Modern Short Stories

Eight brilliant short stories from the best female short story writer of her age. Katherine Mansfield's wit, pathos and descriptive genius combine in this collection to take the listener from a wry smile one minute to the verge of tears the next.

“The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether” is an Edgar Allan Poe short story that expertly blends his dark perspective with the comic. -This is the original story—only word order and difficult vocabulary have been updated. -End notes, interpretation, and discussion of major themes follow the text. -Biographical information on Edgar Allan Poe is included. -For other classic short stories in easy to understand updated English search for “Simplified for Modern Readers Series.”

Every life is a theatrical play and has its own intriguing story. But there are some lives that don’t dovetail into plays or stories. Their lives exceeded the dimensions of one particular story or play, transforming into a chain of stories and plays. While I was constructing the story of their strange life, I found myself on stage in a play. Nobody told me to act in it. I’m a volunteer actor in this play. The theater is where this play, in which I’m an actor, opens its curtains while you’re snoozing away in your warm, comfy bed. Sometimes after a one-act play is played, it closes ...

Inspired by classic books like The Little Prince, these delightful fables follow a variety of charming animal characters as they embark on fantastical yet profoundly relatable quests.

In a bustling modern metropolis ruled by power and ambition, Esther Rodriguez never expected to be thrust into the limelight. Working as a mid-level executive, she’s used to flying under the radar—until a city-wide competition for the position of mayoral spokesperson catapults her into a high-stakes political arena. But as Esther navigates the city's elite, she uncovers a dangerous conspiracy orchestrated by Gabriel Collins, a ruthless executive with a vendetta against her community. When Esther discovers Gabriel’s plan to exploit the most vulnerable citizens and frame her in the ...

Have you heard the story about the bird that turned to stone? Did your parents warn you about the extra-specially-super-deliciously-fantastically naughty boy who got a frog stuck in his throat? No? Well, never fear: Onjali Q Raúf is here to entertain you with her sparkling collection of fables for kids who want to make the world a better place!

Dark Matter is an anthology of estranged tales that were written for the fans of all things weird and bizarre. Some of the stories are recounted rumors of a forgotten past, while others are fortunes told of a distant and horrific future. All of the legends within this collection share a single common element: madness.

Step into a world where the extraordinary becomes reality in "Tales of Imagination: Adventures Beyond the Ordinary." This collection of seven captivating stories takes you on an unforgettable journey through realms of whimsy, intrigue, and wonder: Fisc, the Fish who Wanted to Live in Dry Land Garry the Goat who Wanted to Marry a Cow Futuristic Food Battle: Exotic Culinary Competition The Ultimate Heist in a High-Tech World The Book of Shadows The Lost City of Nereus The Weather WhispererEach story in this collection offers a unique adventure, blending the magical with the mundane, the ...

Versailles, 1682: a city of the rich, a living fairy-tale, Louis XIV's fever dream. It's a place of opulence, beauty, and power. But strip back the lavish exterior of polite society, and you'll find a dark undercurrent of sexual intrigue and vicious gossip. Nobody is safe here - no matter how highly born they are. No one knows this better than Madame Marie d'Aulnoy. Each week, a rogue group of intellectuals gather at her Parisian home to debate, flirt and perform Contes de Fées - fairy tales - that challenge the status quo, at a salon that will change the course of literature forever.

Quattro grandi classici, senza tempo, della letteratura moderna. Dalla visione distopica del famossimo romanzo "1984" di George Orwell, all'altrettanto famoso, "La fattoria degli animali", dello stesso autore. Per poi arrivare alla saggezza millenaria de "Il Profeta" di Kahlil Gibran ed all'infinita dolcezza de "Il piccolo Principe" di Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, uno dei romanzi più conosciuti e letti al mondo. Narrati dalla voce e dall'interpretazione di Alex Martinelli.

After the sudden loss of her husband, Ruth is left with nothing but her mother-in-law Naomi and a broken heart. With no future in the city they once called home, Naomi decides to return to her small hometown, hoping to find solace in familiar faces. Ruth, refusing to leave the only family she has left, makes a bold choice: she will leave everything behind to follow Naomi and start anew. As Ruth struggles to rebuild her life in a tight-knit community, she crosses paths with Boaz, a successful and respected business owner. Ruth is drawn to his quiet strength, while Boaz can’t help but ...

