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  Safety First

  Isaac Thorne

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  Two scientific explorers from Earth who are researching a desolate moon elsewhere in the solar system are surprised to discover a strange regular storm of microbes hovering in the atmosphere. But when the forbidden love affair of one of those explorers, Matt, is discovered by his research partner Grant, alien weather is the last thing he'll have to worry about. 
  Locked in combat on a hostile world with only themselves for protection, all protocols are off in Safety First. 
  Safety First is a short tale of dark science fiction horror by Isaac Thorne. It is part of Thorne's 2017 short story collection titled Road Kills. This 2021 audiobook production of Safety First is a standalone single narrated by the author.

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  Rinkitink in Oz

  L. Frank Baum

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  "Rinkitink in Oz: Wherein is Recorded the Perilous Quest of Prince Inga of Pingaree and King Rinkitink in the Magical Isles that Lie Beyond the Borderland of Oz." is the tenth book in the Land of Oz series written by L. Frank Baum. Published on June 20, 1916, with full-color and black-and-white illustrations by artist John R. Neill, it is significant that no one from Oz appears in the book until its climax; this is due to Baum's having originally written most of the book as an original fantasy novel over ten years earlier, in 1905. Most of the action takes place on three islands – Pingaree, Regos, and Coregos – and within the Nome King's caverns. Since the original ruler of the nomes, Roquat – who later renamed himself Ruggedo, was deposed in 1914's "Tik-Tok of Oz", Baum had to cleverly rework the tale to accommodate his successor, the well-intentioned – but politically motivated – Kaliko.

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  A Madman's Diary

  Lu Xun

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  “A Madman’s Diary” is a short story by Lu Xun first published in 1918. Written in vernacular Chinese, it is considered “China’s first modern short story” and the most influential modern work in the republican era. Lu was inspired by “Diary of a Madman" by Nicolai Gogol, both in the use of the diary form and in the idea that the madman sees things more clearly than others. The story comes about when the narrator decides to visit two friends with whom he has lost touch when he learns that one of them has fallen ill. When he arrives, he is met by the brother, who informs him that his brother is no longer ill and hands him a copy of his brother’s diary. It is immediately apparent that the diarist is indeed mad. He believes he is surrounded by cannibals and that everyone has cannibalistic designs on him. His paranoia grows and he begins to see threats everywhere. He even sees  the words “Eat People” between the lines of classic Confucian texts. He eventually suspects that his late sister had been eaten by his brother, and that he himself may have unknowingly done so. He ardently hopes that everyone will have a change of heart and change their ways. The story ends with a plea to “save the children”.The story is not readily comprehensible, and it took several years for it to be recognized as important. Gradually the madman is seen as a revolutionary contemptuous of Chinese tradition and its feudal society that “eats people”, people who themselves are corrupted by traditions they cannot escape.

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  The Invisible Eye - Classic...

  Erkmann-Chatrian

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  In a certain chamber on the second story of a wayside inn, and in this chamber, men hang themselves. Nobody knows for certain, but it is whispered that the malignant old hag who lives across the way casts spells on the inhabitants of the benighted room.

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  Japanese Baseball - And Other...

  W.P. Kinsella

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  Short stories filled with empathy, laughter, and a love of the game, from the award-winning author of Shoeless Joe.   W.P. Kinsella weaves his characters into the thrill of the game, be it in Japan, Central America, Canada, or the United States, with a variety of comic, tragic, and mystical results. This collection captures the dazzling wit, compelling insight, and obsession with baseball that have made Kinsella more popular than a ballpark frank.   “There is a new depth and gentleness to Kinsella’s storytelling here, a more subtle nuance than his readers may be accustomed to. In ‘The Kowloon Club,’ the baseball club is persuaded to hire a Feng Shui master to determine the site for their new park…‘The First and Last Annual Six Towns Old-Timers’ Game’ is vintage Kinsella…The final extra-base hit is a deeply felt, introspective look at the half-lived life of an umpire and the reasons he continues to be a part of the game, even when his marriage is going foul.”—Quill & Quire

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  The Mystery of Edwin Drood

  Charles Dickens

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  Edwin Drood is contracted to marry orphan Rosa Bud when he comes of age, but when they find that duty has gradually replaced affection, they agree to break off the engagement. Shortly afterwards, in the middle of a storm on Christmas Eve, Edwin disappears, leaving nothing behind but some personal belongings and the suspicion that his jealous uncle John Jasper, madly in love with Rosa, is the killer. And beyond this presumed crime there are further intrigues: the dark opium dens of the sleepy cathedral town of Cloisterham, and the sinister double life of Choirmaster Jasper, whose drug-fuelled fantasy life belies his respectable appearance. Dickens died before completing The Mystery of Edwin Drood, leaving its tantalising mystery unsolved and encouraging successive generations of readers to turn detective.

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