Other books that might interest you

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  Top 10 Short Stories The - The...

  Henry James, Mark Twain, Booth...

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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. 
   
  A new century dawns, one in which America would become pre-eminent as its industrial might and military power rose above all others.  In literature too its authors tackled new forms and new ideas, they shied away from little, immersing themselves and their readers in the promise of a new Century.   
   
  1 - The Top 10 - The 1900's - The Americans - An Introduction 
  2 - The Great Good Place by Henry James 
  3 - Eve's Diary by Mark Twain 
  4 - To Build a Fire by Jack London 
  5 - Paul's Case by Willa Cather 
  6 - The Gift of the Magi by O Henry 
  7 - The Scapegoat by Paul Laurence Dunbar 
  8 - A Dark Brown Dog by Stephen Crane 
  9 - The Defense of Strikerville by Damon Runyon 
  10 - The Screaming Skull by F Marion Crawford 
  11 - Ariel's Triumph by Booth Tarkington

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  The Lightning-Rod Man

  Herman Melville

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  After spending the summer of 1853 in the Berkshire Mountains, where he supposedly had a real life encounter with a lightning-rod salesman, Melville published “The Lightning-Rod Man." At the end of this short story, the lightning-rod salesman is exposed for the fraud that he is. However, that will not keep his successors from fanning out to the Middle West, where lightning storms abound and farmers were gullible. On another level, the story can be interpreted as a confrontation between Good and Evil. Through description and diction, the narrator is understood as a follower of God, someone who believes in The Almighty watching over him. On the other hand, the lightning-rod man is seen as a negative character, someone who only has faith in the product he's peddling.

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  3 Stories About - Charity - A...

  Zona Gale, May Sinclair, T S Arthur

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  There is something about the number 3.    
   
  The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two.   
   
  Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois.  It seems good things usually come in threes. 
   
  Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating. 
   
  From their pens to your your ears.

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  A Broken Trust - From their pens...

  Elizabeth Corbett

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  Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett was born on the 16th August 1846 at Standishgate, near Wigan. 
  After a good education she worked as a journalist for the Newcastle Daily Chronicle and went on to become a widespread and popular writer of adventure and society novels. 
  As a feminist writer it is a little bizarre that she published as Mrs George Corbett.  Her most ardent feminist work was ‘New Amazonia: A Foretaste of the Future,’ though other of her works were also similarly themed and dealt with one of the great issues of the day in Victorian society. 
  She married George Corbett in Sheffield in 1868.  They went on to have 4 children, of which only 3 survived. 
  As a writer she was not overly prolific but was perhaps most admired for her female detectives.  During her literary career Detective books were all the rage and authors of both sexes attempted to bring new and unusual angles of characters and narratives before the voracious public.   
  Corbett’s first was in a collection of short stories ‘Adventures of a Lady Detective featuring Dora Bell'.  A later novel introduced a further detective in the guise of Annie Cory. 
  Elizabeth Corbett died on in 1930.

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  The Lonely God - A Short Story

  Agatha Christie

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  In the quiet halls of the British Museum, a forgotten stone idol sits unnoticed on a high shelf—its features eroded by time, its purpose long-lost. But for Frank Oliver, a lonely man recently returned to England, the little god becomes something more: a symbol of connection in a world that has passed him by. 
  When Frank notices a young woman visiting the same statue, day after day, something begins to shift. In their quiet devotion to a nameless figure, two strangers begin to find the possibility of something else—companionship, perhaps even love. 
  Agatha Christie’s The Lonely God is a tender and thoughtful departure from her usual crime stories. In this short tale, she explores isolation, identity, and unexpected human connection with quiet grace. 
  Perfect for fans of classic literature, character-driven stories, and emotional fiction with a hint of mystery.

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  The Masque of the Red Death

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  Step into the haunting world of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death, a gothic masterpiece that explores the illusion of safety, the inevitability of death, and the futility of escaping fate. Set against the backdrop of a deadly plague, this chilling allegory follows Prince Prospero as he retreats into a lavish abbey with his courtiers, hoping to avoid the Red Death. Poe’s vivid imagery, symbolic use of color, and masterful suspense create a powerful meditation on mortality that continues to captivate readers over a century later. Perfect for fans of dark fiction, philosophical horror, and classic American literature.

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