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  His Wife's Deceased Sister -...

  Frank R. Stockton

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  Frank Richard Stockton was born in Philadelphia on 5th April 1834.  
  His father, a Methodist minister, discouraged Stockton’s literary career from an early age.  Feeling unable to go against those wishes it was for many years that Stockton’s income was maintained as a wood engraver.   
  His first work was published in 1867 and his first collection only appeared in 1870.  Despite this late arrival Stockton’s innovative and often far-fetched stories, with a gentle ‘poking fun’ humour were very popular.  Like his contemporary Mark Twain he avoided the scolding, hectoring and moral tones of many other authors and instead gently teased and cajoled his reader to open their eyes to the ills, the greed and the ambitions of the world around them.  His sci-fi stories in particular were far-seeing and inventive including a tale of negative gravity and a bloodless Anglo-US war won by technological feats.  
  Perhaps his most enduring tale though is ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’ from 1882.  A condemned man is given a choice of being eaten alive or marrying his princess lover.  But he has to choose which door each is behind. 
  Frank R Stockton died in Washington, DC, on 20th April 1902, of a cerebral haemorrhage.  He is buried at The Woodlands in Philadelphia.

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  Top 10 Short Stories The - The...

  Henry James, Mark Twain, Booth...

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  Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. 
   
  In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?  
   
  The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  A new century dawns, one in which America would become pre-eminent as its industrial might and military power rose above all others.  In literature too its authors tackled new forms and new ideas, they shied away from little, immersing themselves and their readers in the promise of a new Century.   
   
  1 - The Top 10 - The 1900's - The Americans - An Introduction 
  2 - The Great Good Place by Henry James 
  3 - Eve's Diary by Mark Twain 
  4 - To Build a Fire by Jack London 
  5 - Paul's Case by Willa Cather 
  6 - The Gift of the Magi by O Henry 
  7 - The Scapegoat by Paul Laurence Dunbar 
  8 - A Dark Brown Dog by Stephen Crane 
  9 - The Defense of Strikerville by Damon Runyon 
  10 - The Screaming Skull by F Marion Crawford 
  11 - Ariel's Triumph by Booth Tarkington

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  The Date

  Alfred C. Martino

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  At a upscale bar, a man notices from across the crowded room the woman of his dreams sitting alone. He can't let her get away. Smoothing his suit jacket, pulling his tie knot tight, he walks over to the woman and starts a conversation. Where does it go from there? The latest tale from novelist Alfred C. Martino.

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  Weigh Anchor - A Jesse McDermitt...

  Wayne Stinnett

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  A lifelong friend finds something deep in the Everglades that is so very odd, that when he calls Jesse McDermitt, at first the semi-retired former special operator is in total disbelief. But he is also very intrigued, and the duo set out on another adventure reminiscent of their childhood days.  
  But their youthful quest had been all about fun and make-believe. This one was real, waiting nearly a century to be discovered. 
  There is another party interested in what Billy Rainwater stumbled upon. They have been searching for decades and will stop at nothing to recover what they believe to be not only their personal property, but their legacy. The Glades never gives up secrets readily. 
  Deep in the River of Grass, untold dangers lurk, waiting to snatch the unwary. It raises its ugly head in the backcountry of the Middle Keys, as well. But when it finds its way into the parking lot of Jesse’s favorite watering hole, a line in the sand has to be drawn once again.

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  A Little Journey

  Ray Bradbury

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  In "A Little Journey," published in August 1951, we meet an elderly woman in search of enlightenment who buys a ticket on a rocket. Like other more famous Bradbury's stories, "A Little Journey" demonstrates the author's characteristic blending of the sentimental and the transcendent, the homely and the mystical. 
   
  Ray Douglas Bradbury, American novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and poet, was born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 1938. Although his formal education ended there, he became a "student of life," selling newspapers on L.A. street corners from 1938 to 1942, spending his nights in the public library and his days at the typewriter. His reputation as a writer of courage and vision was established with the publication of The Martian Chronicles in 1950, which describes the first attempts of Earth people to conquer and colonize Mars, and the unintended consequences.

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  Colonel Benyon's Entanglement -...

  Mary Elizabeth Braddon

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  Mary Elizabeth Braddon was born in London on the 4th October 1835. 
   
  At age 5 her parents separated but her ambition to succeed was not daunted.  After being privately educated she took to acting, and the minor roles she obtained where enough to support both her and her mother.  This potential career waned as soon as she began writing and secured an income from it. 
   
  In 1860, she met John Maxwell, a publisher of periodicals, and moved in with him the following year.  At the time Maxwell was already married with five children but his wife was confined to an Irish mental asylum.  On her death they married and she had six children by him. 
   
  Braddon was prolific and wrote over 80 novels, perhaps the most famous is ‘Lady Audley's Secret’ (1862), which won her both sales and a fortune as a bestseller.  She also wrote a number of historical fiction novels which again increased her reputation. 
   
  She was equally prolific as a short story writer, primarily supernatural and ghost stories, all of which continue to be anthologized to this day, such is the high regard they are kept in. 
   
  Braddon founded Belgravia magazine in 1866, its fare being serialised sensation novels, poems, travel narratives and biographies, along with essays on fashion, history and science, all lavishly illustrated.  She also edited Temple Bar magazine. 
   
  Mary Elizabeth Braddon died on 4th February 1915 and is buried in Richmond Cemetery. 
   
  In this story Colonel Benyon returns from service abroad on sick leave to find that England is very much changed.  He accepts a friend’s invitation to take a short recuperation at his home in Cornwall, which has lain empty for some time.  The Colonel takes up the offer, but things do not go quite as planned.

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