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By: Jules Verne (1828-1905) | |
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Master Zacharius
Master Zacharius is a man of science, skill, and overpowering pride. He is the first to successfully, and accurately, regulate time. Does this not make him God-like? What then, should such a man do when his time is running out and his legacy is in danger? |
By: Various | |
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Black Cat Vol. 01 No. 05 February 1896
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... |
By: Pansy (1841-1930) | |
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David Ransom's Watch
A tale of human choices and lost opportunities, and how one's choices affect so many other lives, for good or ill. A borrowed watch. A selfish younger brother. An engagement and flirtation. A trip to the city to replace the watch turns David Ransom's life in a whole new direction. - Summary by TriciaG | |
By: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) | |
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Falkner
Falkner is the last novel by Mary Shelley, best known as the author of Frankenstein and The Last Man. It tells the impossible love story between Elizabeth Raby and Gerald Neville. She is an orphan, raised by a tyrannical father figure. The man who raised her drove Gerald Neville's mother to her death years before. Can these men reconcile for the woman both love and start anew? Or would Elizabeth have to give up her happiness? Mary Shelley considered this her best novel. You may read it and see what you think. - Summary by Stav Nisser and Wikipedia. |
By: Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) | |
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Marie Antoinette Romances, Vol 2: The Mesmerist's Victim
This 2nd volume of the Marie Antoinette Romances continues the intrigues of "Balsamo, The Magician" and adds to them the schemes of philosophers and the stirrings of revolution. Balsamo carries on his occult tactics to weaponize the state secrets that he gained in the previous volume. A serious romance and illness takes root in the court of King Louis XV, convincing one of the leading philosophic minds of the era, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, that “the breath of heaven will blast an age and a monarchy.” - Summary by jvanstan |
By: Baroness Emma Orczy (1865-1947) | |
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Case of Miss Elliott
A sequel to the stories published in The Old Man in the Corner, this second book in the series includes twelve new mysterious cases that The Old Man in the Corner unravels over his milk and cheesecake at the ABC Tea Shop, all the while tying and untying knots in a bit of string. His audience is Polly Burton, a young journalist, who has to begrudging admit that the Old Man's solutions are indeed plausible explanations to these cases which have baffled both the police and coroner. Orzy's Old Man is an early 20th century example of the armchair detective. Summary by J. M. Smallheer |
By: Various | |
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Black Cat Vol. 01 No. 06 March 1896
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 is the sixth issue, offering the following 5 stories: "Eleanor Stevens' will", by Isabel Scott Stone: a rich woman's final will creates a stir among fortune hunters ''To let'', by Alice Turner Curtis: midnight screams scare away new residents in a cottage with a terrible history "Of course - Of course not", by Harry M... |
By: Mrs. Henry de la Pasture (1866-1945) | |
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Lonely Lady of Grosvenor Square
Elizabeth de la Pasture, the author of this work, is the mother of the more well known E. M. Delafield- author of Diary Of A Provincial Lady. Jeanne Marney, a country girl, comes to London to care for her ailing aunt. She is lonely and unhappy, yet unable to rebel against the many limitations put upon an upper class woman in turn-of-the-century London. Then she becomes an heiress... Would this be a blessing or a curse? This book has been made into a silent film in 1922. This book would be of interest to fans of Jane Austen, Frances Hodgson Burnet, Henry James, and E. M. Delafield. - Summary by Stav Nisser. |
By: Bruce Campbell | |
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Mystery of the Iron Box
When Ken Holt's father, the famous newspaper writer, comes home for a Christmas visit, one of the gifts he brings is an antique iron box. Soon after he arrives a serious of unexplained events occur, including an attempted burglary. A hunch that the iron box is at the center of these occurrences sends Ken Holt and his friend Sandy Allen on an exciting adventure to solve the mystery! Ken Holt was the central characters in a series of 18 mystery stories for boys written by Sam and Beryl Epstein under the pseudonym Bruce Campbell. |
By: Lester Chadwick | |
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Baseball Joe at Yale
"Baseball Joe" Matson's great ambition is to become a professional baseball pitcher. The Baseball Joe series follows his career as he seeks to attain his goal. In this volume, Joe follows the wishes of his parents and attends college, and seeks to join the Yale University varsity baseball nine. Much to his disappointment, he finds that he cannot immediately do so, due to a Yale rule barring Freshmen from placement on the varsity. We follow his college adventures through his first and second years, with emphasis on his trials in making the team in year two, including the attempts of a rival pitcher to keep him off the team... |
By: E. M. Delafield (1890-1943) | |
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Tension
When the role of ‘Lady Superintendent’ becomes available at the Commercial and Technical College for South West England, the calm and capable Pauline Marchrose is the successful applicant. This is good news for Sir Julian, the college director, who greatly admires her diligence and ability. Mark Easter, Sir Julian’s agent, feels admiration for her too, which rapidly becomes romantic attraction. But Mark already has a wife, albeit in name only. And Sir Julian’s wife, Lady Edna Rossiter, discovers that Pauline Marchrose is the same woman who jilted her cousin Clarence after he was paralysed in an accident... |
By: Charles Monroe Sheldon (1857-1946) | |
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For Christ and the Church (dramatic reading)
Rev. Mark Spencer is about to give up on writing his sermon one Saturday night when the Devil comes to him and tries to discourage him by reminding him how few of the people who have pledged themselves to make their motto, 'For Christ and the Church' keep it. The minister decides to preach a sermon like nothing the people in his congregation have ever heard before--a sermon that stirs them to action and to give themselves fully to God. A sermon that urges them to pledge themselves again to Christ and the Church! - Summary by Esther ben SimonidesCast ListRev... |
