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  The Unpleasantness at the...

  Dorothy L. Sayers

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  Step into the world of classic detective fiction with Dorothy L. Sayers' The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. This compelling mystery invites readers to join the brilliant and charming detective Lord Peter Wimsey as he unravels a perplexing case set within the exclusive Bellona Club.When a member of the club is found dead under suspicious circumstances, Lord Peter delves into a tangled web of secrets, inheritance disputes, and hidden motives. With her trademark wit and meticulous plotting, Sayers crafts a story filled with intrigue, sharp characterizations, and a vivid portrayal of London's high society.Perfect for fans of traditional whodunits and intelligent storytelling, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club offers an enthralling journey into the world of mystery, loyalty, and justice. A must-read for admirers of Dorothy L. Sayers and the iconic Lord Peter Wimsey.

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  Philip K Dick: 5 Science Fiction...

  Philip K. Dick

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  Philip K. Dick is well known for his innovative approach to life and the problems and challenges of the future.   These five stories were picked to show the breath and scope of his mind.  They are: 
  1 - The Skull 
  2 - Beyond the Door 
  3 - The Eyes Have It 
  4 - The Hanging Stranger 
  5 - Beyond Lies the Wub

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  The Snowstorm - Author of War &...

  Leo Tolstoy

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  Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 in the Russian province of Tula to a wealthy noble family. As a child, he had private tutors but he showed little interest in any formal education. When he went to the University of Kazan in 1843 to study oriental languages and law, he left without completing his courses.  Life now was relaxed and idle but with some writing also taking place.  Gambling debts forced an abrupt change of path and he joined the army to fight in the Crimean War.  He was commended for his bravery and promoted but was appalled at the brutality and loss of life.  He recorded these and other earlier experiences in his diaries which formed the basis of several of his works. 
   
  In 1852 ‘Childhood’ was published to immediate success and was followed by ‘Boyhood’ and ‘Youth’. 
   
  His experience in the army and the horrors he witnessed resulted in ‘The Cossacks’ in 1862 and the trilogy ‘Sevastopol Tales’. After the war he travelled around Europe, visiting London and Paris and meeting such luminaries as Victor Hugo and Charles Darwin.  
   
  It was now that Tolstoy began his masterpiece, ‘War and Peace’. Published in 1869 it was an epic work that changed literature. He quickly followed this with ‘Anna Karenina’.  
   
  These successes made Tolstoy rich and helped him accomplish many of his dreams but also brought problems as he grappled with his faith and the lot of the oppressed poor. These revolutionary views became so popular that the authorities now kept him under surveillance.  
   
  He led a life of asceticism and vegetarianism and put his socialist ideals into practice by establishing numerous schools for the poor and food programmes. He also believed in giving away his wealth, which caused much discord with his wife.  
   
  His writing continued to bring forth classics such as ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ and many brilliant and incisive short stories such as ‘How Much Land Does A Man Need’.  
   
  In 1901 Tolstoy was excommunicated from the Church and controversially deselected for the Nobel Prize for Literature. 
   
  Whilst undertaking a pilgrimage by train in October 1910 with his daughter Aleksandra he caught pneumonia in the nearby town of Astapovo.  Leo Tolstoy died on November 9th, 1910, he was 82. 
   
  In this much acclaimed short story Tolstoy’s characters are engulfed by a huge snowstorm which descends upon them and puts the successful conclusion of their journey into perilous doubt.

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  Bibliomysteries Volume 4

  Michael Koryta, Christopher...

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  A must-listen collection of four bibliomysteries by bestselling and award-winning authors 
   
   
   
  Bibliomysteries Volume 4 includes: 
   
   
   
  ● "Reconciliation Day" by Christopher Fowler 
   
   
   
  ● "Hoodoo Harry" by Joe R. Lansdale 
   
   
   
  ● "The Traitor" by Martin Edwards 
   
   
   
  ● "The Last Honest Horse Thief" by Michael Koryta

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  Dubliners

  James Joyce

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  "Dubliners" is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce, chronicling the lives of various characters in Dublin, Ireland, at the turn of the 20th century. Each story offers a snapshot of life, capturing moments of realization, epiphany, and the struggles of everyday Dubliners. Themes of paralysis, the search for meaning, the constraints of society, and the tensions between the desire for escape and the pull of home are recurrent. The stories culminate with "The Dead," considered one of the greatest short stories in the English language.

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  A Very Short Romance - From...

  Vsevolod Garshin

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  Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin was born on 14th February 1855 in what is now Dnipro in the Ukraine, but then part of the Russian Empire. 
  After attending secondary school he studied at the Saint Petersburg Mining Institute.  
  Wars between and on behalf of Empires were a regular feature of the decades then.  Garshin volunteered to serve in the Russian army at the beginning of the Russo-Turkish War in 1877.  
  He began as a private in the Balkans campaign and was wounded in action.  By the end of the war, in 1878, he had been promoted to officer rank.  
  By now Garshin, having previously published some articles and reviews in newspapers, wished to devote himself to a literary career.  The decision made he resigned his army commission. 
  His time as a soldier provided rich experiences for his early stories. His first ‘Four Days’ was related as the interior monologue of a wounded soldier left for dead on the battlefield for four days, face to face with the corpse of a Turkish soldier he had killed, gained him early admiration as an author of note.  
  He wrote perhaps only 20 stories, but their influence was immense, although in these more modern times he is barely remembered and lives in the more prolific shadows of others.  His characters are superbly worked into stories that come alive in the intensity and reality of his prose.   
  Garshin’s most well-known story is ‘The Red Flower’, also known as ‘Scarlet Blossom’ and is easily amongst the first rank of stories dealing with mental health issues.  
  Despite early literary success, he himself experienced periodical bouts of mental illness.   
  In one such bout Garshin attempted to commit suicide by throwing himself down the stone stairs leading into his apartment building.  Although not immediately fatal, Vsevolod Garshin died as a result of his injuries in a St Petersburg hospital on 5th April 1888.  He was 33.

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