Grace Livingston Hill's 1913 inspirational tale of Michael, who grows up a poor orphan selling newspapers in the slums of New York. After saving the life of young heiress Starr Endicott, Michael receives a full education and employment thanks to the gratitude of Starr's father. Michael goes on as a young adult to teach a better way to the other criminal and disadvantaged elements who grew up as he did -- and must save Starr once again from a harmful fate.

Dorothy Boulger , who wrote under the pen-name Theo Gift, assembled four original short stories of supernatural and unsettling happenings in this collection. - Summary by Sonia

There was no life on the asteroid, but the miles of rock-hewn corridors through which the earth party wandered left no doubt about the purpose of the asteroid. It was a mighty fortress, stocked with weapons of destruction beyond man's power to understand. And yet there was no life here, nor had there been for untold centuries. What race had built this stronghold? What unimaginable power were they defending against? Why was it abandoned? There was no answer, all was dead. But—not quite all. For in a room above the tomb-like fortress a powerful transmitter beamed its birdlike, fluting sounds toward earth...

William Morris initiated the genre of high fantasy in a number of short novels written toward the end of his life. But he had already experimented with the genre much earlier in stories written for the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine, which he launched as a student at Oxford University in 1856. Published posthumously in book form, and reprinted as the eighth volume of the celebrated Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library under the title Golden Wings and other Stories, these short stories make an entertaining collection that stands up well against Morris's mature work. - Summary by Phil Benson

Published in 1866, "The Dead Letter: An American Romance" written by Metta Victoria Fuller Victor under the pseudonym, Seeley Regester, is credited by historians of popular literature to be the first full-length American crime fiction novel. The writing is melodramatic in places and includes opinions typical of the time period, but is an enjoyable, early example of the genre. The novel begins with Richard Redfield, a clerk in the "Dead Letter Office," opening an unclaimed letter. Upon reading the contents, he is convinced that the message relates to the events of a night two years prior when another young man was brutally murdered.

Despite a warning received in the Suq by an elderly desert nomad, Conan stays the night in a cheap tavern in Zamboula, run by Aram Baksh. As night falls, a black Darfarian cannibal enters to drag him away to be eaten. All of the Darfar slaves in the city are cannibals who roam the streets at night. As they only prey on travellers, the people of the city tolerate this and stay locked securely in their homes, while nomads and beggars make sure to spend the night at a comfortable distance from its walls...

The Black Cat was a monthly literary magazine, publishing original short stories, often about uncanny or fantastical topics. Many writers were largely unknown, but some famous authors also wrote original material for this magazine. This sixth issue of volume 2 presents the following five short stories: "The Stolen Melody", by Constance Fauntleroy Runcie: a ruthless pianist tries to win the music award through evil manipulation "The Bramble Gift Trust", by Zollie Luther Jones: Nannie Burns has assembled a very unusual collection of souvenirs "The Parchment Slave", by A...

Narrated in the first person by Raymond Sturgis, Anne's old high-school beau, the story opens with a lavish house party hosted by the Van Wycks. David Van Wyck has suddenly decided to become a philanthropist and proposes to give away his entire fortune to the building of a new library in the community, thus leaving his family penniless. The morning following his late meeting with the library committee, David is found dead in his locked study. The Van Wyck pearls are missing as is the deed giving away the fortune...

This work, then, contains a collection of the myths, legends, and folk-lore of the principal Wabanaki, or Northeastern Algonquin, Indians; that is to say, of the Passamaquoddies and Penobscots of Maine, and of the Micmacs of New Brunswick. All of this material was gathered directly from Indian narrators, the greater part by myself, the rest by a few friends; in fact, I can give the name of the aboriginal authority for every tale except one.

The Black Cat was a monthly literary magazine, publishing original short stories, often about uncanny or fantastical topics. Many writers were largely unknown, but some famous authors also wrote original material for this magazine. These are the stories in the twelfth issue of Volume 2: "Sombre", by John M. Ellicott, U. S. N.: can Anita save her beloved pet-bull and her fiancé from the deadly arena ? "The Debut of Mandana", by Alden Lyman: sometimes one has to go to great lengths to make people come on a visit "Number Seven", by Livingstone B...

