Other books that might interest you

• 

  The Purloined Letter

  Edgar Allan Poe

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Edgar Poe was born in Boston Massachusetts on 19th January 1809. His father abandoned his family the following year and within a year his mother had died leaving him an orphan.   
   
  He was taken in by the Allan family but never formally adopted although he now referred to himself as Edgar Allan Poe.  His father alternatively spoiled or chastised him and tension was frequent over gambling debts and monies for his education.  His university years to study ancient and modern languages was cut short by lack of money and he enlisted as a private in the army claiming he was 22, it is more probable he was 18. After 2 years he obtained a discharge in order to take up an appointment at the military academy, West Point, where he failed to become an officer. 
   
  Poe had released his 1st poetry volume in 1827 and after his 3rd turned to prose and placing short stories in several magazines and journals.  At age 26 he obtained a licence to marry his cousin.  She was a mere 13 but they stayed together until her death from tuberculosis 11 years after. 
   
  In January 1845 ‘The Raven’ was published and became an instant classic.  Thereafter followed the prose works for which he is now so rightly famed as a master of the mysterious and the macabre. 
   
  Edgar Allan Poe died at the tragically early age of 40 on 7th October 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland. Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as ‘congestion of the brain’ or ‘cerebral inflammation’, common euphemisms for death from disreputable causes such as alcoholism but the actual cause of death remains a mystery. 
   
  Poe is also one of a number of authors credited with inventing the detective genre with his Parisian sleuth C. Auguste Dupin.  He featured in three stories including the legendary ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’ and by sheer deduction, logic and a touch of Gallic arrogance revealed what was hidden to the rest of us.

  Show book

• 

  Alonzo Fitz and Other Stories

  Mark Twain

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A collection of Twain short stories including:The Loves Of Alonzo FitzClarence And Rosannah EtheltonOn The Decay Of The Art Of LyingAbout Magnanimous-Incident LiteratureThe Grateful PoodleThe Benevolent AuthorThe Grateful HusbandPunch, Brothers, PunchThe Great Revolution In PitcairnThe Canvasser's TaleAn Encounter With An InterviewerParis NotesLegend Of Sagenfeld, In GermanySpeech On The BabiesSpeech On The WeatherConcerning The American LanguageRogers(Summary from Project Gutenberg)

  Show book

• 

  Murder in America - A Coast to...

  John Breen, Mary Higgins Clark,...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  An entertaining collection by seven renowned American mystery writers—             including Mary Higgins Clark and Whitley Strieber—              this anthology offers a delightful mix of mystery, suspense, and murder. The stories include•              “             Starstruck”              by Jon L. Breen, read by James Stacy: A group of aging actors is fatally haunted by the consequences of the McCarthy-era blacklist.•              “             Gee Whiz, My Lovely”              by Betty Buchanan, read by Joan Rivers: A bouncy private investigator is invited by a “             gorgeous nut”              to find an elusive figure named Harvey.•              “             Lucky Day”              by Mary Higgins Clark, read by Betsy Palmer: A young bride suspects her husband is somehow involved in a strange disappearance.•              “             It Was Bad Enough”              by Ron Goulart, read by Arte Johnson:  A comedian trying to make his comeback learns his ex-wife's tell-all book is about to be filmed.•              “             Pirate'             s Moon”              by William F. Nolan, read by Perry King: A psychic working for the LAPD fails to foresee that a stone-age cannibal cult may be terrorizing the city.•              “             Vaudeville”              by Whitley Strieber, read by Roddy McDowall: An aging vaudeville comedienne dies—             but not laughing.•              “             Snookered”              by Gerald Tomlinson, read by David Birney: A story about a new breed of football coach and a team the sportswriters can't ignore.

