Other books that might interest you

• 

  Top 10 Short Stories The - 19th...

  Anton Chekhov, Ambrose Bierce,...

  • 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. 
   
  Across far flung territories that are undergoing a forced globalization by military and Imperial means stories emerge from near and far of times that perfectly illustrate societies as they make their way through this bustling century of demands, opportunities, greed and despair.  
     
  The need for mass entertainment in a myriad of cheap periodicals and magazines brought forth wonders of word, of wit and of narrative. 
  1 - The Top 10 - The 19th Century - An Introduction 
  2 - An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce 
  3 - The Bet by Anton Chekhov 
  4 - Desirees Baby by Kate Chopin 
  5 - Passion In The Desert by Honoré de Balzac 
  6 - The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant 
  7 - The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman 
  8 - The Cloak by Nikolai Gogol 
  9 - Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne 
  10 - The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe 
  11 - The District Doctor by Ivan Turgenev

  Show book

• 

  Gazing at the Moon - 1500 years...

  Lucian of Samosata, Francis...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Collected here are six tales that span nearly two thousand years, from a Roman citizen writing a satire of the ‘historical’ literature of his time in 182 AD to Edgar Allan Poe exploring the idea of a scientific ascent to the moon in 1835. Humanity changed vastly across that time, and yet the moon never lost its allure, its promise of mystery and magic. By the late nineteenth century, it was clear that the moon’s surface was barren, and a wave of moon-based stories inaugurated the expansion into space of fiction. 
  Before we breached the atmosphere and sent men to our planet’s satellite, humanity spent countless millennia gazing up at the moon and wondering what might be there, telling stories by firelight of the mystery and magic of our constant and changing night-time companion.

  Show book

• 

  Maps of Imaginary Towns

  SJ Bradley

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  From a futuristic colony where a woman dreams of rockets, to a drab estate where a girl finds magic, SJ Bradley\'s inventive and experimental stories showcase remarkable range. Vividly rendered, they illuminate quiet despairs and heroisms pulsing through seemingly ordinary lives - councilmen, dance moms, dreaming teenagers.With empathy and lyrical prose, Bradley transports readers into psychologically rich neighborhoods where reinvention flickers amid life's constricting boundaries. Gritty yet tender, Maps of Imaginary Towns interrogates grief, ambition, belonging, and traces the hard-won solace of small acts of courage.

  Show book

• 

  The Registered Packet

  J. S. Fletcher

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863-1935) was a British journalist and author. He wrote more than 230 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and nonfiction. He was one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the Victorian 'golden age' of the short story.'The Registered Packet' is the story of Martineau, a young man returning home by ship after a two-year absence. On the ship he meets a stranger and volunteers to deliver a small parcel for him to the nearest post office, in order that his fellow traveller might catch his train. But on arrival in Hull, Martineau inadvertently leaves his bag in the cab. He is able to track down the vehicle and find his bag again, but to his horror the packet which was entrusted to him has disappeared. He and his brother set off in search of the missing package...and what follows is an extraordinary tale.

  Show book

• 

  After Twenty Years

  O. Henry

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  O. Henry's short stories are well-known for their clever plots, wit and humanism. If you appreciate parable stories, O. Henry's works are the right choice for you. "After Twenty Years" tells about two different characters, two different philosophies and two different value systems. Bob is materialistic, he wants to get a lot of money and doesn't care how he gets it. Jimmy is conservative and wants a good and socially useful job, a home and a family. These different philosophies take them on different paths. After 20 years Jimmy has a good job, he likes his work and family. Bob has made a lot of money, but money has't really done him good. He is always on the run and he will end up in prison. Because of the masterly style and the great described characters, "After Twenty Years" is highly recommended for all ages.A SmartTouch Media production.

  Show book

• 

  Borough

  George Crabbe

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  English village life and villagers in the east of England in the late 1700’s and early 1800s—is the subject of The Borough.   George Crabbe was an English poet, surgeon, and clergyman. He is best known for his early use of the realistic narrative form and his descriptions of middle and working-class life and people.  Lord Byron, an avowed admirer of Crabbe's poetry, described him as "nature's sternest painter, yet the best." Crabbe's poetry was predominantly in the form of heroic couplets, and has been described as unsentimental in its depiction of provincial life and society. Modern critic Frank Whitehead has said that "Crabbe, in his verse tales in particular, is an important–indeed, a major–poet whose work has been and still is seriously undervalued."  A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely.  Benjamin Britten took the story of Peter Grimes (Letter 22) for his opera of the same name, though Britten changed the import of the story. - Summary by Wikipedia and david wales

  Show book