Lawrence summarised the plot of Sons and Lovers in a letter to Edward Garnett in 1912: “It follows this idea: a woman of character and refinement goes into the lower class, and has no satisfaction in her own life. She has had a passion for her husband, so her children are born of passion, and have heaps of vitality. But as her sons grow up she selects them as lovers — first the eldest, then the second. These sons are urged into life by their reciprocal love of their mother — urged on and on...

A novel written in three volumes. In the golden age of steam, the London train wends its way across the Tamar into the strange and mystic land that is Cornwall, having left most of its length at Plymouth. A weary doctor gazes at the countryside, when the train grinds to a halt and his professional attention is demanded. A young woman. An apparent suicide. Who was she? What brought her to Cornwall? What drove her to kill herself? Or did she?

From 1843 to 1848, Charles Dickens wrote a series of five novellas to be published at Christmas. Most people are familiar with the first, "A Christmas Carol." The others are "The Chimes," "The Cricket on the Hearth," "The Battle of Life," and "The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain."

In " Our Little Canadian Cousin," the author's intention is to tell, in a general way and in one defined local setting, the story of Canadian home life in the late 19th century. To Canadians, home life means not merely sitting at a huge fire-place, or brewing and baking in a wide country kitchen, or dancing of an evening, or teaching, or sewing ; but it means the great outdoor life — sleighing, skating, snow-shoeing, hunting, canoeing, and, above all, " camping out " — the joys that belong to a vast, uncrowded country, where there is " room to play."

Third in the trilogy of the feminist classics, after Moving the Mountain and Herland. It was published serially in Perkins Gilman's periodical The Forerunner. In Herland, three American young men discover a country inhabited solely by women, who were parthenogenetic , and had borne only girl children for two thousand years; they marry three of the women. Two of the men and one woman leave the country of Herland to return to America; Jeff Margrave remaining in Herland with his wife, Celis, a willing citizen; Terry O...

Arkady Dolgoruky, is a 19-year-old intellectual. He is the illegitimate son of a landowner and dreams to become rich. In his quest to fulfil his dream, he meets people who teach him many kinds of ideologies. Thus, the work reflects Russian society. - Summary by Stav Nisser and Wikipedia.

F. Anstey was the nom de plume of Thomas Anstey Guthrie, a Londoner who was trained for the bar but found success as a writer of humorous pieces for Punch and humorous novels. Mr. Punch's Model Music Hall is a collection of humorous pieces written for Punch, divided into songs and dramas. In his usual fashion, Mr. Anstey captured the tone of his times and then exaggerated whatever was already absurd to entertain and give pointed commentary at the same time.

Young Pat Glendon is twenty-two years old, weighs two-hundred and twenty pounds, has never drunk alcohol nor tasted tobacco and knows little of city life. He’s all muscle, moves with cat-like grace and possesses great stamina and strength acquired from living natural in the wilds of northern California with his father. Young Pat is a natural at prize-fighting. In addition to his brawn he has speed and a natural instinct for the sport. His father, a former heavyweight prize-fighter himself, has trained Young Pat and believes it is time for the boy to take on the heavyweight world...

The Black Cat was a monthly literary magazine, publishing original short stories, often about uncanny or fantastical topics. Many writers were largely unknown, but some famous authors also wrote original material for this magazine. In this second issue are included the following 8 stories: "A Calaveras hold-up", by Roberta Littlehale: can love make a man mend his ways or are some relationships doomed from the start ? "From a trolley post", by Margaret Dodge: a boring bus-stop wait is interrupted...

This book continues Sentimental Tommy, also in the catalogue. Tommy grows up and marries Grizel. But life is not only roses and rainbows. This book has all the elements of a good love story, but it is also a book about growing up and finding out your distinct voice in the world. - Summary by Stav Nisser.

