The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents is a collection of fifteen fantasy and science fiction short stories written by the English author H. G. Wells between 1893 and 1895. It was first published by Methuen & Co. in 1895 and was Wells's first book of short stories. All of the stories had first been published in... read more »
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 »
The story follows an unnamed narrator who visits a mental institution in southern France known for a revolutionary new method of treating mental illnesses called the "system of soothing." A companion with whom he is travelling knows Monsieur Maillard, the originator of the system, and makes introductions before... read more »
It takes much deception, betrayal, and madness to commit a murder. Even more madness to cover up that murder. In this haunting tale we follow the detailed planning involved to rid the world of an Evil Eye. Will the beating of the tell-tale heart reveal the truth to the police? read more »
Daniel Upton, the story's narrator, begins by telling that he has killed his best friend, Edward Derby, and that he hopes his account will prove that he is not a murderer... The Thing on the Doorstep is an important part of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. 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 »
When noted English writer William Somerset Maugham set off for the South Seas to regain his health, he gathered the materials and wrote the stories represented here. These are among Maugham's best, and the best stories ever written about the exotic South Seas. 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 »
A very English rendering of the classic Spanish novel La burlada Aminta y venganza del honor (Mocked Aminta and honor's vengence). Behn's story has a somewhat different beginning and a completely altered ending. Aminta, in her very early teens, becomes a rich orphan of Segovia. Her uncle, following her fathers will... read more »
The Terran system is growing and expanding all the time. But an old and corrupt Centaurian Empire is holding Terra down, as it encircles the Terran system and will not let the humans grow out of their current empire. For this reason Terra is at war with Proxima Centauri and is trying to find a way of breaking free... read more »
This classic short story from sci-fi luminary Harry Harrison offers a sympathetic glimpse into the inner lives of robots. In the future, society has grown ever more dependent on these super-intelligent machines, but despite their increasing autonomy, robots are still looked down on as second-class citizens. The... read more »
For this collection, Andrew Lang gathered African, Scandinavian, Egyptian and even Babylonian stoires. While they may not be familiar to you, they are an excellent insight into various cultures, to show that despite our skin color, we all share similar belief systems and family values. read more »
The story is told by Albert N. Wilmarth, an instructor of literature at Miskatonic University in Arkham. When local newspapers report strange things seen floating in rivers during a historic Vermont flood, Wilmarth becomes embroiled in a controversy about the reality and significance of the sightings, though he... read more »
In this classic short story, Chekhov takes a snapshot of the Russian life, illuminating the harsh complexities and yet subtle simplicities that interact seamlessly together. The cold and gloom of the Russian environment cannot compare to the relationship that Pavel Andreitch, a rich aristocratic, has with his wife... 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 »
Anton Checkhov's The Witch and other stories is one of his many collection of short stories. Included in this book are fifteen of Chekhov's; The Witch, Peasant Wives, The Post, The New Villa, Dreams, The Pipe, Agafya, At Christmas Time, Gusev, The Student, In the Ravine, The Huntsman, Happiness, A Malefactor... read more »
Volume two of the complete works in five volumes from one of the leaders of the American Romantics. Macabre parties in isolated castles … Gruesome bestial murders … Talking ravens, hellish black pits, innocents buried alive … Prepare to be chilled and enthralled by the haunting genius of the acknowledged... read more »
Volume two of the complete works in five volumes from one of the leaders of the American Romantics. Macabre parties in isolated castles … Gruesome bestial murders … Talking ravens, hellish black pits, innocents buried alive … Prepare to be chilled and enthralled by the haunting genius of the acknowledged... read more »
Volume three of the complete works in five volumes from one of the leaders of the American Romantics. Macabre parties in isolated castles … Gruesome bestial murders … Talking ravens, hellish black pits, innocents buried alive … Prepare to be chilled and enthralled by the haunting genius of the acknowledged... read more »
Volume four of the complete works in five volumes from one of the leaders of the American Romantics. Macabre parties in isolated castles … Gruesome bestial murders … Talking ravens, hellish black pits, innocents buried alive … Prepare to be chilled and enthralled by the haunting genius of the acknowledged... read more »
The Yellow Wall-Paper is written as the secret journal of a woman who, failing to relish the joys of marriage and motherhood, is sentenced to a country rest cure. Though she longs to write, her husband and doctor forbid it, prescribing instead complete passivity. In the involuntary confinement of her bedroom, the... read more »
While the three ghosts that visited Ebenezer Scrooge was Charles Dickens' most famous apparitions, his interest in the supernatural did not end there. Three Ghost Stories is just that: a collection of three different stories that are true Gothic classics. The three stories, The Signal Man, The Haunted House and The... read more »
First published in 1877, these three stories are dominated by questions of doubt, love, loneliness and religious experience, and together form a triumphant conclusion to Flaubert's literary career. Includes "The Dance of Death," "The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller," and "A Simple Soul." read more »
Toast is a collection of science fiction short stories first published in 2002. The subtitle of the collection refers to the way that predictions of the future in SF stories become rapidly obsolete by the progress of actual events. For example, the 1995 story Ship of Fools was a prediction of disaster due to the Y2K... read more »
Far in the future, Earth's empire has grown to include dozens of different civilizations, many of which have been subjugated to serve humanity's growing need for cheap labor. In the short story Tony and the Beetles, a young boy hatches an unlikely friendship with some of the insect-like creatures that are treated as... 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 »
A collection of short stories of travel, this is a great read for anyone and considered a classic by some; it captures the magic of the open road. read more »
Trouble is My Business is a collection of four riveting novellas from Raymond Chandler. In the first of the four cases LA PI Philip Marlowe is offered a job that leaves a bad taste in the mouth: smearing a girl who's 'got her hooks into a rich man's pup'. Before too long Marlowe's up to his neck in corpses and cops... read more »
In Twelve stories and a Dream, the reader will find a surprising Wells extending your search to the fantastic and humorous to the motley recreation of a common bond that unites characters: the emergence in their lives an unusual event, strange, that leads to the most unexpected and hilarious situations... the rogue... read more »
'A pair of lunatics, you two,' observed Harrison. He squinted through the port at the gray gloom of the Mare Cimmerium. 'There comes the sun.' He paused. 'Listen, Dick--you and Leroy take the other auxiliary rocket and go out and salvage those films.' read more »