Other books that might interest you

• 

  Beyond The Wall

  Ambrose Bierce

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  "Beyond the Wall" is a ghost story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. 

  Show book

• 

  The Temptation of Haringay

  H. G. Wells

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Herbert George Wells (1866 – 1946) was a prolific English writer who is best remembered for his science fiction novels."The Temptation of Haringay" is the strange tale of an unsuccessful artist who is unexpectedly approached with an offer by the devil - his soul in return for the thing he most yearns for...

  Show book

• 

  Shades A Phantasy - Ukranian...

  Vladimir Korolenko

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko was born in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire on 27th July 1853. 
   
  His father died when he was 13 and life was then often struck with bouts of poverty, which resulted in his education being somewhat erratic.   A spell in exile at 23 was followed by another as the politics of the times opposed his volatile but heart-felt passions. 
   
  Writing was also coming to the fore and in 1879 his debut short story telling of a young Narodnik searching for social and spiritual identity, was published. 
   
  In 1881, Korolenko refused to swear allegiance to the new Russian Tsar and was again exiled, this time much farther afield.  He spent the next three years doing manual work, but took time to study local customs and history.  These impressions in exile provided rich material for his writings. 
   
  In 1885 he was allowed to settle in Nizhny, where again he repeatedly questioned the authorities.  That same year ‘Makar's Dream’ established his literary reputation and was part of his first collection ‘Sketches and Stories’, the following year. 
   
  In the early 1890’s when famine struck Central Russia, he went to work on relief missions, collecting donations, supervising the delivery and distribution of food, opening 45 free canteens, all this while writing the graphic reports that would later be published as ‘In the Year of Famine’ in 1893. 
   
  By 1896 despite some psychological disorders, he was well regarded amongst Russian writers and was even a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Throughout his writing career Korolenko was a staunch advocate of human rights, putting that sacred activity above what he called his 'part-time-writing'. 
   
  In the Revolutionary year of 1905, under his editorship, Russkoye Bogatstvo published the Manifest by the Petersburg Soviet of the Workers' deputies. Korolenko was now repeatedly harassed by the authorities, had his flat raided many times and materials confiscated. 
   
  As a lifetime opponent of Tsarism, he guardedly welcomed the Revolution of 1917.  Once the nature of Bolshevism was established, he soon started to criticize it. During the Russian Civil War that ensued, he condemned both the Red Terror and the White Terror.  
   
  Despite suffering from a progressive heart disorder, he collected food packages for children in famine-stricken Moscow and Petrograd as well as organised orphanages and shelters for the homeless.  
   
  Vladimir Korolenko died in Poltava, Ukraine, of the complications of pneumonia on 25th December 1921.  He was 68. 
   
  In this story Korolenko invokes the characters of Socrates and Elpidias who, after their deaths, involve themselves in a debate on God.  This is a tour-de-force of conception and execution.

  Show book

• 

  J Alan A - A Short Story...

  A J lan

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Leslie Harrison Lambert was born on 11th November 1883 in Nottingham. 
   
  After attending Rugby School he trained to be a surveyor. One of his passions was magic and such was his prowess that he joined The Magic Circle, and performed at society events. 
   
  By the beginning of World War I he was an amateur radio ham and volunteered to work at a coastguard station in Norfolk to intercept German radio transmissions. By November 1914 he was with the Admiralty at Naval Intelligence Room 40.  By 1919 this had become part of the new Government Code and Cypher School.  He was still there as World War II erupted across Europe and with many of his colleagues he transferred to Bletchley Park.  There, in Hut 8, he was quoted as saying that "in contrast to his outrageously unconventional stories" that he led his life on "a monotonously regular timetable". Life outside the Intelligence services was very different.  He married but the couple had no children.  They lived at Holland Park with a second home at Potter Heigham for sailing on the Norfolk Broads.  Other interests were as an amateur radio operator, using the call sign G2ST, and an authority on food and wine. 
   
  He contacted the BBC to suggest he might tell one of his own short stories on the radio.  Thus was born A J Alan, and his broadcast of ‘My Adventure in Jermyn Street’, on New Year’s Eve, 1924.  It was an immediate success and although he only broadcast a handful of times a year he was one of the most popular radio personalities of the time.  He spent weeks working on each short story, honing his conversational style, making his stories seem like anecdotes that had peculiarly happened to him.  
   
  A live broadcast was, in fact, a performance.  He used cards to avoid any rustling noises and kept a candle lit in case the lights failed.  His attire was a dinner jacket with eye glass, and a slim black briefcase.  
   
  Many of his stories were subsequently printed in newspapers and magazines. 
   
  By 1937 his health had deteriorated, and he reduced his radio work making his last broadcast on 21st March 1940.  
   
  A J Alan died on 13th December 1941. 
   
  01 - A J Alan - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  02 - My Adventure In Jermyn Street by A J Alan 
  03 - The Hair by A J Alan 
  04 - My Adventure in Norfolk by A J Alan 
  05 - The Diver by A J Alan 
  06 - The 19 Club by A J Alan

  Show book

• 

  The South Westerlies

  Janey Fraser

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The South Westerlies is an attempt to know place (Gower) through the creation of a collection of short stories. Place is not a cosmetic backdrop, but an affecting agent in the lives of a wide cast of fictional characters. The collection is unified by the tone of the prevalent dank south-westerly wind that blows across the peninsula, the UK's first designated area of outstanding natural beauty. However, the author chooses to let her gaze fall on the downsides of a much vaunted tourism destination and a place that is too beautiful, perhaps, for its own good.

  Show book

• 

  Old Hampshire Vignettes

  Mary Elizabeth Hawker

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Lanoe Falconer is the pseudonym of the English writer, Marie Elizabeth Hawker (1848 - 1908). Her works, though few, were well received. She lived most of her life in the Hampshire Valley, the source of these verbal sketches. Never married, her health was precarious, preventing her from writing more, though she wished to. She died of tuberculosis, as did her brother. (Summary by David Wales)

  Show book