Other books that might interest you

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  Bartleby the Scrivener

  Herman Melville

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  Herman Melville was born in New York City on 1st August 1819.   
   
  At the age of 7 Melville contracted scarlet fever which permanently diminished his eyesight. Add this to a contemporary description of being "very backwards in speech and somewhat slow in comprehension" and his opportunities for success seemed limited. 
   
  His father died when he was 12 leaving the family in very straitened times. 2 years later Melville took a job in a bank and followed up with a failed stint as a surveyor. He went to sea and travelled across to Liverpool and then to the Pacific on adventures which included a mutiny, being jailed and falling in love with a South Pacific beauty. He was also a figure of opposition to the coercion of native Hawaiians to the Christian religion.  These experiences helped provide the novels ‘Typee’, ‘Omoo’, and ‘White-Jacket’. 
   
  By 1851 his ambitious masterpiece, ‘Moby Dick’, was ready to be published.  It never sold out its initial print run of 3,000 and Melville’s earnings on his masterpiece was a mere $556.37. 
   
  In succeeding years his reputation waned, life was increasingly difficult.  His family was growing and a stable income was essential. Melville took the advice of friends to try public lecturing, as others had, to increase his revenues. He embarked on three successful lecture tours, speaking on Roman statuary and sightseeing in Rome.  
   
  In 1876 he was at last able to publish privately his 16,000 line epic poem ‘Clarel’. It was to no avail.  The book had an initial printing of 350 copies, but sales failed miserably. 
   
  It was only in late 1885 that Melville was at last able to retire after his wife inherited several legacies, enough to provide them with a reasonable income. 
   
   
  Herman Melville, novelist, poet, short story writer and essayist, died at his home on 28th September 1891 from cardiovascular disease. 
   
  Perhaps his best known short story is ‘Bartleby, the Scrivener’ an enduring story of a Wall Street lawyer and his very particular assistant.

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  The Right Hand of Doom

  Robert E. Howard

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  Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) was an American author who wrote weird fiction and terrifying horror stories.The Right Hand of Doom features one of his most fascinating characters, the puritan Soloman Kane. Kane is staying at an inn where in the taproom a braggard is boasting about having brought the evil necromancer Roger Simeon to justice.Simeon is to be hanged the next day. The necromancer has vowed revenge on the man who betrayed him...and that night, Kane is awakened by strange sounds in the room next to his in the inn. He goes to investigate and witnesses a scene more terrible and bizarre than anything he could ever have imagined....

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  Bedtime Stories for Stressed Out...

  Carol Russell

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  Looking for a way to unwind after a stressful day? Enter the state of tranquility with these adult bedtime stories! 
  Listening to a short tale will get you in the mood to sleep and prepare you for your journey to dreamland. 
  As you grew up, you probably stopped asking for these nightly story sessions. You saw it as corny, childish, or you just didn’t have the time. But what if a bedtime story’s effectiveness goes beyond childhood? It turns out adults can still benefit, too! 
  Whether you’re stressed or simply trying to get in that sleepy mood, listening to bedtime stories is an effective way of getting yourself ready for sleeping. 
  The best part is you don’t even have to read them! While some people still prefer reading, technology makes it possible for you to listen to them instead. Audiobooks, and most recently, podcasts, give you the power to choose when and where you want to enjoy them. 
  Allow your body to enter the state of absolute tranquility and restful sensation so you feel more rested than ever before. 
   

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  The Death of Ivan Ilyitch

  Leo Tolstoy

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  Hailed as one of the world's supreme masterpieces on the subject of death and dying, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is the story of a worldly careerist, a high court judge who has never given the inevitability of his dying so much as a passing thought. But one day, death announces itself to him, and to his shocked surprise, he is brought face to face with his own mortality

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  A Fleet In Being

  Rudyard Kipling

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  Kipling became involved in the debate over the British response to the rise in German naval power known as the Tirpitz Plan to build a fleet to challenge the Royal Navy, publishing a series of articles in 1898 which were collected as "A Fleet in Being". And as always with Kipling there is that wonderful sardonic humor and attention to the lower orders of being.

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  Outspan The: Tales of South Africa

  Sir James Percy Fitzpatrick

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  Six poignant short stories reminiscent of life as a transport rider in the Transvaal veld in the days of the gold rush in South Africa at the end of the 19th century. From an early age Fitzpatrick believed that life should be enjoyed to the full and his honest and often moving style of writing leaves one richer for having known him.  (Summary by SallyMc)

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