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  A Successful Rehearsal - From...

  Anthony Hope

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  Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins was born on 9th February 1863 in Clapton, London.  
  He was educated at St John's School, Leatherhead, Marlborough College and Balliol College, Oxford.  Hope trained as a lawyer and barrister and was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1887. Despite what was thought to be a promising legal career he had literary ambitions and wrote in his spare time. 
  His early works appeared in various periodicals of the day but for his first book ‘A Man of Mark’ (1890), with no publisher interested, he published with his own resources.  
  More novels and short stories followed, including the mildly successful ‘Mr Witt's Widow’ in 1892. Hope even found time to run as the Liberal candidate for Wycombe in the election that same year but was unsuccessful. 
  His first major literary success came with ‘The Dolly Dialogues’, a collection of previously published magazine pieces followed very quickly by his instant classic, ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’. He now gave up the vestiges of his legal career to pursue writing full-time. 
  Despite never again reaching the same pinnacle of success he was popular and wrote prolifically across novels, plays and of course, short stories though his writing output rapidly diminished after the war. 
  In 1918 he was knighted for his contribution to propaganda efforts during World War I.  
  His short stories are delicate, mannered and often surprising with their wit, humour and interplay of characters who say one thing and usually mean another.  He was very definitely a writer of escapist rather than serious fare but they are no less enjoyable for that. 
  Anthony Hope died of throat cancer on 8th July 1933 at his country home, Heath Farm at Walton-on-the-Hill in Surrey. He was 70.

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  Æpyornis Island - From their...

  H G Wells

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  Herbert George Wells was born on September 21st, 1866 at Atlas House, 46 High Street, Bromley, Kent. He was the youngest of four siblings and his family affectionately knew him as ‘Bertie’.  
  The first few years of his childhood were spent fairly quietly, and Wells didn’t display much literary interest until, in 1874, he accidentally broke his leg and was left to recover in bed, largely entertained by the library books his father regularly brought him. Through these Wells found he could escape the boredom and misery of his bed and convalescence by exploring the new worlds he encountered in these books.  
  From these humble beginnings began a career that was, after several delays, to be seen as one of the most brilliant of modern English writers.    
  Able to write comfortably in a number of genres he was especially applauded for his science fiction works such as The Time Machine and War of the Worlds but his forays into the social conditions of the times, with classics such as Kipps, were almost as commercially successful.  His short stories are miniature masterpieces many of which bring new and incredible ideas of science fiction to the edge of present day science fact.  Wells also received four nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature 
  Despite a strong and lasting second marriage his affairs with other women also brought the complications of fathering other children.  His writings and work against fascism, as well as the promotion of socialism, brought him into increasing doubts with and opposition to religion.  His writings on what the world could be in works, such as A Modern Utopia, are thought provoking as well as being plausible, especially when viewed from the distressing times they were written in. 
  His diabetic condition pushed him to create what is now the largest Diabetes charity in the United Kingdom.  Wells even found the time to run twice for Parliament. 
  It was a long, distinguished and powerfully successful career by the time he died, aged 79, on August 13th, 1946.

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  The Antichrist

  Friedrich Nietzsche

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  Friedrich Nietzsche's "The Antichrist" is a philosophical work that presents his critical analysis of Christianity and its impact on Western culture. Written in 1888, towards the end of Nietzsche's productive life, "The Antichrist" reflects his deep-seated criticisms of traditional Christian values and morality. In the text, Nietzsche vehemently opposes what he sees as the life-denying aspects of Christianity. He argues that the Christian emphasis on otherworldly concerns, asceticism, and moral values such as humility and self-sacrifice are detrimental to the flourishing of human life. Nietzsche contends that Christianity has fostered a culture of weakness, passivity, and resentment, suppressing the natural instincts and drives that lead to individual strength and vitality. 
   
  "The Antichrist" also delves into Nietzsche's critique of the figure of Jesus Christ, whom he views as a symbol of weakness and a distortion of true strength. Nietzsche contends that the Christian notion of God represents a negation of life, promoting an idealized realm beyond this world at the expense of embracing earthly existence. Nietzsche's writing style in "The Antichrist" is often controversial and provocative, reflecting his desire to challenge established beliefs and provoke critical thinking. The work serves as a forceful critique of organized religion, morality, and the cultural influence of Christianity in Western societies. 
   
