Best of
Short-Stories

1891

The Complete Fairy Tales


Oscar Wilde - 1891
    This volume collects exquisite and poignant tales of true beauty, selfless love, generosity, loyalty, brilliant wit, and moral aestheticism, such as "The Birthday of the Infanta," "The Selfish Giant," The Nightingale and the Rose," and "The Happy Prince," among others.A true classic of wonder for all ages.

Tales of Soldiers and Civilians and Other Stories


Ambrose Bierce - 1891
    He left behind him theDevil’s Dictionary and a remarkable body of short fiction. This new collection gathers some of Bierce’s finest stories, including the celebrated Civil War fictions ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge‘ and ‘Chickamauga‘, his macabre masterpieces "The Damned Thing" and "Moxon's Master", and his hilariously horrific "Oil of Dog" and "My Favorite Murder".--back coverTABLE OF CONTENTSIntroductionSuggestions for Further ReadingA Note on the TextFrom In the Midst of LifeSoldiers:A Horseman in the SkyAn Occurrence at Owl Creek BridgeChickamaugaA Son of the GodsOne of the MissingKilled at ResacaThe Affair at Coulter’s NotchThe Coup de GrâceParker Adderson, PhilosopherAn Affair of OutpostsThe Story of a ConscienceOne Kind of OfficerThe Mocking-BirdCivilians:The Man Out of the NoseThe Man and the SnakeThe Boarded WindowFrom Can Such Things Be?Can Such Things Be?:Moxon’s MasterA Tough TussleA Resumed IdentityThe Night-Doings at “Deadman’s”The Realm of the UnrealThe Damned ThingHaïta the ShepherdThe Ways of Ghosts:Present at a HangingA Wireless MessageSoldier Folk:Three and One Are OneFrom Negligible TalesNegligible Tales:A Bottomless GraveJupiter Doke, Brigadier-GeneralThe City of the Gone AwayThe Major’s TaleCurried CowA Revolt of the GodsThe Parenticide Club:My Favorite MurderOil of DogFrom AntepenultimataA Bivouac of the DeadFrom The OpinionatorThe Controversialist:The Short StoryExplanatory NotesGlossary of Military TermsBattle Sites and Battle Leaders

The New Utopia


Jerome K. Jerome - 1891
    The New Utopia is a short story in which the author describes his dream about a socialist society. Jerome's short essay describes a regimented future city, indeed world, of nightmarish egalitarianism, where men and women are barely distinguishable in their grey uniforms and all have short black hair, natural or dyed. Other works include the essay collections Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886) and Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow; Three Men on the Bummel, a sequel to Three Men in a Boat; and several other novels.

Lord Arthur Saville's Crime; The Portrait of Mr. W. H. and Other Stories


Oscar Wilde - 1891
    Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1907. Excerpt: ... LORD ARTHUR SAVILE'S CRIME. I. It was Lady Windermere's last reception before Easter, and Bentinck House was even more crowded than usual. Six Cabinet Ministers had come on from the Speaker's Levee in their stars and ribands, all the pretty women wore their smartest dresses, and at the end of the picture-gallery stood the Princess Sophia of Carlsriihe, a heavy Tartar-looking lady, with tiny black eyes and wonderful emeralds, talking bad French at the top of her voice, and laughing immoderately at everything that was said to her. It was certainly a wonderful medley of people. Gorgeous peeress chatted affably to violent Radicals, popular preachers brushed coat-tails with eminent sceptics, a perfect bevy of bishops kept following a stout prima-donna from room to room, on the staircase stood several Royal Academicians, disguised as artists, and it was said that at one time the supper-room was absolutely crammed with geniuses. In fact, it was one of Lady Windermere's best nights, and the Princess stayed till nearly half-past eleven. As soon as she had gone, Lady Windermere returned to the picture-gallery, where a celebrated political economist was solemnly explaining the scientific theory of music to an indignant virtuoso from Hungary, and began to talk to the Duchess of Paisley. She looked wonderfully beautiful with her grand ivory throat, her large blue forget-me-not eyes, and her heavy coils of golden hair. Or pur they were--not that pale straw colour that nowadays usurps the gracious name of gold, but such gold as is woven into sunbeams or hidden in strange amber; and they gave to her face something of the frame of a saint, with not a little of the fascination of a sinner. She was a curious psychological study. Early in life she had discovered the important truth that nothing looks s...