Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.Guy de Maupassant is one of the few writers whose short stories—witty, economical, elegant, yet straightforward in style—are so forceful that his literary reputation can rest on them alone. Beneath their deceptively simple surfaces lies a deep understanding of the complexities of the human psyche. Maupassant explores the full panoply of late-nineteenth-century French society, from prostitutes in Parisian brothels and peasants in rural cottages, to adulterousaristocrats at expensive spas and patrician parties.This collection begins with “Ball-of-Fat,” the first story Maupassant published under his own name. Called a masterpiece by his friend and mentor Gustave Flaubert, it instantly raised the young author to celebrity status and created a clamor for more of his work. He responded with over three hundred stories (and six novels) written in a dozen years. Among others included here are the favorites “The Necklace,” “The Horla,” “The False Gems,” and “Useless Beauty.”Richard Fusco received his Ph.D. from Duke University and is Associate Professor of English at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. A specialist in nineteenth-century American literature and in short-story narrative theory, his published criticism includes Maupassant and the American Short Story: The Influence of Form at the Turn of the Century and Fin de millénaire: Poe’s Legacy for the Detective Story.

    ‘Rashōmon’ and ‘In a Bamboo Grove’ inspired Kurosawa’s magnificent film and depict a past in which morality is turned upside down, while tales such as ‘The Nose’, ‘O-Gin’ and ‘Loyalty’ paint a rich and imaginative picture of a medieval Japan peopled by Shoguns and priests, vagrants and peasants. And in later works such as ‘Death Register’, ‘The Life of a Stupid Man’ and ‘Spinning Gears’, Akutagawa drew from his own life to devastating effect, revealing his intense melancholy and terror of madness in exquisitely moving impressionistic stories.A WORLD IN DECAY- Rashōmon- In a Bamboo Grove- The Nose- Dragon: The Old Potter's Tale- The Spider Thread- Hell ScreenUNDER THE SWORD- Dr. Ogata Ryōsai: Memorandum- O-Gin- LoyaltyMODERN TRAGICOMEDY- The Story of a Head That Fell Off- Green Onions- Horse LegsAKUTAGAWA'S OWN STORY- Daidōji Shinsuke: The Early Years- The Writer's Craft- The Baby's Sickness- Death Register- The Life of a Stupid Man- Spinning Gears

    The hearth, he claims, was caused by a meteorite that fell onto the farmer’s field in 1882.“The Color Out of SPAAACE” is one of H.P. Lovecraft’s best-loved and most critically acclaimed stories. According to the author, it was also his personal favorite. It has been adapted twice for film; first in 1967 and later in 1987.HarperCollins brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperCollins short-stories collection to build your digital library.

    Lovecraft was perhaps the greatest twentieth century practitioner of the horror story, introducing to the genre a new evil, monstrous, pervasive and unconquerable. At the heart of these three stories are terrors unthinkable and strange: a crash-landing meteorite, the wretched inhabitant of an ancient castle and a grave-robber's curse. This book includes "The Colour Out Of Space", "The Outsider" and "The Hound".

    But it was in his short stories, written when he was a young man embarking on a literary career, that he first explored the enormous potential of the scientific discoveries of the day. He described his stories as "a miscellany of inventions," yet his enthusiasm for science was tempered by an awareness of its horrifying destructive powers and the threat it could pose to the human race. A consummate storyteller, he made fantastic creatures and machines entirely believable, and by placing ordinary men and women in extraordinary situations, he explored, with humor, what it means to be alive in a century of rapid scientific progress. At the dawn of a new millennium, Wells' singular vision is more compelling than ever.

    Mr Mulliner, his vivid imagination lubricated by Miss Postlethwaite the barmaid, has fabulous stories to tell of the extraordinary behaviour of his far-flung family: in particular there's Wilfred, inventor of Raven Gypsy face-cream and Snow of the Mountain Lotion, who lights on the formula for Buck-U-Uppo, a tonic given to elephants to enable them to face tigers with the necessary nonchalance. Its explosive effects on a shy young curate and then the higher clergy is gravely revealed. Then there's his cousin James, the detective-story writer, who has inherited a cottage more haunted than anything in his own imagination. And Isadore Zinzinheimer, head of the Bigger, Better & Brighter Motion Picture Company. Tall tales all - but among Wodehouse's best.

    Each week one of them challenges the rest of the group with a new mystery. Who can rise to the challenge?And now the first. After a supper of canned lobster and a dessert of trifle, three people became ill. One of them, Mrs. Jones, died. A bout of botulism was suspected but could it have been more than that? Sir Henry Clithering, the former head of Scotland Yard, recounts this story of a recent case to the Tuesday Night Club assembled at Miss Marple's house in St. Mary Mead. The group are keen to delve deeper as he asks whether any of them can resolve it. In the corner sat Miss Marple, knitting and listening.Librarian's note: this entry relates to the short story, "The Tuesday Night Club." Collections and other stories by the author are located elsewhere on Goodreads. The Miss Marple series includes twelve novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching Goodreads for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."

    From short stories to poems, this has everything the great author has ever written in it.

    Complete tales and poems in one volume, with special biographical introduction by Hervey Allen.

    An unexpected invite throws the Christmas plans of Bertie Wooster and his long- suffering valet, Jeeves, into disarray. Rather than the Winter sun of Monte Carlo, Jeeves and Wooster find themselves spending Christmas at Skeldings Hall, much to the disappointment of Jeeves, home of Lady Wickham, and her daughter Bobbie, thr object of Bertie's desire. Also in attendance is Sir Roderick Glossop, father of Bertie's former fiancé, Honoria, and Tuppy Glossop, he who tricked Bertie into falling into the swimming pool at the Drones Club.First published in 1927, and previously published in The World of Jeeves, Jeeves and the Yule-tide Spirit is the perfect festive treat.

    This charming one-of-a-kind classic is a beautiful compilation which includes the timeless story, The Magic Walking-Stick and several additional Arabian Nights classic stories including; The Seven Voyages of Sinbad, The Story of the Magic Horse, The Story of the Fisherman and the Genie and more.

    Le Guin’s selection of twenty-six stories showcases H. G. Wells’s genius and reintroduces readers to his singular talent for making the unbelievable seem utterly plausible. He envisioned a sky filled with airplanes before Orville Wright ever left the ground. He described the spectacle of space travel decades before men set foot on the moon. H. G. Wells was a visionary, a man of science with an enduring literary touch, and his originality and inventiveness are fully on display in this essential collection.Including these stories:“A Slip Under the Microscope”“The Remarkable Case of Davidson’s Eyes”“The Plattner Story”“Under the Knife”“The Crystal Egg”“The New Accelerator”“The Stolen Body”“The Argonauts of the Air”“In the Abyss”“The Star”“The Land Ironclads”“A Dream of Armageddon”“The Lord of the Dynamos”“The Valley of Spiders”“The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham”“The Man Who Could Work Miracles”“The Magic Shop”“Mr. Skelmersdale in Fairyland”“The Door in the Wall”“The Presence by the Fire”“A Vision of Judgment”“The Story of the Last Trump”“The Wild Asses of the Devil”“Answer to Prayer”“The Queer Story of Brownlow’s Newspaper”“The Country of the Blind”