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  The Unknown Quantity

  O. Henry

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  When Dan Kinsolving inherits a fortune from his late father, he wants to make amends for the immoral way in which the money was amassed. Kinsolving senior had been responsible for a rise in the price of bread which had caused great hardship among the poor of New York. Kinsolving's friend Kenwitz shows Dan the impact of the bread price on real people's lives... and also explains the impossibility of undoing the damage which has been done. But in an unexpected twist of the tale, Dan finds a way of righting the wrong in one instance...

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  Boule de Suif

  Guy de Maupassant

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  Maupassant's early story "Boule de Suif," ("Ball-of-Tallow") from 1880, remains a hallmark and a natural starting point. It's about a prostitute whose refrain, like Bartleby's, is that she would prefer not to—in this case, a Prussian officer asks repeatedly for the pleasure of her intimate company, and she invariably denies him. Unlike Bartleby, though, Boule de Suif must eventually give in, not by any defect of will but because of peer pressure.

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  Ambrose Bierce - A Short Story...

  Ambrose Bierce

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  Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born on 24th June 1842 at Horse Cave Creek in Meigs County, Ohio. His parents were poor but they introduced him to literature at an early age, instilling in him a deep appreciation of books, the written word and the elegance of language.  
   
  Growing up in Koscuisko County, Indiana poverty and religion were defining features of his childhood, and he would later describe his parents as “unwashed savages” and fanatically religious, showing him little affection but always quick to punish. He came to resent religion, and his introduction to literature appears to be their only positive effect. 
   
  At age 15 Bierce left home to become a printer’s devil, mixing ink and fetching type at The Northern Indian, a small Ohio paper. Falsely accused of theft he returned to his farm and spent time sending out work in the hopes of being published. 
   
  His Uncle Lucius advised he be sent to the Kentucky Military Institute. A year later he was commissioned as an Officer.  As the Civil War started Bierce enlisted in the 9th Indiana Infantry Regiment.  
   
  In April 1862 Bierce fought at the Battle of Shiloh, an experience which, though terrifying, became the source of several short stories. Two years later he sustained a serious head wound and was off duty for several months. He was discharged in early 1865.  
   
  A later expedition to inspect military outposts across the Great Plains took him all the way to San Francisco. He remained there to become involved with publishing and editing and to marry, Mary Ellen on Christmas Day 1871.  They had a child, Day, the following year.  
   
  In 1872 the family moved to England for 3 years where he wrote for Fun magazine. His son, Leigh, was born, and first book, ‘The Fiend’s Delight’, was published. 
  They returned to San Francisco and to work for a number of papers where he gained admiration for his crime reporting. In 1887 he began a column at the William Randolph Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner.  
   
  Bierce’s marriage fell apart when he discovered compromising letters to his wife from a secret admirer. The following year, 1889 his son Day committed suicide, depressed by romantic rejection. 
   
  In 1891 Bierce wrote and published the collection of 26 short stories which included ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’.  Success and further works including poetry followed.  
   
  Bierce with Hearst’s resources helped uncover a financial plot by a railroad to turn 130 million dollars of loans into a handout. Confronted by the railroad and asked to name his price Bierce answered “my price is $130 million dollars. If, when you are ready to pay, I happen to be out of town, you may hand it over to my friend, the Treasurer of the United States”.  
   
  He now began his first foray as a fabulist, publishing ‘Fantastic Fables’ in 1899.  But tragedy again struck two years later when his second son Leigh died of pneumonia relating to his alcoholism. 
   
  He continued to write short stories and poetry and also published ‘The Devil’s Dictionary’.  
   
  At the age of 71, in 1913 Bierce departed from Washington, D.C., for a tour of the battlefields where he had fought during the civil war. At the city of Chihuahua he wrote his last known communication, a letter to a friend. It’s closing words were “as to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination,” Ambrose Bierce then vanished without trace. 
  1 - Ambrose Bierce - An Introduction 
  2 - An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce 
  3 - The Eyes of the Panther by Ambrose Bierce 
  4 - Oil of Dog by Ambrose Bierce 
  5 - A Man With Two Lives by Ambrose Bierce 
  6 - A Diagnosis of Death by Ambrose Bierce 
  7 - The Coup de Grace by Ambrose Bierce 
  8 - A Psychological Shipwreck by Ambrose Bierce&

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  One Day in the Life of Ivan...

  Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

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  Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn’s startling book led, almost 30 years later, to Glasnost, Perestroika, and the “Fall of the Wall.” One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovichbrilliantly portrays a single day, any day, in the life of a single Russian soldier who was captured by the Germans in 1945 and who managed to escape a few days later. Along with millions of others, this soldier was charged with some sort of political crime, and since it was easier to confess than deny it and die, Ivan Denisovich “confessed” to “high treason” and received a sentence of 10 years in a Siberian labor camp.In 1962, the Soviet literary magazine, Novy Mir, published a short novel by an unknown writer named Solzhenitsyn. Within 24 hours, all 95,000 copies of the magazine containing this story were sold out. Within a week, Solzhenitsyn was no longer an obscure math teacher, but an international celebrity. Publication of the book split the Communist hierarchy, and it was Premier Khrushchev himself who read the book and personally allowed its publication.“This reading is ably done. It is an unforgettable tale.”—Booklist

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  Wacousta or the prophecy - A...

  John Richardson

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  This is volume 2 of  Major John Richardson, 1832 novel Wacousta.  It is set at Fort Detroit and the surrounding country during Pontiac's rebellion of 1763. The mysterious warrior Wacousta has aligned himself with the First Nations forces who are besieging Detroit and Fort Michilimackinac on the extreme western edge of the British North American frontier. Pontiac is determined to stop expansion into the region, by any means. Wacousta, is a great friend of Pontiac but has his own agenda. - revenge against the British Commander at Detroit, Colonel De Haldimar. The story begins with Wacousta stealing in to the secure fort and whispering something in to De Haldimar's ear. Only later to we discover the nature of his message. Meanwhile, Pontiac designs a clever scheme to break the siege at the well defended fort - a scheme so cunningly designed as to have every chance of success.   In Volume 2 we follow Frederick De Haldimar's efforts to save his sister and fiance from being slaughtered in the attack on Fort Michilimackinac,, helped by the Ottawa damsel Oucansasta, whom Frederick had saved from drowning.This book was written in 1832 and incorporates all the attitudes and perspectives of class, race and culture prevalent at the time. Some of the terminology is now considered offensive but was common in the nineteenth century.  It is a powerful and engaging story, although the style of writing is extremely convoluted and complex, and can be difficult to read.  I hope hearing it helps you enjoy it.

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  Cricket On The Hearth The...

  Charles Dickens

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  The Cricket on the Hearth is a novella by Charles Dickens, written in 1845. It is the third of Dickens' five Christmas books, the others being A Christmas Carol (1843), The Chimes (1844), The Battle of Life (1846), and The Haunted Man (1847). John Peerybingle, a carrier, lives with his young wife Dot, their baby boy and their nanny Tilly Slowboy. A cricket chirps on the hearth and acts as a guardian angel to the family. One day a mysterious elderly stranger comes to visit and takes up lodging at Peerybingle's house for a few days.

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