Short Century

Movie star Mary Marvell consults with Hercule Poirot after receiving threatening letters that warn her to return her diamond, the famous "Western Star", to its rightful owner. But who does own the diamond, and is it even the genuine article?

This is a story from the Classic Women's Short Stories collection.

Percy Ellis Whittingham III didn’t believe in violence until he found himself bound and set afoot in the Black Rock desert in Nevada. Now this tenderfoot must use his wits to survive blistering heat, dehydration and starvation. Not to mention an Apache and the gunmen after him.

Can love last for decades? Can it survive even after you haven’t seen the person for over fifty years? Find out in this romantic short story about a man and woman’s relationship that lasted for decades. This short interracial romance is only 2,200 words, but it is full of emotion and love. Note that there are racial slurs in the story. Enjoy.

Imogene is young and beautiful, kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead, the legendary ghost of the Rosebud Theater. Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with a head full of big ideas and a gift for getting his ass kicked. It's hard to make friends when you're the only inflatable boy in town. Francis is unhappy, picked on; he doesn't have a life, a hope, a chance. Francis was human once, but that's behind him now.

Nellie’s beliefs about a woman’s place in society are challenged when she must find employment to save her family’s home, and unexpectedly encounters opposition by local businessmen. She is thrilled when Jacob McKenzie agrees to hire her for his furniture shop, but is wary of the stirrings he raises within her heart, feelings she thought long buried. Jacob McKenzie, a woodworker, is determined to make his furniture shop a success. With a painful past and no family nearby, he delves into his work as the one meaningful part of his life. When he meets and hires Nellie for his shop, he ...

In this engrossing account, Judith Herrin explains how scholars, lawyers, doctors, craftsmen, cosmologists and religious luminaries were drawn to Ravenna where they created a cultural and political capital that dominated northern Italy and the Adriatic. As she traces the lives of Ravenna's rulers, chroniclers and inhabitants, Herrin shows how the city became the meeting place of Greek, Latin, Christian and barbarian cultures and the pivot between East and West.

Secrets Inside Secrets Abby is Lord and Lady Spencer’s sexy secret. But when they abandon her for high society for the day, leaving her on her own, she gets her revenge. The feisty red-haired maid happens to meet up with her old boyfriend Rory and his buddy Alfred. She’s just jealous enough to hook up with the two randy farmboys. She creates an unforgettable double secret of her own! How will this affect her relationship with Susanna and Spencer? And has she cruelly re-awakened Rory’s feelings? This sexy adult romance novella contains menage threesome encounters, momentary semi-forced...

With the talents on display the most difficult task is choosing only ten. Their virtuosity, their craft and ambition scare belie the difficulties that society places upon most women. Their words cannot be denied, their literary heritage is safe forever.

Ireland is one hundred years old and to commemorate the centenary of Easter Rising 1916 Michelle Jackson has written a collection of short stories reflecting real women's lives through the decades. Starting in 1916, she takes different characters through the fifties and mass emigration, the troubles of the seventies and the decadence of the new millennium. This collection of eight short stories about Irish women is for any one with an interest in Ireland.

By Award-Winning Author Desperate widow Olivia accepts a position as a mail-order bride, yet refuses to accept any male’s proposal. Fighting demons of his own, Sheriff Stark sees a second chance for love. This widower vows to win the widow or die trying…and almost does. Olivia Rose Baker abandons her dying hometown in Massachusetts to become a mail-order bride in male-dominated Seattle, Washington. Her abusive husband died in the Civil War and left Olivia wary of marriage, so she hopes to take a teaching position rather than become a bride. But the man who purchased her ticket to ...

After he saved her life, a southern white woman falls in love with the black union soldier that saved her. This WWBM historical erotic romance is over 6,000 words and is for mature readers only.

Mister Tidwell is a scholarly Oxford professor snatched out of his bookish world and pressed into service aboard Lord Nelson’s legendary British fleet - in the position of schoolmaster. Such is the life of the land-loving, seafaring Mister Tidwell, Gunner. Thrust into service at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, Tidwell soon finds himself directly in the line of fire and way out of his depth. Fate has cast him into a terrible and terrifying spot - alone on deck to face the fearsome approach of a French man-o’-war.

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 18th Century and its male authors whose time has now come again.

Love is not enough. Irish immigrant Katherine Murphy has learned that lesson the hard way. Despite her fiercely independent nature, she opened her guarded heart to city boy Jonathan Schoon, who gave up the lucrative New York City future he was groomed for to court Katherine and make a permanent home in his uncle’s tight-knit Iowa farming community. When Jonathan is called home to New York City after his mother’s carriage accident, Katherine’s familiar fears surface. She vows not to be the reason he is separated from his New York family. When he returns at Christmas to re-claim their ...

Ready to turn your travel dreams into reality? Whether you're a first-time traveler or seeking to elevate your globetrotting experiences, the #1 worldwide bestselling travel guidebook, Let's Travel the World by renowned author Nikki Page, is your ultimate companion for unforgettable adventures around the globe. Join Nikki as she handpicks captivating destinations and expertly navigates the travel planning process, catering to both rookie travelers and seasoned globetrotters. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your travel skills, you'll discover essential insights, ...

"The Shortstop" is a novel by Zane Grey a baseball insider about a 17 years old boy, who fights his way to success, and saves his mother and brother out of poverty. Excerpt from the book: "I am going to be a baseball player." He waited quietly for her refusal, her reproach, her arguments, ready to answer them one by one. "I won’t let you be a ball player." "Mother, since father left us to shift for ourselves I’ve been the head of the house. I never disobeyed you before, but now - I’ve thought it out. I’ve made my plan."

These stories were carefully chosen to reflect what life was once like for women—before the fight for rights was won. Let these stories reveal to this new generation, how it felt to live with oppression and fear, with no hope of real freedom. Take a journey from 1892 to 1921 through fictional stories, to understand the need for constant vigilance in striving for equal rights for all. Through the voices of Virginia Woolf, Willa Cather, Katherine Mansfield, Susan Glaspell, Charlotte P. Gilman, and Kate Chopin, let us never forget from whence we came.

Showcasing the work of literary giants like Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, and authors whom listeners may be surprised to learn were "in the life", Black Like Us is the most comprehensive collection of fiction by African American lesbian, gay, and bisexual writers ever published.

With a wide range of themes and styles, ranging from traditional ghost stories to contes cruels, black humor, tales of dark fantasy and surreal nightmare, and perhaps the best story about a ventriloquist and his dummy ever written, there are stories here to suit the tastes of any connoisseur of horror and weird fiction.