The Sunny Side gathers the best short works by the inimitable A. A. Milne. Written for the satire magazine Punch, these brief stories and essays perfectly capture Milne's sly humor, beguiling social insight, and scathing wit. From Odd Verses to War Sketches, Summer Days to Men of Letters, Milne takes his readers... read more »
Take an intergalactic journey with science fiction luminary Harry Harrison. In The Repairman, Harrison recounts the travails of a lone skilled laborer who is charged with the frustrating task of making a crucial repair to malfunctioning equipment on a far-flung planet. read more »
In The Incredulity of Father Brown, G.K. Chesterton treats us to another set of bizarre crimes that only his 'stumpy' Roman Catholic prelate has the wisdom and mindset to solve. As usual, Chesterton loves playing with early twentieth-century class distinctions, 'common-sense' assumptions, and the often anti-Catholic... read more »
Alexandre Dumas weaves the compelling story of Siamese twins who are separated physically but never in spirit. They're raised by two different families, but are still able to 'feel' the emotions of the other, even at a distance. On the island of Corsica they become entwined in the long-running feud between the... read more »
In Beyond the Door, Dick spins the tale of a thoughtful gift that holds unspeakable secrets. Though protagonist Larry Thomas had only the best intentions when he picked out the tchotchke for his wife, it's a decision he'll always regret. read more »
American journalist and action-adventure writer Jack London had a life-long fascination with the indigenous tribes of the Pacific Northwest, and he brings his extensive research and first-hand experience in the region to bear in the fiction he wrote about these communities. read more »
One of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in Weird Tales magazine January 1934. Set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan inadvertently becoming involved in the power play... read more »
Set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan infiltrating a perilous tower in order to steal a fabled gem from an evil sorcerer named Yara. Due to its unique insights into the Hyborian world and atypical science fiction elements, the story is considered a classic of Conan lore and is often cited by... read more »
The Frost-Giant's Daughter is one of the original short stories about Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard, but not published in his lifetime. It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and details Conan pursuing a spectral nymph across the frozen snows of Nordheim. Rejected as a... read more »
Surprise a young reader in your life with this collection of charming and insightful short stories from the pen of author Eleanor H. Porter, best known for the widely acclaimed novel Pollyanna. Touching on an array of engaging subjects and timeless themes, these stories showcase Porter's gift for crafting memorable... read more »
Wodehouse's well-known gift for satisfying plots and comic surprises is evident on every page, but there are also signs of his debt to earlier writers in the realistic tradition. Set mainly in London or New York, many of the stories concern ordinary people - shopassistants, schoolmasters, secretaries, servants... read more »
Lost Face is a collection of seven short stories by Jack London. It takes its named from the first short story in the book, about a European adventurer in the Yukon who outwits his Indian captors' plans to torture him. This collection of rollicking and thought-provoking tales includes some of London's best-known... read more »
The Book of Dreams and Ghosts is an entertaining horror fiction composed of short stories. The narrations play with reader's psychology and drag it to illusions and hallucinations. The author has used a simple plot which is narrated in the plain language. The stories have unnerving twists and turns and seem... read more »
Varta, the last priestess of Asti, lives alone with Lur, a telepath of the lizardfolk, in Asti's isolated mountain retreat. Decadent Memphir has long since drifted away from the austere paths of Asti, and now the barbarians of Klem are sacking the city, and the smoke of its burning drifts up to the temple. read more »
After a devastating war between the United States and the Soviet Union mankind has taken refuge beneath Earth’s surface. But the war continues above ground, with robots called “leadys” fighting on our behalf, or so the humans think. The Defenders was later expanded into a full-length novel entitled The... read more »
Harrison's great science fiction short, The Toy Shop. The gadget was strictly, beyond any question, a toy. Not a real, workable device. Except for the way it could work under a man's mental skin. read more »
Showcasing the talent of one of the greatest novelists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this collection gathers five of Edith Wharton’s short stories. Jealous husbands, spinsters who have wasted away their lives, and bored ladies infatuated with money and aspirations populate these stories that range... read more »
Nestled in the seaside hills of Prince Edward Island, there's a road to a place called Green Gables where a girl named Anne grew up. Here, not far from the cold Atlantic and close to the warmth of a loving heart, is Avonlea. In this second volume of wonderful adventures a ghostly appearance in a garden teaches us... read more »
The year is 1862 and the United States is engaged in a deadly civil war. President Lincoln has ordered the navy to blockade all Southern seaports. Neutral nations, like England, were told not to try and break through the blockade. This story by the classic author, Jules Verne relives the adventures of one English... read more »
Dealing mainly with the mysterious and the inexplicable, these stories lead the reader through the weird, uncharted borderland swayed by the psychic supernatural or invisible powers. Mystery, romance, and adventure abound in them. Contrasting with tales of this type are realistic tales of both the past and the... read more »
Tales of Men and Ghosts consists of ten short stories by Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist Edith Wharton. Previously been printed in Scribner's Magazine and Century Magazine before being collected together in this volume. They are listed here in chronological order of their original publication dates: ... read more »
On Prince Edward Island, where Anne Shirley grew up in the sea-sprayed town of Avonlea, there was no shortage of wonderful stories. There was the case of Ludovic Speed, who wouldn't propose to the woman he had courted for fifteen years until Anne devised a plan to "speed" him up...if it didn't backfire and break his... read more »
Speed never hurt anybody--it's the sudden stop at the end. It's not how much change that signals danger, but how fast it's changing... read more »
Stark terror ruled the Inner-Flight ship on that last Mars-Terra run. For the black-clad Leiters were on the prowl ... and the grim red planet was not far behind. In the distant future, when Earth and Mars are on the verge of war, the last Earthmen departing the red planet are held up by Martian soldiers searching... read more »
St Austin’s School is the setting for these twelve delightful early Wodehouse stories. A nostalgic look at English public-school life at the turn of the twentieth century, the cricket-filled tales are made enjoyable today by the young Wodehouse’s gentle humor and witty turn of phrase. read more »
Memorable short stories by a great American writer. "Coming, Aphrodite!" is an unforgettable novella of a young artist in New York and his relationship with a girl who hopes to become an opera star. "Paul's Case" reveals the frustration and pain of a lonely youth from the provinces who escapes to NYC for a brief... read more »
In the stories that comprise The Troll Garden, her first book, Willa Cather evokes the devastated, romantic dreams that haunt her characters. Artists, inveterate sentimentalists, hungering beauties, and demon-ridden ascetics find themselves torn between the need to confess and keep secret their private aspirations... read more »
Like the celebrated "Klondike Tales," the stories that comprise "South Sea Tales" derive their intensity from the author's own far-flung adventures, conveying an impassioned, unsparing vision borne only of experience. The powerful tales gathered here vividly evoke the turn-of-the-century colonial Pacific and its... read more »
Father Brown is a fictional character created by English novelist G. K. Chesterton, who appears in 50 short stories. Father Brown's powers of detection allow him to sit beside the immortal Sherlock Holmes but he is also, to quote Rufus King, 'in all senses a most pleasantly fascinating human being'. You will be... read more »
"Old Rambling House" is a short story by science fiction author Frank Herbert which first appeared in Galaxy magazine in 1958 and later in Herbert's 1985 short story collection The Worlds of Frank Herbert. It is notable for its atmosphere and the dystopian multiverse in which no hope of freedom is left, which is... read more »