Publisher: Charles River Editors
It's the most wonderful time of the year! Christmas brings joy to the masses worldwide whether it be through gift-giving, kindness, or even the classic Christmas stories.The First Christmas Tree, written by Henry Van Dyke, is a classic story which explains how the Christmas tree became part of the way we celebrate the birth of Jesus.
The story "A Royal Compliment" by Mark Twain was included in the collection "The Curious Republic of Gondour and Other Whimsical Sketches". In Twain's stories we can find notes of social satire. He traveled a lot and understood, how imperfect are humans. In this story the author speculates on politic. Despite his tragic life Mark Twain argues always with humour on problems of world politics. In "A Royal Compliment" he touches upon actual problems of the Spanish society. The narrator buys a newspaper and reads an article about the Spanish king. He considers himself to be the best contender to this title. Then he speculates about Spain. The Spaniards tend to choose their King from another countries. They keep the ports fast locked against foreign traffic three-fourths of each year, to prevent different diseases, but at the same time they violate rules of hygiene. On the other side, the author recognizes achievements of the Spain nation. But he makes it in such ironical way, which will let the reader burst out laughing. Get acquainted with this story, and enjoy the brilliant stile of the author.A SmartTouch Media production.Show book
Alfred McLelland Burrage was born in 1889. His father and uncle were both writers, primarily of boy’s fiction, and by age sixteen, A. M. Burrage had joined them and quickly became a master of the market, publishing his stories regularly across a number of publications. By the start of the Great War, Burrage was well established. In 1916 he was conscripted to fight on the Western Front, his experiences becoming the classic book War is War by Ex-Private X. For the remainder of his life, Burrage was rarely printed in book form but continued to write and be published on a prodigious scale in magazines and newspapers. His supernatural stories are, by common consent, some of the best ever written. Succinct, yet full of character, each reveals a twist and a flavor that is unsettling … sometimes menacing … always disturbing. Included stories: The Witch of Oxshott Smee The Hawthorn Tree The Attic Browdean FarmShow book
Far north in the Atlantic Ocean, where islands are small, rocky, and infested with sheep and humans, live the Selkies—a race of seal/human shapeshifters of unearthly beauty. The five short stories in Ara's Prelude recount the early lives of characters from the novel ARA’s SONG. You’ll meet Princess Ara as a seal pup and young Seamus defending his dreams of becoming a fisherman. Seamus’s folks struggle to protect him from those vicious Selkies, while Ara’s father warns of dangerous humans like that boy she finds so fascinating. And then there’s Oluva, the psychic shopkeeper who knows more about Selkies than she lets on. Chronologically, these are the first events in THE SELKIE CHRONICLES, but each book stands alone. Selkies are beguiling and real. Come see for yourself.Show book
This is a collection of a few stories by Hans Christian Andersen included - The Little Match Girl-The Swineherd- The Real Princess- The Leap-Frog- The Elderbush- The Bell- The Old HouseShow book
A great recurring character in a series you love becomes an old friend. You learn about their strange quirks and their haunted pasts and root for them every time they face danger. But where do some of the most fascinating sleuths in the mystery and thriller world really come from? What was the real-life location that inspired Michael Connelly to make Harry Bosch a Vietnam vet tunnel rat? Why is Lee Child's Jack Reacher a drifter? How did a brief encounter in Botswana inspire Alexander McCall Smith to create Precious Ramotswe? In The Lineup, some of the top mystery writers in the world tell about the genesis of their most beloved characters-or, in some cases, let their creations do the talking. The following characters (and their creators) are featured in this collection:Jack Taylor by Ken BruenJack Reacher by Lee ChildHieronymus Bosch by Michael ConnellyCharlie Parker by John ConnollyElvis Cole and Joe Pike by Robert CraisLincoln Rhyme by Jeffery DeaverInspector Morse by Colin DexterCharlie Resnick by John HarveyBob Lee Swagger by Stephen HunterPeter Decker and Rina Lazarus by Faye KellermanAlex Delaware by Jonathan KellermanDismas Hardy by John LescroartTess Monaghan by Laura LippmanRambo by David MorrellMallory by Carol O'ConnellSpenser by Robert B. ParkerLou Boldt by Ridley PearsonCharlotte and Thomas Pitt by Anne PerryAloysius X. L. Pendergast by Douglas Preston and Lincoln ChildJohn Rebus by Ian RankinPrecious Ramotswe by Alexander McCall SmithShow book
In Screen Tests, an astoundingly original and stylish collection, Zambreno has once again created new categories of writing, of vivid and surprising language and thought. In the first half, the narrator regales us with incisive and witty swatches from a life lived inside a brilliant mind, meditating on aging and vanity, fame and failure, writing and writers, and the dailiness of a woman and an artist, along with Warholian portraits of everyone from Susan Sontag to Amal Clooney, Maurice Blanchot to Louise Brooks. The series of essays that follow, on figures central to her thinking, from Kathy Acker to Shulamith Firestone, David Wojnarowicz to Barbara Loden, are passionate manifestoes about art, that intersect and chime with the stories that came before them. Throughout these philosophical investigations is the quintessential Zambreno voice, unable to be imitated—witty and morbid, serious and playful, poetic and profane, doubting yet radiant.Show book
