By: H. Beam Piper -
The Lane Fleming collection of early pistols and revolvers was one of the best in the country. When Fleming was found dead on the floor of his locked gunroom, a Confederate-made Colt-type percussion .36 revolver in his hand, …
Meeting failure in his search for wealth in the 1851 Australian gold rush, a dispirited Mr. Cole takes the next available ship back to England -- and falls in love with Eva Denison, a beautiful and accomplished young woman traveling with her exotic …
The word Haw-ho-noo was originally applied to America by the Iroquois Indians, and signifies the country upheld on the back of a turtle; and my reasons for employing it on the present occasion are simply these—a portion of the volume is devoted to t…
This engrossing tale presents as its central theme the ultimately unknowable – and untameable – essence of nature and the natural world. Told from several different perspectives, the story focuses on a freak fatal accident that is written off as a w…
He sought the answer to a witch's curse among the very fiends of Hell! First, a dancing girl tried to stab him. Then, a snake sprang at him out of thin air. Finally, a phantom woman appeared in the darkness of his sleeping chamber - wicked, lustful,…
The robots were built to serve Man; to do his work, see to his comforts, make smooth his way. Then the robots figured out an additional service--putting Man out of his misery.
Based on the psychological complexities of human mind, the work is pervaded by a mysterious aura. A drink opens the inner eye of the protagonist. What follows is a mind-boggling tale of eeriness and reality.
Although he is now revered as the author of such long-form masterworks as Great Expectations, Charles Dickens' short stories ranked among his most popular creative endeavors during his lifetime. Like many of his Christmas-themed stories, "The Seven …
X turned up in due course. My treasures are disposed in three large rooms without carpets and curtains. There is no other furniture than the itaghres and the glass cases whose contents shall be worth a fortune to my heirs. I allow no fires to be lig…
poignant tale in which Zola highlights the futility of war and the destruction it causes. The happiness and peace of the protagonists is wrecked when Prussian soldiers enter their village. Zola has excelled himself in the in-depth portrayal of huma…
MR. MANNERING was called "the Captain" in the village of Woodern Green, which is on the southern edge of Buckingham. Possibly because of his military appearance and the frigidity of his manner; though why captains are supposed to be frigid nobody kn…
These eight delightful chapters or stories, reminiscent of the childhood of each of us, are brimming with adventure and pleasure. Here are the joys of youth which grown-up Olympians can no longer experience and only remember, if at all, with nostalg…
In this warm and fanciful story of a Connecticut farmer, Marion Zimmer Bradley has caught some of the glory that is man's love for man—no matter who he is nor whence he's from. By heck, you'll like little Matt.
'Tickets Please' returns Lawrence to his native Nottingham during the war. The social revolution of women doing jobs previously done by men, also begins to change the relationship between the sexes and the women in the story are aggressive and wanti…
Two friends are midway on a canoe trip down the Danube River. Throughout the story Blackwood personifies the surrounding environment—river, sun, wind—and imbues them with a powerful and ultimately threatening character. Most ominous are the masses o…
The last enemy was the toughest of all—and conquering him was in itself almost as dangerous as not conquering. For a strange pattern of beliefs can make assassination an honorable profession!
The figure of my wife came in... it came straight towards the bed... its wide eyes were open and looked at me with love unspeakable'Edith Nesbit, best known as the author of The Railway Children and other children's classics, was also the mistress …
How a Stock Exchange Scare Dislocated the Life of the Empire For Two Days, a story in the "Doom of London" series in which the author sounds the clarion call of potential disasters that my befall the great city. Here, it is the tale of an investment…
The condemned man stands on a bridge, his hands bound behind his back. A noose is tied around his neck. In a moment he will meet his fate: DEATH BY HANGING. There is no escape. Or is there? Find out in . . . An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.
Bran Mak Morn, King of the Picts, vows revenge on the Roman governor Titus Sulla after witnessing the crucifixion of a fellow Pict. He seeks forbidden aid from the Worms of the Earth, a race of creatures who were once men but after generations of li…
Earth is being attacked by horrible black monsters that appear from nowhere and destroy and kill everything and everyone in their paths. Nothing affects them, nothing stops them; they are impervious to all weapons. Earth is doomed. But there is one …
Jack London's short fiction is often thought to be his greatest achievement. The short story "Lost Face" is about Polish fur trader that strikes a deal with the Nulato Indians who tortured and killed his companions.
