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  The Short Stories of Herman...

  Herman Melville

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  Herman Melville was born in New York City on 1st August 1819.   
   
  At the age of 7 Melville contracted scarlet fever which permanently diminished his eyesight. Add this to a contemporary description of being "very backwards in speech and somewhat slow in comprehension" and his opportunities for success seemed limited. 
   
  His father died when he was 12 leaving the family in very straitened times. 2 years later Melville took a job in a bank and followed up with a failed stint as a surveyor. He went to sea and travelled across to Liverpool and then to the Pacific on adventures which included a mutiny, being jailed and falling in love with a South Pacific beauty. He was also a figure of opposition to the coercion of native Hawaiians to the Christian religion.  These experiences helped provide the novels ‘Typee’, ‘Omoo’, and ‘White-Jacket’. 
   
  By 1851 his ambitious masterpiece, ‘Moby Dick’, was ready to be published.  It never sold out its initial print run of 3,000 and Melville’s earnings on his masterpiece was a mere $556.37. 
   
  In succeeding years his reputation waned, life was increasingly difficult.  His family was growing and a stable income was essential. Melville took the advice of friends to try public lecturing, as others had, to increase his revenues. He embarked on three successful lecture tours, speaking on Roman statuary and sightseeing in Rome.  
   
  In 1876 he was at last able to publish privately his 16,000 line epic poem ‘Clarel’. It was to no avail.  The book had an initial printing of 350 copies, but sales failed miserably. 
   
  It was only in late 1885 that Melville was at last able to retire after his wife inherited several legacies, enough to provide them with a reasonable income. 
   
  Herman Melville, novelist, poet, short story writer and essayist, died at his home on 28th September 1891 from cardiovascular disease. 
  01 - Herman Melville - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  02 - Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville 
  03 - The Lightning Rod Man by Herman Melville 
  04 - The Fiddler by Herman Melville

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  Transactions with the Fallen

  Michael Elcock

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  In this new collection of short stories, author Michael Elcock explores a variety of inner worlds and lived experiences: survival and betrayal in Germany after World War II ... life in the Scottish highlands ... trouble with army ants ... 
  ADVANCE PRAISE FOR TRANSACTIONS WITH THE FALLEN 
  "Michael Elcock's stories enchant, disturb and remind us of the many worlds we inhabit. Touching on intimate moments and interactions, not a lot happens in these intertwined tales, and that is precisely their strength. A young man sits with an older woman one evening and learns about love. A soldier coaxes music out of a battered piano in an attempt to stay alive. Transactions with the Fallen is a study of human relationships told with an exacting eye for detail and the resonant moment." ---Eve Joseph, Griffin Poetry Prize Winner, 2019 
  "There's a lot to be learned from other people's childhoods---and from other people's adulthoods too, if they've been lucky enough to have one. When they're luckier still, there's a lot to be learned from other people's imaginations. In this remarkable book of stories, Michael Elcock offers us the fruits of all three: a rich, multifaceted childhood, a robust, thoughtful adulthood, and a lively, athletic imagination." ---Robert Bringhurst, author, poet, and recipient of the British Columbia Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence 
  ABOUT THE AUTHOR 
  Born in Scotland, Michael Elcock emigrated to Canada at age twenty-one and now lives on Vancouver Island. A memoir about his travels to Belfast, Malta, Hawaii, Prague, Paris, Oman, and Andalusia, entitled A Perfectly Beautiful Place, was published in 2004. Other books include Writing on Stone (2006), a novel, The Gate (2012), and a fictionalized memoir, Eyes of Rain and Ragged Dreams: Coming of Age in Edinburgh (2017).

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  Night Before Christmas The - The...

  Clement Clarke Moore

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  'Tis the season for classic stories! Clement Clarke Moore's timeless Christmas poem comes gloriously to life as a soundscape audiobook. 
  Root & Twig Sound's fifth production is complete with delightful narration by Phil Dragash, festive original music by Alexander Amadeo and a guest appearance by the Virginian carolers, The Yuletides. Enjoy the Christmas season in a brand new way! 
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  A Root & Twig Sounds Production 
  Written by Clement Clarke Moore 
  Original text published on December 23rd of 1823 
  Produced as a Soundscape Audiobook on December 23rd of 2024 
  Read and Performed by Phil Dragash 
  Produced and Directed by Phil Dragash and A.Y. Barker 
  Original Music Composed by Alexander Amadeo 
  Special Thanks to Violet Virginia Mills Barker, Emma Purzycki, the families of Bedford and The Yuletides. 
  Cover Art by Phil Dragash 
  © Root & Twig Sounds, 2025 
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  The mission of Root and Twig Sounds is to be a beacon of classic stories spectacularly done for the modern ear, helping the world remember its great storytelling heritage. Find Root & Twig soundscape audiobooks wherever audiobooks are sold.

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  Bridging Worlds - Stories of...

  Luigi Pascal Rondanini, Pascal...