Peter Schlemihl is an ordinary man until one day he bargains with the devil: He trades his shadow for a bottomless purse. While this sounds like a good idea at first, it turns out that having no shadow is considered to be so strange by society, that even unlimited wealth cannot repair such a fault. The story of Peter Schlemihl is exceedingly well-known even today, but the original text is not so widely-read as it once was. This very accessible translation by F.H. Hedge may be a good introduction to modern listeners. - Summary by Carolin

The Black Cat was a monthly literary magazine, publishing original short stories, often about uncanny or fantastical topics. Many writers were largely unknown, but some famous authors also wrote original material for this magazine. The fifth issue has the following 6 stories: "The mysterious card", by Cleveland Moffet : a man desperately tries to understand the horrible message which utterly destroyed his life "Tang-u", by Lawrence E. Adams: through excellent eyesight, a young boy saves the lives...

While Mary Shelley will most likely always be known for her enduring classic of mad science Frankenstein, this collection intends to show the sheer breath and quality of her writing beyond the creation for which she is most known. Many of these stories are told in an atmospheric gothic fiction vein, full of eerie old castles, strange revelations and family secrets. But we also have stories of the supernatural and even science fiction to contend with. Shelley was a true literary master and should be recognized for her contributions to literature beyond her most famous work. - Summary by Ben Tucker

In January of 1930 a new magazine with a flashy color cover appeared on newsstands, Astounding Stories of Super-Science. Filled with stories of adventure, sometimes with only a tinge of science, this magazine was to host and nurture many science fiction giants like Murray Leinster and Ray Cummings and would help inspire many of the writers of the "Golden Age of Science Fiction". This inaugural issue includes stories by Murray Leinster, Ray Cummings, S. P. Meek, Victor Rousseau and others.

Two London gentlemen ponder the evolution of humankind as they investigate a modern-day murder committed with an ancient tool. - Summary by Wanda White

The Garden God: A Tale of Two Boys is Forrest Reid’s tender, bracingly tragic reflection on adolescence, pantheism, Platonism, and homoerotic desire. A classic of “Uranian” literature, it tells the story of Graham Iddesleigh, a fifteen year old boy whose early childhood is spent in cloistered seclusion. He idles his time roaming his family’s idyllic country estate, fantasizing about an imagined friendship with an ancient Greek god. But all this changes when his father sends him off to boarding school...

Everyone probably has Glenn Close and John Malkovich in mind, but for those who have not seen the movie, this epistolary fiction describes how a young girl, Cécile de Voanges, walks on the road to perdition, and is just a toy in the Vicomte de Valmont's and the Comtesse de Merteuil's hands. Readers:Narrator, Mme de Volanges: Nadine Eckert-BouletCécile de Volanges: SaabMarquise de Merteuil: AvailleVicomte de Valmont: Martin GeesonPrésidente de Tourvel: Elizabeth KlettChevalier de Danceny: Max...

"A Mid-Victorian Christmas Tale"; tells of a night time encounter between relatives who had never before met, resulting in minor injuries, embarassment, and Trollope's usual 'nice' social interactions.

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

Mrs Armytage is a widowed landowner, spirited, independent and very much used to having her own way and exercising total dominance over her family. She is acutely aware of social distinctions, proud of her power and prestige, and stands on her dignity to the point of becoming cold, judgemental and aloof. Her character flaws bring her into conflict with her children when her son Arthur announces his choice of a wife who is very much below their rank, and much will happen before Mrs Armytage learns to repent her behaviour...

A collection of twenty stories featuring ghoulies, ghosties, long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night. Expect shivers up your spine, the stench of human flesh, and the occasional touch of wonder.

Bill Nye was a respected journalist who also became known as a humorist. His short pieces range from a description of a visit to a friend residing in Ludlow prison, to “advice” to a son, to a wry commentary on his visits to Oakland, California. From real estate “investments” to accounts of less than ideal train passengers, Mr. Nye had his eye trained on the ironies of life, addressing them in the only sure way to preserve sanity, with humor.