This story is one of 33 stories from 1908 chronicles the place with which O. Henry is most identified: New York City, which he called "Baghdad-on-the-Subway." A very popular and prolific author, O. Henry is noted for his sentimental tales dealing wi…
Berenice is a horror short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The tale is centered on the death of a young girl, named Berenice, and the mysterious visions of her cousin, Egaeus
When does life begin?... A well-known book says "forty". A well-known radio program says "eighty". Some folks say it's mental, others say it's physical. But take the strange case of Mel Carlson who gave a lot of thought to the matter.
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…
On the morning of June 15th, Guy Burckhardt woke up screaming out of a dream. It was more real than any dream he had ever had in his life. He could still hear and feel the sharp, ripping-metal explosion, the violent heave that had tossed him furious…
Darkover was experiencing a flare-up of trailmen's fever, a disease that would decimate the entire human population of Darkover, from the Comyn to the Terrans. The Medical Branch at Terran HQ had the start of a cure, but in order to finish it, they …
Henry James' 1878 publication that brought him international fame, "Daisy Miller" is subtitled "A Study in Two Parts." The plot centers around a Europeanized American man named Winterbourne, who meets a nouveau riche American woman going by the name…
Jacob's Ladder" is about a man who falls in love with a young girl but, doesn't realize it until it's too late. She thinks of him as nothing more than a close friend but he loves her in ways that words cant describe. She falls in love with someone…
The story is told from the perspective of a scientist called Bassett, who is on an expedition in the jungle of Guadalcanal to collect butterflies. The "Red One" of the title refers to a giant red sphere, of apparently extraterrestrial origin, that t…
"Missing Link" is vintage Frank Herbert. It tells the story of Lewis Orne, junior I-A field man, on the planet Gienah III. He is there to investigate a missing ship, and the natives are nothing but trouble...
In 19th Century France, a young Bram Stoker is captured by a man-hating, all-female cult of thong bikini wearers. Aided by flesh-eating rats, the warrior women raid the lairs of evil men and punish them. Our hero must decide between his wish to esca…
From the pulitzer prize-winning American novelist, Edna Ferber. Who was heralded as the greatest female author of the 1920s and 1930s and among the best-read authors of her nation.
"Explosion at Munition Works in the Northern District: Many Fatalities." The working man told me about it, and added some dreadful details. Corpses so terribly maimed that coffins had been kept covered; faces mutilated as if by some gnawing animal. …
There was once an old, old castle - it was so old that its walls and towers and turrets and gateways and arches had crumbled to ruins, and of all its old splendour there were only two little rooms left; and it was here that John the blacksmith had s…
A Story of What Might Happen In the Days to Come, When Underground London is Tunnelled In all Directions for Electric Railways, If an Explosion Should Take Place In One of the Tubes. A short story in the "Doom of London" series.
John Buchan was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. After a brief legal career, Buchan simultaneously began his writing career and his political and …
How rarely science-fiction writers succeed in creating a wholly alien culture may be judged from any adequate study of an earthly culture of a time or place which does not form part of our direct heritage. S.F's aliens may have pseudopods or supersd…
Napoleon I., whose career had the quality of a duel against the whole of Europe, disliked duelling between the officers of his army. The great military emperor was not a swashbuckler, and had little respect for tradition. Nevertheless, a story of du…
Hunting down the beast, under the best of circumstances, was dangerous. But in this little police operation, the conditions required the use of inadequate means!
Under normal conditions a whole person has a decided advantage over a handicapped one. But out in deep space the normal may be reversed—for humans at any rate.
f you've never read a Johnny Mayhem story before, you are in for a treat. Johnny, who wears different bodies the way ordinary people wear clothes, is one of the most fascinating series characters in science fiction.
Kew Gardens is one of Virginia Woolf’s earliest short stories. The gentle narrative drifts among an eclectic group of visitors as they stroll through the Gardens, including a young couple, a pair of middle-aged ladies looking for tea, and even a sna…
Love Among the Haystacks is the story of two brothers, the tensions between them and the emotional fulfilment each finds one summer night after the Nottingham harvest.
