In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, “old same,” in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending...
These strange and unusual stories were written by a man who is
one of the most popular storytellers of our time. Roald Dahl was
born in South Wales in 1916 to Norwegian parents, and his early
life was overshadowed by sad events: his sister and...
The beautiful hetaera Thais was a real woman who inspired poets, artists and sculptors in Athens, Memphis, Alexandria, Babylon and Ecbatana. She traveled with Alexander the Great’s army during his Persian campaign and was the only woman to enter...
A foundling of mysterious parentage brought up by Mr. Allworthy on his country estate, Tom Jones is deeply in love with the seemingly unattainable Sophia Western, the beautiful daughter of the neighboring squire—though he sometimes succumbs to the...
In the year 2040, the newest Russian dictator has a unique vision: to invoke the spirit of Genghis Khan and his Golden Horde to create an tmpire reaching from the Pacific Ocean to the...
The Bram Stoker Awards
My name was Salmon, like the fish, first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. My murderer was a man from our neighborhood. My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once...
Though a first-person story, The Rascally Romance, nonetheless, is not a swaggering report on Me, Myself and The Number One. No, I’m not up for narcistic self-portraits. What? This mean and stupid rascal me? Alas, but not, ‘tis gone,...