These stories that speak about objects and daily happenings, pass over to another dimension, one of nightmare or revelation. In each text, surprise and uneasiness are ingredients added to the indescribable pleasure of its reading. These stories may upset readers due to a very rare characteristic in literature: They stare at us as if waiting for something in return. After reading these true classics, our opinion of the world cannot remain the same.1. "Casa Tomada" ("House Taken Over")2. " Carta a una señorita en París" (Letter to a Young Lady in Paris")3. "Lejana" ("The Distances")4. "Ómnibus" ("Omnibus")5. "Cefalea" ("Headache")6. "Circe" ("Circe")7. "Las puertas del cielo" ("The Gates of Heaven")8. "Bestiario" ("Bestiary")

    The collection contains thirty stories that take us from the islands of the Pacific Ocean to England, France and Spain. They all reveal Maugham's acute and often sardonic observation of human foibles and his particular genius for exposing the bitter reality of human relationships.Somerset Maugham learnt his craft from Maupassant, and these stories display the remarkable talent that made him an unsurpassed storyteller.

    Only his second collection (the first was Dark Carnival, later reworked into The October Country), it is a marvelous, if mostly dark, quilt of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. In an ingenious framework to open and close the book, Bradbury presents himself as a nameless narrator who meets the Illustrated Man--a wanderer whose entire body is a living canvas of exotic tattoos. What's even more remarkable, and increasingly disturbing, is that the illustrations are themselves magically alive, and each proceeds to unfold its own story, such as "The Veldt," wherein rowdy children take a game of virtual reality way over the edge. Or "Kaleidoscope," a heartbreaking portrait of stranded astronauts about to reenter our atmosphere--without the benefit of a spaceship. Or "Zero Hour," in which invading aliens have discovered a most logical ally--our own children. Even though most were written in the 1940s and 1950s, these 18 classic stories will be just as chillingly effective 50 years from now. --Stanley WiaterContents:· Prologue: The Illustrated Man · ss * · The Veldt [“The World the Children Made”] · ss The Saturday Evening Post Sep 23 ’50 · Kaleidoscope · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Oct ’49 · The Other Foot · ss New Story Magazine Mar ’51 · The Highway [as by Leonard Spalding] · ss Copy Spr ’50 · The Man · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Feb ’49 · The Long Rain [“Death-by-Rain”] · ss Planet Stories Sum ’50 · The Rocket Man · ss Maclean’s Mar 1 ’51 · The Fire Balloons [“‘In This Sign...’”] · ss Imagination Apr ’51 · The Last Night of the World · ss Esquire Feb ’51 · The Exiles [“The Mad Wizards of Mars”] · ss Maclean’s Sep 15 ’49; F&SF Win ’50 · No Particular Night or Morning · ss * · The Fox and the Forest [“To the Future”] · ss Colliers May 13 ’50 · The Visitor · ss Startling Stories Nov ’48 · The Concrete Mixer · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Apr ’49 · Marionettes, Inc. [Marionettes, Inc.] · ss Startling Stories Mar ’49 · The City [“Purpose”] · ss Startling Stories Jul ’50 · Zero Hour · ss Planet Stories Fll ’47 · The Rocket [“Outcast of the Stars”] · ss Super Science Stories Mar ’50 · Epilogue · aw *

    Free online fiction.The short story, A Sound of Thunder, involves a Time Travel Safari where rich businessmen pay to travel back to prehistoric times and hunt real live dinosaurs.

    the short, timeless classics of Jack London, Rudyard Kipling, Ray Bradbury, and others are celebrated in these handsome volumes.

    They stand out as one of the pinnacles in the critically neglected but perennially popular tradition of weird writing that includes E.T.A. Hoffmann and Charles Dickens as well as more recent masters like Jorge Luis Borges and Roald Dahl. With a cast of characters that ranges from man-eating flora to disgruntled devils and suburban salarymen (not that it's always easy to tell one from another), Collier's dazzling stories explore the implacable logic of lunacy, revealing a surreal landscape whose unstable surface is depth-charged with surprise.