A young man named Harvey, at his sister's request, brings toys that have nothing to do with battles and fighting as gifts to his nephews in an effort to foster interests in things other than war...
"Two Hundred Thousand Francs Reward" is a short story from "The Confessions of Arsène Lupin". Ten grippling short stories in which the world's premier thief looks back on a lifetime of adventure and mysteries. He uses his wit and courage to outsmart…
The stream-of-consciousness narrative concerns Mabel Waring, deeply self-conscious and insecure as she attends a party hosted by Clarissa Dalloway. Mabel's new, though old-fashioned dress symbolising her insecurity; she has gone to great care to hav…
"The Colour Out of Space" is a first-person narrative written from the perspective of an unnamed surveyor from Boston. In order to prepare for the construction of a new reservoir in Massachusetts, he surveys a rural area that is to be flooded near L…
The story tells of John T. Unger, a teenager from the town of Hades, Mississippi, who was sent to a private boarding school in Boston. During the summer he would visit the homes of his classmates, the vast majority of whom were from wealthy families…
One might not necessarily think of Dickens as a mystery writer, but detectives and criminals do figure into much of his work. This...gathers a dozen of his stories featuring cops of one kind or another
The Man Who Would be King is a short story by Rudyard Kipling chronicling the adventures of two British men who become kings in Kafiristan (now a province of Afghanistan).
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.
The narrator, an elderly lawyer who has a very comfortable business helping wealthy men deal with mortgages, title deeds, and bonds, relates the story of the strangest man he has ever known.
Everything was aimed at satisfying the whims of women. The popular cliches, the pretty romances, the catchwords of advertising became realities; and the compound kept the men enslaved. George knew what he had to do....
A nightingale overhears a student complaining that his professor's daughter will not dance with him, as he is unable to give her a red rose. The nightingale visits all the rose-trees in the garden, and one of the white roses tell her that there's a …
2 B R 0 2 B is a satiric short story that imagines life (and death) in a future world where aging has been “cured” and population control is mandated and administered by the government.
The tale relates the story of two sisters, daughters of an Anglican vicar, who return from overseas to a drab, lifeless vicarage in the post-First World War East Midlands. Their mother has run off, a scandal that is not talked about by the family. T…
In the Year 2889 was first published in the Forum, February, 1889. It was published in France the next year. Although published under the name of Jules Verne, it is now believed to be chiefly if not entirely the work of Jules Verne's son, Michel Ver…
Son of the Wolf is his first collection of stories drawing on his experience in the Yukon. The stories included tell of gambles won and lost, of endurance and sacrifice, and often turn on the qualities of exceptional women and on the relations betwe…
The Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into a "monstrous vermin".
The story's protagonist is a Texas marshal named Jack Potter, who is returning to the town of Yellow Sky with his eastern bride. Potter's nemesis, the gunslinger Scratchy Wilson, drunkenly plans to accost the sheriff after he disembarks the train, b…
"The Black Cat" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in the August 19, 1843, edition of The Saturday Evening Post. It is a study of the psychology of guilt, often paired in analysis with Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". In both, a…
During the months after the Prussian defeat of the French in 1871, Prussian troops occupy many areas of France. Five bored Prussian officers are among the leaders of the force occupying the small Normandy town of Urville, where they live in a castle…
The tale tells the story of Stephen, a young orphan boy, who is sent to stay with his much older cousin at a remote country mansion. His cousin is a reclusive alchemist obsessed with making himself immortal. Stephen is repeatedly troubled by visions…
One evening in Nukufetau, a man (writer) sat down on the verandah with an old man folk, Pakia, a native of Nukufetau. They were talking, and drinking grog, about a ship that supposed to be came soon to pick up the man. By Louis Becke
Fortune teller foretold to young man hat he would sink in fresh water, but won't notice it. The young man laughed, because he was leaving to Egypt to work in the desert. But just in case the bride made him promise that he won't come close to the Ni…
While living in sunny California, 'Brown Wolf', the dog-wolf is feeling the call of the wild nature of the desolate and frigid North. Neither the affection that surrounds him, nor the good living conditions can make him overcome his innermost desire…
This short story narrates the love story between two rubbers, people who go to accident sites in New York City. After meeting in an accident, William Pry falls in love with Violet Seymour they part their separate ways, but can´t stop thinking about …
The polar bear king, "old and monstrous big," lives among the ice of the far North. His coat glistens like silver in the midnight sun. His subjects come to him for advice and guidance. He maintains his own hunting grounds for seals and fish. Most cr…
Mikhail Petrovich Artsybashev was a Russian writer and playwright, and a major proponent of the literary style known as naturalism. He was the great grandson of Tadeusz Kościuszko and the father of Boris Artzybasheff, who emigrated to the United St…
Short story by American author Ambrose Bierce that speculates on the nature of life and intelligence. It describes a chess-playing automaton that murders its creator.