By: Victor Hugo (1802-1885) | |
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Hans of Iceland
Hans of Iceland was written in 1821 and is the very first novel written by young Victor, years before he became the great Hugo. It has all the ingredients of a gothic novel: dreadful murders by the hand of a human monster, a young hero in love with the destitute heroine, royal court-intrigues and rebellious uprising, all set in dungeons, dark towers and the untamed nature of Norway.This audio-book has been recorded as Dramatic Reading with all the voices performed by one single reader, including laughs, sobs, groans, occasional screams and a lot of growls. I hope you will enjoy listening to this adventurous journey just as much as I enjoyed recording it. - Summary by Sonia |
By: Rosalind Goforth (1864-1942) | |
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Chinese Diamonds for the King of Kings
In this small book Rosalind Goforth tells many stories of 'diamonds' in China that have been tested and come out pure in the King of Kings' hand for His service. Sketch 9 speaks of the awful facts of the "heathen" that Rosalind Goforth had witnessed. Although she speaks of these as being confined to merely non-Christian persons, many of these evils are characteristics of people in countries generally classified as "Christian". Please be advised that this fact may cause this chapter to be offensive to some. |
By: Florence Morse Kingsley (1859-1937) | |
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Paul: A Herald of the Cross
This is an exciting sequel to the earlier books Titus: A Comrade of the Cross and Stephen: A Soldier of the Cross. It tells the story of the apostle Paul, from his conversion through his imprisonment. |
By: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) | |
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Lodore
The author of Frankenstein returns with her take on an Austen novel. The mother is proud, the father has many vices, yet the aristocratic name must be kept. Even more so when lord Lodore dies. His wife and daughter find themselves without protection. This novel is conserned with gender equality, education and social justice. - Summary by Stav Nisser. |
By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) | |
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Crocodile
Ivan Matveich, the most ordinary person you might hope to meet, is swallowed alive by a crocodile at a sideshow. Finding life inside the belly of the beast quite comfortable, he makes a home for himself there. His disquisitions on the state of the world from inside the crocodile make him quite a name for himself; while all the while the discussion rages outside as to whether the beast is going to be cut open to release him or not, its value as a sideshow attraction having massively increased owing to the presence of the human voice buried inside it. One of Jorge Luis Borges' seven most favourite stories. - Summary by Tony Addison |
By: J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) | |
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Tommy and Grizel
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. |
By: Grace Livingston Hill (1865-1947) | |
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Miranda
The third book in the Marcia Schuyler/Miranda trilogy, this story focuses on the irrepressible Miranda Griscom. She has repeatedly rejected a wealthy suitor's proposals of marriage. The townsfolk are puzzled: why would she give up such a chance? But "jest plain, hombly, turn-upnose, freckle-faced, red-haired M'randy Griscom" has a long-secret love for a man who was accused of murder, whose escape she orchestrated. |
By: Mrs. C. M. Livingston | |
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Aunt Hannah and Martha and John
Aunt Hannah's fondest wish had been that her nephew John would marry a local girl and take over the family farm. Trouble was, John was never very interested in the farm and followed his own path, first to college and then to seminary. Now he was settling into his first pastorate and as anyone could see, his wife Mattie was simply not fit to be a housekeeper or a pastor's wife in a country church. If only he had listened to his Aunt Hannah! |
By: Rosa Campbell Praed (1852-1935) | |
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Policy and Passion
"Policy and Passion, a Novel of Australian Life" tells the story about a father and daughter, torn between the policy of the country in which they live and the passions both have. The father, Thomas, is a rising politician until his love for a married woman changes the game while the daughter, Honora, falls in love with an English nobleman. But this is not only a love story. This novel tells about the early days of Australia, and tells the story of a whole community. It receives scholarly attention as a work about colonialism. - Summary by Stav Nisser |
By: Various | |
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Christmas Miscellany
A selection of eight short works, chapters, or poems about Christmas. - Summary by david wales |
By: Emily Sarah Holt (1836-1893) | |
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Lady Sybil's Choice
This historical novel is set in the 1100s in France and Jerusalem, following the First Crusade. Part of the story of Guy of Lusignan is told through the eyes of his fictional sister, Elaine. Guy travels to the Holy Land to reclaim it from the Saracens. Elaine follows afterward, finding upon arrival that her brother has fallen in love with Sybil, the sister of the leper king of Jerusalem. Queen Sybilla, a real historical character, is surrounded by political intrigue as she prepares to ascend the throne, which threatens her upcoming marriage to Guy of Lusignan... |
By: Maurice Leblanc (1864-1941) | |
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Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes
The story of an exciting test of wits between world-class thief Arsène Lupin and master detective Herlock Sholmes. Translated from the French. - Summary by Andy Harrington |
By: Mildred A. Wirt Benson (1905-2002) | |
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Hoofbeats on the Turnpike
Penny Parker is a teen-aged sleuth and amateur reporter with an uncanny knack for uncovering and solving unusual, sometimes bizarre mysteries. The only daughter of widower Anthony Parker, publisher of the "Riverview Star," Penny has been raised to be self-sufficient, outspoken, innovative, and extraordinarily tenacious. Her cheerful, chatty manner belies a shrewd and keenly observant mind. Penny was the creation of Mildred A. Wirt, who was also the author of the original Nancy Drew series . Wirt became frustrated when she was pushed to "tone down" Nancy Drew and make her less independent and daring... |