  It's essential to approach Nietzsche's "The Antichrist" within the broader context of his philosophical works, as it contributes to his overarching critique of morality, metaphysics, and the prevailing cultural values of his time. While the title may suggest a direct opposition to Christian beliefs, Nietzsche intends to provoke thought and encourage a reevaluation of existing values rather than presenting a straightforward condemnation.

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  A Cullenden of Virginia - From...

  Thomas Wolf

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  Thomas Clayton Wolfe was born at the family home, 92 Woodfin Street, in Asheville, North Carolina on October 3rd, 1900.  
  Aged 15, Wolfe began his studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) where he enrolled in a playwriting course. Wolfe graduated in 1920 and enrolled at the Graduate School for Arts and Sciences at Harvard. Here he studied playwriting under the tutelage of George Pierce Baker. In 1922 he received his master's degree from Harvard.  
  Wolfe now began the transition from studying to commercial playwright. He went to New York in November, 1923 trying to sell his plays to Broadway.  The Theatre Guild came close to producing Welcome to Our City but in the end declined.  Wolfe now believed his style of writing was more suited to fiction.  Grasping the opportunity this afforded him he sailed to England in October 1924 to write and from there on to France, Italy and Switzerland. 
  In 1926 Wolfe began writing a novel, O Lost. This would eventually become Look Homeward, Angel. It was based on his years in Asheville. The original manuscript of O Lost was over 1100 pages. Maxwell Perkins, one of the great book editors of the age, worked at his publishers, Scribner’s and he began to focus the book, cutting and re-shaping it to center it on the character of Eugene.   
  The novel was published in 1929. It was a success.   
  Wolfe now committed the next 4 years to writing a multi-volume epic entitled The October Fair.  At Scribner’s Perkins once more decided to edit it down to a single volume; Of Time and the River.  It was even more successful than his first. It was hailed as the literary event of 1935 and cemented his reputation as one of America’s foremost novelists.  
  In 1938, after submitting his new opus, which ran to an incredible one million words, to his new editor, Edward Aswell, Wolfe left to tour the West, a part of the country he had never before visited. Whilst travelling Wolfe became ill with pneumonia and spent three weeks in a Seattle hospital. Complications arose. The prognosis was serious.  He was diagnosed with miliary tuberculosis of the brain. 
  On September 6th, he was sent to Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital for treatment. The ensuing operation revealed that the disease had overrun the entire right side of his brain.  
  Thomas Clayton Wolfe never regained consciousness and died shortly before his 38th birthday on September 15th, 1938.

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  Mary Butts - Six of the Best -...

  Mary Butts

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  Six has always been a number we group things around – Six of the best, six of one half a dozen of another, six feet under, six pack, six degrees of separation and a sixth sense are but a few of the ways we use this number. 
   
  Such is its popularity that we thought it is also a very good way of challenging and investigating an author’s work to give width, brevity, humour and depth across six of their very best. 
   
  In this series we gather together authors whose short stories both rivet the attention and inspire the imagination to visit their gems in a series of six, to roam across an author’s legacy in a few short hours and gain a greater understanding of their writing and, of course, to be lavishly entertained by their ideas, their narrative and their way with words. 
   
  These stories can be surprising and sometimes at a tangent to what we expected, but each is fully formed and a marvellous adventure into the world and words of a literary master. 
   
  1 - Six of the Best - Mary Butts - An Introduction 
  2 - Mary Butts - An Introduction 
  3 - With & Without Buttons by Mary Butts 
  4 - The Dinner Party by Mary Butts 
  5 - Angele Au Couvent by Mary Butts 
  6 - Brightness Falls by Mary Butts 
  7 - After the Funeral by Mary Butts 
  8 - In Bayswater - Part 1 by Mary Butts 
  9 - In Bayswater - Part 2 by Mary Butts

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  The Little Prince

  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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  Audiobook The Little Prince is a novella written and illustrated by French writer and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 and was published posthumously in France following liberation; Saint-Exupéry's works had been banned by the Vichy Regime. The story follows a young prince who visits various planets, including Earth, and addresses themes of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss. Despite its style as a children's book, The Little Prince makes observations about life, adults, and human nature. 
  The Little Prince became Saint-Exupéry's most successful work, selling an estimated 140 million copies worldwide, which makes it one of the best-selling in history. The book has been translated into over 505 different languages and dialects worldwide, being the second most translated work ever published, trailing only the Bible.The Little Prince has been adapted to numerous art forms and media, including audio recordings, radio plays, live stage, film, cinema television, ballet, and opera.

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