By Fyodor Dostoyevsky. "White Nights" is told in first person by a nameless narrator; the narrator is living in Saint Petersburg and suffers from loneliness. He gets to know and falls in love with a young woman, but the love remains unrequited as t…
In January (about 1900, presumably), the people of Earth awaken to the notion that a strange luminous object has erupted, into the Solar System, after disturbing the normal orbit of the planet Neptune. Indeed, such object is a luminous celestial bod…
The Devoted Friend is an interesting short story of two friends having different temperaments and different conceptions of devoted friendship written by Oscar Wilde. He was one of the most eminent and elegant writers of the 19th century. The story i…
One afternoon in April he sat by his door,—for all the world like a predatory spider,—marvelling at the heat of the returning sun, and keeping an eye on the trail for prospective flies. The Yukon lay at his feet, a sea of ice, disappearing around tw…
This is not a baseball story. The grandstand does not rise as one man and shout itself hoarse with joy. There isn't a three-bagger in the entire 3,000 words, and nobody is carried home on the shoulders of the crowd. Instead this is a story by the ta…
tells the story of a childhood memory that has in a profound way shaped its narrator’s moral outlook. The tale centers on the narrator’s father, a man “intended by nature to be . . . cheerful and kindly,” who, through acquiring the “American passion…
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. Three of his best-known work…
Francis Alexander Durivage (1814–1881) was an American author.
He was a contributor of poems, humorous articles, short stories, and sketches for magazines, often written under the pen name 'Old Un.' In connection with W. S. Chase he translated Alph…
When Mademoiselle Aurelie's neighbour appears and asks her to take care of her four children in an emergency, she accepts the challenge very reluctantly. Mademoiselle Aurelie knows nothing about children and cares even less for them. But over the fo…
"The Lord of the Dynamos" is a British short story by H.G. Wells. It was originally published in the Pall Mall Budget (6 September 1894), and then included in the collection The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents, published by Methuen & Co. in 1895…
It's a short story centering on the friendship between two men at the gold-mining settlement of Sandy Bar, California, in the middle of the nineteenth century. By Bret Harte.
he Body Snatcher is a short story by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). First published in the Pall Mall Christmas "Extra" in December 1884, its characters were based on criminals in the employ of real-life surgeon Robert Knox (…
"The Rocking-Horse Winner" is a short story by D. H. Lawrence. It was first published in July 1926, in Harper's Bazaar and subsequently appeared in the first volume of Lawrence's collected short stories. It was made into a full-length film directed …
His Wedded Wife by Rudyard Kipling was published in the Civil and Military Gazette on February 25, 1887, and in book form in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection. It is one of …
A Child's Christmas in Wales is a prose work by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Originally emerging from a piece written for radio, the poem was recorded by Thomas in 1952. The story is an anecdotal retelling of a Christmas from the view of a young chi…
"The Overcoat" (Russian: Шинель, translit. Shinel; sometimes translated as "The Cloak") is a short story by Ukrainian-born Russian author Nikolai Gogol, published in 1842. The story and its author have had great influence on Russian literature, as e…
A Charles Dickens Christmas story about remembering the poor, forgotten, and overlooked once a year by the Christmas fire. This grand story sets up the bickering Big Wig family as a guide to the laboring Nobody family, led by a man named Legion, and…
Everyone begins life's journey as a child. "The Child's Story" is a timeless account of the journey we all take, from carefree childhood and spontaneous youth, through adulthood and marriage, and into our golden years. By Charles Dickens.