By: James Lane Allen (1849-1925) | |
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White Cowl
A Trappist monastery in nineteenth century Kentucky. A young monk. A young woman in distress. Whither? One might want to compare this story with a later story with a similar theme, more fully developed, by the same author. |
By: Marjorie Bowen (1885-1952) | |
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Black Magic: a Tale of the Rise and Fall of the Antichrist
Witches, spells, ghosts, pacts with the Devil, occult rituals, love triangles, popes and the Anti-Christ are some of the ingredients of this chilling early horror work by Marjorie Bowen that some consider to be the ultimate Gothic Novel. With enough suspenseful plot twists and turns to keep most listeners on edge guessing till the very end. |
By: Anna Hamlin Weikel (1865-1923) | |
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Betty Baird's Ventures
Betty has graduated from the Pines and is now with her parents at their new home on Long Island. When Betty finds out that her father is having trouble paying the mortgage, she decides to spread her entrepreneurial wings and help with the family finances. But can a young girl in 1907 earn enough money to make a difference? Does Betty have the spirit and determination to stick with her plans, even when others try to discourage her? |
By: Charlotte Dacre | |
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Zofloya
Victoria de Loredani lives the life of a fairy tale princess in Venice. She has everything one might desire and more, until the sinister Count Ardolph enters her world. The Count carries off Victoria's mother in an elopement, and sets off a series of dramatic events that begin to unhinge Victoria's life entirely. Passion, brutality, and murder begin to dominate the separated worlds of Victoria and her brother Leonardo. - Summary by Carolin |
By: Pansy (1841-1930) | |
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Pocket Measure
Three young women are the central characters in this story. Callie and her husband are poor, but they are frugal, spending using God's principles, and they reserve a tenth for God's work. Eva's husband makes more than double what Callie's husband makes, but that doesn't keep them from sinking beneath a load of debt. Even worse, she feels that her husband thinks it's her fault - and she thinks it is, too. She's an inexperienced housekeeper and doesn't know where the money goes. Happy-go-lucky Jennie wants to marry a rich man, so that her married life can be filled with parties, gaiety and pretty things. Will Coleman is poor, and not a Christian, but he's SO gentlemanly and romantic... |
By: Matthew Lewis (1775-1818) | |
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Castle Spectre
Written by Gothic writer Matthew Lewis, whose novel The Monk is one of the most enduring Gothic works from the eighteenth century, The Castle Spectre is one of Lewis' earliest forays into drama, and a strong indication of his talents as a controversial and frightening entertainer. Set in medieval Conway, Wales, the play is filled with every delicious Gothic trope imaginable: a menacing castle, a villainous nobleman hiding terrible secrets, a virginal damsel in distress, an heroic lover trying to save her, several comedic supporting characters, and, yes, the presence of a ghost... |
By: George Eggleston (1839-1911) | |
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Man of Honor
New Yorker Robert Pagebrook travels to Virginia to visit relatives. The Civil War has ended and family ties are in order to be re-established. All goes well; the family relationships are as they should be, perhaps even better than expected. Unique character studies develop as Pagebrook finds himself in a financial predicament, becoming indebted and with no resources available, as his bank back home has dissolved. It is up to Robert Pagebrook to find a way to prove to his kin that he is still a Man of Honor. |
By: Cliff Campbell | |
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Hooded Detective: 6 Action Packed Pulp Detective Stories
Evil lurks in the hearts and minds of men and many nefarious schemes are hatched by these gangsters, mob bosses and super villains. But thankfully, equally brave, talented detectives are there to track them down and thwart their twisted plans. These six stories, along with two "true fact detective shorts" were in the magazine Hooded Detective, January 1942. Are they well written? well, no, but they are fun. Here are a few of the blurbs: "They had expected spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner, but were served instead, hot lead, with a little bit of blood on the side... |
By: Thomas E. Price | |
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Flurry in Diamonds
The diamonds are gone--vanished! But who could have taken them? And how? With each plot twist author Thomas E. Price takes the reader off in a new direction. |
By: Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler (1860-1929) | |
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Concerning Isabel Carnaby
Isabel Carnaby returns from India. She starts looking for a place in upper class British society. At the begining, people are sceptical of her because she is an orphan. But she will surprise everybody. - Summary by Stav Nisser. |
By: Anna Hamlin Weikel (1865-1923) | |
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Betty Baird's Golden Year
It seems that all the people close to Betty are going through major life changes. Lois is certainly spending a lot of time with Dunmore Lane these days. Is Betty about to lose her friend and confidante forever? Even Miss Minturne is behaving strangely. If she's falling in love, as Betty suspects, what will happen to the income that Betty is depending on to pay off the mortgage on the farmhouse? Meanwhile, before Betty is even aware of it, her friends have begun to wonder if someone is falling in love with her... |
By: Georg Ebers (1837-1898) | |
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Cleopatra
The world knows the fate of the classic lovers Cleopatra and Mark Antony, so there is no need to announce a spoiler alert. Georg Ebers was a German Egyptologist who deftly applied his comprehensive knowledge of Rome and Egypt into a fictionalized account of the ill-fated romance between the Egyptian Queen and her Roman lover Mark Antony. |
By: William Morris (1834-1896) | |
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Prose Romances from the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine (1856)
