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An independent report on UFOs written by the French association COMETA. This report details the results of a study by the institute of Higher Studies for National Defense. In this report, COMETA studies several unexplained French and foreign UFO cases. Part 1 of the complete French report on UFOs published in 1999, entitled "UFOs and Defense: What must we be prepared for?". This ninety-page report is the result of an in-depth study of UFOs, covering many aspects of the subject, especially questions of national defense....

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A Christmas Carol (full title: A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas) is A Christmas Carol is a Victorian morality tale of an old and bitter miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, who undergoes a profound experience of redemption over the course of one evening. (Wikipedia)...

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Fantasy, Holiday

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Le Morte d'Arthur (spelled Le Morte Darthur in the first printing and also in some modern editions, Middle French for la mort d'Arthur, the death of Arthur) is Sir Thomas Malory's compilation of some French and English Arthurian romances. The book contains some of Malory's own original material (the Gareth story) and retells the older stories in light of Malory's own views and interpretations. First published in 1485 by William Caxton, Le Morte d'Arthur is perhaps the best-known work of English-language Arthurian literature today. Many modern Arthurian writers have used Malory as their source, including T. H. White for his popular The Once and Future King . (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Fantasy

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Gulliver's Travels (1726, amended 1735), officially Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, is a novel by Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the travelers' tales literary sub-genre. It is widely considered Swift's magnum opus and is his most celebrated work, as well as one of the indisputable classics of English literature. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Satire, Fantasy, Adventure

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The famous physicist Sir Isaac Newton lectured on optics from 1670 - 1672. He worked on refraction of light into colored beams using prisms and discovered chromatic aberration. He also postulated the corpuscular form of light and an ether to transmit forces between the corpuscles. His Opticks, first published 1704 contains his postulates about the topic. This is the fourth edition in English, from 1730, which Newton corrected from the third edition before his death. (Summary by Availle)...

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Nature, Science

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Charlton Miner Lewis' version of Gawayne and the Green Knight , a late 14th century alliterative romance, is written in modern language telling the story of the Green Knight's challenge to Gawayne, and the romance between Sir Gawayne and Lady Elfinheart. The name Gawayne is often also spelled Gawain. (Summary by Betsie Bush)...

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Fairy tales, Fantasy, Poetry

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Erewhon, or Over the Range is a novel by Samuel Butler, published anonymously in 1872. The title is also the name of a country, supposedly discovered by the protagonist. In the novel, it is not revealed in which part of the world Erewhon is, but it is clear that it is a fictional country. Butler meant the title to be read as the word Nowhere backwards, even though the letters h and w are transposed. It is likely that he did this to protect himself from accusations of being unpatriotic, although Erewhon is obviously a satire of Victorian society. (summary from wikipedia)...

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Science fiction, Satire

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Undine is a novel by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué concerning Undine, a water spirit who marries a Knight named Huldebrand in order to gain a soul. It is an early German romance, which has been translated into English and other languages. The novel served as inspiration for two operas in the romantic style by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann and Albert Lortzing, respectively, and two ballets: the nineteenth century Ondine and the twentieth century Undine. An edition of the book was illustrated by Arthur Rackham. In The Fantastic Imagination, George MacDonald writes, Were I asked, what is a fairytale? I should reply, Read Undine: that is a fairytale ... of all fairytales I know, I think Undine the most beautiful. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Fiction, Fantasy, Fairy tales, Romance

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The stories about Münchhausen were first collected and published by an anonymous author in 1781. An English version was published in London in 1785, by Rudolf Erich Raspe, as Baron Munchhausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia , also called The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchhausen . It is not clear how much of the story material derives from the Baron himself; however, it is known that the majority of the stories are based on folktales that have been in circulation for many centuries before Münchhausen's birth....

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Fiction, Fantasy

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Lord Dunsany (24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957) was a London-born Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist notable for his work in fantasy. He was influenced by Algernon Swinburne, who wrote the line Time and the Gods are at strife in his 1866 poem Hymn to Proserpine, as well as by the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. In turn, Dunsany's influence was felt by H. P. Lovecraft and Ursula K. Le Guin. Arthur C. Clarke corresponded with Dunsany between 1944 and 1956. Those letters are collected in the book Arthur C. Clarke & Lord Dunsany: A Correspondence. Time and the Gods, a series of short stories written in a myth-like style, was first published in 1906. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Short stories, Fantasy

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volunteers bring you 25 recordings of The Reaper And The Flowers by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for April 8, 2012. Longfellow predominantly wrote lyric poems which are known for their musicality and which often presented stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of his day and also had success overseas. He has been criticized, however, for imitating European styles and writing specifically for the masses....

