fiction as well as those considered his best work in the genre. The first and longest story stars Prince Florizel of Bohemia who appears in the later collection of stories "More New Arabian Nights: The Dynamiter."

A marvelous depiction of two sides of South Sea Islands' life through three separate tales. One, the experience of the incoming British keen to live free and exploit the innocent; the other the supernatural as perceived by Stevenson working in the lives of the natives. One tale carries the germ of the story of Madame Butterfly, since become a part of Western culture. Another is an extraordinary retelling of a German horror story transposed to a South Sea Island setting. The last is an effort of the pure Stevensonian imagination and there can be nothing better.

3 Robert Sheckley short stories that demonstrate the breathof his fantastic imagination. In Watchbird, the question "can machines solve human problems?" is answered with a resounding YES! But there may be a few unforeseen glitches. Just a few. Warrior Race drops us into an alien race of warriors who fight in a way you will never be able to imagine until you listen. And Beside Still Waters is a gentle story that shows us a man who really wants to get away from it all ... sitting on a rock in the asteroid belt with only a robot for a friend. No girls allowed! A poignant and unsettling story to say the least.

Here are two early stories by the well known SF Author Robert Silverberg. The Happy Unfortunate was published first in Amazing Stories in 1957 and explores the angst caused when the human race reaches into space but at the cost of needing to breed a new species; specialized 'spacers' who can withstand the tremendous rigors of acceleration. The Hunted Heroes was published in Amazing stories a year earlier, in 1956. It is a futuristic story that holds great hope for the resilience of the human race after the war destroys most of the world.

Robert W. Chambers (1865-1933) studied art in Paris in the late 80’s and early 90’s, where his work was displayed at the Salon. However, shortly after returning to America, he decided to spend his time in writing. He became popular as the writer of a number of romantic novels, but is now best known as the author of “The King In Yellow”. This is a collection of the first half of this work of short stories which have an eerie, other-worldly feel to it; but the stories in the second half are essentially love stories, strongly coloured by the author’s life as an artist in France...

Written originally for his own children, Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories have continued to delight generations of youngsters since they were first published in 1902. The thirteen stories collected in this book are meant for very young children, but they engage older kids and adults too with their charming conversational style and simple plot lines. These stories are typical examples of the “origin” story, where children are provided with imaginative rather than practical explanations for the “why” “what” “how” “where” “who” “when” questions of childhood...

The Man Who Would Be King tells the story of two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan. It was inspired by the exploits of James Brooke, an Englishman who became the “white Raja” of Sarawak in Borneo, and by the travels of American adventurer Josiah Harlan, who claimed the title Prince of Ghor. The story was first published in The Phantom Rickshaw and other Tales (Volume Five of the Indian Railway Library, published by A H Wheeler & Co of Allahabad in 1888)...

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936) was an English author and poet, born in India, and best known today for his children’s books, including The Jungle Book, Just So Stories, and Puck of Pook’s Hill; his novel, Kim; his poems, including “Mandalay”, “Gunga Din”, and “If—”; and his many short stories, including “The Man Who Would Be King” and the collections Life’s Handicap, The Day’s Work, and Plain Tales from the Hills. He is regarded as a major “innovator in the art of the short story”; his children’s books are enduring classics of children’s literature; and his best work speaks to a versatile and luminous narrative gift...

The experiences in public school, Sandhurst and military life in India of Major George Cottar together with his adventures in the dream world he discovers and frequents.

These are selections of Kipling's writings; some poems, some fiction, some history but all by the master storyteller himself. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi' -- William the Conqueror, Part I -- William the Conqueror, Part II -- Wee Willie Winkie -- A matter of fact -- Mowgli's brothers -- The lost legion -- Namgay Doola -- A germ-destroyer -- 'Tiger! Tiger!' -- Tods' amendment -- The story of Muhammad Din -- The finances of the gods -- Moti Guj, Mutineer.

