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  A Slip of the Pen - From their...

  Amy Levy

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  Amy Levy was born in London, England in 1861, the second of seven in a fairly wealthy Anglo-Jewish family. The children read and participated in secular literary activities and became firmly integrated into Victorian life. 
  Her education was at Brighton High School, Brighton, before studies at Newnham College, Cambridge; she was the first Jewish student when she arrived in 1879, but left after four terms. 
  Amy’s writing career began early; her poem ‘Ida Grey’ appeared when she was only fourteen. Her acclaimed short stories ‘Cohen of Trinity’ and ‘Wise in Their Generation,’ were published by Oscar Wilde in his magazine ‘Women's World’. 
  Her poetic writings reveal feminist concerns; ‘Xantippe and Other Verses’, from 1881 includes a poem in the voice of Socrates's wife. ‘A Minor Poet and Other Verse’ from 1884 comprises of dramatic monologues and lyric poems. 
  In 1886, Amy began a series of essays on Jewish culture and literature for the Jewish Chronicle, including ‘The Ghetto at Florence’, ‘The Jew in Fiction’, ‘Jewish Humour’ and ‘Jewish Children’. 
  That same year while travelling in Florence she met the writer Vernon Lee. It is generally assumed they fell in love and this inspired the poem ‘To Vernon Lee’. 
  Her first novel ‘Romance of a Shop’, written in 1888 is based on four sisters who experience the pleasures and hardships of running a London business during the 1880s. This was followed by Reuben Sachs (also 1888) and concerned with Jewish identity and mores in the England of her time and was somewhat controversial. 
  Her final book of poems, ‘A London Plane-Tree’ from 1889, shows the beginnings of the influence of French symbolism. 
  Despite many friendships and an active life, Amy suffered for many years with serious depressions and this, together with her growing deafness, led her to commit suicide by inhaling carbon monoxide on September 10th, 1889. She was 27.

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  Flying Inn The (Unabridged)

  G. K. Chesterton

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  An exuberant man as well as a prolific and gifted writer, G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was a man with very strong opinions - and extremely capable of defending them. In this hilarious, satirical romp, Chesterton demonstrates his intense distrust of power and "progressives," railing against Prohibition, vegetarianism, theosophy, and other "dreary and oppressive" forces of modernity. In a spirited response to the government's attempt to curtail alcohol sales, Humphrey Pump (called Hump) a pub owner in the fishing village of Pebblewick takes to the road in a donkey cart. Accompanied by Captain Patrick Dalroy, a crimson-haired giant with a tendency to burst into song, Hump provisions the cart with a cask of good rum, a giant round of cheese, and the signpost from his pub, The Flying Inn. Together, the two men extend good cheer to an increasingly restless populace as they attempt to evade Prohibition. In a journey that becomes a rollicking madcap adventure, the two travel round England, encountering revolution, romance, and a cast of memorable characters. Sure to receive an enthusiastic welcome from Chesterton fans, this new edition of an old classic will also appeal to anyone who enjoys a humorous, well-crafted tale.

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  Other Gods The (Unabridged)

  H. P. Lovecraft

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  Barzai the Wise, a high priest and prophet greatly learned in the lore of the "gods of earth", or Great Ones, attempts to scale the mountain of Hatheg-Kla in order to look upon their faces, accompanied by his young disciple Atal. Upon reaching the peak, Barzai at first seems overjoyed until he finds that the "gods of the earth" are not there alone, but rather are overseen by the "other gods, the gods of the outer hells that guard the feeble gods of earth!" Atal flees, and Barzai is never seen again.

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  Northanger Abbey

  Jane Austen

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  Northanger Abbey is the light-hearted account of a young girl's first excursion into fashionable society. While in Bath, Catherine Morland is invited by Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor to visit their home, Northanger Abbey. A devotee of Gothic novels, Catherine hopes that the Abbey will live up to her vision of haunted ruins. This delightful novel pokes fun at the popular fiction of its day and exposes the difference between illusion and reality.

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  Top 10 Short Stories The - The...

  Frances W Harper

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  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. 
   
  Race and gender have denied many their rightful place in literary history.  When we take time to look again we find remarkable jewels of astonishing merit that reveal just how many talented stories have emerged from the pens of these very special women. 
   
  01 - The Top 10 - The African American Women - An Introduction 
  2 - Two Offers by Frances W Harper 
  3 - The Wooing of Pastor Cummings by Georgia F Stewart 
  4 - The Stones of the Village by Alice Dunbar Nelson 
  5 - The Hoodoo by Martha Gruening 
  6 - The Octoroon's Revenge by Ruth D Todd 
  7 - Breaking the Color Line by Annie McCary 
  8 - The Quadroons by Lydia Maria Child 
  9 - The Preacher at Hill Station by Katherine Davis Chapman Tillman 
  10 - Talma by Pauline E Hopkins 
  11 - Aunt Lindy. A Story Founded on Real Life by Victoria Earle Matthews

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  Alexander Kuprin - A Short Story...

  Alexander Kuprin

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  Alexander Kuprin was born in Narovchat, Penza in Russia on 7th September 1870. 
   
  At 3 his Father died and he and mother moved to Moscow. By 10 he was enrolled at the Second Moscow Military High School and there his interest in literature began. The Alexander Military Academy followed and two years later he was a sub-lieutenant and posted to an Infantry Regiment for a further four years. 
   
  Despite his duties he was a now a keen writer and published his first short story at this time. His military duties also garnered him experiences for his breakthrough work ‘The Duel’.  Leaving the military he left for Kiev to work for local newspapers.  He continued to publish both stories and novels and by 1901 he was in St Petersburg becoming part of a group that included Chekhov, Ivan Bunin, Maxim Gorky and Leonid Andreyev.  
   
  In the years that followed further controversial works and acclaim followed.  His comments on the regime meant he was also put under secret police surveillance.   
   
  As World War I erupted, Kuprin opened a military hospital but was then given command of an infantry company in Finland. He was soon discharged on grounds of ill health.  
   
  The October Revolution saw him praise Lenin, but he warned that the Bolsheviks threatened Russian culture and might cause further widespread suffering to the peasants.  As Civil War raged he took his family to Helsinki and then on to Paris. 
   
  Exile saw his talents decline further and his succumbing to alcoholism. He became lonely and withdrawn. The family's poverty increased his malaise.   
   
  In May 1937, the Kuprin’s returned to Moscow.  He now saw his work published but wrote almost nothing new.  In 1938 his health rapidly deteriorated.  Already suffering from a kidney problems and sclerosis, he had now developed cancer of the oesophagus.  
   
  Alexander Kuprin died on 25th August 1938. 
   
  1 - Alexander Kuprin - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  2 - A Slav Soul by Alexander Kuprin 
  3 - Cain by Alexander Kuprin  
  4 - An Evening Guest by Alexander Kuprin 
  5 - Demir Kaya by Alexander Kuprin 
  6 - A Legend by Alexander Kuprin 
  7 - Anathema by Alexander Kuprin 
  8 - The Garden of the Holy Virgin by Alexander Kuprin 
  9 - The Outrage by Alexander Kuprin 
  10 - The Park of Kings by Alexander Kuprin

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