Other books that might interest you

• 

  Double Demon

  W. F. Harvey

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  William Fryer Harvey (1885-1937) was an English writer of short stories, most notably in the mystery and horror genres.Born into a wealthy Quaker family in Yorkshire, he went to Balliol College, Oxford, and took a degree in medicine at Leeds. Ill health dogged him, however, and he devoted much of his recuperation to writing short stories.Double Demon is the tale of a young man who is planning a murder. He tells two women of his plans: his sister, Isobel; and her nurse and companion, the beautiful Judith. But he tells Isobel that he is planning to murder Judith and tells Judith that it is Isobel he will kill.But what are his real plans? How will the two women respond? What will be the outcome of his elaborate preparations? Sheer suspense!

  Show book

• 

  The Nose - Gogol uses the absurd...

  Nikolai Gogol

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was born on 1st April 1809 to a father, descended from Ukrainian Cossacks and a mother with a military background in the Ukrainian town of Sorochyntsi, then part of the Russian Empire and rich in Cossack traditions and folklore.   
   
  His father wrote poetry and plays which the young Gogol helped stage at his uncle’s home theatre.  This helped ignite in him a love of literature and blossomed when he attended, what is now, the Nizhyn Gogol State University at the age of 12.  Here he participated in school theatre productions and refined his mastery of his native Ukrainian and also the Russian of his Imperial masters. 
   
  In 1828 he went to St Petersburg and unsuccessfully tried to begin a career as an actor after finding that with no money and no connections the civil service was barred to him. 
   
  Embezzling money from his mother he embarked on a trip to Germany. When the money ran out, he returned to St Petersburg but the experiences were used in a series of stories he contributed to periodicals.  These tales were steeped in his childhood memories of the Ukrainian landscape and peasantry enlivened with the supernatural of its folklore woven with realistic events of the day.  He wrote in Russian in a whimsical, colloquial style with a smattering of Ukrainian words and phrases that provided an authenticity.  Eight stories were published as ‘Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka’.  Seemingly all at once fame and fortune arrived. Gogol was hailed by his contemporaries, including Pushkin, as a pre-eminent writer of Russian literature.   
   
  His success continued with his brilliant plays ‘The Inspector General’ and the comedy ‘The Marriage for the Theatre’, both being highly acclaimed.   
   
  In 1834 he became Professor of Medieval History at the University of St. Petersburg but with little academic or teacher training, failed to adequately fulfil many of his duties and soon resigned this post.  With no obligations and using his earnings from his writing, which now included the impressionistic and immortal ‘Dead Souls’, Gogol travelled around Europe, spending the most time in Rome where he studied art, read Italian literature and developed a passion for opera.  
   
  In the 1840s Gogol became preoccupied with a need to purify his soul and embarked on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In tandem he fell under the influence of a strict and austere spiritual ascetic who persuaded him to observe strict fasts that, allied with his depression and deteriorating health, contributed to his death on 21st April 1852 at the age of only 43. 
   
  In the Nose Gogol reaches out with the absurd premise that a Nose can have, and enjoy, a life of its own regardless of the complications and consequences to its former owner.

  Show book

• 

  Bedtime for Mr Li

  David J. Montgomery

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Prepare for edge-of-your-seat suspense in this Thriller Short.Originally published in THRILLER 2 (2009),edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author Clive Cussler.In this Thriller Short, David J. Montgomery, who usually makes a living by critiquing books, turns writer with a clever story about a clever man. Jason Ryder is a hit man who’s seen it all and done it all. He’s been given an assignment to assassinate a Chinese spy, whose cover is serving as a long-tenured Chinese diplomat. It would seem to be a straightforward mission, but in addition to the job, Ryder’s been offered a bonus. Make it an embarrassing death and there’s an extra fifty grand in it for him. Fortunately for Ryder, Mr. Li is anything but a skilled spy, and though there are challenges Ryder navigates the obstacles…until the unexpected happens.Don’t miss any of these exciting stories from Thriller 2: The Weapon by Jeffery DeaverRemaking by Blake CrouchIced by Harry HunsickerJustice Served by Mariah StewartThe Circle by David HewsonRoomful of Witnesses by R.L. StineThe House on Pine Terrace by Phillip MargolinThe Desert Here and the Desert Far Away by Marcus SakeyOn the Run by Carla NeggersCan You Help Me Out Here? by Robert FerrignoCrossed Double by Joe HartlaubThe Lamented by Lawrence LightVintage Death by Lisa JacksonSuspension of Disbelief by Tim MaleenyA Calculated Risk by Sean ChercoverThe Fifth World by Javier SierraGhost Writer by Gary BraverThrough a Veil Darkly by Kathleen AntrimBedtime for Mr. Li by David J. MontgomeryProtecting the Innocent by Simon WoodWatch Out for My Girl by Joan JohnstonKilling Time by Jon LandBoldt’s Broken Angel by Ridley Pearson

