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  Scarlet Plague The (Unabridged)

  Jack London

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  Known mainly for his tales of adventure, this work of science fiction by Jack London is set in a post-apocalyptic future. It's 2072, sixty years after the scarlet plague has depopulated the planet. James Howard Smith is one of the few survivors of the pre-plague era left alive in the San Francisco area, and as he realizes his time grows short, he tries to impart the value of knowledge and wisdom to his grandsons. Through his narrative, we learn how the plague spread throughout the world and of the struggles of the handful of survivors it left in its wake. The Scarlet Plague was originally published in London Magazine in 1912

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  Robinson Crusoe

  Daniel Defoe

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  Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a travelogue of true incidents.Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is presented as an autobiography of the title character (whose birth name is Robinson Kreutznaer)—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical desert island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers, before ultimately being rescued. The story has been thought to be based on the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on a Pacific island called "Más a Tierra", now part of Chile, which was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966.Despite its simple narrative style, Robinson Crusoe was well received in the literary world and is often credited as marking the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre. It is generally seen as a contender for the first English novel. Before the end of 1719, the book had already run through four editions, and it has gone on to become one of the most widely published books in history, spawning so many imitations, not only in literature but also in film, television and radio, that its name is used to define a genre, the Robinsonade.

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  The Scarlet Pimpernel

  Baroness Emmuska Orczy

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  "The Scarlet Pimpernel" is a historical adventure novel first published in 1905. Written by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, the story is set during the early phase of the French Revolution and introduces the character of Sir Percy Blakeney, a daring English nobleman who disguises himself as the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel. Under this alter ego, he daringly rescues French aristocrats from the guillotine. The novel also explores the tension and romance between Sir Percy and his French wife, Marguerite, who is initially unaware of her husband's secret identity. The book has been adapted into numerous stage and film productions and has spawned sequels and a whole series of Pimpernel books.

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  The Beauties

  Anton chekhov

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  One great example of Chekhov's minimalism is found in The Beauties, a very short "story" - I use the term loosely, because it is really just two snapshots, two unrelated anecdotes in which a man describes seeing true beauty in two different women. These women are imperfect, yet enigmatically alluring.
  Chekhov's genius lies in the way he manages to convey with such apparent effortlessness a profound sense of the mystery of beauty, and of the sadness of those who observe and think. The narrator of this apparently inconsequential tale fixes on exactly the right details, from a myriad of possible ones, to strike at the heart. It's a masterpiece of minimalism.

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  Rout of the White Hussars The...

  Rudyard Kipling

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  "The Rout of the White Hussars" is an short story by Rudyard Kipling: This story was first published in the first edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888 and was included in subsequent editions of this collection.The White Hussars were a first class cavalry regiment, who 'knew that they could walk round any Horse and through any Guns and over any Foot on the face of the earth.' They were particularly proud of their Regimental Band and of their Drum Horse who carried the silver kettle-drums. A new colonel takes over as Commanding Officer, and to the fury of the whole regiment insists on replacing the Drum Horse with what they see as a much inferior beast. One of the subalterns buys the horse, pretends to have it slaughtered, and mounts a skeleton on its back. One evening, while the horses are being watered after manoeuvres, the spectral-looking Drum Horse is seen riding towards his old comrades, and the regiment flees in disorder across the countryside. The Colonel, after much argument, is persuaded to bring the old horse back.

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  Infamous Relations - A Pride &...

  Catherine Bilson

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  A Pride And Prejudice What If...? story. 
  What if... Mr Collins had been even more despicable than in Jane Austen's original tale? 
  Would such an infamous relation destroy Elizabeth and Darcy's chance of happiness forever, or would his actions set in motion an entirely different sequence of events?

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