Other books that might interest you

• 

  The Short Stories of Willa...

  Willa Cather

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Willa Sibert Cather had Welsh ancestry but like her parents Charles and Mary, was born in Virginia, on 7th December 1873.  Despite strong roots in the community, Willa was 9, when the family moved to Nebraska, to work the rich soil and avoid TB of which there were numerous outbreaks in Virginia.   
   
  The vastness and drama of the Nebraska prairie and its’ extreme weather conditions as well as the many diverse cultures of the local families proved to be a major influence on her and can be evidenced in much of her later writing.   
   
  Her first writing was for the local journal when she was at the University of Nebraska and later became the managing editor of the student newspaper.    
   
  In 1896 she obtained work for a woman’s magazine in Pittsburgh and soon after became a regular contributor to the Pittsburgh Leader and wrote poetry and short stories for the Library, another local publication.   
   
  Her first collection of short stories, ‘The Troll Garden’, was published in 1905 and contains several of her most famous including ‘A Wagner Matinee’ and ‘Paul's Case.’ As a writer Cather was now taking immense strides forward.   
   
  Between 1913 and 1918 Cather wrote her Prairie Trilogy: ‘O Pioneers!’, ‘The Song of the Lark’, and ‘My Ántonia’ and in 1922 the Pulitizer Prize was hers for her novel ‘One of Ours’ set during WWI.  
   
  Acknowledged as one of America's greatest writers’ further honours flowed. In 1943 she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The following year Cather received the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters.  
   
  A determinedly private person, Cather destroyed many old drafts, personal papers, and letters. Her will would also restrict the ability of scholars to quote from personal papers that remained. 
   
  On 24th April 1947, Willa Siebert Cather died of a cerebral haemorrhage at her Manhattan home. She was 73. 
  01 - Willa Cather - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  02 - Paul's Case by Willa Cather 
  03 - The Namesake by Willa Cather 
  04 - A Wagner Matinee by Willa Catha 
  05 - On the Gull's Road by Willa Cather 
  06 - The Burglar's Christmas by Willa Cather

  Show book

• 

  Cambridge - The Dark Masters -...

  M R James, E F Benson, Arthur Gray

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Cambridge University is esteemed as one of the great learning centres of the world, and has been for many centuries. 
   
  Whatever its gravitas as a seat of learning it should come as no surprise that Cambridge has a malevolent and dark side.  Within the ranks of its Academics and Alumni lurk the strange minds who have created despicable stories with heinous characters. 
   
  M R James, E F Benson, Christopher Blayre and E G Swain are but a few of these transgressors who have lurked within its glittering yet tortured walls. 
   
  1 - Cambridge - The Dark Masters - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  2 - Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad by M R James 
  3 - Mrs Amworth by E F Benson 
  4 - The Man With The Roller by E G Swain 
  5 - The Necromancer by Arthur Gray 
  6 - The Closed Window by A C Benson 
  7 - A Collector's Company by R H Malden 
  8 - The Thing That Smelt by Christopher Blayre

  Show book

• 

  Top 10 Short Stories The -...

  Oscar Wilde, Anthony Trollope,...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. 
   
  In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?  
   
  The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  In this volume we explore and enjoy the stories of authors who attended one of the great seats of learning.  Amongst their storied number are Anthony Trollope, Radclyffe Hall, Lewis Carroll and a host of others.   
   
  01 - The Top 10 - Oxford - An Introduction 
  02 - Lord Arthur Savile's Crime - Part 1 by Oscar Wilde 
  03 - Lord Arthur Savile's Crime - Part 2 by Oscar Wilde 
  04 - Malachi's Cove by Anthony Trollope 
  05 - The Blank Cheque by Lewis Carroll 
  06 - Miss Ogilivy Finds Herself by Radclyffe Hall 
  07 - Lucifera by Anthony Hope 
  08 - Couching at the Door by D K Broster 
  09 - The Spectre of Tappington - Part 1 by Richard Harris Barham 
  10 - The Spectre of Tappington - Part 2 by Richard Harris Barham 
  10 - Thurnley Abbey by Perceval Landon 
  11 - The Omnibus by Arthur Quiller-Couch 
  12 - The Beast With Five Fingers by W F Harvey

  Show book

• 

  The Hammer of God - A Father...

  G. K. Chesterton

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Will Father Brown discover who killed the well-to-do ne’er-do-well? It appears as though he was stricken with the hammer of God. Is that a thing?  
  G.K. Chesterton is most notable for his creation of Father Brown. This unlooked for, and often unwelcome, detective is actually not a detective. But rather, an individual self-trained to think as criminals think, for he has heard so many of their confessions. He knows how their minds work, and can piece together many things that others cannot.  
  This story is from the first collection of Father Brown Stories, The Innocence of Father Brown. 

  Show book

• 

  First Steps into the Night - A...

  Tao Wong

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Step Carefully For The Night Is Dark  
  Kylie Porter needs a break. Novacore VR's Eternal Night is it - the VR vampire game that her editor wants her to write about. But she's not a gamer, so she's going to have to learn to fake it for her article. With a little help.  
  Johnathan Masters is that help. An old friend who is doing her a favour, he's a lot more confident and good looking in the game, even if they've both touched themselves up. But she's a professional and this is just a game.  
  None of it's really real? Is it?  
  First Steps into the Night is a Vampire LitRPG Short Story (approximately 10k long) written by Tao Wong, the author of the System Apocalypse, Hidden Wishes and A Thousand Li series. It is not a fade-to-black story, set in a VR vampire MMORPG.

  Show book

• 

  Typhoon and Other Stories

  Joseph Conrad

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  In these four stories, written between 1900 and 1902, Joseph Conrad bid gradual farewell to his adventurous life at sea and began to confront the more daunting complexities of life on land in the twentieth century. In 'Typhoon' Conrad reveals, in the steadfast courage of an undemonstrative captain and the imaginative readiness of his young first mate, the differences between instinct and intelligence in a partnership vital to human survival. 'Falk', the companion sea-story, contrasts, as Conrad once put it, 'common sentimentalism with the frank standpoint of a more or less primitive man', a man with a conscience, however, about the girl he desires. In one of the 'land-stories' Conrad explores the utter isolation of an East European emigrant in England; in the other, the plight of a woman ironically trapped by the unwitting alliance of two retired widowers - each blind in his own way.

  Show book