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  A Midsummer Night's Dream: A...

  Michael Pennington

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  An intensely practical account of how A Midsummer Night's Dream actually works on stage.
  A scene-by-scene guide to Shakespeare's best loved comedy, from the well-know actor Michael Pennington, drawing on his own experience of directing A Midsummer Night's Dream at the famous Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London, in 2003 - described by London critics as 'a captivating Shakespearian experience' (Guardian) and 'riotously funny and genuinely touching' (Telegraph).
  Praise for Michael Pennington's User's Guides:
  'An insider's guide par excellence' Simon Callow
  'He is sharply intelligent, scrupulously careful, hugely knowledgeable and, above all, wonderfully readable' Peter Holland, The Shakespeare Institute
  'It is his range of knowledge - along with a gift for writing clearly and memorably - that makes him such a fine guide' TLS

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  Bains Turcs

  Katherine Mansfield

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  Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction and a close associate of D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf.  
  'Bains Turcs' is one of Mansfield's classic travel anecdotes. She is visiting a Turkish bath in France and describes the eccentric behaviour of the various other women there.

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  Female Short Story The - A...

  Kate Chopin, Mary E. Mann, Olive...

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  A wise man once said ‘The safest place for a child is in the arms of his mother’s voice’.  This is a perfect place to start our anthology of female short stories. 
   
  Some of our earliest memories are of our mothers telling us bedtime stories. This is not to demote the value of fathers but more to promote the often-overshadowed talents of the gentler sex. 
   
  Perhaps ‘gentler’ is a word that we should re-evaluate. In the course of literary history it is men who dominated by opportunity and with their stranglehold on the resources, both financial and technological, who brought their words to a wider audience.  Men often placed women on a pedestal from where their talented words would not threaten their own.   
   
  In these stories we begin with the original disrupter and renegade author Aphra Behn.  A peek at her c.v. shows an astounding capacity and leaves us wondering at just how she did all that. 
   
  In those less modern days to be a woman, even ennobled, was to be seen as second class.  You literally were chattel and had almost no rights in marriage.  As Charlotte Smith famously said your role as wife was little more than ‘legal prostitute’.  From such a despicable place these authors have used their talents and ideas and helped redress that situation.   
   
  Slowly at first.  Privately printed, often anonymously or under the cloak of a male pseudonym their words spread.  Their stories admired and, usually, their role still obscured from rightful acknowledgement. 
   
  Aided by more advanced technology, the 1700’s began to see a steady stream of female writers until by the 1900’s mass market publishing saw short stories by female authors from all the strata of society being avidly read by everyone.  Their names are a rollcall of talent and ‘can do’ spirit and society is richer for their works.   
   
  In literature at least women are now acknowledged as equals, true behind the scenes little has changed but if (and to mis-quote Jane Austen) there is one universal truth, it is that ideas change society.  These women’s most certainly did and will continue to do so as they easily write across genres, from horror and ghost stories to tender tales of love and making your way in society’s often grueling rut.  They will not be silenced, their ideas and passion move emotions, thoughts and perhaps more importantly our ingrained view of what every individual human being is capable of.    
   
  It is because of their desire to speak out, their desire to add their talents to the bias around them that we perhaps live in more enlightened, almost equal, times.   
   
  Within these stories you will also find very occasional examples of historical prejudice.  A few words here and there which in today’s world some may find inappropriate or even offensive.  It is not our intention to make anyone uncomfortable but to show that the world in order to change must reconcile itself to the actual truth rather than put it out of sight.  Context is everything, both to understand and to illuminate the path forward.  The author’s words are set, our reaction to them encourages our change. 
   
  01 - The Female Short Story. A Chronological History - An Introduction - Volume 4 
  02 - The Blue Laboratory by L T Meade 
  03 - Since I Died by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps 
  04 - Many Waters Cannot Quench Love by Louisa Baldwin 
  05 - In the Mist by Mary E Penn 
  06 - An Unexpected Fare by Mary Tuttiett writing as Maxwell Gray 
  07 - Extradited by Isabella Valancy Crawford 
  08 - The Little Room by Madeline Yale Wynne 
  09 - Dog or Demon by Dorothy Havers 
  10 - A Rainy Day by Mary Elizabeth Hawker writing as Lanoe Faulkenery 
  11 - Clomayne's Clerk by Mary E Mann 
  12 - Christmas Eve at a Cornish Manor House by Clara Venn 
  13 - A White Heron by Sarah

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  Adventure of the Dying Detective...

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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  "The Adventure of the Dying Detective", in some editions simply titled "The Dying Detective" (first published 1913), is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Together with seven other stories, it is collected as His Last Bow (published 1917). Dr. Watson is called to tend Holmes, who is apparently dying of a rare tropical disease, Tapanuli fever, contracted while he was on a case. Watson is shocked, not having heard about his friend's illness. Mrs. Hudson says that Holmes has neither eaten nor drunk anything in three days.

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  Astounding Stories 12 -...

  Various Collection of Short Stories

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  Listen to Astounding Stories 12 with a movie-style soundtrack and amplify your audiobook experience. 
  This issue includes "Slaves of the Dust" by Sophie Wenzel Ellis, Part B of "The Pirate Planet" by Charles W. Diffin, "The Sea Terror" by Captain S. P. Meek, "Gray Denim" by Harl Vincent, and "The Ape-Men of Xlotli" by David R. Sparks.

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  Swiss Family Robinson

  Johann David Wyss

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  First published in 1812, The Swiss Family Robinson may sometimes seem old-fashioned to modern readers, especially the family’s attitude toward wildlife (if it moves, shoot it). However, it’s a truly exciting adventure and a timeless story of warm and loving family life. As the narrator says: “It was written... for the instruction and amusement of my children. Children are, on the whole, very much alike everywhere, and you four lads fairly represent multitudes... It will make me happy to think that my simple narrative may lead some of these to observe how blessed are the results of patient continuance in well-doing, what benefits arise from the thoughtful application of knowledge and science, and how good and pleasant a thing it is when brethren dwell together in unity, under the eye of parental love.” Written by Swiss pastor Johann David Wyss and edited by his son Johann Rudolf Wyss (this edition lists J.R. as the author), the novel was intended to teach his four sons about family values, good husbandry, the uses of the natural world, and self-reliance. It’s fun to think of the long-ago author reading his own books of natural history and creating this novel to share his interests with his boys. 
   
  Wyss was a Swiss author, best remembered for The Swiss Family Robinson. He was born and died in Bern. It is said that he was inspired by Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, but wanted to write a story from which his own children would learn, as the father in the story taught important lessons to his children. The Swiss Family Robinson was first published in German in 1812, then translated into English two years later. It has since become one of the most popular books of all time.

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