In *A Quick Lunch…The Date That Ended Before Dessert*, the narrator meets a man she connected with online. After several good phone conversations, they plan to meet at a restaurant, but an hour before, he changes the location to a bar he knows. Despite the awkward last-minute change, she goes along with it. At the bar, they wait over an hour for the kitchen to open, and just as the food arrives, he abruptly ends the date, paying the bill while she’s away for a brief moment.

Rise of Modern Machines: Dawn of Humanity is short fiction inspired by AI's dominance in the world today and in the future. In recent years, as I’ve worked with various AI tools, an uneasy feeling about the future of humanity has grown within me. This apprehension doesn’t stem from AI’s occasional mistakes or hallucinations but from the astonishing speed at which it is improving. Tools like ChatGPT, DALL-E, Gemini, and Einstein have made remarkable progress, surpassing human error rates in many scenarios.

One Night. One Chance. One moment that changes everything. You know that saying... Every girl wanted him, and every guy wanted to be him. That's Hunter Collins, our small town's Allstar Quarterback, the most popular guy in school. And me... No boy wanted me. Yet Hunter Collins chose me as his partner during our freshman-year English project... A moment I never forgot. It's senior year, and while Hunter Collins may not think of me, I have wet dreams about him every night. Graduation is just around the corner. I've let high school pass by and it's time to step out of the dark and take a ...

The Reality Beneath is a collection of short stories written by SULI Daniel Johnson. They are written in his distinct brand of science fiction that can be defined as stories that make you think. The Reality Beneath encompasses a good example of SULI Daniel Johnson’s unique style. He takes current topics and situations and looks at them from a new perspective. The genre is technically science fiction, yet quite often, it comes very close to reality broadening the perspective to look at things in a new way. It includes:

Clarice Lispector gilt neben Virginia Woolf als bedeutendste Schriftstellerin der Moderne. Zu ihrem 100. Geburtstag erscheint der zweite und letzte Band ihrer gesammelten Erzählungen in der gefeierten Neuübersetzung von Luis Ruby. Hannelore Hoger, eine große Kennerin und Verehrerin Lispectors, liest ihre persönlichen Lieblingserzählungen aus beiden Bänden. Mit ihrer markanten Stimme und einem tiefen Verständnis für die komplexen Gefühle, die hinter Lispectors nur scheinbar einfacher Sprache aufscheinen, verleiht sie dieser Prosa einen kongenialen Ausdruck.

What links a café in Antarctica, a factory for producing electronic tracking tags, and personal spacecraft? They're among the multiple venues where award-winning writer Tania Hershman sets her unique tales in this spellbinding debut collection. This audiobook, adbridged from the original collection, is read by the author, Tania Hershman.

In den Tiefen der Materie legt Maeterlinck eine erfrischende Leichtigkeit an den Tag, innerhalb derer gesellschaftliche, historische und künstlerische, aber auch allgemeine und spezifische Gegenstände mit prosaischer Eleganz und schmunzelndem Lächeln abgearbeitet werden. Man ist sich nicht immer sicher, ob dieser Art Wechselspiel von Erkenntnis und unmittelbar folgender Relativierung die Absicht zu Grunde liegt, die Realität möglichst vieler Perspektiven zu verdeutlichen: vielleicht ja, vielleicht nein, vielleicht teilweise.

Do you believe in fairy tales? It was almost as if the red dress found Sandra when she needed it most. It was almost as if the red dress knew what she needed - to feel more confident, to look more radiant, to appear stronger than she was. It was almost as if the red dress knew that the one thing that was missing in her life was her soul mate? It was almost as if the red dress was magical. Sandra didn't believe in magic. She believed in being strong and being able to take care of herself. In a time when it wasn't popular for women to not get married early, Sandra was focused on her career. ...

The red dress did it's magic for Sandra and now it was time to do the same for Tracy. Tracy didn't know where her life was headed but the red dress showed up in her life and suddenly, things were happening for her. The red dress gave her confidence and strength and her life started changing - for the better. Did the red dress know that what she needed most in her life was to find her soul mate? It was almost as if the red dress was magical. Tracy just wanted to get her degree and be happy. But the red dress had bigger plans for her. The Red Dress is a sweet romance that is clean and ...