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 |
By: Adelbert von Chamisso (1781-1838) | |
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wonderful History of Peter Schlemihl, the Man who lost his Shadow
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 |
By: B. L. Farjeon (1838-1903) | |
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Devlin the Barber
The stabbing death of a beautiful young woman in a London park at night and the disappearance of her sister; a shocked and heartbroken young suitor; a terrified landlady and her simple husband; a recently unemployed man, the narrator, who is requested to investigate the crime; and the mysterious title character who, as his name suggests, has a devilishness about him in his psychic ability to read minds and to perform other supernatural acts. These are some of the individuals in this inventive, absorbing mystery by the prolific and popular British author, B. L. Farjeon. There are really two mysteries here: the murder and the strange – person? – known as Devlin. |
By: Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) | |
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Crimson Circle
The Crimson Circle gang spreads fear by extortion and murder. Its members range from rich, powerful bankers to petty criminals, and none of them know each other. A beautiful young woman named Thalia Drummond appears to be involved in the gang too. But who is the leader of the gang, known only as The Crimson Circle? Chief Inspector Parr is on the case, as well as private detective Derrick Yale. - Summary by Anna Simon |
By: Various | |
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Christmas Miscellany 2017
A selection of short works about Christmas. |
By: Charlotte Turner Smith (1749-1806) | |
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Celestina
Celestina was adopted by Mrs. Willoughby from a convent in France. No one knows who her parents are. Her secret birth causes problems for her in the marriage market. But this novel is not only a courtship novel. It is about creating and keeping friendships, finding the meaning of family, the difference between love and obsession, and the development of Celestina from a dependent child to a strong woman of virtue. - Summary by Stav Nisser. |
By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) | |
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Permanent Husband
THE PERMANENT HUSBAND, also published as The Eternal Husband, is a psychological novella by the acclaimed Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The plot revolves around the intense and complex relationship between Velchaninov and Trusotsky. Velchaninov, the protagonist, is a former lover of the recently deceased wife of Trusotsky, the title character. Some critics have ranked this novella among Dostoeyevsky’s best works because of its style and structure. Alfred Bem has called it "one of the most complete works by Dostoyevsky in regards to its composition and development. – Adapted from Wikipedia An excellent commentary may be found here. |
By: Émile Zola (1840-1902) | |
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Jolly Parisiennes and Other Novelettes
“The Jolly Parisiennes” by Émile Zola is a very clever, brilliant and interesting romance of a “grande passion” with an undercurrent of political intrigue. The plot is ingenious both in conception and execution, while the tone of the novel is exceedingly bright and vivacious. A peculiar phase of Parisian society is most agreeably dealt with. The heroines, Louise Neigeon and Berthe Gaucheraud, are very jolly ladies indeed, but they never forget that they are ladies, even in their merriest and most eccentric moods... |
By: Guy Boothby (1867-1905) | |
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Prince of Swindlers
The year 18-- was a momentous one in Great Britain. Not only did the nation receive most of the world's royalty for months on end, but the well-to-do gentleman, Simon Carne spent much of the social season in London. On friendly terms with royalty, sponsored into society by Lord Amberly, formerly viceroy of India, Carne's horse won the Derby and his Yacht the Queen's Cup. But at the same time, a serious of notorious swindles, thefts and other crimes plagued London and the surrounding environs. The mysterious detective Klimo, did a thriving business by attempting to resolve the crimes... |
By: Carolyn Wells (1862-1942) | |
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Clue
Once Carolyn Wells began, or re-invented her writing career, 'The Clue' was her initial book which strayed from children's writings into mysteries and detective stories. It is also when we are introduced to her most famous of detectives, Fleming Stone. On the eve of her wedding day, Madeleine Van Norman, a beautiful young lady who is soon to come into her family fortune is found dead, apparently stabbed with an ominous blood-stained letter opener found nearby. There is nobody within the household... |
By: Edith Lavell (1892-1957) | |
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Mystery of the Fires
In the second book of the Mary Louise Gay mysteries, Mary Lou and her best friend Jane are thrilled to be spending a whole month of their summer together at Shady Nook. But when suspicious fires threaten their relaxing holiday, they jump into their sleuthing ways to find the culprit. With so many interesting residents in this small town, they have their work cut out for them! - Summary by Cari Shorrock |
By: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) | |
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Elective Affinities
Elective Affinities was Goethe's third novel. It depicts human relationships in a Romantic crucible, and is the sourcebook and inspiration for many literary and filmic adaptations and variations. - Summary by Nicole Lee |
By: Arthur Machen (1863-1947) | |
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Red Hand
Two London gentlemen ponder the evolution of humankind as they investigate a modern-day murder committed with an ancient tool. - Summary by Wanda White |
By: Stanley G. Weinbaum (1902-1935) | |
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Dark Other
The Dark Other is a horror novel by Stanley G. Weinbaum. The novel concerns Patricia Lane who is in love with Nicholas Devine, a quiet and gentle writer. Devine undergoes sudden changes becoming cold and calculating. Frightened by this, Lane consults psychologist Dr. Carl Horker who rescues her from Devine. Devine again attacks Horker, and overcomes him. He is then shot by Lane and rushed to a hospital where a surprise is found. |
By: Richard Marsh (1857-1915) | |
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Seen and the Unseen