Saki was the pen name of the British author Hector Hugh Munro (1870 – 1916). His witty, biting and occasionally odd short stories satirised Edwardian culture. Saki is considered a master of the short story and has been compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker as well as Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde (who clearly influenced Saki). His first collection of short stories, Reginald, was published by Methuen Press in 1904 though these stories first appeared in the ‘Westminster Gazette’. The stories...

This is the third collection of short stories by Saki, following on from “Reginald” and “Reginald in Russia”. Although some of the stories have characters that do not appear elsewhere in the collection, many of them are loosely centred round the young Clovis Sangrail (effectively a reincarnation of Reginald).

Saki (December 18, 1870 – November 14, 1916) was the pen name of British author Hector Hugh Munro. Saki’s world contrasts the effete conventions and hypocrisies of Edwardian England with the ruthless but straightforward life-and-death struggles of nature. Nature generally wins in the end.

The Goody-Naughty Book was originally published as two books back to back. Opening the book from one end, the reader experiences “The Goody Side” where the children are polite and thoughtful. However, turning the book over and beginning from the other side, one reads “The Naughty Side” where the children are lazy and irritable. These short, moral stories teach children the proper way to behave and that there are consequences if they don’t.

Selma Lagerlöf was born in Vaermland, Sweden, in 1858 and enjoyed a long and very successful career as a writer, receiving the Nobel-Price in Literature in 1909. She died in Vaermland in 1940. Invisible Links (Osynliga länkar) is a collection of short stories with an underlying theme about the links that influence and guide people’s actions and lives. It was first published in 1894 and the English translation in 1895. The stories are often set in Lagerlöf’s Vaermland, but they also depict legends and history of Sweden, and some have connections to other works by Lagerlöf. Invisible Links is a good introduction to the writings of Selma Lagerlöf.

”From a Swedish Homestead” by the Swedish author Selma Lagerloef (translated by Jessie Brochner) is a varied collection of stories, mostly set in Dalarne or Vaermland in Sweden, but also some stories or legends from Kungahalla on the west-coast at the time between Heathendom and early Christianity plus some Legends from Italy and Belgium. The first nine sections, “The Story of a Country House”, is a short Novel, originally published on its own, but here part of the collection. It is the story...

MANUAL OF SURGERY, OXFORD MEDICAL PUBLICATIONSBY ALEXIS THOMSON, F.R.C.S.Ed.PREFACE TO SIXTH EDITION Much has happened since this Manual was last revised, and many surgical lessons have been learned in the hard school of war. Some may yet have to be unlearned, and others have but little bearing on the problems presented to the civilian surgeon. Save in its broadest principles, the surgery of warfare is a thing apart from the general surgery of civil life, and the exhaustive literature now available on every aspect of it makes it unnecessary that it should receive detailed consideration in a manual for students...

A story which shows that strength of character, and belief in the good in everything is above all else The old fisherman had a good dog, Boley, and an evil black cat, Sershina. "Master, this cat will be our undoing! Let's drive her away! Black cat, evil cat!" yelped Boley "Don't say that! You'll see that Serzhina will change and become good!" answered the old fisherman... Excerpt: There once lived an old man on the shore of a beautiful sea. All day he wove nets and caught fish. There were so many that the old fisherman shared them with his animals...

Anderson’s uniquely structured piece focuses on the lives of Winesburg’s most intriguing residents, as each shares a personal recount of their lives and experiences in the small town. The stories essentially intertwine to illustrate the development of George Willard, as he transforms from a heedless young man, to a man well aware of life’s trials and the extent of human misery. Exploring various themes including isolation, communication, limitation, and suffering, Winesburg, Ohio offers a glimpse into its characters heartfelt confessions...

Although written from a child’s perspective, this is not a kids book but a series of funny, poignant, and sometimes disturbing stories about life in a late 19th-century Russian-Jewish village — the world of my grandparents. Sholem Rabinovich (1859-1916) was born in Pereiaslav, Ukraine and later immigrated to New York. His short stories about Tevye and his daughters were freely adapted into the musical FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Rabinovich’s will contained the following injunction: “Let my name be recalled with laughter or not at all.” His translator, Hannah Berman, was Irish of Lithuanian descent.Some of these stories may be too intense for younger children.

