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  The Decameron Volume I

  Giovanni Boccaccio

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  "The Decameron" is a collection of novellas by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio, written between 1348 and 1353. It is a masterpiece of Italian literature and a significant work of early Renaissance literature. The frame narrative of "The Decameron" revolves around ten individuals who flee plague-ridden Florence and take refuge in a villa in the countryside. To pass the time, they tell one another stories—100 in total—over the course of ten days. These stories encompass a wide range of themes, from love and morality to wit and humor, and they offer a vivid portrayal of Italian society in the 14th century.

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  The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard

  Arthur Conan Doyle

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  Stories of adventures and derring-do featuring the man who is “after Holmes and Watson, Arthur Conan Doyle’s most successful literary creation” (Julian Symons, Edgar Award–winning British crime writer).   Originally published in The Strand magazine in the 1890s, the tales of Etienne Gerard, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, shows Arthur Conan Doyle at his satiric best. In his own words, Gerard takes readers through his illustrious career, his glorious feats as a lieutenant, squadron officer, colonel, and chief of a brigade. It is a hero’s journey, embarked on by a man known far and wide for his duel with six fencing masters, and who found glory on the battlefield and taught Europe how to fight.   Follow Gerard on his exploits as he encounters a man rumored to be the most wicked in Poland in “How the Brigadier Came to the Castle of Gloom.” “How the Brigadier Slew the Brothers of Ajaccio” portrays the very singular affair which propelled his career upwards and established his secret bond with Emperor Napoleon. And Gerard modestly recounts how he cemented his place in history as one of Napoleon’s greatest confidants in “How the Brigadier Was Tempted by the Devil.”  “In its pages you will find adventure, action, romance, love and self-sacrifice, hair’s-breadth escape and reckless courage, gallantry, panache and a droll, backhand humor that rivals that of P.G. Wodehouse. You will also find yourself, even more than with the celebrated stories of Holmes and Watson, in the hands of an indisputable artist. For more than any other adventure stories I know, these stories have a power to move the reader.” —Michael Chabon on NPR’s You Must Read This

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  About Love - From their pens to...

  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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  Vincent O'Sullivan - A Short...

  Vincent O'Sullivan

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  Vincent O'Sullivan was born on the 28th November 1868 in New York City.  He was initially educated through the New York public school system before finishing his studies in England.  As a young man he remained in London and travelled often to Paris.  
  O’Sullivan lived a very comfortable life with income from the family coffee business.  He had no real need to work but decided that a literary lifestyle was for him.   
  In 1896 he released his first volume of supernatural fiction ‘A Book of Bargains’.  Within its pages were classic stories that involved pacts with the Devil, reanimated corpses and psychic vampires. 
  Over the course of his career, he wrote a mere 10 volumes of short stories, novels, poetry together with some occasional criticism. 
  In 1909 his brother, who ran the company, entered its resources into some terribly mis-timed trades in coffee futures and ruin for both the company and the family quickly followed. 
  From now until his death O’Sullivan was destitute, life was exceedingly difficult. 
  Vincent O’Sullivan died on the 18th July 1940 in Paris.  He was 71.  He was buried in a paupers grave along with the remains of others.

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  Interview with a #Vanlifer

  M.K. Williams

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  The one question no one is asking in the current climate crisis is, "how does this affect the vampire population?" 
  Scoring an exclusive interview with Peter and Ursula, the now internet-famous influencers and #vanlifers, our narrator details their evening in Yosemite National Park with a pair of vampires. 
  In this satirical short story, we will learn about Peter and Ursula’s experience as vampires, their unique risks as the climate continues to change, and how they plan to use their celebrity to influence public policy and help the climate insecure. This story presents itself as an interview where the reader will go through the well-documented challenges of vampires among us and new issues arising from climate chaos. 
  A continuation of the fictional evolution of vampires, following in the footsteps of Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire, this story shows a different class of vampires. Socially conscious environmentalists with an eye for photography and a growing online brand, these influencers are looking to bring the vampire community into the light.

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  Ben Pitcher's Elly - Mann delves...

  Mary E. Mann

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  Mary Rackham was born in Norwich on 14th August 1848 to a merchant family.  Little is known of her early life and her biography only re-appears in September 1871 with marriage to Fairman Joseph Mann, a farmer with 800 acres.   
   
  Mary moved to Shropham, Norfolk and became involved with the workhouse, visiting the sick and other unfortunates of the parish, her observations and experiences a valuable source for her later stories.  
   
  She took up writing, partly to offset the dreary village life of her surroundings, in the 1880s and published her first novel, ‘The Parish of Hilby’ (1883) at her own expense. It was well received by the critics.  
   
  Thus began a career that spanning three decades provided thirty-three novels, hundreds of short stories, and fourteen plays.  Her work was largely focused on rural life in Norfolk and centered on the fictional town of Dulditch, with grim but authentic accounts of poverty and deprivation.  
   
  Her marriage produced one boy and three girls. With her husband's death in 1913, she moved to Sheringham.  
   
  She is regarded as a major contributor to East Anglian literature with particular praise given to her short stories. 
   
  Mary E Mann died on 19th May 1929.  She was 80.  Her grave-marker is a carved open book with the epitaph ‘We bring our years to an end, as if it were a tale that is told’. 
   
  Life in ‘Ben Pitcher's Elly’ is degrading, awful and unvarnished.  The chances of this young girl having a happy life are remote but her story must be heard.

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