In Tom Swift and His Airship, Tom Swift has finished his latest invention- the Red Cloud, a fast and innovative airship. Tom is anxious for a cross-country trial, but just before he and his friends take off, the Shopton bank is robbed. No sooner is Tom in the air than he is blamed for the robbery. Suddenly, he's a wanted fugitive but doesn't know why until he's half-way across the country. With no safe harbor or friend on the land below, Tom must race back to Shopton to clear his name before he's shot out of the sky.

Tom Swift flies his airship to the mountain tops of Colorado to seek for the secret of the Diamond Makers: criminal scientists who have figured out the formula of manufacturing a limitless fortune in diamonds. But these rogues will stop at nothing to keep their secret. Tom & friends are soon captured and left to die in a collapsing mountain.

Tom Swift & friends decide to trial an experimental airship near the New Jersey coast, and are unexpectedly swept out to sea by hurricane winds. Unable to steer or navigate without tearing the airship apart, the hapless crew must simply let the storm take them wherever it will. Unfortunately, the storm proves too much for the craft and Tom makes a crash landing on the uninhabited and crumbling Earthquake Island.

A $10,000 prize lures Tom into competing at a local aviation meet at Eagle Park. Tom is determined to build the fastest plane around, but his plans mysteriously disappear, which means Tom must redesign his new airplane from the beginning.

Otherwise known as 'Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure', is Volume 4 in the original Tom Swift novel series. Tom persuades his father to use his own submarine to hunt for treasure on a sunken ship. The book follows his adventures in this pursuit.

The Pollard is about to be taken to Anapolis, where the United States Navy will train their midshipmen how to run the submarine. Jack, Hal and Eph are all to help with training and to see the sights in Anapolis. They might even persuade the Navy to buy the second submarine, the Farnum. (Ann Boulais)

Jack Benson and Hal Hastings arrive in Dunhaven, looking for adventure. But in a sleepy, little town, they might not find much. When they find out that there is a submarine in the shipyard, they decide that this is what they have been looking for.

The torpedo submarine's inventor, Jack Farnum, is looking for investors to help him kick his new shipyard into high gear. He already has his crew set, with sixteen year old Jack Benson as the captain, and his friend Hal Hastings running the engines. But, there may be some changes to the crew of the Pollard on the horizon.

Captain Jack Benson and Hal Hastings have been sailing in torpedo submarines a while now. But, there is new danger that they will have to get used to, having the actual torpedoes onboard! They will be trying out a new boat, named after Hal, with the Navy watching closely. But trouble is always close by. (Ann Boulais)

It is a wonderful December day in Spruce Beach, FL, and everyone is waiting, waiting for something special that has been promised. The "Benson", the fast submarine built by the Pollard Submarine Boat Company, is set to arrive. But, there are more people who are interested in the "Benson" than those picnicking on the beach. Who could they be? (Ann Boulais)

Three American naval officers are assigned to a newly commissioned submarine, the Grant. The US navy wants commander Jack, ensigns Hal and Eph to break up a big smuggling operation along the New Jersey coast that is costing the government millions. Along the way, they race to a doomed steam ship, The Cynthia, carrying over a thousand souls who will all surely perish without the Submarine Boys. It is a great mystery adventure. The Submarine Boys will make your day!

A most popular Jacobs character, a night watchman along the English coast, remembers troubles his friends got into during shore leave. At least part of the fault lay with those friends, who were both careless and naïve. But not all the stories are linked to just shore leave even though they relate to the sea in some way. Included are a ghost story, a warehouse worker playing sick, a couple sparring for new income, and even a makeover story. (Bill Boerst based on Wikipedia)

A little bee is born in a large and busy hive. At that time, the hive is going through a period of unrest and there are fears that it will become subdivided into separate colonies. The little new-born, Maya, is under the care of a strict but loving teacher. One day, driven by curiosity and rebellion, Maya escapes from the safe environs of the hive and flies into the forest. Here, she encounters all sorts of interesting, exciting, frightening and funny things. The Adventures of Maya the Bee is the story of the intriguing days that follow...

Clement Seadon is a young man of free spirit and a lust for a life of independence. However after receiving an odd request from a lawyer he is compelled to involve himself in the prevention of a dangerous plot to swindle an heiress. - Summary by Howard Skyman

The Frozen Deep is a story of a love triangle between Clara, Frank and Richard, spiced up with dangerous expeditions, mysterious visions and life-threatening circumstances. The end is as surprising and unexpected as we are (or are not) accustomed to in Collins' books.

