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  Cain - From their pens to your...

  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 He became lonely and withdrawn.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.

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  Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story...

  Herman Melville

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  Experience the haunting tale of "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" by Herman Melville, now available as a captivating audiobook. In this classic short story, Melville explores themes of isolation, alienation, and the struggle for individuality in a conformist society. 
  Listeners will be drawn into the enigmatic world of the story's protagonist, Bartleby, a scrivener whose peculiar behavior challenges the norms of the workplace and defies easy explanation. As the narrator grapples with Bartleby's refusal to conform, the story unfolds with a sense of mystery and melancholy that lingers long after the final words. 
  Perfect for fans of classic literature and psychological fiction, "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" offers a thought-provoking exploration of the human condition and the complexities of human relationships. Whether you're a longtime admirer of Melville's work or discovering it for the first time, this audiobook promises to captivate and intrigue. 
  So, if you're ready to delve into a timeless tale of existential angst and societal disillusionment, start listening to "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" today and immerse yourself in the haunting beauty of Herman Melville's prose. Start Listening to "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" today!

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  Vladimir Korolenko - A Short...

  Vladimir Korolenko

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  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko was born in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire on 27th July 1853. 
   
  His father died when he was 13 and life was then often struck with bouts of poverty, which resulted in his education being somewhat erratic.   A spell in exile at 23 was followed by another as the politics of the times opposed his volatile but heart-felt passions. 
   
  Writing was also coming to the fore and in 1879 his debut short story telling of a young Narodnik searching for social and spiritual identity, was published. 
   
  In 1881, Korolenko refused to swear allegiance to the new Russian Tsar and was again exiled, this time much farther afield.  He spent the next three years doing manual work, but took time to study local customs and history.  These impressions in exile provided rich material for his writings. 
   
  In 1885 he was allowed to settle in Nizhny, where again he repeatedly questioned the authorities.  That same year ‘Makar's Dream’ established his literary reputation and was part of his first collection ‘Sketches and Stories’, the following year. 
   
  In the early 1890’s when famine struck Central Russia, he went to work on relief missions, collecting donations, supervising the delivery and distribution of food, opening 45 free canteens, all this while writing the graphic reports that would later be published as ‘In the Year of Famine’ in 1893. 
   
  By 1896 despite some psychological disorders, he was well regarded amongst Russian writers and was even a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Throughout his writing career Korolenko was a staunch advocate of human rights, putting that sacred activity above what he called his 'part-time-writing'. 
   
  In the Revolutionary year of 1905, under his editorship, Russkoye Bogatstvo published the Manifest by the Petersburg Soviet of the Workers' deputies. Korolenko was now repeatedly harassed by the authorities, had his flat raided many times and materials confiscated. 
   
  As a lifetime opponent of Tsarism, he guardedly welcomed the Revolution of 1917.  Once the nature of Bolshevism was established, he soon started to criticize it. During the Russian Civil War that ensued, he condemned both the Red Terror and the White Terror.  
   
  Despite suffering from a progressive heart disorder, he collected food packages for children in famine-stricken Moscow and Petrograd as well as organised orphanages and shelters for the homeless.  
   
  Vladimir Korolenko died in Poltava, Ukraine, of the complications of pneumonia on 25th December 1921.  He was 68. 
   
  1 - Vladimir Korolenko - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  2 - The Village of God by Vladimir Korolenko 
  3 - The Old Bell Ringer by Vladimir Korolenko 
  4 - Neccesity. An Eastern Tale by Vladimir Korolenko 
  5 - Lights by Vladimir Korolenko 
  6 - The Shades, a Phantasy by Vladimir Korolenko

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  Interdimensional Window SHOPping...

  Tao Wong

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  Sometimes what you're buying isn't what they're expecting to sell  
     
  Earth as a new Dungeon World means opportunities and dangers galore. One of the enduring aspects of the System is the Shop, an interdimensional series of stores that compete for the opportunity to service clients and make a profit doing so.  
     
  New clients on a new Dungeon World mean rare and heretofore unseen items and massive profits. No surprise that the vultures have arrived, searching for easy marks.  
     
  Good thing the Council have their own methods of dealing with such matters.  
     
  Interdimensional Window SHOPping is a short story set in the System Apocalypse universe created by Tao Wong. The System Apocalypse is a completed post-apocalyptic LitRPG series.

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  Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge An

  Ambrose Bierce

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  A man is about to be hanged by Union soldiers during the Civil War. As he faces imminent death, his mind conjures a vivid escape fantasy.

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  M R James - Six of the Best -...

  M R James

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  Six has always been a number we group things around – Six of the best, six of one half a dozen of another, six feet under, six pack, six degrees of separation and a sixth sense are but a few of the ways we use this number. 
   
  Such is its popularity that we thought it is also a very good way of challenging and investigating an author’s work to give width, brevity, humour and depth across six of their very best. 
   
  In this series we gather together authors whose short stories both rivet the attention and inspire the imagination to visit their gems in a series of six, to roam across an author’s legacy in a few short hours and gain a greater understanding of their writing and, of course, to be lavishly entertained by their ideas, their narrative and their way with words. 
   
  These stories can be surprising and sometimes at a tangent to what we expected, but each is fully formed and a marvellous adventure into the world and words of a literary master. 
   
  1 - Six of the Best - M R James - An Introduction 
  2 - M R James - An Introduction 
  3 - Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad by M R James 
  4 - The Ash Tree by M R James.wav 
  5 - The Mezzotint by M R James 
  6 - Lost Hearts by M R James 
  7 - Casting the Runes by M R James 
  8 - Count Magnus by M R James

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