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  The Best of Mary Diana Dods -...

  Mary Diana Dods

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  Delve into the works and mystery of an LGBTQ+ author whom historians are still trying to unravel over 200 years later. Previously known only as a quiet but intelligent wallflower friend of renowned author Mary Shelley, Mary Diana Dods is far from an ordinary Eighteenth-century daughter of an Earl.  Throughout their life, they lived under three identities. First was their birth name, Mary Diana Dods. Due to the negative opinions of women authors during this time, they adopted the pseudonym, David Lyndsay, which was the pen name under which they published much of their work. Most intriguing of all, they fully transitioned to an additional male identity of scholar and diplomat, Walter Sholto Douglas, for the latter part of their personal life.  Until Mary Shelley expert Betty T. Bennett’s research in 1991, it was believed that Dods, Lyndsay, and Sholto Douglas were all separate individuals. By studying a series of letters sent to Shelley, Bennett discovered that all correspondents were in fact the same person. Since this research, historians have been working tirelessly to uncover the truth behind the life of this groundbreaking author whom society has forgotten.

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  Clairvoyance - From their pens...

  D K Broster

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  Dorothy Kathleen Broster was born on 2nd September 1877 at Devon Lodge in Grassendale Park, Garston, Liverpool. 
  At 16, the family moved to Cheltenham, where she attended Cheltenham Ladies' College and then on to St Hilda’s College, Oxford to read history, where she was one of the first female students, although at this time women were not awarded degrees. 
  Broster served as secretary to Charles Harding Firth, a Professor of History for several years, and collaborated on several of his works. Her first two novels were co-written with a college friend, Gertrude Winifred Taylor. 
  With the Great War interrupting her literary ambitions she served as a Red Cross nurse at a Franco-American hospital, but returned to England with a knee infection in 1916.  
  After the war, she moved near to Battle in East Sussex and took up writing full-time.  
  In 1920 she at last received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from Oxford. 
  Her novels, mainly historical fiction, peaked in popularity with ‘The Flight of the Heron’, in 1925, a best-seller followed up by two sequels. 
  As well as poetry and various articles she also wrote several short stories, the best known of which is a classic of weird fiction ‘The Couching at the Door’ in which an artist appears to be haunted by a mysterious entity. 
  An intensely private individual many readers deduced from her name that she was both a man and Scottish. 
  D K Broster died in Bexhill Hospital on 7th February 1950.  She was 73.

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  At Christmas Time - From their...

  Anton Chekhov

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  Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born on 29th January 1860 in Taganrog, on the south coast of Russia.  
  His family life was difficult; his father was strict and over-bearing but his mother was a passionate story-teller, a subject Chekhov warmed to. As he later said; ‘our talents we got from our father, but our soul from our mother’.  
  At school Chekhov was distinctly average. At 16 his father mis-managed his finances and was declared bankrupt. His family fled to Moscow. Chekhov remained and eked out a living by various means, including writing and selling short sketches to newspapers, to finish his schooling. That completed and with a scholarship to Moscow University obtained he rejoined his family. 
  He was able to help support them by selling satirical sketches and vignettes of Russian lifestyles and gradually obtained further commissions. In 1884, he qualified as a physician and, although it earned him little, he often treated the poor for free, he was fond of saying ‘Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress.’ 
  His own health was now an issue as he began to cough up blood, a symptom of tuberculosis.  Despite this his writing success enabled him to move the family into more comfortable accommodation.  
  Chekhov wrote over 500 short stories which included many, many classics including ‘The Kiss’ and ‘The Lady with a Dog’.  His collection ‘At Dusk’ won him the coveted Pushkin Prize when was only 26.  
  He was also a major playwright beginning with the huge success of ‘Ivanov’ in 1887.   
  In 1892 Chekhov bought a country estate north of Moscow. Here his medical skills and money helped the peasants tackle outbreaks of cholera and bouts of famine. He also built three schools, a fire station and a clinic.  It left him with less time for writing but the interactions with real people gained him detailed knowledge about the peasantry and their living conditions for his stories.  
  His most famous work, ‘The Seagull’ was received disastrously at its premiere in St Petersburg. It was later restaged in Moscow to highlight its psychological aspects and was a huge success. It led to ‘Uncle Vanya’, ‘The Three Sisters’ and ‘The Cherry Orchard’.  
  Chekhov suffered a major lung hemorrhage in 1897 while visiting Moscow. A formal diagnosis confirmed tuberculosis and the doctors ordered changes to his lifestyle.  
  Despite a dread of weddings the elusive literary bachelor quietly married the actress Olga Knipper, whom he had met at rehearsals for ‘The Seagull’, on 25th May 1901. 
  By May 1904 with his tuberculosis worsening and death imminent he set off for the German town of Badenweiler writing cheerful, witty letters to his family and assuring them his health was improving.  
  On 15th July 1904 Anton Chekhov died at Badenweiler.  He was 44.

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  The Light That Burns

  Karyne Norton

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  This is a tragedy. 
  It’s also a love story with threads of hope. 
  But it’s important that you go into it expecting a tragedy. 
  In The Half-Light Chronicles, nearly every book and story references Lovers’ Falls, a waterfall near the center of Vendaras inhabited by sprites. It’s named for the skeletons embracing at the cave’s entrance, and its origin is a favorite story among bards and storytellers because it can be tweaked to emphasize various morals, making it a warning or inspiration, depending on the audience’s need. 
  But this version is the true story, the one that tells just how the skeletons got there (hence the tragedy) and how their story connects to others you may know.

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  Falls Confession

  Dawn Blair

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  He fed the wrong snake and it led to his doom. 
  As a champion, Fall fights for the side of good, until that moment when he doesn’t. Chaos needs attention too or the universe tilts out of balance. Now incarcerated, they press for Fall’s confession: why did he do it? 
  Can his actions make up for his heinous crime and let good once again triumph over what he has done? 
  A standalone, fantasy short story from the Wells of the Onesong series by the author of 1-800-Mischief and The Doorway Prince.

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  A Holiday Task

  Saki Saki

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  In a bustling dining hall at the Golden Galleon Hotel, Kenelm Jerton finds himself seated next to a mysterious young woman who has lost her memory and identity. She recalls only that she holds a title, and in her quest to discover who she is, she humorously engages Jerton in a series of tests to eliminate potential identities. As their conversation unfolds, she reveals her whimsical approach to piecing together her past, including an extravagant lunch choice and a failed bet on a horse race.

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