"Everything in life has a price. May be, telling a Secret has the highest. However, not telling may be worse. What will Sarah choose? will she tell the Secret which destroyed her life?"

A Voyage to the South Sea, undertaken by command of His Majesty, for the purpose of conveying the Bread-fruit tree to the West Indies, in His Majesty’s ship The Bounty, commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh. Including an account of the Mutiny on board the said ship, and the subsequent voyage of part of the crew, in the ship’s boat, from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch settlement in the East Indies.

Sailing adventure with storms, icebergs, shipwrecks, treasure, and the reawakening of a pirate frozen in suspended animation for nearly fifty years

This is a collection of short stories of mystery and romance, set at sea, in the times of the great sea voyages.

This is a sea-faring novel set in 1837. A wealthy former seaman from London and his daughter, who is engaged to be married, set sail on his newly restored schooner, headed for the equator for the purpose of restoring his health. Also aboard are a captain and crew. Soon, distractions, diversions, discontent and much more occur. William Clark Russell (1844–1911) was an English writer best known for his nautical novels. ~ Lee Smalley

This book was published in 1897. When cabin passenger Mr. Catesby climbs into the rigging of the Ruby in search of cooler air, he is struck full in the face and chest by an errant seabird bearing a sealed tin box tied about its neck. What he finds in that box leads him to unexpected encounters with a wrecked ship, chests of gold, thirst, desperation, and some curiously courteous cutlass-carrying cutthroats . It projects a rather different take on the familiar bloodstained swashbuckling sea story. - Summary by Steven Seitel

In his novel Indian Summer, William Dean Howells presents a mellow but realistic story that has the complete feel of that delightful time of the year, although the plot actually spans several seasons. The Indian summer aspect applies to a sophisticated gentleman, Theodore Colville, who has just entered his middle years as he returns to a scene, Florence, Italy, that played an important part in his early manhood. It was here twenty years earlier that he first fell in love, seemingly successfully until a sudden and harsh rejection...

A fine adventure set in 10th-century England at a time when everyday life in north was made hazardous by wars and shifting alliances among Saxon, British and Norse rulers. Thorstein, like his father Swein before him, is a peaceful Norse settler but brave and ready for battle when the time comes. His adventures as child and man will appeal to younger listeners, while older listeners can enjoy a history lesson into the bargain. W. G. Collingwood, artist and antiquarian, set the story in his adopted...

The novel describes the downfall of Ferdinando Falkland, a British squire, and his attempts to ruin and destroy the life of Caleb Williams, a poor but ambitious young man that Falkland hires as his personal secretary. Caleb accidentally discovers a terrible secret in his master’s past. Though Caleb promises to be bound to silence, Falkland, irrationally attached (in Godwin’s view) to ideas of social status and inborn virtue, cannot bear that his servant should possibly have power over him, and sets out to use various means–unfair trials, imprisonment, pursuit, to make sure that the information of which Caleb is the bearer will never be revealed...

William Henry Hudson (August 1841 – 1922) was an author, naturalist and ornithologist. Hudson was born of U.S. parents living in the Quilmes Partido in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, where he spent his youth studying the local flora and fauna and observing both natural and human dramas on what was then a lawless frontier. ‘Far Away and Long Ago’ is a classic memoir of a boy, fascinated by nature, on the Pampas in the 19th century.

A rich and complex Gothic-Romance centring on the murky deeds of an ancient family. It is a wonderfully atmospheric piece that combines narrative, poetry, song, and descriptive writing to great effect. The character of Dick Turpin that we know today – the dashing highwaymen and unmatched horseman – can be said to stem directly from this novel, as the most famous part of the book (often published on its own in the past), Turpin’s Ride To York, is devoted to him. Although seemingly little known to a modern audience, Ainsworth’s ‘Rookwood’ gave the world the image of the highwayman with which we are all so familiar.

Book 1 - Ann Boleyn. The focus of the novels is on the events surrounding Henry VIII's replacing Catherine of Aragon with Anne Boleyn as his wife. During Henry's pursuit of Boleyn, the novel describes other couples, including the Earl of Surrey and Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, a match Henry does not support. However, some of the individuals oppose Henry and his desires for Boleyn, including Thomas Wyat who wants her for himself and Cardinal Wolsey, who uses his own daughter, Mabel Lyndwood, to lure Henry away from Boleyn...

Mr. Murray takes us on an adventure that he has recorded as payment to his family in exchange for their permission to embark upon it. In this trip, he travels by train across Canada all the way to Vancouver. He details for us the immense beauty of the breathtaking sights, the stories of his comrades that he picks up during the trip, and a few chance encounters who have amazing stores to tell. This book is as entertaining as it is educational for what was there, and what was expected to develop in the early decades of the Twentieth Century.

