Other books that might interest you

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  Horrid Henry: School Daze

  Lucinda Whiteley

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  Anyone else find themselves dazed by school? If you do you are not alone, Henry’s in permanent School Daze, and he’s put together this specially crazy collection of 11 Horrid Henry super stories performed by the show's full cast. Detention, bogey teachers and miserable maths, you’ll find it all here in all its Horrid glory! So let’s turn up the Horrid and enjoy these classic stories with "School Uniform", "Bogey Teacher", "New Class Motto", "Late Arrival", "Detention Club", "Maths Test", "School Council Election", "Eternal Schoolboy", "Detention Diva", "Learning Machine" and "Moon Monster". Horridly Brilliant or Brilliantly Horrid? You decide!!

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  The Oval Portrait

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  A shadowy, candlelit chamber in a crumbling gothic mansion. A man in 19th-century clothing gazes up at a large, ornately framed portrait of a beautiful woman, her eyes lifelike and sorrowful. The room is draped in shadows and rich tapestries. A cold draft stirs the curtains. The atmosphere is haunting, melancholic, and filled with artistic reverence and dread. 
  The Oval Portrait by Edgar Allan Poe is a haunting, compact masterpiece of gothic fiction, blending themes of obsession, art, and mortality. First published in 1842, this eerie short story follows a weary traveler who, while resting in an abandoned chateau, becomes transfixed by a striking portrait of a young woman—one that seems almost unnervingly alive. 
  As he uncovers the painting’s backstory, the tale takes a dark and unforgettable turn. What emerges is a chilling meditation on the destructive power of artistic passion, and the blurred line between life and art. 
  This full audiobook brings Poe’s rich, atmospheric prose to life with immersive narration that captures the tale’s dread and melancholy. Ideal for listeners drawn to classic horror, literary symbolism, and the macabre genius of Poe.

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  The Law of Life

  Jack London

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  Step into the snowy silence of the Arctic tundra and witness a profound meditation on aging, mortality, and the natural order in Jack London’s unforgettable short story, The Law of Life. 
  In this powerful work of literary fiction, London strips human existence to its elemental truths. We meet Koskoosh, an aged Inuit chief left behind by his tribe as they continue their journey across the unforgiving northern wilderness. Alone with only a small pile of firewood and his memories, Koskoosh reflects on his past, his people, and the inevitability of death. His observations are neither bitter nor sentimental—only honest, wise, and hauntingly beautiful. 
  Through this stark yet deeply human lens, London examines the laws that govern all life: survival, adaptation, and ultimately, acceptance of nature’s final verdict. This is not just a story of one man’s end—it is a philosophical exploration of life’s cycle, told in a voice both timeless and universal. 
  Narrated with quiet intensity and reverent tone, this full audiobook immerses listeners in London’s rich narrative style, blending existential insight, naturalistic detail, and emotional depth. It’s a literary experience that transcends the boundaries of time and culture, inviting you to consider your own place in the vast scheme of nature. 
  The Law of Life delivers a journey of introspection and connection with the primal forces that shape us all. 
  So sit back, breathe deep, and let the icy winds of Jack London’s prose carry you into the heart of the wilderness—and the soul of what it means to be alive.

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  Seasons of Purgatory

  Shahriar Mandanipour

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  The first English-language story collection from "one of Iran's most important living fiction writers" (Guardian) 
   
   
   
  In Seasons of Purgatory, the fantastical and the visceral merge in tales of tender desire and collective violence, the boredom and brutality of war, and the clash of modern urban life and rural traditions. Mandanipour, banned from publication in his native Iran, vividly renders the individual consciousness in extremis from a variety of perspectives: young and old, man and woman, conscript and prisoner. While delivering a ferocious social critique, these stories are steeped in the poetry and stark beauty of an ancient land and culture.

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  The Desert of the Real

  Matthew Watson

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  What if Déjà vu was just a fleeting window into a reality with different choices made? Where dreams and hallucinations are enduring connections to a world long diverged. Could the passage to those realms be found again? So that we may learn to navigate away from the nightmares that lie ahead. The Desert Provides. The Desert of the Real is an anthology of short stories from worlds both similar and stark to our own. Worlds where angels and demons dance in veiled wars, where ambition and science collide to control the human experience, and where we discover others amongst the dark forest that is our starry night. This collection of eleven tales weaves its journey across a blend of narratives and mediums, each exploring the possibilities of literature through the lens of alternative history, fantasy, and science fiction. Some may be closer to home than we think.

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  A Wireless Message - From their...

  Ambrose Bierce

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  Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born on 24th June 1842 at Horse Cave Creek in Meigs County, Ohio. His parents were poor but they introduced him to literature at an early age, instilling in him a deep appreciation of books, the written word and the elegance of language.  
  Growing up in Koscuisko County, Indiana poverty and religion were defining features of his childhood, and he would later describe his parents as “unwashed savages” and fanatically religious, showing him little affection but always quick to punish. He came to resent religion, and his introduction to literature appears to be their only positive effect. 
  At age 15 Bierce left home to become a printer’s devil, mixing ink and fetching type at The Northern Indian, a small Ohio paper. Falsely accused of theft he returned to his farm and spent time sending out work in the hopes of being published. 
  His Uncle Lucius advised he be sent to the Kentucky Military Institute. A year later he was commissioned as an Officer.  As the Civil War started Bierce enlisted in the 9th Indiana Infantry Regiment.  
  In April 1862 Bierce fought at the Battle of Shiloh, an experience which, though terrifying, became the source of several short stories. Two years later he sustained a serious head wound and was off duty for several months. He was discharged in early 1865.  
  A later expedition to inspect military outposts across the Great Plains took him all the way to San Francisco. He remained there to become involved with publishing and editing and to marry, Mary Ellen on Christmas Day 1871.  They had a child, Day, the following year.  
  In 1872 the family moved to England for 3 years where he wrote for Fun magazine. His son, Leigh, was born, and first book, ‘The Fiend’s Delight’, was published.  
  They returned to San Francisco and to work for a number of papers where he gained admiration for his crime reporting. In 1887 he began a column at the William Randolph Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner.  
  Bierce’s marriage fell apart when he discovered compromising letters to his wife from a secret admirer. The following year, 1889 his son Day committed suicide, depressed by romantic rejection. 
  In 1891 Bierce wrote and published the collection of 26 short stories which included ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’.  Success and further works including poetry followed.  
  Bierce with Hearst’s resources helped uncover a financial plot by a railroad to turn 130 million dollars of loans into a handout. Confronted by the railroad and asked to name his price Bierce answered “my price is $130 million dollars. If, when you are ready to pay, I happen to be out of town, you may hand it over to my friend, the Treasurer of the United States”.  
  He now began his first foray as a fabulist, publishing ‘Fantastic Fables’ in 1899.  But tragedy again struck two years later when his second son Leigh died of pneumonia relating to his alcoholism.  
  He continued to write short stories and poetry and also published ‘The Devil’s Dictionary’.  
  At the age of 71, in 1913 Bierce departed from Washington, D.C., for a tour of the battlefields where he had fought during the civil war. At the city of Chihuahua he wrote his last known communication, a letter to a friend. It’s closing words were “as to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination,” Ambrose Bierce then vanished without trace.

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