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  The Admiral

  O. Henry

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  O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), an American writer of outstanding short stories known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization, and surprise endings. "The Admiral" is the bittersweet tale of a young and simple sailor who is unexpectedly made Admiral of the Fleet of the Republic of Anchuria as a drunken joke during a cabinet meeting of the new corrupt government.  Taking command of the fleet... consisting of one sloop, recently confiscated from a band of smugglers, the new admiral sets out to build up his crew - three sailors. As the government neglects to allocate him any budget or pay any salaries, the "fleet" is forced to conduct jobbing trade around the coast to keep its sailors fed. But the admiral lives in hope that one day he will receive orders which will enable him to serve his country...

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  The Miner at Home

  D H Lawrence

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  'The Miner at Home ' was written by D H Lawrence in 1912. Lawrence is at his best in this story, taken from the scenes of his childhood and based on characters he knew intimately. The scene can hardly be called a story in the traditional sense, being the altercation between a miner and his wife over an impending strike but as a picture of a working miner’s family, rich in detail and the Nottinghamshire dialect, it has a fascination and vividness.

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  The Female Husband

  Henry Fielding

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  Henry Fielding was born at Sharpham Park, near Glastonbury, in Somerset on April 22nd 1707.  His early years were spent on his parents’ farm in Dorset before being educated at Eton. 
   
  An early romance ended disastrously and with it his removal to London and the beginnings of a glittering literary career; he published his first play, at age 21, in 1728. 
   
  He was prolific, sometimes writing six plays a year, but he did like to poke fun at the authorities. His plays were thought to be the final straw for the authorities in their attempts to bring in a new law. In 1737 The Theatrical Licensing Act was passed.  At a stroke political satire was almost impossible. Fielding was rendered mute.  Any playwright who was viewed with suspicion by the Government now found an audience difficult to find and therefore Theatre owners now toed the Government line. 
   
  Fielding was practical with the circumstances and ironically stopped writing to once again take up his career in the practice of law and became a barrister after studying at Middle Temple.  By this time he had married Charlotte Craddock, his first wife, and they would go on to have five children. Charlotte died in 1744 but was immortalised as the heroine in both Tom Jones and Amelia.   
   
  Fielding was put out by the success of Samuel Richardson's Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded.  His reaction was to spur him into writing a novel.  In 1741 his first novel was published; the successful Shamela, an anonymous parody of Richardson's novel.  
   
  Undoubtedly the masterpiece of Fielding’s career was the novel Tom Jones, published in 1749.  It is a wonderfully and carefully constructed picaresque novel following the convoluted and hilarious tale of how a foundling came into a fortune. 
   
  Fielding was a consistent anti-Jacobite and a keen supporter of the Church of England. This led to him now being richly rewarded with the position of London's Chief Magistrate.  Fielding continued to write and his career both literary and professional continued to climb.   
   
  In 1749 he joined with his younger half-brother John, to help found what was the nascent forerunner to a London police force, the Bow Street Runners. Fielding's ardent commitment to the cause of justice in the 1750s unfortunately coincided with a rapid deterioration in his health.  Such was his decline that in the summer of 1754 he travelled, with Mary and his daughter, to Portugal in search of a cure.  Gout, asthma, dropsy and other afflictions forced him to use crutches. His health continued to fail alarmingly. 
   
  Henry Fielding died in Lisbon two months later on October 8th, 1754.

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  The Anticipator

  Morley Roberts

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  Morley Roberts (1857 - 1942) was a popular English novelist and short-story writer.'The Anticipator' is the tale of two rival writers. Esplan is a true craftsman. His stories are finely crafted, inspired works of true genius. His foe, Burford, is as bad a writer as Esplan is good. But Burford has an uncanny knack of publishing stories with the exact same plot as Esplan has been working on for weeks, making Esplan's tales unsaleable...or worse, making it seem that he is plagiarising his inept competitor.As Esplan sinks into a drug-fuelled spiral of bitterness and rage, he decides it is time to get rid of Burford. But then things take an unexpected turn....

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  The Ultimate Allan Quatermain...

  H. Rider Haggard

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  The Ultimate Allan Quatermain Collection includes the 8 full-length novels, 4 short stories and 1 extracanonical work featuring Allan Quatermain.The character Allan Quatermain is an English-born professional big game hunter and occasional trader living in South Africa. An outdoorsman who finds English cities and climate unbearable, he prefers to spend most of his life in Africa, where he grew up under the care of his widower father, a Christian missionary. In the earliest-written novels, native Africans refer to Quatermain as Macumazahn, meaning Watcher-by-Night, a reference to his nocturnal habits and keen instincts. In later-written novels, Macumazahn is said to be a short form of Macumazana, meaning One who stands out. Quatermain is frequently accompanied by his native servant, the Hottentot Hans, a wise and caring family retainer from his youth. His sarcastic comments offer a sharp critique of European conventions. In his final adventures, Quatermain is joined by two British companions, Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good of the Royal Navy, and by his African friend Umslopogaas.Included in this collection:1. King Solomon's Mines (1885)2. Allan Quatermain (1887)3. Allan's Wife and Other Tales (1887): Allan's Wife / Hunter Quatermain's Story / A Tale of Three Lions / Long Odds4. Marie (1912)5. Child of Storm (1913)6. Allan and the Holy Flower (1915)7. The Ivory Child (1916)8. The Ancient Allan (1920)9. She and Allan (1920)10. Extracanonical Work: Magepa the Buck (1912)

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  A Professor of Egyptology

  Guy Boothby

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  When Cecilia and her mother are introduced to an eminent Egyptologist, Professor Constanides, while staying in Cairo for the winter, they are captivated and charmed. Cecilia in particular spends much of her leisure time in his company.One night she returns early to the hotel from a party at which she had been alone on the balcony with the mysterious Professor. Although she retires early, it is not to sleep. She stands on her balcony, and feels herself strangely compelled to leave the hotel and set out at night alone on the streets of Cairo.Before long, she is joined by the strange Professor, who whisks her away in a carriage on the most peculiar adventure of her life.

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