Two delightful tales surrounding the adventures of John Norton, the Trapper. He gives us a good glimpse into life in the deep woods, and how he deals with those who would disturb him or others with their, "diviltry." John Norton gives us all a great example of hospitality, bravery, forgiveness, and justice as only he can.

What if the Confederacy had won the American Civil War? It’s July 1864 and three oh-so-young Union troopers are assigned to a mountaintop in Tennessee to be a link in a chain of flag signalers across a ridge of mountains. They encounter a dizzying gorge with a rickety bridge, bears, aching heartache, freezing cold, avalanche, bats, skeletons, deserted cabins, puzzling mysteries, starvation, and more.

Eighteenth-century sailors adrift in a lifeboat encounter strange lands and weird creatures in their search for home. A creepy tale of nautical adventure.

William Le Queux was a British novelist and prolific writer of mysteries. Indeed, mystery surrounds the author himself as to whether he was a spy or rather just a self-promoter. Regardless of which is true, Le Queux brings us a story of intrigue and espionage that travels across Europe in the true spirit of a good mystery. There are shootings, burglaries, romances, escapes from prisons, and intricate conspiracies that may surprise and leave you scratching your head as you try to solve this “whodunit”. In the best tradition of a good mystery however, you may need to wait for the final chapters to discover the truth.

How to describe this book? In a word – savage. For those regular Le Queux mystery listeners, this book is a step in a different direction by the author. The book starts out like most Le Queux. Our hero, Richard Scarsmere, befriends an individual (Omar) at an English boarding school who turns out to be an African prince from a kingdom called Mo. Omar receives a visit from one of his mother’s trusted advisers. His mother, the Great White Queen, seeks him to return home immediately. Omar convinces Scarsmere to return to Africa with him since there is little opportunity awaiting him in London. What follows is a tale of deceit, treachery, barbarity, and mystery.

This novel, also known as The Invasion of 1910, is a 1906 novel written mainly by William Le Queux (with H. W. Wilson providing the naval chapters). It is one of the more famous examples of Invasion literature and is an example of pre-World War I Germanophobia, as it preached the need to prepare for war with Germany. The book takes the form of a military history and includes excerpts from the characters' journals and letters and descriptions of the fictional German campaign itself. The novel originally appeared in serial form in the Daily Mail newspaper from 19 March 1906, and was a huge success...

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...

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

The Earl of Saxham was vastly annoyed when his son, Guy, fell in love with a “penniless nobody,” and announced that he would marry her against all opposition. He determined to separate the lovers; to which end he persuaded an influential friend in the Foreign Office to secure an appointment for Guy in the Embassy at Madrid. He little knew that he was sending his son into the centre of a hotbed of anarchism, that Guy’s footsteps were to be dogged by a vindictive and revengeful woman, that his life was to hold many a thrilling moment and not a few narrow escapes.

Paul Pickering is a doctor without a fixed practice, and when an old sea captain asks him to join a voyage around the Mediterranean, that's finally an exciting prospect for him. The journey goes well until they spot a most strange vessel somewhere off the coast of Algeria. It is an old Elizabethan craft that looks to have been submerged for hundreds of years and recently bubbled back up to the surface. The men board it and find that it had been hermetically sealed all these centuries, all contents intact. But it does not, as first hoped, contain gold. The men find barely legible manuscripts and a mysterious old man, who appears to be as old as the vessel itself... - Summary by Carolin

The aptly titled "Tangled Trails, A Western Detective Story" takes the listener through a web of curious incidents revolving around the murder of a prominent man in Denver. Kirby Lane was quite obviously the guilty party in the murder of his uncle. Lane, among others, had had a falling out with his uncle, the victim James Cunningham. But there were some who believed his nephew to be innocent of the hideous crime. Lane feared the guilty party to be a female bronco rider whom he had befriended, as her presence at the scene of the crime was quite evident, albeit only to him...

It tells the story of Henry Esmond's twin grandsons, George and Henry Warrington. Henry's romantic entanglements with an older woman lead up to his taking a commission in the British army and fighting under the command of General Wolfe at the capture of Quebec. On the outbreak of the American War of Independence he takes the revolutionary side. George, who is also a British officer, thereupon resigns his commission rather than take up arms against his brother.

