Showing results by narrator "Walter Zimmerman" in All Categories

"Dracula's Guest" is actually the deleted first chapter from the original Dracula manuscript, which the publisher felt was superfluous to the novel. It was later released as a short story.

"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is the 8th of 12 stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was originally published in Strand Magazine in 1892. Doyle thought that this was his best Holmes story. In fact, he thought so much of it that he wrote and produced a play based on the story. The play, originally called "The Stonor Case," differed from the story in several details but was essentially the same.

"O. Henry" is the pen name of American writer William Sydney Porter whose short stories are known for their wit, warm characterization and clever, unexpected endings. The Princess and the Puma is one of porter's best, and most anthologized stories.

Kate Chopin's novel The Awakening, published 1899, drew a storm of criticism for its "shocking, morbid, and vulgar" story and quickly went out of print. The novel was not resurrected until the 1950s, when participants in the growing women's movement recognized its importance. Today, The Awakening is among the most-read American novels in colleges and universities and is considered an early example of American realism.

Kate Chopin was an American author of short stories and novels, mostly with a Louisiana Creole background. Today she is now considered a forerunner of the feminist authors of the 20th century. This powerful little story concerns a Southern gentleman who disowns his wife because he fears she has "negro" blood. The truth makes for a dramatic ending.

This story was first published in McClure's Magazine in 1905. Harvey Merrick, a famous sculptor, died of tuberculosis at the age of 40. As the story begins, a group of townsfolk waits for the arrival of the night train that is bringing his body back from the East for burial in the small Kansas town where he grew up. Only one man, however, understands what Harvey has accomplished since leaving their town. The rest of the town folk seem close minded and provincial.

This short but powerful novel was acclaimed by Vladimir Nabokov and Mahatma Gandhi as the greatest in the whole of Russian literature. It is one of Tolstoy's most celebrated pieces of late fiction. At the center of the story is an examination of the nature of both life and death and how man can come to terms with death's inevitability. It was widely acclaimed when it was published in 1886 and remains a compelling narrative today.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky is considered one of the greatest Russian writers. His works have had a profound and lasting effect on 20th-century literature. His psychological penetration into the human soul had, in novels like Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, a profound influence on the 20th century novel. He also wrote a number of brilliant short stories along these same lines. "The Wedding" is one of his best.

A sentry falls asleep at his post, leading to dire consequences. This is a classic tale about the terrible cost of the Civil War, which divided entire families.

No one plumbs deeper depths of the psyche than French and Russian authors. This wide-ranging collection of 19th-century literary masterworks, presented in their entirety, not only entertains, but provides insight into 19th-century mores and the mysteries of human nature.

Arthur Conan Doyle ranked "The Red-Headed League" second in his list of his 12 favorite Sherlock Holmes stories. It is one of Holmes' most intriguing cases, in which he has to solve a problem caused by a strange society in which the only criteria for admission is bright red hair!

No one plumbs deeper depths of the psyche than French and Russian authors. This second wide-ranging collection of 19th-century literary masterworks, presented in their entirety, not only entertains, but provides insight into 19th-century mores and the mysteries of human nature.

The second books of stories continues the adventures of Mowlgi, the Jungle Boy, and contains the following stories: "How Fear Came", "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat", "Letting in the Jungle", "The Undertakers", "The King's Ankus", "Quiquern", "Red Dog", and "The Spring Running".

Pushkin was one of the giants of 19th century Russian literature but, unlike Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, he was most famous for his short stories. The Shot, one of his most anthologized, tells the story of a terrible revenge.

Charles Dickens, like many Victorian writers, loved to write supernatural stories during the Christmas season. The most famous, of course, is A Christmas Carol, but there were many other such stories including, Number One Branch Line: The Signalman, The Trial for Murder, and The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton. This particular story has many parallels to A Christmas Carol but also has many unique feathers.

Raised by wolves, young Mowgli is taught the law of the jungle by his animal friends: Old Baloo the wise brown bear, and Bagheera, the sleek, black Panther. Slowly, Mowgli learns the language and ways of the jungle animals and his childhood seems quite idyllic. But looming in the darkness of the jungle is the cunning and sinister tiger, Shere Khan, who silently watches Mowgli, awaiting his moment to pounce.

This is a selection from the "just so" stories. Just So Stories for Children is a collection of highly fantasized origin stories that are among Kipling's best known and, arguably, best works.

The Gambler brilliantly captures the strangely powerful compulsion to bet that Dostoevsky, himself a compulsive gambler, knew so well. The hero rides an emotional roller coaster between exhilaration and despair, and secondary characters such as the grandmother, who throws much of her fortune away at the gaming tables, are unforgettable.

A Christmas Carol is undoubtedly the most famous supernatural story in English. However, it was not the only supernatural story of the season that Charles Dickens wrote. In Victorian England, Christmas was the time to explore the supernatural in stories, and Charles Dickens was one of the best at it. Included in this volume are a full-cast dramatization of A Christmas Carol, plus three more of Dickens' best stories of the season.

Diable - A Dog, first appeared in Cosmopolitan Magazine June, 1902. Unlike Buck in The Call of the Wild, this fiercely independent dog was anything but man's best friend. Most thought he was a devil but, as the story says his master Black Leclère was also a devil, "and the twain were well matched."