A concoction of twelve stories, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the third book in the original Sherlock Holmes series. It shadows the experiences of detective Sherlock Holmes, an enigmatic genius, as he tries to unravel the mystery of each investigation he partakes in. Set in late 19th century London, the novel not only creates a successful mystery plot, but also circulates through real locations including Hyde Park, the river Thames, St George’s Church in Hanover Square, as well as adding fictional places to spice things up...

A young gambler is found shot dead in a closed room. Dr. Watson, who still mourns the disappearance of his famous friend is intrigued enough to step out of his house and take a look at the crime scene. A crowd has gathered there, curiously gazing up at the room where the crime is supposed to have taken place. Watson inadvertently jostles against an elderly, deformed man and knocks a stack of books from the fellow's hand. The man curses Watson vilely and disappears into the throng. It suddenly occurs to Watson that one of the books that he had helped the stranger pick up had seemed familiar...

For more than a century and a quarter, fans of detective fiction have enjoyed the doings of the iconic sleuth, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. In the company of his faithful companion, Dr Watson, Holmes has consistently delighted generations of readers. Created by a Scottish writer and physician, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this immortal private eye has solved cases for kings and commoners, lovely damsels and little old ladies, engineers and country squires and a legion of others who come to him in distress and perplexity...

Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his detective stories, he also wrote other short stories which are masterpieces of mystery and suspense. In some of the stories in “Tales of Terror and Mystery”, a suppressed uneasiness gradually builds up and evolves into sheer terror. In others, the story line unexpectedly changes and comes to a horrific conclusion. Sit back in the comfort of your armchair and let yourself be transported to the strange but compelling world created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The disappearance of a German spy and the gathering storm that foretells the prelude to World War I is what greets you in this riveting book. The further you read the more mysteries unfold like secret submarine plans with some pages missing found in the hands of a corpse. There's also family insanity in Cornwall, a dead Spaniard and mafia hiding in an empty London flat. His Last Bow was published in the Strand Magazine circa 1908 and included several other short stories as well. Even during Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's own lifetime, Holmes had acquired cult status...

A journalist who undertakes a life threatening mission to impress the woman he loves, a mysterious plateau in South America that none of the locals dare to enter and an adventurous English aristocrat are all charectors you will encounter in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World. With Dinosaurs, ape-men, diamonds and secret tunnels the book is filled with enough action, excitement, drama and adventure to go around. For Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts, Conan Doyle's hero in this book Professor Challenger is almost the antithesis of the cerebral sleuth...

This is a volume of short stories by the famous Arthur Conan Doyle.

At the time of his death at the age of 28, Stephen Crane had become an important figure in American literature. He was nearly forgotten, however, until two decades later when critics revived interest in his life and work. Stylistically, Crane's writing is characterized by vivid intensity, distinctive dialects, and irony. Common themes involve fear, spiritual crises and social isolation. Although recognized primarily for The Red Badge of Courage, which has become an American classic, Crane is also known for short stories such as "The Open Boat", "The Blue Hotel", "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky", and The Monster...

From the cave man to Santa Claus; spies, know-it-alls, and journalists: all are fair game for Leacock’s special brand of humor. He touches on the changes time has brought about in the city, education, and work habits. Among the other topics in this work are nature, fishing, gardening, success, and spirits–both of the departed and of the variety Prohibition prohibited. Each chapter of this book is a standalone story and if you love a good laugh, these stories are for you. In me, Leacock’s wit produced the full range of laughter: smiles, chuckles, guffaws, and some uncontrollable giggles. Also, occasionally, I found myself shedding a tear or two. (Review by Debra Lynn)

Thirteen short stories by a popular writer of the early 20th century (not to be confused with an earlier book Blazed Trail). White's books were popular at a time when America was losing its vanishing wilderness. He was a keen observer of the beauties of nature and human nature, yet could render them in a plain-spoken style. Based on his own experience, whether writing camping journals or Westerns, he included pithy and fun details about cabin-building, canoeing, logging, gold-hunting, and guns and fishing and hunting...