This seafaring adventure story was adapted from the German. It is also known as The Disobedient Son and tells the story of a boy who runs away to sea. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

The 13th century Icelandic Völsungasaga is usually read by people studying the Poetic Edda or Wagner’s Ring – which obscures the fact it is a much better story than practically everything derived from it. A riddle-telling dragon, a broken sword, a hooded mysterious wanderer – cannibalism, incest, mutilation, and sensitive hearts. This is R-rated Tolkien – and the unashamedly archaic Magnússon-Morris translation is up for the adventure.Passages spoken in Old Norse are taken from the edition of Sophus Bugge, Berlin, 1891.

The Well at World's End is thought to be one of the first examples of an entirely fictional fantasy world, and has greatly influenced later fantasy writers such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. The book follows the travels of Ralph, a prince of a tiny country, as he disobeys his fathers wishes and runs away from home to adventure in the world, and seek out the fabled Well at World's End, said to grant eternal youth to those who drink from it.

In The Well at the World's End, Ralph of Upmeads, youngest son of the King of Upmeads, leaves home without permission and sets out looking for adventure. When he hears rumors of a well that exudes water with magical properties, he is intrigued and begins his quest. Along the way, he travels through various towns and wildernesses and meets -- and is sometimes led astray by -- a host of interesting people including a mysterious knight, a beautiful woman who may be a goddess, a treacherous servant, a brave tavern wench, a barbarian warrior, a solitary sage, and a sadistic king. Book 4 finishes his adventure. - Summary by Kristingj

Tesno was a troubleshooter. That's why the railroad construction company had hired him. His job was to make sure that nobody interfered with the tunnel that they were digging through that frontier region mountain. Tesno knew one thing for sure--if they had called him in, there must have been plenty interference--and the kind that didn't stop at murder. Frontier towns and frontier wilderness didn't pay much attention to city-made laws. Tesno carried his own law with him and he knew he'd have to make it respected...

The first part of this volume consists of stories by modern writers dealing mainly with life in our own day. They are, of course, meant for the older children, and both the style and the situations call for more maturity on the part of the reader. The lure of the extraordinary is now dispensed with, and instead these tales supply the interest that comes from recognizable truth to experience. The list of fiction contained in this volume, representing the imaginative product of almost all races and times, is fitly closed by the gift made to the children of England of a story for themselves by the master of English novelists, William Makepeace Thackeray. - Summary by William Patten

The Greenstone Door is a historical novel, set between 1830-1860’s New Zealand. The main character, Cedric Tregarthen, is remembering his past, telling the story both from his vantage point as an old man remembering, and as a young man experiencing his life. The story starts with the sack of the Te Kuma pa and the death of his father, his subsequent adoption by the trader Purcell and protection of Te Waharoa. He grows up among the Maori people, with his foster sister Puhi-Huia and his friend, Rangiora...

The Life and Death of King John, a history play by William Shakespeare, dramatises the reign of John, King of England (ruled 1199–1216), son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and father of Henry III of England. It is believed to have been written in the mid-1590s but was not published until it appeared in the First Folio in 1623. John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216), also known as John Lackland or Softsword, was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death. His reign...

A jolly romp, which could be perhaps be described as Gulliver’s Travels Through Our Solar System and Beyond, as written by a great admirer of C. S. Lewis, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, after one too many mugs of cocoa. Includes some thought on alien philosophies and how to apply them to moral and social problems here on Planet Earth.

Many books describe the role of men during American history. However, at the same time, women did much: comforted, fought, helped, raised children, and much more. This book is full of mini-biographies of women in many places, and many ages- each chapter telling about a different subject.

Late entry in the Boy Chums series set in WWI-era Florida focuses on four working-class adventurers: young adults Charley & Walter, manservant Chris, and man of the world, Captain Westfield. Has the distinction of Chris being black; he's a stereotype for sure but is pretty much treated as an equal, like a grown-up Buckwheat -- with a dry sense of humor -- from the Our Gang comedies..

Of all the legends of bygone ages which we in the foremost ranks of time may call our own perhaps none have come to us so fraught with the spirit of lofty idealism as those which cluster about the figure of King Arthur of Britain and the mystic Quest of the Holy Grail. In their devious wanderings down the centuries they have gradually been purified of all original coarseness while still retaining that wonderful charm and simplicity which belongs to the tales of the childhood of the race. Furthermore,...

Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans, and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land and property in Scillus, where he lived for many years before having to move once more, to settle in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C. “Anabasis” is a Greek work which meane “journey from the coast to the center of a country.” This is Xenophon’s account of his march to Persia with a troop of Greek mercenaries to aid Cyrus, who enlisted Greek help to try and take the throne from his brother Artaxerxes, and the ensuing return of the Greeks, in which Xenophon played a leading role...

