Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Literature & Fiction

New York socialite Kit McNair decides to host an impromptu dinner party at the home of her friend, Jimmy Wilson, to cheer him up following his divorce. What could possibly go wrong?

The full title of Swift's pamphlet is A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burtden to their Parents, or the Country, and for Making them Beneficial to the Publick."The tract is an ironically conceived attempt to "find out a fair, cheap, and easy Method" for converting the starving children of Ireland into "sound and useful members of the Commonwealth." Across the country poor children, predominantly Catholics, are living in squalor because their families are too poor to keep them fed and clothed.

Together with his contemporary, Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear elevated nonsense into a literary genre. Among his many short pieces of verse and narrative fiction is this wonderful tale of a journey into parts unknown by four intrepid young adventurers.

It's a horror story. The fear of premature burial. It's also a love story. A young man and his beautiful bride move to Paris for new start. They arrive at their lodgings after a 15 hour train trip. He falls into a catatonic state, which is mistaken for death. Two other lodgers are only two anxious to help the new widow. An old woman, and the handsome young man who has just inherited a fortune. We travel with the unfortunate from his "deathbed" to his burial.

This classic storyteller, Mark Twain, shares the tale of an encounter with a ghost in a newly opened, but previously abandoned, apartment building. Was this ghost a menace or simply mischievous? Humor is most always a companion of a Twain tale and it visits even this story. Memorable and perfectly constructed.

Mark Twain accepted the editorship of an agricultural paper due to a financial need. The humorous trouble was that Twain had no real knowledge of agriculture. Then again Twain never seemed to mind writing about things he knew nothing about. The response from the public was immediate and intense. This short story allows Twain to explain why he had no problem taking on a task that he knew he couldn’t do well.

Mark Twain takes his humor to the graveyard in this memorable short story. Twain carries on a conversation with a skeleton that has been neglected in the cemetery. While we aren't told what a smiling skeleton looks like, Twain is clear it's not a pleasant view. None of us want to be forgotten and this story helps the hearer understand that even in death we do not want to be neglected.

As a vivid portrait of alienation and despair few narratives have surpassed Henry Lawson’s depiction of the grinding poverty endured by many settlers in the Australian outback. In the simple and direct language of his stoic narrator, Joe Wilson, he delivers an unforgettable depiction of a pioneering way of life, but one completely stripped of glamour or glory. Generally considered to be one of the finest Australian short stories ever written, Water Them Geraniums is read by Australian narrator, Denis Daly.

Bret Harte is best known for his stories of the pioneering days in California, so this humorous parody of English Gothic novels is a delightful departure. Harte sets his unlikely tale in Regency England with all the cliches and plot conventions present in abundance. The two main characters Lady Selina and Edgardo hide their amoral pasts from each other, unaware that they're a perfectly suited couple. In the mix are mysterious villains, dark secrets, past scandals, forbidden romance, hidden panels, murders, ghosts, all ending with the requisite deus ex machina conclusion.

Bill Driscoll and Sam (we never learn his last name), a pair of turn-of-the-20th-century con men embark on quite an adventure. The pair need $2,000.00 to pull off a fraudulent town-lot scam in Western Illinois. They decide to kidnap the only son of a prominent Alabama citizen in the small town of Summit. They should've known when they grabbed their target, who was at the time throwing stones at a kitten, that it would be best to leave him alone. Particularly after he beans Bill with a brick. The situation does not improve with time. O Henry, famous for his humor, plays on words, and plot twists makes this a highly amusing short story.

This short story first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1920, and later became part of Flappers and Philosophers. Fitzgerald was the master of exposing the underbelly of the aristocracy and the pompous, and here, Horace the prodigy falls in love with Monica the dancer. Horace puts his lofty goals on hold to pursue a more lucrative career as an acrobat, while Monica writes a book.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic short story of a man born in his 70s who ages backward as those around him age in the normal direction. Both humorous and heartbreaking at times, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was the basis for the David Fincher movie of the same name, though the movie differs in several key ways from Fitzgerald's original story.

Whether Christmas is a time of unbridled joy, a season of past reflections, or an ordeal to be endured until the return to normalcy after the New Year, its impact is pervasive in most of our lives. Everyone's feelings are super sensitized, every emotion is heightened. The happy become giddy, the sad become despondent, the lonely become lonelier – unless, yes unless – the magic of Christmas has its way. So it is for the characters in these stories.

River Rules is a small-town environmental suspense novel with a deep heart and powerful conscience. What the housing bubble didn’t break in Bridgeville - a small New England community blessed by the Connecticut River - greed, double-dealing, and rapid-fire change just might. Peter Russo, a part-time farmer and full-time rambler with his rescue dog, has a knack for conflict, and a burning desire to protect Bridgeville’s land and water from exploitation.

College senior Patty Wyatt is a fun-loving, headstrong, and intelligent girl who gets herself into mischief and learns valuable lessons, both in and out of the classroom. Written in 1903, this is Jean Webster’s first of many great American novels.

100 years ago and before there were Instagram Influencers, there was Lorelei Lee, a wily blonde from Little Rock, Arkansas, and her BFF Dorothy, who took New York and Europe by storm in 1925, reporting in her diary every detail of their quest to collect the greatest trove of jewels, gowns, men, and adventures imaginable.

The Cold Cold Grave, a humorous short story by T.P. Caravan narrated as an audiobook by Mike Vendetti, takes us into the classroom of an evil professor whose primary goal in life is to make his students miserable.

Robert Benchley (September 15, 1889 - November 21, 1945) is remembered best for his contributions to the magazine The New Yorker; his essays for that publication, whether topical or absurdist, influenced many modern humorists. He also made a name for himself in Hollywood, when his short movie How to Sleep was a popular success and won Best Short Subject at the 1935 Academy Awards. Benchley produced over 600 essays, which were initially compiled in twelve volumes, during his writing career.

Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (January 19, 1887 - January 23, 1943) was an American drama critic and commentator for The New Yorker magazine, a member of the Algonquin Round Table, an occasional actor and playwright, and a prominent radio personality. Benchley produced over 600 essays, which were initially compiled in twelve volumes, during his writing career. He also appeared in several films, including 48 short treatments that he mostly wrote or co-wrote and numerous feature films.

Stephen Leacock (30 December 1869 - 28 March 1944) was a Canadian teacher, political scientist, writer, and humourist. Between the years 1915 and 1925, he was the best-known English-speaking humourist in the world