  Show book

• 

  Dorothy and the Wizard in OZ

  L. Frank Baum

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  When Dorothy recovered her senses they were still falling, but not so fast. The top of the buggy caught the air like a parachute or an umbrella filled with wind, and held them back so that they floated downward with a gentle motion that was not so very disagreeable to bear. The worst thing was their terror of reaching the bottom of this great crack in the earth, and the natural fear that sudden death was about to overtake them at any moment

  Show book

• 

  The Best of Philip K Dick

  Philip K. Dick

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Thirteen short stories by the legendary author of The Man in the High Castle and other science fiction classics.   Philip K. Dick didn’t predict the future―he summoned the desperate bleakness of our present directly from his fevered paranoia. Dick didn’t predict the Internet or iPhones or email or 3D printers, but rather he so thoroughly understood human nature that he could already see, even at the advent of the transistor, the way technology would alienate us from each other and from ourselves. He could see us isolated and drifting in our own private realities even before we had plugged in our ear buds. He could see, even in the earliest days of space exploration, how much of our own existence remained unexplored, and how the great black spaces between people were growing even as our universe was shrinking.   Philip K. Dick spent his first three years as a science fiction author writing shorter fiction, and in his lifetime he composed almost 150 short stories, many of which have gone on to be adapted into (slightly watered down) Hollywood blockbusters. Collected here are thirteen of his most Dickian tales, funhouse realities with trap doors and hidden compartments.

  Show book

• 

  First Words - Earliest Writing...

  Paul Mandelbaum, Amiri Baraka,...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Many kids write stories, but only a few of them grow up to be successful authors. Before there was Carrie, there was “             Johnathan and the Witchs.”              And before there was Rabbit Angstrom, Toyota dealer, there was Manuel Cirarro, famous detective. Could we have seen the seeds of success in Stephen King's and John Updike's juvenilia? These young writers are the same people who dominated the best seller lists and occupy the most celebrated spots on bookshelves in our stores, libraries, and homes. Here is a funny and surprisingly informative gathering of childhood creations by celebrated writers—             authors who were amused by and happy to share their own early efforts.  •              Kevin McCarthy reads Allan Gurganus •              Judith Ivey reads Margaret Atwood •              Andre Braugher reads Amiri Baraka •              Alfre Woodward reads Gloria Naylor •              Elliott Gould reads Pat Conroy •              Susan Anspach reads Joyce Carol Oates •              Roger Rees reads Gore Vidal •              Daphne Zuniga reads Susan Minot •              Nana Visitor reads Ursula K. Le Guin •              Kevin McCarthy reads John Hersey •              Melissa Manchester reads Rita Dove •              Elliott Gould reads Stephen King •              Amy Tan reads Amy Tan •              David Ackroyd reads Norman Mailer •              Joel Grey reads Paul Bowles •              Maxine Hong Kingston reads Maxine Hong Kingston •              Arte Johnson reads Roy Blount Jr. •              Andre Braugher reads Charles Johnson •              Roger Rees reads William Styron •              Harvey Fierstein reads Stanley Elkin •              Samantha Eggar reads Madeleine L'             Engle •              David Ackroyd reads Louis Auchincloss •              Jeff Fahey reads Fred Chappell •              Harvey Fierstein reads Tobias Wolff •              Tim Matheson reads W.P. Kinsella •              Jean Smart reads Gail Godwin •              Jeff Fahey reads Stephen Dixon •              Andre Braugher reads Vance Bourjaily •              Elliott Gould reads John Updike  Kevin McCarthy reads Allan GurganusJudith Ivey reads Margaret AtwoodAndre Braugher reads Amiri BarakaAlfre Woodward reads Gloria NaylorElliott Gould reads Pat ConroySusan Anspach reads Joyce Carol OatesRoger Rees reads Gore VidalDaphne Zuniga reads Susan MinotNana Visitor reads Ursula K. Le GuinKevin McCarthy reads John HerseyMelissa Manchester reads Rita DoveElliott Gould reads Stephen KingAmy Tan reads Amy TanDavid Ackroyd reads Norman MailerJoel Grey reads Paul BowlesMaxine Hong Kingston reads Maxine Hong KingstonArte Johnson reads Roy Blount Jr.Andre Braugher reads Charles JohnsonRoger Rees reads William StyronHarvey Fierstein reads Stanley ElkinSamantha Eggar reads Madeleine L'             EngleDavid Ackroyd reads Louis AuchinclossJeff Fahey reads Fred ChappellHarvey Fierstein reads Tobias WolffTim Matheson reads W.P. KinsellaJean Smart reads Gail GodwinJeff Fahey reads Stephen DixonAndre Braugher reads Vance BourjailyElliott Gould reads John Updike

  Show book