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Fantasy, Instruction, Mystery, Nature, Religion, Poetry

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Le Morte d’Arthur (spelled Le Morte Darthur in the first printing and also in some modern editions, Middle French for la mort d’Arthur, “the death of Arthur”) is Sir Thomas Malory’s compilation of some French and English Arthurian romances. The book contains some of Malory’s own original material (the Gareth story) and retells the older stories in light of Malory’s own views and interpretations. First published in 1485 by William Caxton, Le Morte d’Arthur is perhaps the best-known work of English-language Arthurian literature today. Many modern Arthurian writers have used Malory as their source, including T. H. White for his popular The Once and Future King. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Fantasy

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volunteers bring you 15 recordings of The Dried-up Fountain by Robert Leighton. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for December 18, 2011. This poem is taken from A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895, Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). (Summary by David Lawrence)...

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Fantasy, Myths/Legends, Nature, Romance, Poetry

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volunteers bring you 21 recordings of title by My Flower by Ira Titus. This was the Weekly Poetry project for February 19, 2012 A short and sweet poem about being happy with yourself. There is no information available about the author, Ira Titus.(Summary by Lucy Perry)...

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Fantasy, Nature, Romance, Poetry

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volunteers bring you 17 recordings of Moth Terror by Benjamin De Casseres . This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for February 13, 2011. Benjamin De Casseres was an American journalist and author. He worked for various New York City newspapers writing columns and editorials. He also wrote poetry, fiction, essays, and critical reviews. (wikipedia) This poem taken from The Second Book of Modern Verse: A Selection from the Work of Contemporaneous American Poets, edited by Jessie B. Rittenhouse. (1869 - 1948)...

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Poetry, Fantasy, Humor, Nature, Horror/Ghost stories

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Do you know the difference between sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks? Are you interested in their geologic origin, chemical composition or how each type affects the landscape? Do you know the differences between limestone, granite and marble as building materials? You will find these and lots of other interesting facts about rocks in this second edition of Rocks and Their Origins published in 1922. The author, Grenville A. J. Cole, was an English geologist, Professor of Geology in the Royal College of Science for Ireland and an avid cyclist. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Science

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An expedition to Mars discovers the remains of an advanced civilization, which died out many thousands of years ago. They recovered books and documents left behind, and are puzzled by their contents. Would the team find their “Rosetta Stone” that would allow them to unlock the Martian language, and learn the secrets of this long-dead race? (Summary by Mark Nelson)...

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Science fiction

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This was the last story published by Twain, a few months before he died. The story follows Captain Elias Stormfield on his extremely long cosmic journey to heaven. It deals with the obsession of souls with the celebrities of heaven, like Adam and Moses, who according to Twain become as distant to most people in heaven as living celebrities are on Earth. Twain uses this story to show his view that the common conception of heaven is ludicrous and points out the incongruities of such beliefs. A lot of the description of Heaven is given by the character Sandy McWilliams, a cranberry farmer who is very experienced in the ways of heaven. The heaven described by him is similar to the conventional Christian heaven, but includes a larger version of all the locations on Earth, as well as of everywhere in the universe. Once in heaven, the person spends eternity living as he thinks best, usually according to his true (sometimes undiscovered) talent. According to one of the characters, a cobbler who has the soul of a poet in him won't have to make shoes here, implying that he would instead turn to poetry and achieve perfection in it. As Stormfie...

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Short stories, Fantasy, Humor

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The Wood beyond the World is a fantasy novel by William Morris, perhaps the first modern fantasy writer to unite an imaginary world with the element of the supernatural, and thus the precursor of much of present-day fantasy literature. His use of archaic language has been seen by some modern readers as making his fiction difficult to read, but brings a wonderful atmosphere to the telling. Morris considered his fantasies a revival of the medieval tradition of chivalrous romances. In consequence, they tend to have sprawling plots of strung-together adventures. In this story, Walter leaves his father and his own unfaithful wife and sets sail in search of adventure. This he finds aplenty, encountering love, treachery and magic in the Wood of the title and in travelling through the Mountains of the Folk of the Bears. But can he find happiness and peace by means of his Quest? Read by Cori Samuel. Edited by http://www.wisemandarine.com/ Mandarine . Summary by Cori with reference to Wikipedia....

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Fantasy

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Fantasy novel about the mystical adventures of a lonely English boy, Jimbo. It’s really quite beautiful and can be enjoyed by both older kids and adults, though parts may be too scary for younger children (who'd probably be bored anyway). (Summary by Adrian Praetzellis)...

Excerpt Details
Fantasy, Fiction