  Show book

• 

  Huia Short Stories 9

  Ann French, Anahera Gildea,...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Here are the best short stories and novel extracts from the Pikihuia Awards for Maori Writers 2011, as judged by Keri Hulme, Katie Wolfe, Erima Henare and Reina Whaitiri. The book contains the stories from the 18 finalists for Best Short Story written in English, the five finalists for the Best Short Story in Maori and the six finalists for the Best Novel Extract. For over ten years, the Maori Literature Trust and Huia Publishers have been responsible for this unique and increasingly popular biennial writing competition. The awards and their subsequent publications have become much anticipated as they bring more undiscovered gems to the attention of the New Zealand reading public. Past winners and finalists include James George, Briar Grace-Smith, Kelly Ana Morey and Paula Morris.

  Show book

• 

  Pre-Approved for Haunting - And...

  Patrick Barb

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  In this new collection, Patrick Barb explores themes of family found and lost, media consumption and the dangers of runaway nostalgia, the supernatural in our lives, and the impact of violence in both the long- and short-term. -A young couple is reunited with their lost son whose favorite fuzzy bear suit connects him to the ghost of a vengeful mama bear while he's alone in the forest. -A jaded screenwriter can’t escape the haunted screenplay that’s ruined his career. -A man returns to his small hometown, where the people are gone and the trees have taken over. -A Slasher and Final Girl brother-sister duo match wits and blades against a sentient, dimension-hopping apocalypse at a never-ending summer camp. From rural backwoods to Park Slope brownstones, Barb's characters face impossible, awful situations, testing their inner strength and understanding of reality. Covering quiet horror, weird fiction, supernatural horror, slasher horror, topical dark fiction, and more, these stories spotlight supposedly familiar terrors and fears in new and unexpected ways..

  Show book

• 

  The Lifted Veil

  George Eliot

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Mary Anne Evans was born on 22nd November 1819 at Nuneaton in Warwickshire, England, 
   
  As a child she was a committed reader and brimmed with intelligence. Her father felt that her lack of physical beauty might not bring her the best selection of suitors in marriage and therefore thought a good education, rarely afforded to women at the time, might be the best path for her. 
   
  From the age of five to nine, she boarded with her sister at Miss Latham's school in Attleborough, and then Mrs. Wallington's school in Nuneaton, until she was thirteen, and it was to be Miss Franklin's school in Coventry until she was sixteen.  
   
  In 1835 her mother died and she returned home to keep house for her father and her siblings, and with it the cessation of her formal education. 
   
  Over the next decade she nurtured her literary ambitions but doubts on religious faith brought tensions with her father who was not enamored at the free-willed liberals she was associating with. 
   
  Despite this her first major literary work was completing an English translation of Strauss's ‘The Life of Jesus’ in 1846. 
   
  Her father died in 1849 and Eliot was able to begin a new life.  After a few months in Geneva she moved to London to work at the Westminster Review where she published many articles and essays.  In 1851 Mary Anne or Marian, as she liked to be called, met George Henry Lewes, and in 1854 they moved in together; a somewhat scandalous situation as he was already married.    
   
  Her view on literature had taken some time to coalesce but with the publication of parts of ‘Scenes From A Clerical Life’ in 1858 she knew she wanted to be a novelist.   
   
  Under the pseudonym of George Eliot that we know so well ‘Adam Bede’ was published in 1859 followed by her other great novels; ‘Mill on the Floss’, ‘Silas Marner’ and ‘Middlemarch’.         
   
  Her talents also extended to both small canons of poetry and short stories. 
   
  ‘The Lifted Veil’ is a both a beautiful story and typical of Eliot’s formidable powers of writing. 
   
  George Eliot died on 22nd December 1880 at Chelsea in London. She was 61.  She is buried at Highgate Cemetery.

  Show book