Publisher: Publishdrive
A playful conversation between a wise man and his disciple about human virtues and vices, framed around a child playing in the centre of the courtyard. As they walk around the boy, they unfold an inspiring dialogue about what is essential to living well.
Carol Shields had a knack for turning the ordinary into the extraordinary and nowhere more than in this luminous collection of short stories. Throughout these stories runs Shields' preoccupation with identity—as in the title story, about a compacted day in the life of the world, in which a procession of characters try on new selves. Yet these stories and their quiet epiphanies reflect all the contrasts of human existence—from the bittersweet sexuality of "Eros" to the wicked skewering of pompous academic conversation in "The Next Best Kiss." Playful, graceful, acute yet tender, Dressing Up for the Carnival distills all Shields' elegance, wisdom, and humor into stories that are more like concise novels.Show book
The Novices of Lerna introduces the enigmatic fictions of Ángel Bonomini to English listeners for the first time. Shot through with wry humor and tender absurdity, these meditations on identity, surveillance, and isolation remain eerily prescient. The collection's central novella follows Ramón Beltra, an unambitious scholar who receives a mysterious invitation to a lucrative six-month fellowship at the University of Lerna in Switzerland. After he reluctantly complies with the unusual qualifying paperwork requiring several pages of detailed measurements and photographs of his entire body, Beltra soon finds himself in the deserted university town of Lerna, together with twenty-three other "novices" subject to the same undisclosed project—all of them doppelgangers of Beltra himself. At first, Beltra is the only one to bristle at the school's dizzying array of rules and regulations, but this all changes with the onset of an uncontrollable epidemic, and the fellows begin dying off one by one . . . An overlooked master of Argentine fantastic literature, Ángel Bonomini garnered praise among peers and contemporaries like Jorge Luis Borges, before slipping mysteriously into obscurity. Bonomini was forty-three years old in 1972 when he published The Novices of Lerna, the first of four books of short stories he released before his death at age sixty-four.Show book
O. Henry’s The Ransom of Red Chief is a hilarious short story about a kidnapping gone terribly wrong. When two con men kidnap a rambunctious young boy, they quickly realize they’ve bitten off more than they can chew. The boy, who calls himself "Red Chief," turns the tables on his captors with his wild imagination and mischievous antics, making their scheme more of a nightmare than a payday. Narrated with wit and humor by Christopher Garcia, this audiobook brings O. Henry’s comedic brilliance to life, capturing the chaotic energy of Red Chief and the hapless kidnappers. A classic tale of humor, irony, and unexpected twists, The Ransom of Red Chief is perfect for listeners who love lighthearted stories with clever surprises.Show book
Souvenirs from Another Life, the first full-length collection of short fiction by Leah Browning, features an abundant selection of stories. Relationships are at the forefront: those between friends, siblings, partners, or parents and children, as well as the more tangential relationships between neighbors or coworkers. By turns sharp and tender, the stories delve into the reality and surreality of love, companionship, and family. In “Caught,” a man finds his Tinder date surrounded by vaguely threatening birds. Toward the beginning of “The Surrogate Wife,” a woman returns after a long journey to discover that her husband’s new housekeeper has taken over her home. And in “The Costume Wedding,” a doctor and her boyfriend travel to Albuquerque to attend a front yard ceremony where they’ve been instructed to dress up. Slippery and hypnotic, these short stories illuminate hidden corners of courtship, marriage, divorce, friendship, and familial devotion. Souvenirs from Another Life includes full-length literary fiction, flash, microfiction, and linked stories about the pleasures and absurdities of everyday life.Show book
David Herbert Lawrence was born on the 11th September 1885 in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, a coal mining town where the reality of a harsh life was only useful as experiences for future literary works. He was educated at Beauvale Board School and became the first local boy to receive a scholarship to attend Nottingham High School. After 3 years he became a junior clerk in Haywood’s surgical appliances factory. He was also attempting a literary career which, in the short term, led to a teacher training position in Eastwood and later a teaching qualification from University College, Nottingham. Lawrence’s first efforts were poems, short stories and a draft of ‘The White Peacock’. Moving to London and a teaching position in Croydon his writing attracted the attention of Ford Madox Ford, editor of The English Review, and he commissioned him to write ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’. Wanting to write full-time he now began work on what would become ‘Sons and Lovers. In 1912 he met the older and married mother-of-three Frieda Weekley. They eloped to Germany and here Lawrence could see for himself the growing tensions with France. So keen was his interest that he was arrested and accused of being a British spy. In early 1914 Frieda obtained her divorce and they returned to Britain to be married just days before the outbreak of war. Owing to her German parentage, and his own public dislike of militarism and violence, the couple were treated with contempt and suspicion throughout the war years. Despite this he continued to write but his reputation in England was so tarnished and, mirrored by his own disdain for the country, he and Frieda left England in November 1919, first for Europe and then America via Ceylon and Australia. They bought a ranch in Taos, New Mexico and visited Mexico several times. The third visit in March 1925 caused a near fatal attack of malaria. To convalesce they moved to Florence. Here he continued work on ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ which for many years would cause controversy. A renewed interest in oil painting resulted in an exhibition in 1929 which was raided by the police and several works were confiscated. D H Lawrence died of complications arising from a bout of tuberculosis on the 2nd of March 1930 in Vence, France. He was 44. In ‘The Horse Dealers daughter’ a young woman begins a relationship with a young doctor and a friend of her brothers. What should be straight forward is intimately investigated by Lawrence’s foraging pen.Show book
"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story by O. Henry first published in 1905. The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been popular for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time. The plot and its twist ending are well-known, and the ending is generally considered an example of comic irony. It was allegedly written at Pete's Tavern on Irving Place in New York City.The story was initially published in The New York Sunday World under the title "Gifts of the Magi". It was first published in book form in the O. Henry Anthology The Four Million in April 1906.Among the most significant works O. Henry: "The Duplicity of Hargraves", "A Retrieved Reformation", "The Cop and the Anthem", "The Gift of the Magi", "The Skylight Room", "After Twenty Years", "Conscience in Art", "The Caballero's Way", "The Last Leaf", "The Third Ingredient", "The Ransom of Red Chief", "Makes the Whole World Kin".Show book
