"Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him." This line was written by Ambrose Bierce in his short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Death by execution has historically been ritualized, perhaps...
Unlike many of his contemporaries, the English poet Francis Thompson (1859-1907) was a true mystic. While more celebrated poets, like Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Arnold, were content to express their religious leanings in traditional devotional formulae, Thompson strove to portray the divine directly,...
A collection of four of Chekhov's most popular dramas together with his unusual one-act comedy, The Boor, presented by members of The Online Stage. Program The Seagull - translated by George Calderon Uncle Vanya - translated by Marian Fell The Three Sisters - translated by Julius West The Cherry Orc...
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm wrote over 200 fairytales called Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children's and Household Tales) published in 1812. Filled with moral lessons that are not wrapped up in the now-expected "Disney-esque" feel, these stories may shock or scare you, but they have been the inspiration for...
Edwin is a 12-year-old orphan. He is determined to overcome his fears and prove himself. An unexpected encounter with climbing boys, Smudge and Jake, leads to an adventure beyond his wildest dreams. Narrated at an even pace with subtle sound effects, nine voices bring the fascinating mix of characte...
This fantastical story chronicles the adventures of a young farm girl named Dorothy in the magical Land of Oz, after she, her pet dog Toto, and her home are all swept away from Kansas by a tornado. To get back to her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry in Kansas, she must follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Eme...
Award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti reads this Joseph Conrad classic tale of two white traders, Carlier and Kayerts, comical and pathetic, who move from polite society to the Congo, where they hope to become wealthy on the "Dark Continent" by spreading commerce and civilization to black Africa. But...
It's bad enough to learn that your historical enemy has developed robots so human-like that it takes an X-ray to detect them. But to learn that a group of the robots is already in the US and planning to detonate a bomb that can annihilate a major piece of a state - that's real motivation! For the ma...
This Irish version of the Cinderella story is a classic fairy tale as you have never heard it before. Master storyteller and folklorist Padraic Colum creates a completely unique world of enchanted woods, marauding giants, gossiping geese, and a supernatural cloak made of crow feathers. Through her m...
"These are the times that try men's souls." With these words, Thomas Paine began a series of 13 extraordinary pamphlets reporting on the American Revolution. Part newsfeed, part op-ed, these pieces were widely circulated in the States and in Britain during the war. They reported on the progress of t...
Tom Swift and His Aerial Warship, volume 18 in the Tom Swift series, finds our hero building an airship - but not just any airship: this is a battleship of the air, complete with cannons, bombs, and able to stay in the air for at least two weeks on a single tank of gas. Remeber that this book was wr...
Kate Chopin, one of the great literary writers of 19th-century American fiction, was a woman ahead of her time. From the early 1890s, Chopin was writing short stories, articles, and translations which appeared in periodicals and magazines regionally based in St. Louis - she was perceived as a "local...