    Early SuccessThe Diamond as Big as the RitzBernice Bobs Her HairThe Ice PalaceMay DayWinter Dreams"The Sensible Thing"AbsolutionII. Glamour and DisillusionmentThe Rich BoyThe Baby PartyMagnetismThe Last of the BellesThe Rough CrossingThe Bridal PartyTwo WrongsIII. Retrospective: Basil and JosephineThe Scandal DetectivesThe Freshest BoyThe Captured ShadowA Woman with a PastIV. Last Act and EpilogueBabylon RevisitedCrazy SundayFamily in the WindAn Alcoholic CaseThe Long Way OutFinancing FinneganPat Hobby Himself A Patriotic Short Two Old TimersThree Hours Between PlanesThe Lost Decade

    Among other fine works, the collection also includes “Wunderkind,” McCullers’s first published story written when she was only seventeen about a musical prodigy who suddenly realizes she will not go on to become a great pianist. Newly reset and available for the first time in a handsome trade paperback edition, The Ballad of the Sad Café is a brilliant study of love and longing from one of the South’s finest writers.

    Harrington's WashingSanatoriumFootprints in the JungleAppearance and RealityThe LuncheonThe OutstationThe UnconqueredThe And and the GrasshopperHomeBefore the PartyThe EscapeThe Judgement SeatThe Voice of the Turtle

    A short story by Ray Bradbury

    He cowrote The Tender Trap, which became a big-screen vehicle for Frank Sinatra, and his hilarious, Elvis-intensive satire Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! also made it to Hollywood, pairing the young Paul Newman with the equally young Joanne Woodward. Shulman's best-known creation, however, is probably Dobie Gillis--that smooth-talking schlemiel of a college student, always on the make for female companionship. And in this case, the synergistic success of the book--which generated both a limp movie musical and a much-beloved television series--does Shulman a real disservice. Why? The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is much funnier than either of its live-action spin-offs, for one thing. With Dobie himself narrating, the plots shake off at least a grain of their sitcom stiffness. More to the point, though, is Shulman's mastery of wise-guy prose: the goofy, comical elevation of Dobie's voice suggests a kind of broad-brush S. J. Perelman, and if Shulman is a tad less clever than that comedic monster, he's also superior at inducing the world-class belly laugh. Certainly The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis does the trick nicely, and the period illustrations are an irresistible bonus, suitable for framing.

    Credit for the genesis of this sub-genre of the ghost story should be given jointly to Robert Aickman and his collaborator in We Are for the Dark, Elizabeth Jane Howard. Contributing three tales each, the authors were not identified with their own stories when the book was first published in 1951. We Are for the Dark contains six stories: ‘The Trains’, ‘The View’ and ‘The Insufficient Answer’ are by Robert Aickman, while ‘Three Miles Up’, ‘Left Luggage’ and ‘Perfect Love’ are by Elizabeth Jane Howard.

    350 numbered copies. Out of print. Contents: A Christmas Story/ Capra/ Calmahain/ The Khan/ Ringstones/ Number FourteenThe five original stories of the collection are here augmented by the first ever publication of “Number Fourteen”, a newly discovered conte cruel. - Uniquely disquieting short stories.Ringstones and Other Curious Tales ‘have a curiously-imparted quality of strangeness; the feeling of having strayed over the border of experience into a world where other dimensions operate.’ So said one of the original reviewers of these unique stories, first published in 1951. The title story is set on the Northumberland moors, where Daphne Hazel appears to cross the boundaries of time, becoming involved with terrifying personalities from the mysterious past. ‘Calmahain’ deals delicately and imaginatively with two children’s attempts at escape from the grim realities of the Home Front during World War Two. Sarban shows himself equally at home in the Middle East, where, against an authentic background of expatriate life, three further stories explore ancient legends with spine-chilling results.