Not Quite Eighteen is a delightful collection of children’s stories that range from moral to whimsical. From unfinished fairy tales and daydreams about a pony who kept shop to a lesson on presence of mind, these anecdotes will entertain as well as improve the mind. (

In this collection of short stories, Susan Glaspell examines the unique character of America and its people.

Wessex Tales is a collection of six short stories written by Hardy in the 1880’s. If you’ve never read Hardy they’ll serve as a good introduction to his writing. Though not as comprehensive as his major works they do contain all the ingredients that make him instantly recognisable. (Introduction by T. Hynes.)

Eighteen short stories by a master story teller.

Eleven short stories.

The pedigrees of our county families, arranged in diagrams on the pages of county histories, mostly appear at first sight to be as barren of any touch of nature as a table of logarithms. But given a clue—the faintest tradition of what went on behind the scenes, and this dryness as of dust may be transformed into a palpitating drama. Out of such pedigrees and supplementary material most of the following stories have arisen and taken shape.

Paulownia is a collection of seven stories by three Japanese authors from the late 19th and early 20th century. Mori Ōgai was an army surgeon who was sent to study in Germany, where he developed an interest in Western literature. His most famous work is The Wild Geese (Gan). This collection contains his short stories Takase Bune, Hanako, and The Pier. Nagai Kafū's writings center mostly around the entertainment districts of Tokyo with their geisha and prostitutes. Here, his stories The bill-collecting and Ukiyo-e are presented...

An entertaining selection of “modern” ghost stories selected “to include specimens of a few of the distinctive types of modern ghosts, as well as to show the art of individual stories.”Sure to please the love of the supernatural in all of us!

A collection of folklore stories accumulated during the Islamic Golden Age, The Arabian Nights Entertainments has entertained and fascinated readers for centuries. The book centers on a frame story concerning the sultan Shahrayah and his wife Scheherazade, who cleverly narrates captivating stories to her husband each night in order to save herself from his retribution and live another day. As a result the book encourages the literary technique of a story within a story. The frame story begins when the sultan Shahrayar learns of his brother’s adulterous wife and subsequently discovers his own wife is guilty of infidelity...

Published in 1910, The Lilac Fairy Book is the last book in the series of fairytale collections known as Andrew Lang's “Coloured” Fairy Books and features stories from various folklores and cultures including Welsh, Portuguese, Scottish, Italian, and many other foreign literary branches. Moreover, the collection is a gem in the short story genre due to the fact that Lang collected some of the featured stories from foreign languages and made them available to English audiences. Featuring 33 stories, The Lilac Fairy Book offers a different perspective to the happy-ever-after fairytales most people are accustomed to and expect...

Most parents know and understand the value of children's stories. Reading aloud to your children becomes an occasion for family warmth and bonding. But quite apart from this, the true importance of introducing children to fiction helps them to make sense of the real world they will have to encounter at some later stage. Stories also give them hope, teach moral values and help them to understand the complex nature of the society that they will ultimately have to live in. Children's Short Works Vol 001 contains ten delightful traditional tales...

“The House that Jack Built” is a standard of juvenile literature that delights children and adults alike with the increasingly lengthy sentences, stretched to the breaking point, that make up its narrative. Through a chain of events, beginning with a rodent eating some grain and culminating in a festive wedding, children learn that playing with grammar can be fun! You can read along with this recording.

The Lords of the Housetops reveals the cat through the creative lenses of 13 authors. Consequently, this carefully chosen collection of stories is as complex, charismatic and clever as a cat.

Reginald in Russia is the title story in a collection of fifteen witty and satirical stories, sketches and one "playlet" by that master of the short story H. H. Munro, better Known as Saki. The stories are: Reginald in Russia -- The Reticence of Lady Anne -- The Lost Sanjak -- The Sex That Doesn't Shop -- The Blood-feud of Toad-Water -- A Young Turkish Catastrophe -- Judkin of the Parcels -- Gabriel-Ernest -- The Saint and the Goblin -- The Soul of Laploshka -- The Bag -- The Strategist -- Cross Currents -- The Baker's Dozen (A Playlet) -- The Mouse.

Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science or technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories originally published between 1931 and 1963, that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed. Summary by Cori Samuel, with Wikipedia input.

The Short Ghost Story Collection contains ten classic spooky tales written by such master craftsmen as Algernon Blackwood, Charles Dickens, Bram Stoker and Saki among others. The stories range from haunted houses to reincarnation (as a predatory otter), ancient curses in which marble statues come alive and wreak a horrible revenge and a long narrative poem that describes a dialog between a ghost and a human being. This anthology features authors like Lewis Carroll and E Nesbit who are traditionally regarded as children's writers and other practitioners of the paranormal like American writer Mary E...

The Short Mystery Story Collection by Various is a real treat for intrigue enthusiasts! This volume features such greats as Ambrose Bierce, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Anton Chekov. Some unexpected names like P G Wodehouse and Kate Chopin also crop up, bending their prodigious talents to the genre. The ten stories contained in this volume range from events as diverse as the mysterious death of a sea-captain in a seedy boarding house, a group of women who deal with a crime committed by a friend,...

If you find yourself with nothing particular to do in an airport, train or bus or you've got a quiet evening to yourself in a hotel room or you're facing the delicious prospect of an extended lunch or tea break, why not pick up Coffee Break Collection 001 and enjoy the experience? This anthology has a selection of humorous pieces guaranteed to keep you entertained. Opening with a master of the genre, PG Wodehouse, the first story is a pseudo-scholarly treatise on football captains! A delightful piece follows – Beyond Pandora by RJ Martin with its memorable opening line, “The ideal way to deal with a pest...

In this celebration of diversity, learn about the myriad histories and cultures behind our volunteers.

In this collection of Russian stories, editor and compiler Thomas Seltzer selects from a range of the best examples of 19th and early 20th century Russian literature. As a survey of famous authors at the height of the powers, as well as some writers who have been unjustly neglected, this anthology is indispensable.

“Brazilian Tales” is a collection of six short stories selected by Isaac Goldberg as best representative of the Brazilian Literature of his period – the end of the 19th century. His comprehensive preface aims at familiarizing the reader with a literature that was – and still is – virtually unknown outside the boundaries of its own land, and the pieces chosen by Goldberg to be translated belong to writers that reached popularity and appreciation while still alive. This “pioneer volume”, as the translator himself puts it, still keeps its charm and interest as a way of offering to the English speaking public some “sample cases” of Brazilian Literature.

The Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, is a work of enormous proportions. Setting out with the simple goal of offering "American households a mass of good reading", the editors drew from literature of all times and all kinds what they considered the best pieces of human writing, and compiled an ambitious collection of 45 volumes (with a 46th being an index-guide). Besides the selection and translation of a huge number of poems, letters, short stories and sections of books, the collection offers, before each chapter, a short essay about the author or subject in question...

This is a collection of 20 short stories and long-form poetry by American women writers.

This is a collection of short humorous works first published before 1923.

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes was a British TV series from the early 70s that dramatized stories written contemporaneously with the Sherlock Holmes stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This anthology contains twelve of the thirteen stories adapted as episodes for the first season. Sadly, one story, "The Missing Witness Sensation" by Ernest Bramah, is not public domain in the U.S., but can be read in the anthology Max Carrados Mysteries.

A collection of 48 wonderful English language stories from Sholem Alechem, I. L. Perez, Shalom Asch, and others. Tales of humour and drama, tragedy and pathos set mostly in the Jewish communities of 19th-century eastern Europe, Russia, and the Ukraine. Translated from Yiddish by Helena Frank.

Are you wishing sometimes that you had a good book which you don't know, that you might just read and enjoy? The goal of this collection is to introduce you to as many books as possible. Some are well known, some are not.

This is a collection of city stories, fiction or non-fiction, in English and published before 1923. Contributions have been chosen by the reader himself.

Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929), with its famous dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction...

Voltairine de Cleyre (November 17, 1866 – June 20, 1912) was an American anarchist. She was skilled in many subjects and wrote essays, poems, letters, sketches, stories and speeches. These are her selected letters, sketches and stories.