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"Draculas Guest" is a short horror story by the Irish author Bram Stoker. It was first published in 1914, some two years after Stokers death, as part of the book Draculas Guest and Other Weird Stories, an anthology of Bram Stokers short stories selected by his widow Florence.It is widely believed that "Draculas Guest" was originally intended to be the first chapter of Dracula and was removed from the novel because either Stoker or his publisher believed it to be superfluous to the novel. Analysis of the manuscript of Dracula indicates that a first chapter was removed from it. It is likely, however, that Stoker rewrote that excised first chapter before it was published as "Draculas Guest".The storys narrator and protagonist is an unnamed Englishman who is spending some time in Munich, Germany before travelling on to Transylvania as the guest of Count Dracula. Ignoring the warnings of a German coachman, the Englishman decides to go off on his own in the direction of a long-deserted village. The coachman says that the place is "unholy" and that it was abandoned because the dead did not stay truly dead there.

Jean Webster was a grandniece of Mark Twain, and it shows. "Daddy Long Legs" is her best-known book, published in 1911. It is an epistolary novel and a profound and tender homage to the power of awakening love.Jerusha (Judy) Abbot is 18, and has outgrown the orphanage in which she grew up. Her carers arent sure what to do with her; Judys too smart to be wasted on Household School, but theres just no money to pay for college. That is, until a rich trustee reads an essay written by Judy, and it makes him laugh. He offers to send her to college to become a writer, on the condition that she writes him regular letters to keep him up to date with events.Theres just one problem, Judy has no idea whom her generous benefactor actually is. Three things she knows: he is rich, he is tall and he dislikes girls.He never answers any of her letters - but seems somehow always to be present in her life...This extremely funny Cinderella story follows Judy through her college years, as she tries to fit in with her rich friends...and their handsome uncles (who somehow seem very familiar). The story is told through her letters to Dear Daddy Long Legs.

"After Dark" is Wilkie Collinss first collection of six short stories, published in 1856. The book is a series of tales supposed to be told to poor travelling portrait-painter, William Kerby.William Kerby is in danger of losing his sight, which would hit him especially hard as he is a painter. Only rest can preserve it, but a man must eat, and so he and his wife Leah look for other ways to generate a small income. Having travelled a good deal and having heard all kinds of stories on those journeys, William dictates six short stories to his wife, hoping that publishing a book might tide them over.

"Blue Lights" tells the story of Miles Milton, a prodigal that struggles with authority, and, like the prodigal son in Scripture, must learn the lessons of life the hard way. Through a series of events, he joins the British army...Robert Michael Ballantyne was a Scottish author of juvenile fiction who wrote more than 100 books, and "Blue Lights" is one of his best novels.

"Le Dernier des Mohicans" est un roman historique américain de James Fenimore Cooper. Publié pour la première fois en janvier 1826, ce roman fait aujourd’hui partie du panthéon littéraire américain."

Il Libro:George Morel e uno scrittore famoso ma non riesce piu a scrivere da anni. Il blocco dello scrittore si dice in gergo editoriale. La noia che lo affligge viene interrotta la mattina in cui riceve un involucro voluminoso su cui non ce alcun indirizzo del mittente ma solo un indirizzo email. Non volendo perdere tempo con lennesimo manoscritto amatoriale, lo scrittore non apre il pacco e chiede, tramite mail, il recapito postale a cui rispedirlo.La mittente, Kate Long, non e la solita neo scrittrice alla ricerca di riconoscimenti, ma una giovane donna avvolta nel mistero.Questo scrittore sessantenne e questa donna trentaquatrenne, che non e quel che vorrebbe far credere di essere, sviluppano attraverso una fitta corrispondenza la trama di un romanzo che gioca sul mistero e un pizzico di noir.Fra enigmi e umanita i protagonisti svelano a se stessi e al lettore una vita di solitudine e abbandoni, momenti di gioia e di quotidianita. Non sanno dove condurranno le loro email, si scrivono solo per il piacere di scrivere e di leggersi.Ma cosa contiene quel plico misterioso recapitato a George Morel?La sua apertura consentira allo scrittore di rimettere a posto un fondamentale tassello del suo passato che ancora non aveva trovato la giusta collocazione e di capire finalmente la reale identita di Kate Long.Altri libri scritti dallautore:Il segreto di GiuliaDuplice vendettaLincubo del babau - Una storia di stalkingThriller TrilogyNessuna identita - Frammenti di memoriaPantaclo - La ProfeziaPantaclo II - La ProfeziaPantaclo III - La ProfeziaPantacloCrimeIn gabbiaPantaclo (II Edizione)Crime (II Edizione)In gabbia (II Edizione)

"Armadale" is Collinss longest and best novel, published in 1866 and dedicated to John Forster. The story spans two generations of the Armadale families and the complex plot combines several of Collinss favourite themes, including the supernatural, identity, murder and detection."Armadale" has a convoluted plot about two distant cousins both named Allan Armadale. The father of one had murdered the father of the other (the two fathers are also named Allan Armadale). The story starts with a deathbed confession by the murderer in the form of a letter to be given to his baby son when he grows up. Many years are skipped over. The son, mistreated at home, runs away from his mother and stepfather, and takes up a wandering life under the assumed name of Ozias Midwinter.