We is considered to be one of the first dystopian novels and the inspiration for later novels in the genre such as George Orwell's 1984 and Aldus Huxley's Brave New World. The story takes place in a future totalitarian world where conformity is good and individuality bad. It is written from the perspective of one of the members of this society who sees all he knows and loves falling apart due to others' quest for freedom of thought and action. This book addresses the perpetual conflict between between independent individualism and mob mentality. This work, by Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin has the distinction of being the first book banned by the Soviet Union.

Dubbed the “most popular Western of all times” Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage was the benchmark by which every other novel in the “Western” genre came to be judged. It portrays the archetypal lone gun slinger, out to wreak revenge for past wrongs who falls foul of the rich and powerful and finally rides away into the sunset, having rid the town of poisonous villains! Riders of the Purple Sage is set in 1871, in a remote part of Utah. It opens with the young and lovely Jane Withersteen being victimized and harassed by her Mormon Church elders for associating with Gentiles or Non-Mormons...

Post-Civil War Texas, the Lone Star state. Buck Duane is a man who was almost born holding a gun in his hand. His father was an infamous outlaw and the young child grew up witnessing scenes of violence and betrayal. When he himself inadvertently kills a man, he is forced to go into hiding and must live with the very men he despises. However, the love of a beautiful young woman is his redemption. He joins the Texas Rangers and helps to rid the state of notorious criminals, hoping to exchange this for his good name and freedom...

Return with us to those thrilling days of yesteryear as Mike Vendetti narrates this early Zane Grey novel of hardy pioneers taming the wild west. Yes, despite the difficult times, romance flourishes and the bad guys are eliminated almost single handedly as our heroes Jonathan Zane and his sidekick Lew “Deathwind” Wetzel fight their way through mud, blood, gore, savage Indians, and despicable outlaws, to make the land safe for pioneer families as they settle the wild west.

Travel along as Mike Vendetti aka miketheauctioneer narrates an outstanding true account of a trip made in 1909 by Zane Grey and a plainsman, Buffalo Jones, through the Grand Canyon to lasso a cougar. That’s right lasso. Throw a rope around. That’s equivalent to catching one by the tail. As I narrated this book, I found fact to be as exciting as fiction. This part of the west was relatively wild and untamed at this time. Wolves, wild horses, buffalo and other wildlife were quite prevalent, and the Indians were not that friendly...

The story follows an ancient feud between two frontier families that is inflamed when one of the families takes up cattle rustling. The ranchers are led by Jean Isbel and, on the other side, Lee Jorth and his band of cattle rustlers. In the grip of a relentless code of loyalty to their own people, they fight the war of the Tonto Basin, desperately, doggedly, to the last man, neither side seeing the futility of it until it is too late. And in this volatile environment, young Jean finds himself hopelessly in love with a girl from whom he is separated by an impassable barrier.

Jack Hare is a young cowboy who was rescued from sure death by an old settler by the name of August Naab. Hare learns that Naab's ranch is a dangerous place and is challenged by cattle thieves and a corrupt rancher who is after Naab's water rights. The greatest danger Hare faces though, is over Mescal, a half-Navajo shepherdess who is already promised in marriage to Naab's first-born son. Hare must stop the marriage, but can't kill the son of his benefactor, August Naab...until a gun battle with rustlers brings the two face-to-face over drawn pistols.

The Rainbow Trail is a sequel to The Riders of the Purple Sage. Both novels are notable for their protagonists' mild opposition to Mormon polygamy, but in The Rainbow Trail this theme is treated more explicitly. The plots of both books revolve around the victimization of women in the Mormon culture: events in Riders of the Purple Sage are centered on the struggle of a Mormon woman who sacrifices her wealth and social status to avoid becoming a junior wife of the head of a local church, while The Rainbow Trail contrasts the older Mormons with the rising generation of Mormon women who will not tolerate polygamy and Mormon men who do not seek it.

This is a bilingual project. The first part, in Hebrew, is the story "Injustice" by Yosef Haim Brenner, written following the conquest of Palestine by the British troops during WWI. The story takes place on the Turkish side of the dividing line between the combating forces. An escaped British prisoner of war had taken shelter among a group of Jewish workers, who, following a heated discussion, turned him over to the Turkish army. The second part of this project, in English, is a chapter in the book "The Escaping Club," written in 1922 by the same British prisoner of war, the aviator A. J. Evans, who gave his account of the same event.