Publisher: Project Gutenberg
The Iliad (sometimes referred to as the Song of Ilion or Song of Ilium) is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set in the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy (Ilium) by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles.
Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. Born and educated in Edinburgh, Stevenson suffered from serious bronchial trouble for much of his life, but continued to write prolifically and travel widely in defiance of his poor health. As a young man, he mixed in London literary circles, receiving encouragement from Andrew Lang, Edmund Gosse, Leslie Stephen and W. E. Henley, the last of whom may have provided the model for Long John Silver in Treasure Island.MY FIRST BOOK: 'TREASURE ISLAND': It was far indeed from being my first book, for I am not a novelist alone. But I am well aware that my paymaster, the Great Public, regards what else I have written with indifference, if not aversion; if it call upon me at all, it calls on me in the familiar and indelible character.Show book
The magic tale of three live interwoven by love, deceit, courage and sacrifice. A powerfully moving novel of a young woman caught between the attractions of two very different men, Sylvia’s Lovers is set in the 1790s in an English seaside town. England is at war with France, and press-gangs wreak havoc by seizing young men for service. One of their victims is a whaling harpooner named Charley Kinraid, whose charm and vivacity have captured the heart of Sylvia Robson. But Sylvia’s devoted cousin, Philip Hepburn, hopes to marry her himself and, in order to win her, deliberately withholds crucial information—with devastating consequences. An Author's Republic audio production.Show book
Jane Lapotaire reads one of the greatest of all English novels, a finely etched satire about the scatterbrained Mrs. Bennett whose aim in life is to see her five daughters married. Meet Jane Austen's rich and varied characters: the proud Mr. Darcy; the pompous parson; Mr. Collins, who seeks the most advantageous match for himself; good-humored Mr. Bingley; and, of course the two eldest Bennett daughters, Jane and Elizabeth.Show book
Murder and madness, witches and war: My Ebook Publishing House presents a recording of Macbeth, perhaps Shakespeare's best known tragedy. Macbeth, a general in King Duncan's army, is given a prophecy by a trio of witches: he himself will become king. Fired by ambition and goaded by his ruthless wife, he murders Duncan and assumes the throne. More killings follow as Macbeth attempts to retain his crown, until he discovers that prophecies are not always what they seem.Show book
So accustomed are we to numerous cinematic films depicting Dinosaurs (resurrected from their extinction through various dramatic devices) running amok amongst the human race, from King Kong to Jurassic Park, that we forget that it was the creator of Sherlock Holmes who was amongst the first to imagine such a scenario. After so many years of the cerebral Holmes, Conan Doyle must have revelled in his colourful new character of Professor Challenger. He is a bear of a man with an appetite for self-advancement, adventure and controversy who leads an expedition into the forests of South America to vindicate his claim that a lost world lay hidden in that vast continent. This is Conan Doyle away from the constraints of Baker Street and one gets the feeling that the author makes the most of the possibilities, pitting his heroes against dinosaurs, treacherous guides, inhospitable terrain and not least a race of vicious ape men. Conan tells his rip-roaring adventure with all his usual descriptive skill and verve. Head Stories presents Conan Doyle's "The Lost World" narrated by Simon Hester. With original music.Show book
Heir to a noble Scottish house in the mid 18th century, the Master is a charming, clever, and resourceful villain whose daring but ill-advised schemes first alienate his patrimony and at last cost him his life. His younger brother, sweet-tempered and good but dull and unpopular, suffers at the Master's hands until his patience and courage win him limited ascendancy, but he is at last consumed with hatred and driven to madness and death by the strain of his many sufferings. The story is told from the point of view of a loyal servant with the occasional insertion of documents in the words of other eye-witnesses. The episodic plot, although exciting, serves mainly as a structure on which to hang superb character studies. The Master, whom one both admires and hates, bears comparison with Long John Silver, not to mention Milton's Satan, to whom the narrator explicitly likens him. The secondary characters-narrator, father, and wife-are deftly characterized, and (with the exception of the two children) even the minor characters are vivid and memorable.Show book