Is it true that people can literally be scared to death ? Is it possible to photograph astral projections ? What happens if you play with a pack of cards which belonged to a dead card-trickster ? These and more questions are raised and answered in ''The Seen and the Unseen'' , a collection of twelve short stories of a supernatural and uncanny nature by English author Richard Marsh , famous for such mystery/horror novels as ''The Beetle'' and ''The Goddess: A Demon''. So if you feel you are ready for some goosebumps before bedtime, snuggle up and have a listen. - Summary by Sonia |
By: Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848-1907) | |
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En Route
The second book by Huysmans concerning the religious development of the novelist Durtal, who in the first book experienced depravity and Satanism. In this book he struggles desperately to find a foothold in the Catholic faith. He is aided by his aesthetic sensitivities and the support of an understanding priest. But it is not until he undertakes a retreat in a Trappist monastery that he achieves depth of spiritual transformation. |
By: Richard Marsh (1857-1915) | |
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Goddess: A Demon
After a night of drinking and gambling, John Ferguson has a terrifying dream of his neighbor being violently torn to shreds by an unknown attacker. When he wakes up, he sees a strange and bloodied woman climbing through his window, suffering from amnesia. These strange occurrences are brought to a chilling climax when, the next day, Ferguson learns that his dream came true, and his neighbor was indeed brutally murdered during the night! With suspicion mounting against the mysterious woman, Ferguson sets out to uncover her true identity and find the vicious killer in the process... |
By: Walt Whitman (1819-1892) | |
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Life and Adventures of Jack Engle: An AutoBiography
This story ran as a serial in 1852 in the New York Sunday Dispatch, and for more than 160 years was buried in obscurity, unknown to the world as novel written by Walt Whitman. Zachary Turpin, a graduate student specializing in Whitman's works, had seen in his notes a sketch of a novel including the characters Covert, Wigglesworth, Smytthe and Jack Engle, but no work including these characters had ever been found. After poring over endless pages of newspapers of the era however, Turpin found this advertisement for an upcoming serial: “A RICH REVELATION... |
By: Pansy (1841-1930) | |
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Mrs. Solomon Smith Looking On
Old Mrs. Solomon Smith considers herself "nothing but an ignorant old woman" who didn't have the advantages others did when growing up. However, those around her know that she's actually full of biblical wisdom and the experience of walking with Christ through the years. She shares her wisdom -- and more importantly, Christ -- to those she meets in everyday life, in a wise and gentle manner. She touches lives wherever she goes. But can her life and example touch the heart of Laura, a young woman who loves and respects her, but doesn't seem interested in religion? |
By: H. Rider Haggard (1856-1925) | |
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Stella Fregelius
Following a shipwreck Stella is preparing to die but is unexpectedly rescued. A love triangle of an unusual sort develops where an inventor of the mobile phone, back in 1900, who is engaged, becomes involved with a woman who has a passionate mystical influence on him. The story explores the nature of death and how we should look forward to it as being a great step to a greater world. |
By: George MacDonald (1824-1905) | |
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Malcolm
Malcolm MacPhail has lived, for all of his twenty or so years, in a fishing village on the north coast of Scotland. He lives with his grandfather and, though he has never met his parents, has no curiosity about the details of his birth. However, others in the town have their own curiosity, and their own suspicions, about where this highland man and his infant grandson came from, those twenty or so years ago. When the local marquis and his daughter come to live in their grand estate just outside the town, unoccupied for many years, events begin to move which introduce to them the humble Malcolm, and which may shed some light on Malcolm's past while changing the course of his future. |
By: Pansy (1841-1930) | |
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Miss Dee Dunmore Bryant
The Bryant family - widowed Mrs. Bryant and her children Benjamin, Caroline , and little Daisy - is on the thin edge of poverty due to debt incurred when Mr. Bryant was alive. We follow the family, especially Ben and Daisy, as they help shoulder some of the burden. Prominent in the story are children's dolls, which are the means to some of the family's income. - Summary by TriciaG |
By: Émile Zola (1840-1902) | |
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Markets of Paris
The Markets of Paris is a remarkable work, and is the one which Zola calls his very best novel, and of which he is far more proud than of any others in his Rougon-Marquart series – prouder than of L’Assommoir. It must have been in his early manhood, when poor and friendless, he lived among the people, that much of the information which makes these pages so startlingly vivid, was acquired. How many mornings, long before dawn, must he have visited these markets – how many hours and days must he have spent there, to have mastered the habits, manners and ways of these people, who are a class by themselves, and of whom we do not lose sight, from the beginning to the end of the book... |
By: Fergus Hume (1859-1932) | |
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Mikado Jewel
A widow has been murdered in the home of a relative on a foggy night in London town when all residents were off on to the theatre, and one to run an errand involving the title bauble. Who done it? Old dark house mystery full of period cliches is pulp fun for the new year. - Summary by Matt Pierard |
By: Frances Milton Trollope (1779-1863) | |
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Life and Adventures of Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy
The industrial revolution led to the rise of manufacture and, thus, the cotton mill factories. This important novel tells about the plight of Michael Armstrong, one of the boys who is forced to work there. The aim of the novel was to expose the public to the conditions of thousands of "infant labourers" around the northern mill towns. The novel drew much criticism, of course. Yet, nonetheless, it is a forgotten masterpiece, perfect for fans of Oliver Twist and North and South. It is a brave novel, full of truth and honesty, yet probably not for the faint of heart. - Summary by Stav Nisser. |