    

    Army Colonel Bryan Kelly, whose plane has crash-landed on the Asiatic mainland. With him are his two sons, his wife, the pilot and co-pilot, and ten enlisted men. The sixteen prisoners are held captive by the Communist guerrilla chief Pi Ying, who forces Kelly to play a game of chess using his family and men as the white pieces, and himself as the king. Any American pieces that Pi Ying captures will be executed immediately; if Kelly wins, he and his surviving pieces will be freed. A Russian military officer, Major Barzov, and Pi Ying's female companion are present to watch the game.

    

    The editor has collected in convenient form Stevenson's short fiction, including the complete New Arabian Nights and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as well as ghost stories, medieval romances, farces, horror stories, and the South Sea Tales. This volume amply illustrates Stephenson’s wide range and enduring appeal.Lodging for the night --Suicide Club: Story of the young man with the cream tarts / Story of the physician and the Saratoga trunk / Adventure of the Hansom cab --Rajah's Diamond: Story of the bandbox / Story of the young man in Holy Orders / Story of the house with the green blinds / Adventure of Prince Florizel and a detective --Providence and the guitar --Sire de Maletroit's door --Will o' the mill --Story of a lie --Thrawn Janet --Merry men --Body-snatcher --Markheim --Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde --Bottle imp --Beach of Falesa --Isle of Voices.

    The first of three volumes of 'The Complete Short Stories'.

    

    Benson --Night drive / by Will F. Jenkins --In the vault / by H.P. Lovecraft --The diary of a madman / by Guy de Maupassant --The tool / by William Fryer Harvey --Bianca's hands / by Theodore Sturgeon --The cross of Carl / by Walter Owen --Hathor's pets / by Margaret S. Clair --A terribly strange bed / by Wilkie Collins --The well / by W.W. Jacobs --Revenge / by Samuel Blas --The pit and the pendulum / by Edgar Allan Poe --Macklin's little friend / by Howard Wandrei --The Easter egg / by H.H. Munro (Saki) --Problem in murder / by H.L. Gold --The moth / by H.G. Wells --A resumed identity / by Ambrose Bierce --Bubbles / by Wilbur Daniel Steele.

    You won't be, for here in More Guys and Dolls are many hours of reading pleasure.More Guys and Dolls reintroduces to the American public Damon Runyon at his best. This large collection contains thirty-four priceless tales, six of which have never before been published in book form. Here you will meet Chesty Charles, Spider McCoy, Dawn Astra, Wingy Smung, Mike the mugger, and many another "sweet pea of a character." Meet also the heroine of the year, Miss Sarah Brown, whose story inspired the Broadway success "Guys and Dolls." The bookies, the babes, and the touts are all here and better than ever.

    "But", he wrote years later, "I could recall no words of wisdom for those who found their awareness of wonder growing dim. Was there a remedy to offer such people?" The remedy is here, in a warm and uplifting sequel that encourages us to use memories of wonderful past moments to counterbalance troubles, trials, disappointments, and failures of the present. "These little luminous moments have been with you all the way", he observes. "Try reaching back for some of them. It may make you realize once more how important wonder is".-- Sequel to A Touch of Wonder, which has sold more than 450.000 copies-- Encourages readers to cherish memories of good times in the face of present-day trials-- Concise chapters offer a reader-friendly format-- Underscores God's handiwork in every aspect of life

    

    Time Travel.They kept making odd little mistakes — and almost uncanny predictions. I guess we'll never again have [such interesting neighbors.] Such Interesting Neighbors was the basis for the same-named episode of Steve Spielberg's NBC TV series, Amazing Stories. Originally aired on March 20, 1987places: San Rafael, CA; South America; Newton, KS; Tallahassee, FL; Chicago, IL; Mill Valley, CA; Orange, NJOriginally published Colliers, January 6, 1951