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This reading is in Hebrew. Yosef Haim Brenner (1881-1921) was a Ukrainian-born Hebrew-language author, one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew literature. Born to a poor family, Brenner grew up in grinding poverty. Brenner immigrated to Palestine (then part of the Ottoman Empire) in 1909. He worked as a farmer, eager to put his Zionist ideology into practice. Later he devoted himself to literature and teaching at the Gymnasia Herzliya in Tel Aviv. He was murdered in southern Tel Aviv in May 1921 in the course of the anti-Jewish Arab riots known as the “massacres of 1921″. Brenner published his second book, In winter, in 1904. It is a collection of 4 stories about hardships of simple poor Jews living in small towns in Eastern Europe, at the time of anti-Jewish massacres in Russia at the turn of the 20s century. (summary by Wikipedia and Omri Lernau)...

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Short stories

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This volume of the Science-Fiction Collection is devoted to Alan E. Nourse (1928-1992). Nourse became a science fiction writer to help pay for his medical education, but eventually retired from practicing medicine to pursue his writing career. This reader-selected collection presents ten of his short stories which were published between 1954 and 1963. Extensive research by Project Gutenberg volunteers did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on these publications were renewed. Please consider this a brief sampling of Nourse's full range, and have fun buying and borrowing his other works. Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Cori Samuel....

Excerpt Details
Science fiction, Short stories

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Yosef Haim Brenner (1881-1921) was a Ukrainian-born Hebrew-language author, one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew literature. Born to a poor family, Brenner grew up in grinding povery. Brenner immigrated to Palestine (then part of the Ottoman Empire) in 1909. He worked as a farmer, eager to put his Zionist idelogy into practice. Later he devoted himself to literature and teaching at the Gymnasia Herzliya in Tel Aviv. He was murdered in southern Tel Aviv in May 1921 in the course of the anti-Jewish Arab riots known as the massacres of 1921. Brenner was very much an experimental writer, both in his use of language and in literary form. With Modern Hebrew still in its infancy, Brenner improvised with an intruiging mixture of Hebrew, Aramaic, Yiddish, English and Arabic. In his attempt to portray life realistically, his work is full of emotive punctuation and ellipses. Out Of A Gloomy Valley was his first book pulished in Warsaw 1900. It is a collection of 6 short stories about Jewish life in the diaspora. (Summary by Wikipedia and Omri Lernau)...

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Short stories

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This compilation of 56 fictional stories has been interspersed, with a view to categorize these independent theme-based entertaining bits of literature, created by the author for that type of readers who do not like lengthy novels/stories. However, the three sections, namely Micro Stories, Short Stories and Long Tale trifurcating the complete book indicate to the fact that the author kept in mind the immediate availability of the time at the disposal of his valued reader at that hour of the `ever-fleeing` time. It has also been kept in mind that the piquant captians should be worth the substance below thereof. The reader may choose beforehand `the captivating item` from the List of contents provided separately for every category, vis a vis Micro Stories, Short Stories or Long Tales. ...

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Endowed with the personality that always remains inclined towards the truest secularism, I cannot afford to prefer one religion over the other. Therefore, it is not a difficult task for me to interact with a person of any faith. I cannot skip from my tract of `humanity before religion`. Being a firm believer in the existence of a `Supreme Power`, denoted by a variety of nomenclatures, I can adjust with followers of any mainstream of faiths. Even an atheist or an agnostic would not be treated as hostile at my hands, because I perceive every person as a human being before anything else. Nevertheless, it would be safer to understand me if the person keeps in mind that I am exposed to only those mainstreams of religion as practised in India. The Principles of Life (dear to my heart): (Formed on the basis of The experience derived through interaction since the childhood, with my parents, siblings, other kin around, my teachers, friends, schoolmates; later on with my pupils, my colleagues, friends, neighbours, co-travellers in a public transport, my clients and my colleagues at Bar and last but not the least my friends at coffee house...

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Get the true story of Adam and Eve, straight from the source. This humorous text is a day-to-day account of Adam’s life from happiness in the “GARDEN-OF-EDEN” to their fall from grace and the events thereafter. Learn how Eve caught the infant Cain, and Adam takes some time to learn exactly what it is....

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Comedy, Short stories

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This is the story of a daring college student's quest to win the icy heart of a beautiful girl. Unfortunately, the girl is the daughter of a cunning and sadistic master artist, who takes the student as an apprentice with the express intent of torturing the youth with his own hopeless love. The story is set in late 16 century Prague, amid mysterious happenings and the terrifying rumors of a vampire on the loose. ( Summary by Ned Troxel )...

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Short stories, Adventure, Romance

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A group of stories-within-a-story, told in the classic Louisa May Alcott style. I've a little cold, said the old lady, and am too hoarse for talking, my dears; but Aunt Elinor has looked up a parcel of old tales that I've told her at different times and which she has written down. You will like to hear her reading better than my dull way of telling them, and I can help Minnie and Lotty with their work, for I see they are bent on learning to spin. The young folk were well pleased with grandma's proposal; for Aunt Nell was a favorite with all, being lively and kind and fond of children, and the only maiden aunt in the family. Now, she smilingly produced a faded old portfolio, and, turning over a little pile of manuscripts, said in her pleasant way: Here are all sorts, picked up in my travels at home and abroad; and in order to suit all of you, I have put the names on slips of paper into this basket, and each can draw one in turn. Does that please my distinguished audience? (Summary by TriciaG and from the book)...

