Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  A Dead Woman's Secret - From...

  Guy de Maupassant

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  Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5th, 1850 near Dieppe in France.  
  Maupassant’s early life was badly torn when at age 11 (his younger brother Hervé was then five) his mother, Laure, a headstrong and independent-minded woman, risked social disgrace in order to obtain a legal separation from her husband. 
  After the separation, Laure kept custody of her two boys. With the father now forcibly absent, Laure became the most influential and important figure in the young boy's life.   
  Maupassant’s education was such that he rebelled against religion and other societal norms but a developing friendship with Gustave Flaubert began to turn his mind towards creativity and writing. 
  After graduation he volunteered for the Franco-Prussian war. With its end he moved to Paris to work as a clerk in the Navy Department.  Gustave Flaubert now took him under his wing.  Acting as a literary guardian to him, he guided the eager Maupassant to debuts in journalism and literature.  For Maupassant these were exciting times and the awakening of his creative talents and ambitions. 
  In 1880 he published what is considered his first great work, ‘Boule de Suif’, (translated as as ‘Dumpling’, ‘Butterball’, ‘Ball of Fat’, or ‘Ball of Lard’) which met with a success that was both instant and overwhelming.  Flaubert at once acknowledged that it was ‘a masterpiece that will endure.’ Maupassant had used his talents and experiences in the war to create something unique.  
  This decade from 1880 to 1891 was to be the most pivotal of his career.  With an audience now made available by the success of ‘Boule de Suif’ Maupassant organised himself to work methodically and relentlessly to produce between two and four volumes of work a year.  The melding of his talents and business sense and the continual hunger of sources for his works made him wealthy. 
  In his later years he developed a desire for solitude, an obsession for self-preservation, and a fear of death as well as a paranoia of persecution caused by the syphilis he had contracted in his youth.  
  On January 2nd, 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat.  Unsuccessful he was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris.  It was here on July 6th, 1893 that Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant died at the age of only 42.

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  The Goophered Grapevine

  Charles W. Chesnutt

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  The Goophered Grapevine is the first short story from The Conjure Woman, published in The Atlantic in August 1887, told to the narrator by Julius McAdoo, a former enslaved man who lives on the plantation that the narrator, John, and his wife, Annie, visit one day. Set in Patesville, North Carolina, John and Annie moved there for an improvement in his wife's health and to seek other business opportunities. Knowing that the couple wanted to purchase the property, McAdoo advises them not to do so, informing them that when Dugal McAdoo, the previous master, purchased the property, it was very rich in wine production because of its vineyards. To protect his grapes from being stolen, Master McAdoo consulted with a conjure woman, Aunt Peggy, who placed a curse on the vineyard and warned the slaves that whoever stole them, would die within a year. Henry, a new slave, did not know of the curse, and when he ate the grapes, he was cursed to age when the leaves of the vines withered and once the vines died, so did Henry. Suffering the loss of his slaves and his vineyard, Master McAdoo left the vineyard abandoned after the war to the current state in which the couple found it. McAdoo warns the couple against purchasing the property due to it still being cursed, but the narrator buys the vineyard regardless.

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  Maria Maria - And Other Stories

  Marytza K. Rubio

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  Set against the tropics and megacities of the Americas, Maria, Maria takes inspiration from wild creatures, tarot, and the porous borders between life and death. Motivated by love and its inverse, grief, the characters who inhabit these stories negotiate boldly with nature to cast their desired ends. As the college professor in "Brujería for Beginners" reminds us: "There's always a price for conjuring in darkness. You won't always know what it is until payment is due." This commitment drives the disturbingly faithful widow in "Tijuca," who promises to bury her husband's head in the rich dirt of the jungle, and the sisters in "Moksha," who are tempted by an obsidian dagger once held by a vampiric idol. 
   
   
   
  But magic isn't limited to the women who wield it. Animals are powerful magicians too. Subversive pigeons and hungry jaguars are called upon in "Tunnels," and a little girl runs with a resurrected saber-toothed tiger in "Burial." A colorful catalog of gallery exhibits from animals in therapy is featured in "Art Show,” including the Almost Philandering Fox and the Paranoid Peacocks. 
   
   
   
  Brimming with sharp wit and ferocious female intuition, these stories bubble over into the titular novella, "Maria, Maria"—a family drama set in a reimagined California rainforest that explores the legacies of three Marias, and possibly all Marias.

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  Halloween at the Baker Valley...

  Aleksa Baxter

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  It's Halloween at the Baker Valley Barkery and Cafe, which means it's time for a pet costume parade. And when Maggie leaves Sam and Jack in charge of finding contestants the results are definitely...interesting.Note that this is NOT a mystery but does include the characters from the Maggie May and Miss Fancypants Mysteries series and falls chronologically after book four in that series, A Missing Mom and Mutt Munchies. It can, however, also be read as a standalone short story.

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  The Rats in the Walls

  H. P. Lovecraft

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  Title: The Rats in the Walls 
  Author: H. P. Lovecraft 
  Narrator: Jonathan Dunne 
  Original Publication: 1924 
  Public Domain: Yes 
  Series Placement: Number 15 in the Timeless Terrors series 
  Description: 
  The Rats in the Walls by H. P. Lovecraft is a nightmarish descent into ancestral horror and madness. First published in 1924, this tale follows a man who restores his family’s ancestral estate — only to uncover a terrifying secret lurking beneath its crumbling walls. 
  As he explores the ruins, strange noises echo through the corridors: the relentless scurrying of unseen rats. What begins as superstition soon reveals itself as a chilling connection to unspeakable horrors from the past. Lovecraft weaves themes of inherited guilt, cosmic dread, and the fragility of sanity into one of his most unforgettable stories. 
  This recording, narrated by Amazon bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne, captures the eerie atmosphere and rising terror that defines Lovecraft’s vision. While the text is in the public domain, this performance is an original work and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne. 
  This audiobook is part of Timeless Terrors, a dedicated series bringing classic horror back to life — stories from the great masters of the macabre, narrated afresh to haunt a new generation. 
  Listeners should be prepared for creeping suspense, ancestral curses, and the inescapable pull of madness echoing through the dark.

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  Magic Vessels

  Sandhya Rao

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  "A few enchanted spirits
  help Muthu, a poor
  playwright. But what
  do the spirits want
  from him in return?"

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