Publisher: John Henry Goldfrap
"Isn't it a dandy picture—the real thing—just as I've always imagined it. Herc!" Ned Strong wheeled from the gaudily colored lithograph he had been admiring, and turned to a red-headed youth of about his own age—almost eighteen—who stood beside him in the postoffice and general store at Lambs' Corners, a remote village in the Catskill mountains.
'Fresh and disturbing stories mapping out the pressure points in the psychedelic everyday - Rees consistently reaches the places others do not.' – Will Wiles, author of Plume 'Gareth E Rees propels us into a vast and uncanny future; showing us brief snatches of a world to come. A poignant message delivered with guile, wit and beauty.' – Matt Wesolowski, author of Demon 'Strange, compelling and brilliantly funny.' – Matt Wesolowski, author of Demon Ten tragicomic tales of environmental and personal disaster from the margins of town and country. A troubled hipster is seduced by an electricity pylon. Sinister omens manifest in a supermarket car park. A motorway bridge becomes a father. Malevolent bacteria plague a polar icebreaker. A bioengineered abomination lurks in a Gloucestershire railway terminus. The weekly bin collection pushes a man over the edge. A former squatter clings to her home on a crumbling cliff. Joyriders are foiled by Anglo Saxon floodwaters. Vampiric entities stalk B&Q. And fiery catastrophe comes to the zoo. Gareth E. Rees's first collection of short fiction explores lives on the verge of breakdown, where ordinary people are driven to extremes by the effects of late capitalism and ecological collapse.Show book
Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific English writer of science fiction stories and novels and is frequently credited as being the father of science fiction.The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents is a superb and varied collection of 15 of Wells' best stories, first published in 1894. 'The Stolen Bacillus' 'The Flowering of the Strange Orchid' 'In the Avu Observatory' 'The Triumphs of a Taxidermist' 'A Deal in Ostriches' 'Through a Window' 'The Temptation of Haringay' 'The Flying Man' 'The Diamond Maker' 'Aepyornis Island' 'The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes' 'The Lord of the Dynamos' 'The Hammerpond Park Burglary' 'The Moth' 'The Treasure in the Forest'Show book
The Short Stories Of Rabindranath Tagore. The short story is often viewed as an inferior relation to the Novel but it is an art in itself. To take a story and distil its essence into fewer pages while keeping character and plot rounded and driven is not an easy task. Many try and many fail. Rabindranth Tagore was one to succeed as this audiobook ably demonstrates. We venture to the East to meet the poet and story teller who speaks a common language of love and mysticism which continues to convey valuable insights into universal themes in contemporary society. Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) who was a gifted Bengali Renaissance man, distinguishing himself as a philosopher, social and political reformer and a popular author in all literary genres. He was instrumental in an increased freedom for the press and influenced Gandhi and the founders of modern India. He composed hundreds of songs which are still sung today as they include the Indian and Bangladesh’s national anthems. His prolific literary life has left a legacy of quality novels, essays and in this volume his shorter works. Gitanjali, one of his most famous works, earned him the distinction of being the first Asian writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. Among our readers are Richard Mitchley, Shyama Perera and Ghizela Rowe.Show book
Theatre Royal. The very name summons up something of grandeur and eloquence. And it was. Hosted by Laurence Olivier, these big-name productions also included the creme de la creme of acting talents from John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, and Orson Welles to Trevor Howard, Michael Redgrave and Olivier himself. They were based on works by the worlds’ leading authors, among them Charles Dickens, Henry James, Oscar Wilde and Anton Chekhov. These are but a few of whose company we shall be keeping as we raise the curtain on our first instalment of theatrical history.Show book
Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 in the Russian province of Tula to a wealthy noble family. As a child, he had private tutors but he showed little interest in any formal education. When he went to the University of Kazan in 1843 to study oriental languages and law, he left without completing his courses. Life now was relaxed and idle but with some writing also taking place. Gambling debts forced an abrupt change of path and he joined the army to fight in the Crimean War. He was commended for his bravery and promoted but was appalled at the brutality and loss of life. He recorded these and other earlier experiences in his diaries which formed the basis of several of his works. In 1852 ‘Childhood’ was published to immediate success and was followed by ‘Boyhood’ and ‘Youth’. His experience in the army and the horrors he witnessed resulted in ‘The Cossacks’ in 1862 and the trilogy ‘Sevastopol Tales’. After the war he travelled around Europe, visiting London and Paris and meeting such luminaries as Victor Hugo and Charles Darwin. It was now that Tolstoy began his masterpiece, ‘War and Peace’. Published in 1869 it was an epic work that changed literature. He quickly followed this with ‘Anna Karenina’. These successes made Tolstoy rich and helped him accomplish many of his dreams but also brought problems as he grappled with his faith and the lot of the oppressed poor. These revolutionary views became so popular that the authorities now kept him under surveillance. He led a life of asceticism and vegetarianism and put his socialist ideals into practice by establishing numerous schools for the poor and food programmes. He also believed in giving away his wealth, which caused much discord with his wife. His writing continued to bring forth classics such as ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ and many brilliant and incisive short stories such as ‘How Much Land Does A Man Need’. In 1901 Tolstoy was excommunicated from the Church and controversially deselected for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Whilst undertaking a pilgrimage by train in October 1910 with his daughter Aleksandra he caught pneumonia in the nearby town of Astapovo. Leo Tolstoy died on November 9th, 1910, he was 82. 01 - Leo Tolstoy - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 02 - Diary of a Lunatic by Leo Tolstoy 03 - A Dialogue Among Clever People by Leo Tolstoy 04 - Aloysha The Pot by Leo Tolstoy 05 - God Sees The Truth But Waits by Leo Tolstoy 06 - How Much Land Does A Man Need by Leo TolstoyShow book
Sanditon—an eleven-chapter fragment left at Jane Austen's death completed by an Austen devotee and novelist— is a charming addition to Austen's novels on England's privileged classes and the deception, snobbery, and unexpected romances that occur in their world. When Charlotte Heywood accepts an invitation to visit the newly fashionable seaside resort of Sanditon, she is introduced to a full range of polite society, from reigning local dowager Lady Denham to her impoverished ward Clara, and from the handsome, feckless Sidney Parker to his amusing, if hypochondriac, sisters. A heroine whose clear-sighted commens sense is often at war with romance, Charlotte cannot help observing around her both folly and passion in many guises. But can the levelheaded Charlotte herself resist the desires of the heart?Show book
