ROUND-ABOUT RAMBLES, In Lands of FACT AND FANCYBY FRANK R STOCKTONPREFACECome along, boys and girls! We are off on our rambles. But please do not ask me where we are going. It would delay us very much if I should postpone our start until I had drawn you a map of the route, with all the stopping-places set down. We have far to go, and a great many things to see, and it may be that some of you will be very tired before we get through. If so, I shall be sorry; but it will be a comfort to think that none of us need go any farther than we choose...

This book presents a number of short, comedic sketches of a country life in middle America in the late 1800s. The hilarious twists and turns endear our adorable, naive married couple to the reader; and the orphan servant Pomona – dear, odd, funny Pomona! – is the focus of several of the stories. Imagine a honeymoon in a lunatic asylum, and you’ve got Rudder Grange!

Pomona and Jone of Rudder Grange fame travel to England and Scotland. Along the way, Pomona tangles with wild pigs, haymaking, hotels great and small, Pullman cars, comparison-makers, and a Duchess. She makes two matches and – in her usual, unorthodox way – stag hunts and attends a knighting. Pomona is as hilarious as ever, if a bit more rounded off on the edges.

Frank V Webster was a pseudonym controlled by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, the first book packager of books aimed at children. This pseudonym was used on books for boys from the early 1900s through the 1930s.Bob the Castaway follows the antics of young prankster Bob Henderson, his parents futile attempts to get him to mend his ways, and his subsequent nautical adventures. (Introduction by Nigel Boydell)

Young Code Schofield had lost his schooner May Schofield in an Atlantic gale a few months ago, and now the townspeople on the small island of Grande Mignon off the coast of New Brunswick were beginning to talk suspiciously of the events surrounding that loss. Insurance investigators have been summoned to investigate, friends are alienating themselves from Code, and he finds himsef challenged by even those he's known and trusted his whole life. Does Code Schofield have anything to prove, and if so, to whom, and why?

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

This is a brief sketch of the last years of the life of Johannes (John) Gutenberg, the man who invented the movable letter press. We join him in Mayence, where he lives in poverty. We get to know his enemies and his friends, and some information about why he isn't the rich man we'd expect him to be. This book was prepared and completed within two days by the volunteers at Distributed Proofreaders to mark their 15th anniversary with the 50,000th published book at Project Gutenberg. ( Claudia Salto)

A fabulously rich gold mine in Mexico is known by the picturesque and mysterious name of The Four Fingers. It originally belonged to an Aztec tribe, and its location is known to one surviving descendant. Surprises, strange and startling, are concealed in every chapter of this completely engrossing detective story. And through it runs the thread of a curious love story.

A deserted house with a troubled past. A mysterious countess who captivates everyone with her wealth and beauty -- well, almost everyone. An equally mysterious derelict who holds a secret to the countess's past. A fresh crime that threatens to ruin a promising young doctor. A plucky young governess determined to save him. Who will prevail?

A young man, finding himself unexpectedly impecunious, attempts to improve his fortunes by wagering that he can speak nothing but the absolute truth for three weeks. He soon learns, however, that telling only the unvarnished truth can have surprising consequences. This 1914 novel of love, mystery, and misunderstandings, with amusing characters and plot twists, was adapted as a Broadway play in 1916, followed by six motion pictures: in 1920 and 1929; in 1931 separately in Spanish, French and German; and in 1941 starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. Frederic S. Isham was a writer of short stories, novels and plays. (Lee Smalley)

One of the first novel-length pieces of nautical fiction, MR. MIDSHIPMAN EASY (1836) is a funny and easygoing account of the adventures of Jack Easy, a son of privilege who joins the Royal Navy. The work begins as a satire on Jack’s attachment to “the rights of man” that may try the listener’s patience. But despair not, for the story soon settles down as the philosophical midshipman begins his many triumphs over bullies, foul weather, and various damned foreigners of murderous intent.Caveat audiens: This novel employs racial/ethnic epithets and religious stereotypes, as well as taking a rather sunny view of supply-side economics...

Rebelling against the career chosen for him by his wealthy family, Frederic Marryat joined the Royal Navy in 1806 at the age of 14. He first served as a midshipman in the 38-gun frigate "HMS Imperieuse" commanded by Lord Cochran, 10th Earl of Dundonald whose real life exploits were used by Marryat in his fiction and which formed the basis for other famous fictional characters like Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey. Having survived more than 50 sea battles and attained the rank of Post Captain, he resigned from the Navy and devoted the rest of his life to writing, drawing a good deal on his distinguished career in the Navy and is now considered the Father of Modern Nautical Fiction...

This is a quite amusing nautical tale of the British Navy of the around the year 1700. While, as with much early 'humor', it is somewhat heavy-handed, the sympathies of the author are clear and good, and cruelty is often averted by good fortune or background characters. First published under the title 'The Dog Fiend', the primary characters are an evil captain of a cutter and his dog. The dog seems indestructible, as is the poor cabin boy who is the butt of the captain's ill humor, and who often is chewed on by the dog...