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  Of the New Reign (Unabridged)

  H. G. Wells

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  Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 - 13 August 1946) was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, history, satire, biography and autobiography. His work also included two books on recreational war games. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is often called the "father of science fiction", along with Jules Verne and the publisher Hugo Gernsback.
  OF THE NEW REIGN: The bunting and the crimson vanish from the streets. Already the vast army of improvised carpenters that the Coronation has created set themselves to the work of demolition, and soon every road that converges upon Central London will be choked again with great loads of timber-but this time going outward-as our capital emerges from this unprecedented inundation of loyalty. The most elaborately conceived, the most stately of all recorded British Coronations is past.

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  Esme - From their pens to your...

  Saki Saki

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  Hector Hugh Munro, more familiarly known by his pen-name ‘Saki’ was born in what was then Akyab in British Burma on 18th December 1870. His father was an Inspector General for the Indian Imperial Police, and his mother the daughter of a Rear Admiral. 
  When he was 2 his mother died and he and his siblings were sent back to England to be raised by their grandmother and paternal maiden aunts in a strict, puritanical household near Barnstaple, Devon. Educated by governesses Saki used many of these women as character models for his later writing. 
  At 17 his father retried and returned to England and then embarked on a series of European travels with Saki and his siblings. 
  After a short stint working in Burma with the Indian Imperial Police Saki decided to move to London to make a living as a writer. Initially he wrote as a journalist for a number of newspapers and magazines before attempting an historical study, ‘The Rise of the Russian Empire’, whose real value lay in directing him to writing short stories instead, the first of which, ‘Dogged’, he published in 1899. 
  From here it was a short stab of the pen to writing political satire before in 1902 he became the foreign correspondent for The Morning Post, first in the Balkans, then Russia, Paris and back to London in 1908, where 'the agreeable life of a man of letters with a brilliant reputation awaited him.'  
  Collections of his short stories full of witty, mischievous and often macabre stories that satirized Edwardian society and two novels now appeared in the years up to the Great War.  At its’ outbreak he was 43 but managed to join as an ordinary trooper. More than once he returned to the battlefield when officially too sick or injured.  
  On 14th November 1916 Hector Hugh Munro was sheltering in crater during the Battle of the Ancre, when he was shot and killed by a German sniper. According to several sources, his last words were "Put that bloody cigarette out!"

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  To Helen II

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  To Helen II: Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories.
  
  Helen, thy beauty is to me
  Like those Nicean barks of yore,
  That gently, o’er a perfumed sea,
  The weary way-worn wanderer bore
  To his own native shore.

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  Les Misérables: Volume 3: Marius...

  Victor Hugo

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  Victor-Marie Hugo (26 February 1802 - 22 May 1885) was a French poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote abundantly in an exceptional variety of genres: lyrics, satires, epics, philosophical poems, epigrams, novels, history, critical essays, political speeches, funeral orations, diaries, and letters public and private, as well as dramas in verse and prose.
  BOOK 3: THE GRANDFATHER AND THE GRANDSON: When M. Gillenormand lived in the Rue Servandoni, he had frequented many very good and very aristocratic salons. Although a bourgeois, M. Gillenormand was received in society. As he had a double measure of wit, in the first place, that which was born with him, and secondly, that which was attributed to him, he was even sought out and made much of.

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  Elderbush The - Story Time...

  Hans Christian Andersen

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  Once upon a time there was a little boy who had taken cold. He had gone out and got his feet wet; though nobody could imagine how it had happened, for it was quite dry weather. So his mother undressed him, put him to bed, and had the tea-pot brought in, to make him a good cup of Elderflower tea. Just at that moment the merry old man came in who lived up a-top of the house all alone; for he had neither wife nor children--but he liked children very much, and knew so many fairy tales, that it was quite delightful...

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  Better Angel

  Richard Meeker

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  ""Better Angel" is a novel by Forman Brown, initially published in 1933 under the pseudonym Richard Meeker. Later, it was republished as "Torment" in 1951. This early novel offers a portrayal of a gay lifestyle without condemnation. In fact, Christopher Carey hailed it as the ""first homosexual novel with a truly happy ending"".    The title of the novel alludes to Shakespeare's Sonnet 144, which includes the line: "the better angel is a man right fair". This poem has been interpreted as having a homosexual subtext12.    The plot follows the journey of Kurt Gray, whose experiences mirror those of the author, Forman Brown. Kurt's life unfolds from his adolescent years in central Michigan to adulthood as a musician and composer. His story encompasses solitude, religious awakening, same-sex relationships, and intellectual exploration. The love affair between Kurt and another man, Derry, forms a central theme, along with their relationship with a third man named Tony. Notably, Brown based these characters on real individuals, including himself and his long-time lover, Harry Burnett.    Despite its initial lack of critical attention, "Better Angel" remains a significant work. It resurfaced in 1987 under its original title, with an introduction by Hubert Kennedy. Brown, who had used a pseudonym to protect his writing career and family, provided an epilogue for the 1990 reprint, explaining his reasons for anonymity.    This novel stands as a testament to the courage of early LGBTQ+ literature and offers a glimpse into the complexities of identity, love, and acceptance during a time when such themes were often silenced"

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