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  Traverse the psyches of figures grappling with existential questions, like the reality-doubting schizophrenic in “Shattering Reality” or the dimension-defying friendship between two boys centuries apart in “Bridging Yesteryear.” These dramatic scenarios serve not just as thought experiments but also as profiles of courage depicting outcasts struggling to reconstruct meaning amidst life’s harshest limiting walls. 
  Additionally, speculative scenarios allow us to reexamine norms from provocative angles, whether we’re rooting for discovered cryogenic humans to integrate with androids in “The Discovery” or unlocking the motivations of a vigilante psychiatrist thief in “Behind the Mask.” By becoming immersed in these atypical fictional landscapes, it’s my hope you’ll return from the journey with refreshed eyes towards the intricacies, contrasts, and profound magic still embedding the world immediately around us each new day. 
  So, without further ado, let your imagination take flight! 
  The worlds awaiting behind these pages overflow with surreal transformations, psychedelic visions, whimsical quests, and characters courageously chasing redemption who might inspire us in turn. 
  Let's reconstruct Reality with a capital “R” by first shattering limiting assumptions—then inviting you, fellow traveller, to help gather the pieces into new mosaics alive with awe and possibility! Let our shared journey begin now...

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  Lonesome Rider and Wilde...

  Heather Graham

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  Two novellas of love, secrets, and heart-stopping adventure from bestselling author Heather Graham In “Lonesome Rider,” born to a Sioux mother and a white father, Blade McKenna grew up between two opposing worlds, never wholly belonging to either. The Civil War brought him yet more sorrow and loss. Now Blade is a man who lives only for revenge. This violent, merciless wilderness is no place for beautiful Easterner Jessica Dylan, who is on her own mission to clear her late husband’s name. Rescuing the elegant, emerald-eyed beauty from marauding Apaches exacts a higher price than Blade is willing to pay. Unless the promise of love can ease a bitter loner’s heart . . . In “Wilde Imaginings,” Allyssa Evigan arrives in an ancient town on the English moors to claim her inheritance. She has no idea why the great-grandfather she never knew left her magnificent Fairhaven Castle—or why her mother died with words of guilt on her tongue. And who is the dark, haunting stranger who fetches her at the station on his midnight steed? Handsome, brooding Brian Wilde, who lives at a hunting lodge nearby, denies ever having seen her before. Is Allyssa losing her mind? Or is danger stalking her? Brian’s touch might fill her with fire, but Allyssa begins to fear that he is the keeper of the castle’s deadly secrets. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Heather Graham, including rare photos from the author’s personal collection. 

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  Gooseberries - From their pens...

  Anton Chekhov

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  Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born on 29th January 1860 in Taganrog, on the south coast of Russia.  
  His family life was difficult; his father was strict and over-bearing but his mother was a passionate story-teller, a subject Chekhov warmed to. As he later said; ‘our talents we got from our father, but our soul from our mother’.  
  At school Chekhov was distinctly average. At 16 his father mis-managed his finances and was declared bankrupt. His family fled to Moscow. Chekhov remained and eked out a living by various means, including writing and selling short sketches to newspapers, to finish his schooling. That completed and with a scholarship to Moscow University obtained he rejoined his family. 
  He was able to help support them by selling satirical sketches and vignettes of Russian lifestyles and gradually obtained further commissions. In 1884, he qualified as a physician and, although it earned him little, he often treated the poor for free, he was fond of saying ‘Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress.’ 
  His own health was now an issue as he began to cough up blood, a symptom of tuberculosis.  Despite this his writing success enabled him to move the family into more comfortable accommodation.  
  Chekhov wrote over 500 short stories which included many, many classics including ‘The Kiss’ and ‘The Lady with a Dog’.  His collection ‘At Dusk’ won him the coveted Pushkin Prize when was only 26.  
  He was also a major playwright beginning with the huge success of ‘Ivanov’ in 1887.   
  In 1892 Chekhov bought a country estate north of Moscow. Here his medical skills and money helped the peasants tackle outbreaks of cholera and bouts of famine. He also built three schools, a fire station and a clinic.  It left him with less time for writing but the interactions with real people gained him detailed knowledge about the peasantry and their living conditions for his stories.  
  His most famous work, ‘The Seagull’ was received disastrously at its premiere in St Petersburg. It was later restaged in Moscow to highlight its psychological aspects and was a huge success. It led to ‘Uncle Vanya’, ‘The Three Sisters’ and ‘The Cherry Orchard’.  
  Chekhov suffered a major lung hemorrhage in 1897 while visiting Moscow. A formal diagnosis confirmed tuberculosis and the doctors ordered changes to his lifestyle.  
  Despite a dread of weddings the elusive literary bachelor quietly married the actress Olga Knipper, whom he had met at rehearsals for ‘The Seagull’, on 25th May 1901. 
  By May 1904 with his tuberculosis worsening and death imminent he set off for the German town of Badenweiler writing cheerful, witty letters to his family and assuring them his health was improving.  
  On 15th July 1904 Anton Chekhov died at Badenweiler.  He was 44.

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