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Children, Short stories, Fiction

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John Ackworth was the pen name of the Rev. Frederick R. Smith, a Methodist minister who was born in Snaith, Yorkshire, but spent much of his career as a circuit preacher in Lancashire. Clog Shop Chronicles was the first and most successful of his works. Set in the fictional 19th-century village of Beckside (said to be somewhere between Manchester and Bolton), the book consists of 12 tales of everyday life in a close-knit Methodist community, which continue into Beckside Lights (1897) and Doxy Dent (1899). Based on an entertaining group of characters who gather round the clog shop fire, the stories are sentimental at times, but Ackworth has a nice sense of irony and refrains from Methodist proselytizing. Ackworth was also a student of the Lancashire dialect and the spoken passages in his books are mostly written in a phonetic version of late 19th-century Bolton speech, which I have done my best to reproduce. (Summary by Phil Benson)...

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Fiction, Short stories

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Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica are a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today. Many of the stories, such as The Fox and the Grapes (from which the idiom sour grapes derives), The Tortoise and the Hare, The North Wind and the Sun, The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Ant and the Grasshopper are well-known throughout the world....

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Fairy tales, Short stories, Ancient Texts

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Olavo Brás Martins dos Guimarães Bilac (Rio de Janeiro, 16 de dezembro de 1865 — Rio de Janeiro, 28 de dezembro de 1918) foi um jornalista e poeta brasileiro, membro fundador da Academia Brasileira de Letras. Criou a cadeira 15, cujo patrono é Gonçalves Dias. Sua obra compreende além de poemas, textos publicitários, crônicas, livros escolares e poesias satíricas. Foi considerado na sua época, o Príncipe dos Poetas Brasileiros. Juntamente com Alberto de Oliveira e Raimundo Correia, foi a maior liderança e expressão do Parnasianismo no Brasil, constituindo a chamada Tríade Parnasiana. A publicação de Poesias, em 1888 rendeu-lhe a consagração. Contos para Velhos é uma coletânea de poemas e pequenas histórias de tema adulto, publicada sob o pseudônimo Bob.(Sumário escrito por Vicente)...

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Short stories, Erotica

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From the cave man to Santa Claus; spies, know-it-alls, and journalists: all are fair game for Leacock’s special brand of humor. He touches on the changes time has brought about in the city, education, and work habits. Among the other topics in this work are nature, fishing, gardening, success, and spirits--both of the departed and of the variety Prohibition prohibited.Each chapter of this book is a standalone story and if you love a good laugh, these stories are for you. In me, Leacock’s wit produced the full range of laughter: smiles, chuckles, guffaws, and some uncontrollable giggles. Also, occasionally, I found myself shedding a tear or two. (Review by Debra Lynn)...

Excerpt Details
Comedy, Short stories

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All stories are true. Emma Wilkins is eleven years old and she lives on Belle Street. In the forests of Saint Martin, a great power has awakened. Whispers abound of a monster that lurks in the darkness as more and more of the city's residents go missing. Called by the song of a tree, the diminutive Emma finds herself face to face with the colossal Minotaur. Following a narrow escape, Emma discovers that she is the only one who has any chance to stop him. On her way to an impossible confrontation, Emma will learn that the crisis is greater than it seems, and that at stake are the fates of those she cares about the most, and that of the entire world....

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Emma was sitting on a bench next to a bus stop. It was morning on a busy street and the road in front of her was full of traffic. There was a bus shelter next to the bench and there were a few people inside. They were looking at her. A woman was sitting next to her but she stood up and walked away. Emma glanced toward the people in the shelter and they all looked away at once and pretended that she wasn’t there. She looked down at her lap and saw that she was holding a plain flute made of wood. She swung her feet back and forth as memories began to creep back to her. There was something about a forest. She hummed and waited patiently for all the memories to return. A black cat came and jumped up on the bench beside her. “Hello, Mr Cat,” she said as she watched him lick his paw. The cat paused in mid-lick and looked straight at her and then at the people behind her in the bus shelter. “They see a girl appear out of nowhere and that’s how they react,” he said. “They try to disappear her right back again.” Emma blinked. She looked around and behind the cat and under the bench. He watched her the entire time. She...

Table of Contents Details
1 The Music in the Forest 2 The Disappearing Boy 3 Wizard Falls 4 Dinner and a Conspiracy 5 The Forbidden Forest 6 Strike Three 7 A Girl and a Tree 8 The Missing 9 The Portents of War 10 Mr Jingles 10 Mr Jingles 12 Invasion 13 The Lost 14 Battle Song 15 The Wizard and the Lightning...

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Bret Harte (1836 – 1902) was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California.... He moved to California in 1853, later working there in a number of capacities, including miner, teacher, messenger, and journalist. He spent part of his life in the northern California coastal town of Union (now known as Arcata), a settlement on Humboldt Bay that was established as a provisioning center for mining camps in the interior.... In 1868 he became editor of The Overland Monthly, another new literary magazine, but this one more in tune with the pioneering spirit of excitement in California. His story, The Luck of Roaring Camp, appeared in the magazine's second issue, propelling Harte to nationwide fame. “Luck...” appeared in this first book along with other stories and sketches, especially “The Outcasts of Poker Flats,” of which several movies were made. (Summary by Wikipedia and David Wales)...

Excerpt Details
Adventure, Short stories, Westerns