Showing results by narrator "Elliot Fitzpatrick" in All Categories

In this rural story a man is inspecting schools in the district of an old and now fabulously rich university friend. When they finally meet a dark secret is revealed to both of them.

The board is set. The walls of Castle University, once my stronghold, now echo with the whispers of war. As the Queen, I've faced betrayal, navigated alliances, and survived attempts on my life. But nothing has prepared me for this. My Kings, my protectors, are the only certainty in a world of chaos as an unseen enemy casts a shadow over our hard-won peace. In the dark corridors of power, I tread a dangerous path. The whispers call me a monarch of manipulation, a mistress of the great game. But I am not just playing for power; I am fighting for our future.

One of the most oft-used themes for an author to explore is that of themselves and how they see authors in stories coping with everything around them.

In the English language ‘bittersweet’ is that most pivotal of words. The mixture of sadness and happiness that suggest both but often bringing us smartly to earth, smack dab in-between them both, with little of either.

Wilkie Collins was born on 8th January 1824 in Marylebone, London. He pursued his education at Mr Cole’s private boarding school in Highbury, Islington. Here, he began his literary career under unusual circumstances: the school bully would give him no peace until he had been told a bedtime story. This ‘little brute’ helped create one of England’s greatest writers.

What if one day you woke up and you found Greek Mythology was real?Gawky and bullied teenager Echetlaeus spends all of his time dreaming about the heroes of Greek mythology and what it would be like to be one of them.

It is a delicious literary irony that Mary E. Penn, a writer of ghost, crime and mystery short stories during the Victorian era, is a complete enigma. All that remain of her life are the 29 or so stories that were published or attributed to her. ‘In the Mist’ is set in the county of Cornwall. When two lovers jealously quarrel, the result appears to end in murder. But what exactly did happen?

It wasn’t easy for Emma Dodgson to join the United States Marine Corps. She barely passed the entry requirements. However, now she’s in, she is going to be the best damn marine there ever was. Fanatically patriotic, Emma does not have time or interest in anyone or anything that does not love the United States. When the surrender comes, she has no hesitation and gives her loyalty to Jenna Plural in her fight back to free her country.

Jeremy Horton is a man denying his past, haunted by a dysfunctional childhood full of dark secrets—including the suspicious death of his younger sister. Married to lawyer Sarah and with children of his own, Jeremy keeps his eyes firmly focused on the present, never daring to glance in the rear-view mirror for fear of what he might see there. But when a chance encounter awakens the memories he’s fought so hard to suppress and the death of his estranged mother takes Jeremy back to his sleepy hometown, he decides to finally uncover the truth behind his sister’s death.

In a future where humankind has spread across the solar system, twenty years of war have taken their toll on the United States of America as it steadily loses ground and stands on the brink of defeat. Jenna Plural, a genetically modified US Marine, has not aged a day since she turned 24. When Jenna learns of the United States' surrender, bringing an end to the war, she refuses to accept it. Jenna begins to rally the allied forces across the solar system to band together in a new guerrilla force to continue the fight…or die trying.

During the spring and summer of 2021, global news reports were filled with the impending US/NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. At best, it would be viewed as a stalemate, with an orderly transition to a stable, US-backed Afghan government. At worse, it would be looked upon as two decades of futile war, ending with a shameful retreat that left the county at the mercy of a ruthless Taliban regime. What went wrong?

On the glittering shores of the Mediterranean in 1928, a dying author in exile races to complete his final novel. Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a sexually bold love story, a searing indictment of class distinctions and a study in sensuality. But the author, D. H. Lawrence, knows it will be censored. He publishes it privately, loses his copies to customs and dies bereft. Booker Prize-longlisted author Alison MacLeod brilliantly recreates the novel’s origins and boldly imagines its journey to freedom through the story of Jackie Kennedy, who was known to be an admirer.

Jens Baggesen's The Labyrinth (1792–93) is a genre-bending and highly personal travel book that follows the young Danish author's journey, made in 1789, from Copenhagen through Germany to the Swiss border at Basel. In its outer form, it follows the conventions of travel writing: describing the cities, landscapes, and notable people encountered on the route, while also offering critical commentary on art, architecture, theater, and literature, mixed with reactions to the unfolding French Revolution.

This is a book for leaders who think about legacy, their own and the one their business is leaving. Yet, none of us get to write our legacy, that is for those who come after us. This book and the lessons within will enable you to improve yours.

Wyvern shifter Zidra and ice elf Kyrundar are members of a sacred order of elite warriors—and, according to Zidra, bitter rivals. While she seeks to prove she’s the best without aid, Kyrundar believes their friendly competition makes them ideal partners. Then Kyrundar follows Zidra into a trap, and his distraction costs her everything.

Abraham Stoker was born in Dublin, Ireland on the 8th of November 1847, the third of seven children. He began to also write short stories and in 1872 ‘The Crystal Cup’ was published. An interest in art developed and he co-founded the Dublin Sketching Club. Despite this busy life Stoker continued to write and these works paved the way for his most famous creation, published in 1897, ‘Dracula’. It is rightly recognised as one of the greatest horror novels of all time and although not the first with a theme of Vampires, it is undoubtedly the most well-known.

Abraham Stoker was born in Dublin, Ireland on the 8th of November 1847, the third of seven children. Strikingly at Trinity College, Dublin his health had returned with such vigour that he was named their University Athlete whilst also achieving a BA in Mathematics with honours. At this time his interest in theatre became a job offer to be the Dublin Evening Mail’s theatre critic, co-owned by Sheridan Le Fanu. He now began to also write short stories and in 1872 ‘The Crystal Cup’ was published. An interest in art developed and he co-founded the Dublin Sketching Club.

Victor Marie Hugo was born on 26th February 1802, in Besançon, France. There can be no doubt that Hugo is ranked as the greatest of French authors and poets. In ‘Claude Gueux’ one prisoner dares to challenge a system and its cruel Governor who takes away his only friend purely out of spite. The consequences are appalling.

Throughout the long centuries of human history is the want, and the need, to share information, to exchange ideas and for that knowledge and experience, for curiosity and learning, to be the basis of a civil society. In this volume we offer up a small selection of talents from the literary landscape of the Russian male author whose time has now come again.

The Russian novel has a reputation that is immense, both in narrative and in length. Unquestionably though the ideas, themes and characters make many novels rightly revered as world class, as icons of literature. The Russian short story is, in many respects, in a genre of its own. It is at its captivating best whether it’s an exploration of real-life experiences, through fantasy and fables and on to total absurdity.