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  Emissaries - and other short...

  Youssef Rakha

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  What might William Burroughs be doing in Tahrir Square at the height of the Egyptian revolution of 2011? Was there really a radical atheist insurgency in New Cairo? Where in extant science fiction do people go when they die? In these Cairo-focused stories written at the height of the Arab Spring, in its wake and its ruins, the reader is led by a colorful cast of characters through a hypnagogic urbanscape pulsating with the spectres of post-political Islam and failed revolution. Whether it is an alien abduction in “Lexi” or a Cairo-centered, futuristic retelling of an Old Testament narrative in the titular story “Emissaries” - the stories here play with notions of contemporary Egyptianness to evoke a human circus of possibility and despair that is undeniably universal at its core. 
  Emissaries, and other short stories is the first short story collection of Youssef Rakha's work. The short stories within this collection appeared first in the following journals: 
  The Boy Jihadi (Guernica) 
  Thus Spoke Che Nawwarah (Kenyon Review Online) 
  Emissaries (The Puritan) 
  Nawwah (Miranda Literary Magazine – defunct) 
  Qaf (Mashallah News) 
  The Secret History of Atheism (Minor Literatures) 
  A Father’s Counsel (BULL) 
  The End Night (Litro) 
  “Lexi” and “The Trees Are Houses” are published for the first time. “The Trees Are Houses” was written especially for this publication.  

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  Ship Fever - Stories

  Andrea Barrett

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  The 1996 National Book Award Winner for Fiction from "genius-enchantress" (Karen Russell) Andrea Barrett that introduces the characters of Barrett's vividly imagined world.  
   
  The elegant short fictions gathered hereabout the love of science and the science of love are often set against the backdrop of the nineteenth century. Interweaving historical and fictional characters, they encompass both past and present as they  
  negotiate the complex territory of ambition, failure, achievement, and shattered dreams. In "Ship Fever," the title novella, a young Canadian doctor finds himself at the center of one of history's most tragic epidemics. In "The English Pupil,"  
  Linnaeus, in old age, watches as the world he organized within his head slowly drifts beyond his reach. And in "The Littoral Zone," two marine biologists wonder whether their life-altering affair finally was worth it. In the tradition of Alice  
  Munro and William Trevor, these exquisitely rendered fictions encompass whole lives in a brief space. As they move between interior and exterior journeys, "science is transformed from hard and known fact into malleable, strange and thrilling fictional material" (Boston Globe).

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  A Slip of the Pen - From their...

  Amy Levy

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  Amy Levy was born in London, England in 1861, the second of seven in a fairly wealthy Anglo-Jewish family. The children read and participated in secular literary activities and became firmly integrated into Victorian life. 
  Her education was at Brighton High School, Brighton, before studies at Newnham College, Cambridge; she was the first Jewish student when she arrived in 1879, but left after four terms. 
  Amy’s writing career began early; her poem ‘Ida Grey’ appeared when she was only fourteen. Her acclaimed short stories ‘Cohen of Trinity’ and ‘Wise in Their Generation,’ were published by Oscar Wilde in his magazine ‘Women's World’. 
  Her poetic writings reveal feminist concerns; ‘Xantippe and Other Verses’, from 1881 includes a poem in the voice of Socrates's wife. ‘A Minor Poet and Other Verse’ from 1884 comprises of dramatic monologues and lyric poems. 
  In 1886, Amy began a series of essays on Jewish culture and literature for the Jewish Chronicle, including ‘The Ghetto at Florence’, ‘The Jew in Fiction’, ‘Jewish Humour’ and ‘Jewish Children’. 
  That same year while travelling in Florence she met the writer Vernon Lee. It is generally assumed they fell in love and this inspired the poem ‘To Vernon Lee’. 
  Her first novel ‘Romance of a Shop’, written in 1888 is based on four sisters who experience the pleasures and hardships of running a London business during the 1880s. This was followed by Reuben Sachs (also 1888) and concerned with Jewish identity and mores in the England of her time and was somewhat controversial. 
  Her final book of poems, ‘A London Plane-Tree’ from 1889, shows the beginnings of the influence of French symbolism. 
  Despite many friendships and an active life, Amy suffered for many years with serious depressions and this, together with her growing deafness, led her to commit suicide by inhaling carbon monoxide on September 10th, 1889. She was 27.

