Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  A Ghost Story - From their pens...

  Mark Twain

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  Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri on the 30th November 1835 and is far better known by his pen name of Mark Twain.  An American writer and humorist of the first order he is perhaps best known for his novels ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ and its sequel ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ which are often described with that mythic line The Great American Novel. 
  Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri which would later provide the backdrop to these great novels.  Apprenticed to a printer he also became a typesetter and then a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi.  Later, heading west with his brother Orion to make his fortune, he failed at gold mining and instead turned to journalism and thence his true calling as a writer of humorous stories where his wit and humor sparkled from every paragraph, his craft evident with every page and punctured target. 
  A staunch supporter of copyright protections this helped him keep much of the wealth his writing created, though much money was also lost on investments that he pursued in his love for science and technology as well as investing in his own inventions. 
  Twain was born during a visit by Halley’s comet, and he predicted that he would go out with it as well.  He died the day after its subsequent return on 21st April 1910, at his house, Stormfield, located in Redding, Connecticut.

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  The Facts in the Case of...

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  Edgar Poe was born in Boston Massachusetts on 19th January 1809. His father abandoned his family the following year and within a year his mother had died leaving him an orphan.   
  He was taken in by the Allan family but never formally adopted although he now referred to himself as Edgar Allan Poe.  His father alternatively spoiled or chastised him and tension was frequent over gambling debts and monies for his education.  His university years to study ancient and modern languages was cut short by lack of money and he enlisted as a private in the army claiming he was 22, it is more probable he was 18. After 2 years he obtained a discharge in order to take up an appointment at the military academy, West Point, where he failed to become an officer. 
  Poe had released his 1st poetry volume in 1827 and after his 3rd turned to prose and placing short stories in several magazines and journals.  At age 26 he obtained a licence to marry his cousin.  She was a mere 13 but they stayed together until her death from tuberculosis 11 years after. 
  In January 1845 ‘The Raven’ was published and became an instant classic.  Thereafter followed the prose works for which he is now so rightly famed as a master of the mysterious and the macabre. 
  Edgar Allan Poe died at the tragically early age of 40 on 7th October 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland. Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as ‘congestion of the brain’ or ‘cerebral inflammation’, common euphemisms for death from disreputable causes such as alcoholism but the actual cause of death remains a mystery.

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  Rotten Minerva - Be an Unruly...

  Kelli Kristine Hastings

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  Rotten Minerva lays out a new framework for being “spiritual” while existing in this crazy material reality.  
  In it, author Kelli Hastings sets forth her personal ideology of life with the help of movie quotes, scientific references, and citations to religious scriptures - all interspersed with hilarious stories of her own misadventures on the spiritual path. The book is arranged into four sections. In the first section, Love, Kelli lays out her philosophy and invites the reader to undertake their own personal inward quest. In the second section, Practice, she sets forth the practical means and methods for this personal quest. In the third section, Magic, she gets into some of the strange and magical things that can happen (and have happened) during our personal quests. In the last chapter, Freedom, she talks about how to bring about true freedom; which does not come from external circumstances.  
  So be an unruly warrior and embark on your spiritual quest for freedom and authenticity!

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  A Dead Woman's Secret - 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 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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  Echoes of the Frontier - Tales...

  RF Media LLC, Jack London,...

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  Step into the dust-choked trails, snowbound cabins, and flickering campfires of the American frontier in this vivid collection of classic short stories. Echoes of the Frontier gathers thirteen unforgettable tales by literary giants such as Jack London, Willa Cather, Mark Twain, and Bret Harte—each story capturing a different facet of life at the edge of civilization. 
  From the perilous ride of The Denver Express to the poetic solitude of On the Divide, and from the chilling desperation of Love of Life to the dry wit of Nevada Sketches, these stories illuminate the grit, dreams, and humanity of those who dared to tame the wild. A reformed gambler, a ghost-ridden outlaw, a schoolmistress with quiet strength—each character leaves an indelible mark on the vast, unforgiving landscape. 
  Whether you're drawn to tales of justice, redemption, humor, or heartbreak, this anthology delivers timeless adventure with a beating heart and a frontier soul. 
  Featuring the work of renowned authors and hidden gems of classic American fiction, including: 
  The Denver Express, by A.A. Hayes 
  Love of Life, by Jack London 
  The Water-Hole, by Maxwell Struthers Burt 
  On the Divide, by Willa Cather 
  Nevada Sketches, by Samuel L. Clemens 
  The Passing of Black Eagle, by O. Henry 
  The Luck of Roaring Camp, by Bret Harte 
  The Men of Forty Mile, by Jack London 
  The Enchanted Bluff, by Willa Cather 
  The Idyl of Bed Gulch, by Bret Harte 
  To the Man on the Trail, by Jack London 
  The Man from Red Dog, by Alfred Henry Lewis 
  An Heiress from Redhorse, by Ambrose Bierce

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  A Rare Recording of Isaac Asimov

  Isaac Asimov

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  Isaac Asimov (January 2, 1920 - April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as popular science and other non-fiction.

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