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Aleister Crowley was born 12 October 1875. He was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century. A prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving, both appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works include biographies of George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith and Muhammad, and several histories of 15th century Spain dealing with subjects such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors, and the Alhambra. Irving served as the U.S. ambassador to Spain from 1842 to 1846. Irving made his literary debut in 1802 with a series of observational letters to the Morning Chronicle, written under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle.

Zhuang Zhou was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the fourth century BC during the Warring States period, a period corresponding to the summit of Chinese philosophy, the Hundred Schools of Thought. He is credited with writing - in part or in whole - a work known by his name, the Zhuangzi, which is one of the foundational texts of Taoism. Herein is perhaps his most well known work.

Sherlock Holmes, a fictional character of the late 19th and early 20th century created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is a brilliant London-based "consulting detective" famous for his intellectual prowess and renowned for his enormous scope of observation, his astute logical reasoning and forensic science skills in solving difficult crimes.

The Book of Lies, or Liber 333, is a holy book in the Western occult tradition of Thelema, consisting of 91 short chapters of poems, aphorisms, rituals, and metaphysics. This recording is of the original 1913 publication, and thus omits the further commentaries added by Crowley for subsequent additions. Those familiar with Crowley’s hermetic writings will recognize his subversive and playful style.

Moonchild is a novel written by the British occultist Aleister Crowley in 1917. Its plot involves a magical war between a group of white magicians, led by Simon Iff, and a group of black magicians, over an unborn child.

Theodore Roosevelt Jr., often referred to as Teddy Roosevelt, was an American statesman, politician, conservationist, naturalist, and writer who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He previously served as 33rd governor of New York from 1899 to 1900 and the 25th vice president of the United States from March to September 1901. Roosevelt emerged as a leader of the Republican Party and became a driving force for the anti-trust policy while supporting Progressive Era policies in the early 20th century.

Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity. In 1898, he joined the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he was trained in ceremonial magic. Crowley declared his followers should "do what thou wilt" and seek to align themselves with their true will through the practice of magic.

A charming novella by Charles Dickens first published in 1848. It is the fifth and last of Dickens's Christmas novellas. The story is more about the spirit of the holidays than about the holidays themselves, harking back to the first in the series, A Christmas Carol. The tale centres on a Professor Redlaw and those close to him.

The Ramayana is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of the ancient Vedas of India, the other being the Mahābhārata.The great epic, traditionally ascribed to Valmiki, narrates the life of Lord Rama, the legendary prince of the Kosala Kingdom. A spiritual giant in yogic devotional literature.

Burmese Commissioner Nayland Smith and his faithful friend Dr. Petrie continue their fight against the evil genius of Dr. Fu Manchu when they seek to save the good doctor's lost love and protect the British Empire from disaster when their malignant enemy returns to England.

The gripping and entertaining tale of terror and suspense as well as a potent Faustian allegory of hubris and science run amok, The Invisible Man endures as one of the signature stories in the literature of science fiction. A brilliant scientist uncovers the secret to invisibility, but his grandiose dreams and the power he unleashes cause him to spiral into intrigue, madness, and murder. The inspiration for countless imitations and film adaptations, The Invisible Man is as remarkable and relevant today as it was a hundred years ago.

This is the handwritten book that Carroll wrote for private use before being urged to develop it later into Alice in Wonderland. When a sick child in a hospital enjoyed it so much, the mother wrote him saying it had distracted her for a bit from her pain and led eventually to Carroll expanding the story.

Siddhartha is the iconic novel by Hermann Hesse which deals with a spiritual journey of self-discovery of a young Indian man during the time of Gautama Buddha. The classic book, written in 1922, was Hesse's ninth novel, and was written in German, in his charmingly simple, lyrical style. It was later published in the United States in 1951 and became greatly influential during the 1960s. An inspirational audio adventure of the spirit.

Dracula is the now-classic 1897 gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. It introduced the fearsome Count Dracula, and established many conventions of subsequent vampire fantasies. The novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so that he may find new blood and spread the undead curse, and of the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and a woman led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

Here is perhaps Charles Dickens’ most beloved story, Philip Pirrip, known as “Pip”, narrates his own incredible journey, from the hindsight of 50 years. Pip grows up with his older sister after losing his parents as a boy. His sister, a tough woman, rules Pip and her husband Joe with an iron fist. While playing in the marshes, Pip is accosted by an escaped criminal whom he decides to help by stealing food from his own home. Miss Havisham, an eccentric recluse, sends for Pip to come to her house to play with Estella, a haughty girl about his age.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. Carefully reproduced from the original artifact, this inspirational audiobook remains true to the original ancient Viking era texts.

In 30 Years a Slave Hughes provides vivid descriptions and explicit accounts of how the McGee plantation in Mississippi, and the McGee mansion in Tennessee functioned - accounts of the lives of the many slaves that lived, suffered and sometimes died under the cruel and unusual punishments meted out by Boss and his monstrously unstable and vindictive wife. He described the profane manner in which this peculiar institution dehumanized, on a daily basis, not only the black man but even more so the white man.

Mary Shelley's 1818 novel presents the Faustian story of a man who aspires to create life out of death, with disastrous results. The novel is constructed as a series of first-person narratives, delivered by Captain Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and his Creature, which makes it perfect for a dramatic reading presented by actor author Geoffrey Giuliano.

The story centers on Charles Marlow, who narrates most of the book. He is an Englishman who takes a foreign assignment from a Belgian trading company as a river-boat captain in Africa. Heart of Darkness exposes the dark side of European colonization while exploring the three levels of darkness that the protagonist, Marlow, encounters: the darkness of the Congo wilderness, the darkness of the Europeans' cruel treatment of the African natives, and the unfathomable darkness within every human being for committing heinous acts of evil.