As most of Haggards works, A Tale of Three Lions also take place in the heart of Africa. The tale is one more thrilling adventure from the eventful life of old and famous hunter Alain Quatermain, the famous hero of King Solomons Mines. This time, though there are no bloodthirsty people for the old hunter to deal with, the dangers are no less. He has to face the mighty and fierce King of Animals the Lion.

Scottish author Robert Louis Stevensons novel "The Master of Ballantrae" (in full "The Master of Ballantrae: A Winters Tale"), written in 1888 and published in 1889, examines the conflict between two brothers, Scottish noblemen whose family is torn apart by the Jacobite rising of 1745.This masterpiece provides another example of the moral ambiguity Stevenson had explored earlier in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". Ballantrae is bold and unscrupulous; his younger brother Henry is plodding, good-natured, and honest. While Ballantrae joins the fight to restore the Stuarts to the English throne during the 1745 rebellion, his brother stays behind as a supporter of King George. Ballantrae is believed dead but returns to find Henry in charge of the estate, married to Ballantraes love. The elder brother begins to persecute the younger, in Scotland and then America.Like "Treasure Island" and "Kidnapped", "The Master of Ballantrae" is a gripping, fast-paced adventure story told in the first person, serious and foreboding and Gothic. It starts off in a gloomy old Scottish mansion and takes its protagonists, powerfully and vividly, to the immense forests of New World.

"The Frontier" is a classic war story and presents the eternal idea of conflict between the old and the new, between fathers and sons, and between the intense convictions of yesterday and tomorrow. This early work by Maurice Leblanc was originally published in 1911.Maurice Leblanc was born in 1864 in France and he was a novelist and writer of short stories, known primarily as the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective, Arsene Lupin, the French counterpart to the English Sherlock Holmes.

"The Algonquin Legends of New England" is a brilliant collection of stories from the folklore tradition of the Algonquin (Algonquian, Algonkin) peoples of North America, in particular of the Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot tribes. The collection presented in the book is a result of the collecting efforts of folklorist Charles Godfrey Leland and from Rev. Silas T. Rand, a Canadian Baptist clergyman who was the first to record the legend of Glooskap. It is this legend, with its many chapters, which takes up the majority of the book. The central character is a giant of a divinity named Glooskap, who grows to a more appalling greatness than Thor or Odin in his battles, and whose name literally means Liar, because it is said that when he left earth he promised to return but has never done so.

"The Brothers Karamazov", the final novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, was first published as Bratya Karamazovy in 187980 and generally considered to be his masterpiece. Like "Crime and Punishment", "The Brothers Karamazov" revolves around a murder. Fyodor Karamazov, a corrupt provincial landowner and businessman, has fathered four sons: Dmitri, an army officer, by his first wife; Ivan, a teacher and scholar, by his second wife; Alyosha, a monk in training, also by his second wife; and Smerdyakov, an epileptic servant in his household and his illegitimate child by a retarded local girl. Fyodor is murdered by Smerdyakov, but Dmitris freewheeling anger and violence make him the suspect. After his arrest, a spectacular trial is held. The prosecution builds a solid case, and Dmitri is found guilty and sent to Siberia. Ivan learns that Smerdyakov is the real murderer, but, since nothing can be proved, Dmitri must suffer the consequences of the deed to the end. Ivan has a nervous breakdown, Smerdyakov commits suicide, and Alyosha goes to Siberia to offer what comfort he can to his brother."The Brothers Karamazov" is a novel with a simple plot about a murder, and a complex discussion of faith, doubt, and morality.

Racconti collegati al romanzo Omega: La fine e solo il principio.Ci sono momenti che si sono smarriti e non hanno trovato posto in Omega: La fine e solo il principio, attimi fugaci, pensieri e azioni che sono rimasti sullo sfondo, incastrati tra gli spazi bianchi delle pagine oppure avvenuti prima della storia narrata nel romanzo. Vi va di scoprirli attraverso sei brevi racconti?Come si sono conosciuti Bryan e Meg, quando erano entrambi piu giovani eppure gia privi dinnocenza? Qual e stato il primo contatto con il soprannaturale per Suzanne e per Charlinne, quando erano ben lontane dallessere le cacciatrici di mostri che sarebbero diventate? Come e nata lamicizia tra Meg e Johanna?Quattro storie ambientate in anni diversi e in luoghi diversi, prequel di Omega: La fine e solo il principio piu altre due che riprendono gli avvenimenti del romanzo da due diversi punti di vista: quello di Marcos e quello di Andris.Ordine dei libri: 1. Omega: La fine e solo il principio1.5Omega: Momenti perduti (Racconti)2. Prossimamente

"The Eight Strokes of the Clock" is a collection of eight short stories by Maurice Leblanc. This thematically-related series of short stories originally appeared in Excelsior Magazine in 1922-23. The eight tales follow the adventures of Prince Serge Renine (exactly what kingdom hes supposed to be a prince of is never explainedit could well be that Prince is just his given name. I guess that would make him the Prince formerly known as Lupin) and his assistant, Hortense Daniels, as they unravel eight perplexing mysteriesor, rather, as Renine unravels them and Hortense tags along. The eight stories, even though independent, have a leading thread: Serge Renine, trying to conquer the heart of the young Hortense.Chronologically, the stories are set in 1911, between Lupins retirement from crime at the end of "The Hollow Needle" and his greatest adventure of all, "813".