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  The Red Room

  H. G. Wells

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  Step into the haunting world of The Red Room, one of H.G. Wells' most chilling short stories, now narrated by Jane Wing. In this gothic tale of suspense, a skeptical protagonist enters a seemingly haunted room in an ancient castle, determined to disprove the existence of the supernatural. As the night progresses, he encounters fear in a way he never anticipated. 
  Jane Wing’s gripping narration adds an extra layer of tension, making this eerie classic a truly immersive listening experience. Filled with Wells' signature mastery of atmosphere and psychological insight, The Red Room is a story of isolation, fear, and the unknown. 
  Perfect for fans of ghost stories, gothic literature, and psychological thrillers, this audiobook will leave listeners questioning what is real and what is imagined. Are the shadows in the room truly harmless, or is something far more sinister at play? Listen and find out... if you dare.

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  Uncomfortable Bed An - From...

  Guy de Maupassant

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  Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5th, 1850 near Dieppe in France.  
  Maupassant’s early life was badly torn when at age 11 (his younger brother Hervé was then five) his mother, Laure, a headstrong and independent-minded woman, risked social disgrace in order to obtain a legal separation from her husband. 
  After the separation, Laure kept custody of her two boys. With the father now forcibly absent, Laure became the most influential and important figure in the young boy's life.   
  Maupassant’s education was such that he rebelled against religion and other societal norms but a developing friendship with Gustave Flaubert began to turn his mind towards creativity and writing. 
  After graduation he volunteered for the Franco-Prussian war. With its end he moved to Paris to work as a clerk in the Navy Department.  Gustave Flaubert now took him under his wing.  Acting as a literary guardian to him, he guided the eager Maupassant to debuts in journalism and literature.  For Maupassant these were exciting times and the awakening of his creative talents and ambitions. 
  In 1880 he published what is considered his first great work, ‘Boule de Suif’, (translated as ‘Dumpling’, ‘Butterball’, ‘Ball of Fat’, or ‘Ball of Lard’) which met with a success that was both instant and overwhelming.  Flaubert at once acknowledged that it was ‘a masterpiece that will endure.’ Maupassant had used his talents and experiences in the war to create something unique.  
  This decade from 1880 to 1891 was to be the most pivotal of his career.  With an audience now made available by the success of ‘Boule de Suif’ Maupassant organised himself to work methodically and relentlessly to produce between two and four volumes of work a year.  The melding of his talents and business sense and the continual hunger of sources for his works made him wealthy. 
  In his later years he developed a desire for solitude, an obsession for self-preservation, and a fear of death as well as a paranoia of persecution caused by the syphilis he had contracted in his youth.  
  On January 2nd, 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat.  Unsuccessful he was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris.  It was here on July 6th, 1893 that Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant died at the age of only 42.

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  The Outcasts of Poker Flat

  Bret Harte

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  A snow-covered mountain pass in the Sierra Nevada. Four rugged figures—two men, two women—huddle around a dwindling campfire outside a rustic log cabin. One man (John Oakhurst) sits apart, looking solemn. The women are cloaked and shivering. Snow falls gently in the cold dawn light, and the mood is a mix of desolation and quiet dignity, evoking the harsh beauty of the Old West. 
  The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte is a classic tale of fate, morality, and unexpected redemption set in the American Old West. First published in 1869, this emotionally resonant short story follows a group of gamblers, outlaws, and “improper” individuals who are banished from a California frontier town and forced to journey through a snowy wilderness. 
  Stranded by a brutal snowstorm in the Sierra Nevada mountains, the outcasts—including the infamous gambler John Oakhurst—must grapple with survival, prejudice, and their own humanity. As tensions rise and resources dwindle, moments of grace and selflessness emerge in the unlikeliest characters. 
  This full audiobook brings Harte’s vivid frontier storytelling to life with warm, dramatic narration. Combining humor, pathos, and a deeply American voice, The Outcasts of Poker Flat is a timeless story of compassion, judgment, and redemption in the harshest conditions.

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