Publisher: Sovereign
The Antiquary is about several characters including an antiquary: an amateur historian, archaeologist and collector of items of dubious antiquity. He is the eponymous character and for all practical purposes the hero, though the characters of Lovel and Isabella Wardour provide the conventional love interest.
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. The Century moves on decade by decade. War once again scars Europe, in America wagons roll west. Social unrest continues even as conditions improve markedly for the few and only a little for the many. The list of problems and of challenges described by our authors is long and their stories once again full of valuable and telling insights. 01 - The Top 10 - The 1870's - The Men - An Introduction 02 - Bobok by Fyodor Dostevesky 03 - A Ghost Story by Mark Twain 04 - God Sees The Truth But Waits by Leo Tolstoy 05 - Dickon the Devil by Sheridan Le Fanu 06 - The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller by Gustave Flaubert 07 - A Strange Story by Ivan Turgenev 08 - A Lonely Ride by Bret Harte 09 - Coward by Vsevolod Garshin 10 - The Man Without a Body by Edward Page Mitchell 11 - The Vampire by Jan NerudaShow book
Set during the Tudor period of English history, When Knighthood Was in Flower tells the tribulations of Mary Tudor, a younger sister of Henry VIII of England who has fallen in love with a commoner. However, for political reasons, King Henry has arranged for her to wed King Louis XII of France and demands his sister put the House of Tudor first, threatening, "You will marry France and I will give you a wedding present – Charles Brandon's head!" (Summary adapted from Wikipedia)Show book
A fictionalized story of a true-life genius that “reads . . . like one of John le Carr[é]’s espionage novels” (New York Journal of Books). This account of the inner life of Nikola Tesla—arguably the most influential inventor in history—is a work of speculative fiction that reveals a genius whose greatest desire was to share his inventions with the world. It offers a compelling portrait of his passionate side, especially his secret love for his muse Karina, a woman no one else can see who brings him life-altering inspirations. Tesla’s love and obsession with Karina are the forces driving his work and motivating him in the face of a doubting world. Tesla maintains a loner’s life while working alongside some of the greatest financial and scientific powerhouses of the age, and faces constant temptation to stray from Karina and his life’s work. This portrait of a larger-than-life genius brings to light his very human side. “Flacco does an admirable job of showing us a man who was sometimes the brilliant, prescient Master—the man with an eidetic memory—and sometimes the helpless dupe of lesser, venial men. . . . A beautifully crafted handling of a difficult—and not always sympathetic—subject.” —Historical Novel SocietyShow book
Philo, a fisherman's son lives in Phoenicia in the first century. Evil hangs over the family and it seems to come from his sister. Rumours reach Sidon of a prophet with amazing healing powers, but even the mention of his name has disastrous effect. Philo runs away from home. Wherever he goes he hears more news of this strange prophet. Who is he? What is he doing? What is the source of his power?Show book
When an ancient document, written by Tom Hardy, the cabin boy aboard the Fortuyn, surfaces, it reveals he was the sole survivor of the stricken Dutch East India vessel and the gruesome events he witnessed that claimed both vessel and crew. Because the terrible events he witnessed onboard were too fantastical to be believed, Tom kept the truth a secret. However, in an attempt to quell his reoccurring nightmares, he wrote down the events leading to the demise of the crew and the Fortuyn. It is believed by some that the Fortuyn is the lost ship that haunts the seas and has become known as The Flying Dutchman. Centuries after Tom's death, and keeping his original title The true catastrophic events of the Fortuyn as witnessed by Tom Hardy, the sole survivor from the aforementioned vessel, the truth can, at last, be revealed. A ghost ship, also known as a phantom ship, is a vessel with no living crew aboard. These encompass ghostly vessels from folklore and fiction, such as the Flying Dutchman, or a derelict found adrift with its crew missing or dead, like the Mary Celeste. In maritime folklore, the ghost ship, the Flying Dutchman, has had an impact like no other lost vessel. It has inspired numerous paintings, films, books, opera, etc. The alleged captain, Van der Decken, was on a heading for the East Indies when a ferocious storm overwhelmed them. With sheer determination, he tried to steer his ship through the hostile weather conditions the Cape of Good Hope was famous for but failed miserably even after he vowed to drift until doomsday. Legend declares that since then, ship and crew have been cursed to sail the oceans for eternity. To this day, hundreds of sailors are credited to having witnessed the Flying Dutchman continuing its never-ending voyage across the waters. Tom's story of the Flying Dutchman, however, is considerably more chilling…Show book
The story of magic mushrooms told through the voices of women who, with threads of different colors, bordered a tapestry that tells a story of magic mushrooms that has never been told before.Show book