By: Lyman Abbott (1835-1922) | |
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Parables
This is a collection of the parables of the new testament. - Summary by Lynda Marie Neilson |
By: Fergus Hume (1859-1932) | |
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Pink Shop
The Pink Shop operates outside the limits of the law by a mysterious woman concealed under a black veil. Follow the twists and turns as you unravel the secrets hidden behind the closed doors of The Pink Shop. Ask yourself: what would you give to retain eternal beauty? |
By: Charles Norris Williamson (1859-1920) | |
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Secret history revealed by Lady Peggy O'Malley
"If, two years ago, when I was sixteen, I hadn’t wanted money to buy a white frock with roses on it, which I saw in Selfridge’s window, a secret crisis between the United States and Mexico would have been avoided; and the career of a splendid soldier would not have been broken.” Read here what happened to the girl, the soldier, and the white frock. - Summary by Carolin |
By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) | |
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Raw Youth
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. |
By: Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915) | |
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Mount Royal Vol. I
A classic Victorian sensation novel filled with romance, mystery, and murder with the emphasis on romance. -summary by Celine Major | |
Mount Royal Volume II
A classic Victorian sensation novel filled with romance, mystery, and murder with emphasis on romance. - summary by Celine Major | |
Mount Royal Volume III
A classic Victorian sensation novel filled with romance, mystery, and murder with emphasis on romance. - summary by Celine Major | |
Strangers And Pilgrims
Strangers and Pilgrims follows the journey of Elizabeth Lutterell from a vain, beautiful and self-centred although good-hearted 19 year old to a mature woman. She begins her journey to maturity when she meets the Rev. Malcolm Forde, whose influence opens her eyes to the trivial and selfish ways of the wealthier levels of society. When her genuine love for Malcolm Forde is thwarted and she becomes trapped in a cold, loveless marriage of convenience, she suffers illness, tragedy and regret. Will she find ultimate happiness? A hugely prolific and popular author, M... |
By: Wladislaw Lach-Szyrma (1841-1915) | |
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Aleriel; or, A Voyage to Other Worlds
When an Oxford undergraduate meets by chance, a mysterious stranger, during a walking tour of France, he does not know that the unusual charismatic being he has made the acquaintance of, is in fact a disguised alien being, named Aleriel. Coming from the planet of peace, Venus, this space traveler claims to be visiting Earth for the first time. Thus begins an unusual interplanetary friendship, that takes our Oxford graduate on an amazing adventure, first into the war-torn streets of Paris, then across the English Channel, to busy London and finally on to tranquil Oxford... |
By: Edward H. Hurlbut | |
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Lanagan Amateur Detective
This is a 1913 collection of ten short detective stories by a not well known writer. Jack Lanagan is a police reporter for a daily newspaper in San Francisco, who has the confidence of the chief of police and access to all sorts of levels of city life. - Summary by David Wales |
By: Pansy (1841-1930) | |
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Twenty Minutes Late
Sequel to Miss Dee Dunmore Bryant. Being 20 minutes late after a day out with the Kedwins and Ben and Daisy, her siblings, starts a series of events in motion that lead Caroline Bryant to Philadelphia...and to people and situations she could never have foreseen. - Summary by TriciaG |
By: Emma Francis Brooke (1844-1926) | |
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Transition
Honora Klaper is beautiful, distinguished, smart, and charming. A woman who turns heads. She is on an errand. No, it is not an errand to get a man. No, it is not an errand to make money. It is a revolutionary errand: to get an education! Not just "an education", she wants to be educated in Cambridge University. Set in a time when education of women was uncommon, and written by a lady who was educated in Cambridge herself, this book tells about the rewards and the struggles of a woman to win an education. - Summary by Stav Nisser. |
By: Matthew Lewis (1775-1818) | |
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Adelgitha; or, The Fruits of a Single Error
The second original tragedy written by Gothic writer Matthew Lewis, Adelgitha; or, The Fruits of a Single Error is a markedly more serious affair than his melodramatic output, dealing as it does with a fallen woman who is mercilessly blackmailed by a ruthless tyrant when she spurns his advances. Set in Otranto during the High Middle Ages, and featuring fictionalized depictions of historical rulers Robert Guiscard and Michael Ducas , Adelgitha is an archetypal Gothic drama that, while not especially refined or meritorious in terms of quality, still manages to thrill in that deliciously overwrought way that Lewis knew how to sell... |
By: Fergus Hume (1859-1932) | |
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Crimson Cryptogram
Young Dr Ellis, a struggling new physician, is enjoying a quiet evening smoking and enjoying conversation with his journalist friend Cass, when their mysterious neighbour, Mrs Moxton, bursts in upon them with startling news - her husband has been murdered! Rushing to the scene, the two men discover Mr Moxton, stabbed in the back. They investigate the body thoroughly, but find no real clues to his assailant except for a mysterious series of markings, scrawled in blood on the dead man's sleeve. - Summary by Don W. Jenkins |
By: Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915) | |
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Fatal Three
Written by one of the most prolific authors of the 19th century The Fatal Three although not as sensational as some of her other novels serves up some very fascinating characters. It also raises some very interesting questions regarding moral & religious education, Victorian marriage laws, mental illness and how one's upbringing can determine one's fate. Delightful country homes and exquisite scenery provide the usual perfect backdrop for this enjoyable read by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. - Summary by Celine Major |
By: Lily A. Long (1862-1927) | |
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Hemlock Avenue Mystery