In this short story, a French pilot is faced with the fact his government doesn’t want him enlisted in their army fighting under the colors of the French flag. Resisting all orders he flies over the battlefield skies looking for his chance to help h…
No one envied the child, who had scarcely been thought of until he became king himself. Then he was recognized as a personage of some importance, and the politicians and hangers-on, headed by the chief counselor of the kingdom, held a meeting to det…
This story is a wild yarn involving a case of mistaken identity, a gambler who’d bet on anything, and a very unusual frog named Daniel Webster. By Mark Twain
eware of the Dog is a 1944 World War II story by Roald Dahl which was originally published in Harper's Magazine and later appeared in his Over to You collection. It was made into the movie 36 Hours in 1964.
"An Honest Thief" (Russian: Честный вор, Chestny vor) is an 1848 short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The story recounts the tale of the tragic drunkard Emelyan Ilyitch.
The Monkey's Paw" is a supernatural short story by author W. W. Jacobs first published in England in 1902. In the story, three wishes are granted to the owner of the monkey's paw, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate.
In a town where a lot of poor people suffer, a swallow who was left behind after his flock flew off to Egypt for the winter meets the statue of the late "Happy Prince", who in reality has never experienced true happiness. Viewing various scenes of p…
The Mortal Immortal is a short story from 1833 written by Mary Shelley. It tells the story of a man named Winzy who becomes immortal which, at first glance appears to work in his favour promising him eternal tranquility. However, it soon becomes app…
The story is a horror and has gory parts in it. This Captain murderer has a sick and twisted mind that loves to marry innocent women and killing them to put in a pie. By Charles Dickens
Who wouldn't want it to be Christmas every day of the year? In this classic story by W.D. Howells, a little girl gets her wish, and soon finds out what too much of a good thing really is. Soon presents are piling up everywhere, people are losing the…
"The Statement of Randolph Carter" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in December 1919, it was first published in The Vagrant, May 1920. It tells of a traumatic event in the life of Randolph Carter, a student of the occult loosely represen…
It is widely believed that "Dracula's Guest" is actually the deleted first chapter from the original Dracula manuscript, which the publisher felt was superfluous to the story. In the preface to the original edition of Dracula's Guest and Other Weird…
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, alo…
A Haunted House is a 1944 collection of 18 short stories by Virginia Woolf. It was produced by her husband Leonard Woolf after her death although in the foreword he states that they had discussed its production together.
The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842 in the literary annual The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843. The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inqu…
By Beatrix Potter.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit is a British children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter that follows mischievous and disobedient young Peter Rabbit as he is chased about the garden of Mr. McGrego
An inspiration for the popular Indiana Jones series, Henry Rider Haggard's Allan Quatermain is one of the most beloved character to emerge from the action-adventure fiction of the nineteenth century. This early short story focuses on Allan Quatermai…
"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" (1853) is a short story by the American writer Herman Melville, first serialized anonymously in two parts in the November and December editions of Putnam's Magazine, and reprinted with minor textual …
"The Masque of the Red Death", originally published as "The Mask of the Red Death: A Fantasy" (1842), is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The story follows Prince Prospero's attempts to avoid a dangerous plague known as the Red Death by hiding in h…
"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by American author Washington Irving published in 1819 as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it was part of a collection entitled The Sketc…
"The Adventure of the Copper Beeches", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the last of the twelve collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in Strand Magazine …
"Young Goodman Brown" is a short story published in 1835 by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story takes place in 17th century Puritan New England, a common setting for Hawthorne's works, and addresses the Calvinist/Puritan belief that all o…
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens. Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation resulting from a supernatural visit by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley…
by Stephen Crane.
Stephen Crane was an American author. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism.
Story by Aesop.
Aesop was an Ancient Greek fabulist or story teller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop's Fables. Although his existence remains uncertain and (if he ever existed) no writings by him survive, numerous ta…
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist. Today, he is best known for his short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and his satirical lexicon, The Devil's Dictionary.