Publisher: Wildside Press
When a young engineer is forced to leave his father's shipyard in Scotland under a cloud of suspicion, he travels to Canada and starts a new life working for the railroad. Romance and adventure are never far from the forefront in this exciting historical novel.
"The Thing on the Doorstep" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos universe. It was written in August 1933, and first published in the January 1937 issue of Weird Tales.Show book
The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone is one of 12 Sherlock Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in the Strand Magazine in October 1921.Watson arrives in 221B Baker Street where the page boy Billy shows him a wax effigy of Holmes placed near a curtained window in the sitting room. The effigy produces a shadow on the curtain that, when viewed from outside, is the unmistakable profile of Sherlock Holmes. Using this visual trick, Holmes aims to give a perfect target to a would-be murderer with a rifle. Holmes names his murderer as Count Negretto Sylvius, the diamond thief he has been following in disguise. He gives the criminal's address to Watson, then sends the doctor out the back for the police. As the Count arrives, Holmes has Billy invite him inside, then takes him by surprise when he attempts an assault on the effigy. Holmes then offers the Count and his helper, boxer Sam Merton, freedom if they give up the jewel, or jail if not.He invites them to discuss the deal while he plays violin in the next room. When the Count decides to double-cross Holmes and takes the stone from his secret pocket to show Sam in window light, the detective springs from the chair in place of his replica and grabs the £100K jewel. His bedroom has a gramophone and secret passage to behind the curtain.After the police take away the villains, Lord Cantlemere sweeps in. Unlike the Prime Minister and Home Secretary, he did not want Holmes. When tricked into insisting on arrest for whoever is found possessing the diamond, he finds the jewel in his pocket – where Holmes has placed it – and apologizes. Finally, Holmes can eat.Famous works of the author Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Valley of Fear, His Last Bow, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, Stories of Sherlock Holmes, The Lost World.Show book
Henry James’s beloved novel about a young woman’s search for freedom in a world that seeks to tie her to convention In the wake of her father’s death, young Isabel Archer decides to travel to England to visit her aunt, leaving behind the life set out for her in America and spurning the romantic overtures of her Bostonian suitor. At her aunt’s country estate, Isabel is determined to plot a new course unburdened by routine. But, prodded by convention at every turn, Isabel makes a decision that not only undermines her longing for independence, but may seal her fate forever. Among one of Henry James’s most timeless works, The Portrait of a Lady is a rich and nuanced depiction of human psychology and the tension between the pull of social norms and the desire for autonomy. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.Show book
Set on an island off the Scottish coast, To the Lighthouse minutely examines the fleeting impressions of a large cast of family, friends, lovers, and hangers-on. Who can we be, Virginia Woolf invites us to ask, if no one can ever know our hearts - if they're unknowable even to ourselves? To the Lighthouse remains one of the most important Modernist novels, exquisitely composed by one of the most gifted writers of the Modernist movement. The opening section follows the passage of a day with a thwarted objective: to go to the nearby lighthouse. The concluding section revisits this expedition a decade later, when so much is irrevocably changed, as a chance to glimpse interpersonal understandings and connections. The novel provides a brilliant example of stream-of-consciousness writing, and raises questions that provoke us still: questions about whether children are the fullest realization of one's posterity, how women artists are regarded socially, and how money and status enable - or close off - networks, relationships, and the dreams we hold most dear. As masterful as its technique is, however, the lasting value of this novel for twenty-first-century readers may be its sharp representation of the emotional labor that people - particularly women - perform in order to manage the needs and expectations of others. Woolf wrote in an age when women's participation in society was tightly restricted by class norms and stultifying domesticity. Nearly a century later, scholars still have a great deal to say about Mrs. Ramsay, Lily Briscoe, and the tension between Mr. Ramsay and his son James. Woolf's fifth novel, and one of her most successful books both critically and commercially, To the Lighthouse was originally published in 1927, simultaneously in England and the United States. Due to a quirk in the management and correction of the proofs, according to scholar Hans Walter Gabler, the two editions were "not identical, since in a significant number of instances Virginia Woolf marked up the first proofs differently" for her two publishers.Show book
Title: The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar Author: Edgar Allan Poe Narrator: Jonathan Dunne Original Publication: 1845 Public Domain: Yes Series Placement: Number 48 in the Timeless Terrors series Description: The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most macabre and unsettling tales — a dark blend of science, mesmerism, and the boundaries of death itself. Told in the clinical yet horrified voice of a mesmerist, the story recounts an experiment performed on a dying man — one meant to test whether the human spirit can be held between life and death by hypnosis. What follows is a grotesque and unforgettable account of suspended mortality, decomposition, and the terrible price of curiosity. A masterpiece of Gothic horror and proto-science fiction, Poe’s tale remains as shocking today as it was in 1845 — a story that anticipates both modern medical ethics and the existential terror of consciousness trapped beyond the grave. Narrated by Amazon-bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne, this performance channels Poe’s eerie precision and the suffocating dread of the impossible made real. While the text is in the public domain, this narration is an original performance and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne. Part of Timeless Terrors, a series devoted to resurrecting the masters of the macabre and uncanny, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar endures as one of Poe’s most chilling studies in the unnatural stillness between death and decay — where science dares to trespass upon the soul.Show book
In Mr Mulliner, P.G Wodehouse (1881 -1975) has created a conduit for all manner of tall tales. The amiable gentleman happily regales the drinkers in the Angler’s Rest Pub with fascinating stories, usually about his own relatives, which range from the somewhat dubious, to the downright unbelievable. Welcome to this eccentric world inhabited by Curates and Bishops high on health tonic, and a lovesick chap who utilises beauty remedies to win his love. A world where a deceased author’s cottage appears to exert a sentimental influence on all who enter, and where an earthquake can lead to marriage. Wodehouse’s most famous creations the implacable “Jeeves” and the archetypal English toff “Bertie Wooster” are only the tip of the author’s considerable output. A master of humorous prose, he published over ninety books, forty plays and two hundred short stories. Head Stories presents " Meet Mr Mulliner" - narrated by Simon HesterShow book