"The Hemlock Avenue Mystery" is one of a series of mysteries written by Lily Augusta Long using the pseudonym Roman Doubleday. A lawyer is accused of killing a rival lawyer, both having battled in court on numerous occasions. A newspaper reporter following the case is bent on determining the facts behind the murder. As it happens, there are two women also suspected of participating in the crime, and a third who was apparently utterly unconscious of what had occurred. It's up to the reporter turned detective to unravel the clues, few as they are. - Summary by Roger Melin |
By: Lester Chadwick | |
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Baseball Joe in the Central League
"Baseball Joe" Matson's great ambition is to become a professional baseball pitcher. The Baseball Joe series follows his career as he seeks to attain his goal. In this fourth volume, Joe accepts a contract to play baseball professionally, and leaves Yale to play on the Pittston team for the Central League, a "bush league" in the professional baseball hierarchy. Joe's career is helped by "Pop" Dutton, a famous pitcher now down on his luck, and hindered by a rival pitcher on the team, while at home, Joe's father is blinded by a chemical accident, and requires an expensive operation, which, if successful, will regain his sight... |
By: Richard Doddridge Blackmore (1825-1900) | |
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Cradock Nowell Vol. 3
Cradock Nowell: a Tale of the New Forest is a three-volume novel by R. D. Blackmore published in 1866. Set in the New Forest and in London, it follows the fortunes of Cradock Nowell who, at the end of Volume 1, is thrown out of his family home and disowned by his father following the suspicious death of Cradock's twin brother Clayton, their father's favorite. In Volume 2, the story picks up with those left behind at Nowelhurst and the question of who is now heir apparent to the Nowell fortune. Meanwhile, Cradock discovers life independent of the Nowell name and fortune is not easy... |
By: Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) | |
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Burning Secret
A lonely, convalescing 12 year-old boy and his attractive mother, who is in a loveless marriage, meet a gentleman while vacationing at a European resort. Seeking an enjoyable way to pass the time, the man schemes to seduce the woman with the unwitting help of the boy. The son, puzzled by the developing relationship, becomes increasingly isolated and suspicious as he loses his childish innocence in this gripping coming-of-age novella. This work is translated from the original German, Brennendes Geheimnis, which has also been recorded for Librivox... |
By: Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) | |
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Watchman and Other Poems
While L. M. Montgomery is better known for her novels, such as Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon, she also wrote hundreds of poems. Her love of beauty, nature, and the sea is evident in this, the only volume of her poetry published during her lifetime. |
By: Constance Elizabeth Maud (1857-1929) | |
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No Surrender
Written from the midst of the struggle for female suffrage, Constance Elizabeth Maud’s novel No Surrender (1911) is a Call to Arms. It is a dramatic narrative portraying key players and historical events in the battle for the Vote for Women in Britain. Jenny Clegg is a Lancashire millgirl working long, hard hours under unhealthy conditions in order to support her mother and younger siblings, only to have her father take possession of her savings. In order to seek the rights to improved work conditions, equal pay, and many other human rights, she joins the movement of women seeking political representation... |
By: Charles Monroe Sheldon (1857-1946) | |
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All the World
The Great War is over and the soldier boys are back home, but some of them just can't settle down again. Neither can the girls who helped out both on the foreign and the home front. Dr. Ward notices, but doesn't know how to help until one Sunday after his sermon, when something happens to change the lives of many in their town. |
By: James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) | |
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Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
Johnson's only novel, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, was originally published anonymously in 1912. It is a fictional novel written as a memoir of an unnamed biracial narrator who grew up in the South during the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction eras. It is a story in which the narrator relates how as a young boy he initially assumed that he was white, and how his notions of racial identity were suddenly turned upside down one day—how from that moment on he was inclined to view himself and the world about him from the perspective of blackness. The novel received very little notoriety until Johnson republished it in 1927, this time taking full credit as its author. |
By: May Sinclair (1863-1946) | |
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Combined Maze
Ranny Ransome is an idealistic young man, devoted to exuberant gymnastic exercises and to fighting “flabbiness” in his own life, body and soul. He loves the girlish and athletic Winny Dymond, and particularly loves participating with her in the Combined Maze, a choreographed, intricate, exhilarating group gymnastic ritual in which the young men and women of the Polytechnic Gymnasium demonstrate their skills. Unfortunately, Ranny falls under the spell of the seductive Violet, a sexual free spirit who wants nothing more than to live an untrammelled life on her own terms... |
By: William Combe (1742-1823) | |
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Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque
“To bury these, to christen those, And marry such fond folks who chose To change the tenor of their life And risk the matrimonial strife.” This was the humdrum life of Dr. Syntax before he set out on his bizarre and hilarious adventures, presented here in the form of satirical poem in 26 cantos. It’s a lot of fun! |
By: Pansy (1841-1930) | |
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From Different Standpoints
How differently people view life, society, and religion, depending on their perspective! Perry, the often sick young man that is learning to follow his Master; Eunice (Una), as close as a sister to Perry but not a Christian; Eleanor, the selfish socialite; and Tom, Eleanor's earnestly Christian brother, form the core of this story of life, love, marriage, and service. |
