Other books that might interest you

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  Top Ten The - The Scottish - The...

  JM Barrie, Walter Scott, John...

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  Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. 
   
  In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?  
   
  The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  Whether they hail from the Lowlands or the Highlands to be a Scottish author is to part of a quite an extraordinary band of authors and its literary traditions.  These beguiling stories example the full range and majesty of their talents and the subjects they explore. 
   
  01 - The Top 10 - The Scottish - An Introduction 
  02 - The Inconsiderate Waiter by J M Barrie 
  03 - The Loathly Opposite by John Buchan 
  04 - The Prediction by Mary Diana Dods writing as David Lyndsey 
  05 - B24 by Arthur Conan Doyle 
  06 - The Metropolitian Emigrant by John Galt 
  07 - A Saga of the Seas by Kenneth Grahame 
  08 - A Story of a Wedding Tour by Margaret Oliphant 
  08 - Stephen Archer by George MacDonald 
  10 - The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott 
  11 - The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson

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  Frog Prince and Other Stories...

  Walter Crane

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  These three stories,The Frog Prince, Princess Belle-Etoile and Alladin, beloved by generations of children, are here retold in a format and style close to their earliest beginnings. Many of the embellishments that have been added to them over the centuries and which we now automatically associate with them have been omitted and the stores are presented in a simplicity and clarity that is refreshing to hear. They are full of beautiful princesses, noble, brave and handsome princes, dangerous quests, evil plotters and magic birds. In all, the righteous win out in the end and the wicked are properly punished. (Summary by the reader, Phil Chenevert )

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  The Birth-Mark

  Nathaniel Hawthorne

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  Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on 4th July 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, a town synonymous with the earlier Salem Witch Trials. It was instrumental in Hawthorne’s later use of American Gothic and dark romanticism in his writing. 
   
  He was a mere four years old when his father died and his mother took him and his two sisters to live with her family and then on to their own home in Raymond, Maine. The young Hawthorne had a passion for fiction and poetry and voraciously read the works of Ann Radcliffe, Henry Fielding and Lord Byron.  
   
  He was sent to college at his maternal uncle’s insistence. During these years he met and befriended Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and future U S president Franklin Pierce. These friendships were lifelong and to have a crucial impact on his writings and career.  
   
  At college Hawthorne had made attempts at writing short stories and essays but without opportunities to publish. It was only in 1828 that he finally published his novel ‘Franshawe’ to little success and so he began work as editor for the American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge.  
   
  Hawthorne’s short stories were first published in magazines but in 1837 were collected and published as ‘Twice-Told Tales’. A steady literary career still did not come his way and so he worked in a good position at Salem’s port and married the love of his life Sophia Peabody. They moved to live in ‘The Old Manse’ at Concord, Massachusetts.   
   
  Finally. in 1850 came spectacular literary and commercial success with ‘The Scarlet Letter’ followed by ‘The House of the Seven Gables’ the following year.  
   
  In 1852, Hawthorne published a biography of presidential candidate Franklin Pierce. After Pierce’s victory he was appointed consul in Liverpool, a position that offered prestige, money and fame. At the end of this appointment he returned several times to Europe before settling in Massachusetts and resuming writing and publication. 
   
  During the early 1860’s his health declined and on 19th May 1864 during a trip to Plymouth, New Hampshire. He was 59 and was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.  
   
  The Birthmark is a classic tale from Hawthorne’s pen.  Georgina has a small red birthmark on her cheek.  Her husband, a brilliant scientist and philosopher becomes obsessed with what he thinks is this blemish on her beauty.

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  The Cabmen's Shelter

  A. J. Alan

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  Leslie Harrison Lambert, who wrote under the name of A. J. Alan (1883-1941), was an English magician, intelligence officer, short story writer, and radio broadcaster. He kept his identity secret, while as a spinner of yarns, humorous, fantastic, or mysterious, he became ever-more popular, especially via his regular radio broadcasts.The Cabmen's Shelter is the humorous tale of a doomed amateur dramatics performance that aims to raise money for a cabmen's shelter at the local station. Everything that could possibly go wrong manages to go even wronger...and yet the performance is a wonderful success.

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  Four Stories

  Matthew Wayne Selznick

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  The first short story collection from Matthew Wayne Selznick focuses on revelations of clarity and epiphanies of character in the face of emotional challenges. 
   
  	Also included are brief essays exploring the formative experiences and memories that inspired each short story, making this collection Matthew Wayne Selznick's most personal creative work to date. 
   The Stories: 
   
  	The collection opens with “You Got Me,” wherein the way two people each deal with one particularly rough day might have a lot to do with how they spend their days to come. 
   
  	Next, a musician struggles with expectations and understanding when he travels far from home with his new band for “Gig Number Two.” 
   
  	In the third story, he says it’s “Not My Fault,” but his girlfriend is convinced his distractions will drive them apart. Then comes the most unexpected distraction of all... 
   
  	The final story, “The Days of Wine and Roses by The Dream Syndicate,” provides a mental soundtrack for a reluctant walk through memory and pain on the way to save a troubled damsel in distress one last time. 
   
  	Each of the "Four Stories" explore universal themes of responsibility, relationships, honesty, and how we define character.

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  Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald...

  T. M. Bilderback

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  David Rudolph and Jacky Baker are a couple of the best commercial fishermen around the Oregon coast. The two men get lucky and sign aboard the two-hundred-twenty-foot fishing vessel, the Edmund Fitzgerald II. 
  Sailing with a crew of ten, the ship sails through radioactive waters in the Pacific that had been carried by currents from the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan. Using the latest and most sensitive Geiger counters available for underwater use, the captain of the Fitzgerald II is determined that his catch will be safe for human consumption. 
  After a day full of good catches, however, the good ship and crew encounter something they didn't expect. 
  Something in the water. 
  Something big. 
  Inspired by the hit song by Gordon Lightfoot, this short story by T. M. Bilderback is full of thrilling sci-fi excitement!

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