Other books that might interest you

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  The Stories of Erskine Caldwell

  Erskine Caldwell

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  American master Erskine Caldwell’s powerful classic stories of anger, humor, insight, and hope for the South  Author of some of the most widely banned fiction of the twentieth century, Erskine Caldwell had a talent for striking a nerve. In this collection of nearly one hundred stories, the full depth and scope of his talent is on display, including his trademark biting satire as well as his skill at rendering deeply moving portraits of his native South. In a career that spanned over six decades, Caldwell produced stories that serve to document a changing society, from the dehumanizing trials of the Great Depression through the transformative battle to desegregate the South. Taken together, his short fiction reveals a voice that remains essential for readers hoping to understand the American experience.   This ebook features an illustrated biography of Erskine Caldwell including rare photos and never-before-seen documents courtesy of the Dartmouth College Library.

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  Major Arcana - A Death...

  RoAnna Sylver

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  IN WHICH: In 19th-Century Venice, Italy, A Very Cool (And Familiar) Witch Informs A Homicide Inspector That He’d Better Get Used To Vampire Stories. He's In One. 
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  Someone is murdering by night, and leaving the bodies to burn in rings of fire outside cathedral doors. Holy Inspector Giovanni is here to get to the bottom of the horrors by any means necessary - starting with Letizia, a sharp-eyed and sharper-tongued witch who always, always knows more than she says. 
  Major Arcana contains tarot cards, mysteries, vampire fights, plague doctor masks, nonbinary fire witches, queer vampire-hunter witches, opera, intrigue, secrecy and snark. Enjoy the show. 
   
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  This is the first short story for Death Masquerade, upcoming serial novel from author RoAnna Sylver. Death Masquerade is a companion series to Stake Sauce, beginning hundreds of years and thousands of miles away. Despite the distance, the stories are deeply connected, and each holds secrets about the other. Both series are exclusively released on Patreon, until each 6-part arc is complete. The complete Stake Sauce Arc 1 is available now!

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  The Encantadas

  Herman Melville

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  The Encantadas (or Enchanted Isles), is a series of ten descriptive sketches, and a reminiscence from Melville's sailor days revealing the ecologically pristine Galapagos Islands as both enchanting and horrifying. Containing some of Melville's most memorable prose, The Encantadas were a critical success at a time when Melville's fortunes were down. After publication, the New York Dispatch cited the chapters as universally considered among the most interesting papers of that popular Magazine, and each successive chapter was read with avidity by thousands. The reviewer called the sketches a sort of mixture of 'Mardi' and 'Robinson Crusoe'--though far more interesting than the first named work.

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  A Northanger Abbey Double...

  Eliza Parsons

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  A woman visits a haunted castle, and two friends share tales of the supernatural in these two gothic novels featured in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. In Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, the main character, Catherine, receives a reading list of gothic novels. Once thought to be fabricated by Austen, these novels were rediscovered in the 1920s and are now referred to as the “Northanger Horrid Novels.” Two of the Northanger Horrid Novels, The Castle of Wolfenbach and The Necromancer, are presented here as A Northanger Double Feature.  With hidden identities, damsels in distress, creepy castles, and villainous Counts, The Castle of Wolfenbach (1793) is a showcase for the gothic genre. The story follows the beautiful Matilda as she escapes unwanted advances, braves the haunted castle, and attempts to find safety, and maybe even love, all while being pursued by her murderous uncle. The Castle of Wolfenbach is Eliza Parsons’s most famous novel and an important foundational work in the gothic genre. The Necromancer (1794) is by far the strangest of the Northanger Horrid Novels. The story begins with two friends, Herman and Hellfried, passing a stormy night by exchanging supernatural stories. The weirdness continues to unfold through a series of letters. The work is an example of the gothic genre’s use of framing narratives surrounding first person accounts from multiple characters. The Necromancer takes this trope to staggering heights by nesting multiple narratives inside each other. The resulting stories are a bizarre collection of violence and supernatural shenanigans centered around the mysterious Valkert, who is rumored to have returned from the dead.  Both of these stories are amazing examples of early gothic works and can be enjoyed as such for fans of the genre or read as a companion to Austen’s Northanger Abbey.

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  Terrifying Realm of the Possible...

  Brett Gelman

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  A daring, hilariously neurotic literary debut from the acclaimed actor and comedian Brett Gelman (Stranger Things, Fleabag). 
  Enter the wonderfully weird, always uncomfortable, side-splittingly funny world of The Terrifying Realm of the Possible, where your worst fears of who you are or might become are always just around the corner. In these masterful short stories from the singular mind of the actor and comedian Brett Gelman, you’ll meet five individuals, each navigating a uniquely strange stage of life:  
  - ABRAHAM AMSTERDAM (the child) 
  - MENDEL FREUDENBERGER (the teenager) 
  - JACKIE COHEN (the adult) 
  - IRIS BELOW (the senior) 
  - Z (the dead) 
  Our characters face the big issues; the ones we all face. As they traverse the prickly terrain of morality, family, sex, fame, religion, and death they search for answers to life's unanswerable questions. In the futility of that search comes the absurdity, along with the comedy. The composite portrait is an existential (mis)adventure of Rothian proportions. Gelman's remarkable first book is a bold, unforgettable debut that challenges our assumptions about what it means to be human.

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  The Dawn of All

  Robert Hugh Benson

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  In a former book, called "Lord of the World," I attempted to sketch the kind of developments a hundred years hence which, I thought, might reasonably be expected if the present lines of what is called "modern thought" were only prolonged far enough; and I was informed repeatedly that the effect of the book was exceedingly depressing and discouraging to optimistic Christians. In the present book I am attempting -- also in parable form -- not in the least to withdraw anything that I said in the former, but to follow up the other lines instead, and to sketch -- again in parable -- the kind of developments, about sixty years hence which, I think, may reasonably be expected should the opposite process begin, and ancient thought (which has stood the test of centuries, and is, in a very remarkable manner, being "rediscovered" by persons even more modern than modernists) be prolonged instead.We are told occasionally by moralists that we live in very critical times, by which they mean that they are not sure whether their own side will win or not. In that sense no times can ever be critical to Catholics, since Catholics are never in any kind of doubt as to whether or no their side will win. But from another point of view every period is a critical period, since every period has within itself the conflict of two irreconcilable forces. It has been for the sake of tracing out the kind of effects that, it seemed to me, each side would experience in turn, should the other, at any rate for a while, become dominant, that I have written these two books. (From the preface of The Dawn of All)

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