By: Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
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More Newspaper Articles by Mark Twain
"More Newspaper Articles by Mark Twain" fills in the gaps left by the first collection of newspaper articles: "Newspaper Articles by Mark Twain" . The missing articles, collected by twainquotes.com, consist of works printed in the Muscatine Journal, the Keokuk Daily Post, the New York Sunday Mercury, the Golden Era, the Californian, The Daily Dramatic Chronicle, San Francisco Bulletin, the New York Herald and travel letters originally printed in the Chicago Daily tribune. The earliest articles first appeared in 1853... |
By: Andrew Lang (1844-1912) | |
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Tales of King Arthur and the Round Table (version 2)
The tales of King Arthur and his Knights are of Celtic origin. The Celts were the people who occupied Britain at the time when the history of the country opens, and a few words are necessary to explain why the characters in the stories act and speak as though they belonged to a later age. These stories are adapted from the Book of Romance by ANDREW LANG. It is believed that King Arthur lived in the sixth century, just after the Romans withdrew from Britain, and when the Britons, left to defend themselves against the attacks of the marauding Saxons, rose and defeated them at Mount Badon, securing to themselves peace for many years... |
By: Various | |
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Little Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor Vol 2
Volume 2 of a ten volume collection of amusing tales, observations and anecdotes by America's greatest wordsmiths. This work includes selections by such household favorites as Ambrose Bierce, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Mark Twain and Bret Harte. |
By: George Griffith (1857-1906) | |
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Angel of the Revolution
The Angel of the Revolution: A Tale of the Coming Terror (1893) is a science fiction novel by English writer George Griffith. It was his first published novel and remains his most famous work. It was first published in Pearson's Weekly and was prompted by the success of The Great War of 1892 in Black and White magazine, which was itself inspired by The Battle of Dorking. A lurid mix of Jules Verne's futuristic air warfare fantasies, the utopian visions of News from Nowhere and the future war invasion literature of Chesney and his imitators, it tells the tale of a group of terrorists who conquer the world through airship warfare... |
By: Eulalie Osgood Grover (1873-1958) | |
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Kittens and Cats: A Book of Tales
This book consists of fifty-two very short fictitious stories about cats and kittens, which have been written for children. Many of the stories have been written by cats and address the queen, many of them are commentaries on well known nursery rhymes, and many of them are both. |
By: Dorothy Richardson (1873-1957) | |
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Backwater (Pilgrimage, Vol. 2)
"Backwater" is the second volume of "Pilgrimage," a series of thirteen autobiographical novels by Dorothy Richardson considered to have pioneered the "stream of consciousness" technique of writing. In a review of the first volume in the series, "Pointed Roofs" (The Egoist April 1918), May Sinclair first applied the term "stream of consciousness" in her discussion of Richardson's stylistic innovations. Richardson, however, preferred the term "interior monologue." Miriam Henderson, the central character in Pilgrimage, is based on the author's own life between 1891 and 1915... |
By: Henry james (1843-1916) | |
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Papers
Today the world is awash with “celebrities” whose only accomplishment is being celebrated by the media in all its various forms. Henry James, of course, long pre-dates the multiplicity of media in today’s world, when the press was the main source of adulation, and he was famously averse to giving newspaper interviews himself. For those interested in the sources of celebrity worship, however, his story, “The Papers,” showing how two aspiring London journalists worked with those who were famous simply for being famous, helps to give some idea of how such worship was practiced a century ago. (Nicholas Clifford) |
By: E. E. Smith (1890-1965) | |
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Lord Tedric
Time is the strangest of all mysteries. Relatively unimportant events, almost unnoticed as they occur, may, in hundreds of years, result in Ultimate Catastrophe. On Time Track Number One, that was the immutable result. But on Time Track Number Two there was one little event that could be used to avert it—the presence of a naked woman in public. So, Skandos One removed the clothing from the Lady Rhoann and after one look, Lord Tedric did the rest! |
By: Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) | |
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Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia
Arcadia is a prose work by Sir Philip Sidney, a classic of the Renaissance pastoral and a work of high romance, a fleeting vision of a lost world of gallantry and adventure, representing an escape from the realities of politics in the Elizabethan court. It contributes to the ongoing legend of Sidney as the perfect Renaissance man, "soldier, scholar, horseman he/And all he did done perfectly". |
By: Katharine Berry Judson (1866-1929) | |
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Myths And Legends Of The Pacific Northwest Especially Of Washington And Oregon
The basis on which these myths were selected necessarily excluded those which showed traces of the white man's religion or of the red man's coarseness. Relatively speaking, only a few myths could be selected. These were the creation myths, the origin of the races, the theft of fire, the salmon, and especially those connected with the physical features of the country, such as those of Takhoma, Shasta, the Columbia River, and the group of mountains of the bridge of the gods…. No claim is made... |
By: Henry Edward Warner (1876-) | |
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That House I Bought; A Little Leaf From Life
This is a whimsical, entertaining, tongue in cheek narrative of the author’s purchase of a house, circa 1911. |
By: Jean M. Thompson (1865-?) | |
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Three Bears of Porcupine Ridge
Twenty-four delightful tales for children. Meet Timothy Mouse, Little Red Doe, Dame Woodchuck, King Moose and Unk-Wunk the Porcupine with their friends. Adventure and humor are skillfully wrapped around these lovable characters. |