"The Europeans" is a short novel by Henry James, published in 1878. It marks an important point in the early phase of his development as a novelist."The Europeans" is an early example of a subject which Henry James was to make into his signature theme in later works the clash between the Old World and the New more specifically between traditional nineteenth century Europe and the democratic and republican states of north America. More specifically still, in "The Europeans" it is between the self-denying and rather strict puritanism of New England and the raffish Bohemian sophistication of European adventurers who have mixed motives. The novel is essentially a comedy contrasting the behaviour and attitudes of two visitors from Europe with those of their relatives living in the new world of New England.

William Morris is the founder of modern fantasy literature and "The Well at the Worlds End" is his masterpiece. It is odd that his works are not more widely read or discussed in the fantasy literature community. "The Well at the Worlds End" is thought to be one of the first examples of an entirely fictional fantasy world, and has greatly influenced later fantasy writers such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. The book follows the travels of Ralph, a prince of a tiny country, as he disobeys his fathers wishes and runs away from home to adventure in the world, and seek out the fabled Well at Worlds End, said to grant eternal youth to those who drink from it.

"Crime and Punishment" is the best known work of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, one of the founders of the modern novel. "Crime and Punishment" tells the story of redemption. This novel deals with the question of responsibility for the actions of each individual, background of struggle between God, morality and the theory of the Superman.In "Crime and Punishment", Dostoevsky treats the problem of crime and the criminal mentality. He is not interested in the social aspects of criminal behaviour, and there is little said in the novel about the legalities of crime. Dostoevsky has an interior view of criminality, a conviction that crime and its inevitable punishment are deeply seated aspects of the human spirit.Raskolnikov, the main character, is a former student who had to interrupt his studies for lack of money. Solitary dreamer, Raskolnikov rejects collective morality. He considers himself an extraordinary man and wants to test the limits of his freedom by doing evil and transgression of the moral order. He even consider themselves entitled to commit a crime, and even kill for the good of humanity in the name of a higher purpose. But the act does not go as planned: it kills the old woman, but he also murdered his sister. Raskolnikov resembles more and more to others, to those who obey common morality, the morality of obedience, and for this reason he despises. Meanwhile, he meets Sonia, a young prostitute, who is committed: Sonia sells her body to cope with their misery. Raskolnikov confesses his crime to Sonia, who pushes him to engage in the policy. He was sentenced to deportation to Siberia.

"The Outcry", Henry Jamess final novel, is an effervescent comedy of money and manners. A popular success in its own day, but long unavailable since and now almost unknown, "The Outcry" is one of the most surprising and amusing of Jamess works. Here he explores questions of privilege and initiative, repute and honour, high art and base calculation, revisiting some of his favourite themes with a deft and winning touch.Breckenridge Bender, a very rich American with a distinct resemblance to J.P. Morgan, arrives in England with the purpose of acquiring some very great art; he is directed to Dedborough, the estate of the debt-ridden Lord Theign. But plutocrat and aristocrat come into unexpected conflict when a young connoisseur, out to establish his own reputation, declares a prize painting from the lords collection to be in fact an even rarer, and pricier, work than had been thought.

Edith Whartons "The House of Mirth" was first published in 1905. The novel shocked the New York society it so deftly chronicles, portraying the moral, social and economic restraints on a woman who dared to claim the privileges of marriage without assuming the responsibilities.Lily Bart, beautiful, witty and sophisticated, is accepted by old money and courted by the growing tribe of nouveaux riches. But as she nears thirty, her foothold becomes precarious; a poor girl with expensive tastes, she needs a husband to preserve her social standing, and to maintain her in the luxury she has come to expect. Whilst many have sought her, something - fastidiousness or integrity- prevents her from making a suitable match.

Originally published in 1910, The Secret Sharer is Conrads most famous short story and one that has long puzzled readers and critics. The storys central character is a young captain, whose name the reader never learns and who has just assumed his first command. The setting for the story takes place aboard his ship that is sailing through the Gulf of Siam (now called the Gulf of Thailand). The man is nervous, wondering if he will be able to fulfil the obligations of his new position and, more importantly, his own ideals. As he paces the empty deck of his ship during the night, he is startled to discover a naked man swimming by his ships side. Once aboard, the swimmer, Leggatt, confesses that he is fleeing from his own ship, the Sephora, because he murdered a fellow sailor. As the young captain and Leggatt talk, it appears that the act was justified because the Sephora was in danger during a violent storm and Leggatt had to strike the man down in order to save the ship. Because the letter of the law makes no provision for this particular situation, however, Leggatt is condemned as a criminal and will be punished, perhaps executed, if captured. That places the young captain in a moral dilemma: Should he hide Leggatt or turn him over to the authorities?