Includes James Thurber's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," now a major motion picture! Spanning nearly 300 years of American humor, this anthology of entertaining tales ranges from the inventive mind of Benjamin Franklin and his 1732 story, "Alice Addertongue," to Simon Rich's 2012 fable, "Center of the Universe." More than 30 witty short stories include works by Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, O. Henry, Langston Hughes, and other masters of the...

Between 1841 and 1844, Edgar Allan Poe invented the detective fiction genre with his mesmerizing stories of a young French eccentric named C. Auguste Dupin. Introducing to literature the concept of applying reason to solving crime, these tales brought Poe fame and fortune. Years later, Dorothy Sayers would describe "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" as "almost a complete manual of detective theory and practice." Indeed, Poe's short mysteries inspired...

First published in 1908, this volume contains a collection of short stories and anecdotes compiled for use by public speakers, as well as sections on useful skills for the orator including pausing, impersonation, pronunciation, imagination, etc. Grenville Kleiser (1868-1953) was a North American author best remembered for his many inspirational and motivational books, especially those related to oration and self development. He also worked as a Public...

Presents a collection of both familiar and many unfamiliar short stories, including "The Private Life," "A Round of Visits," and "The Turn of the Screw."

Collected here are ten Western short stories by Richard S. Wheeler, the award-winning author who makes storytelling look easy.In "Mugs Birdsong's Crime Academy," celebrated criminal Mugs Birdsong decides to found an academy that will instruct lawmen on the ways and means of lawlessness. "The Last Days of Dominic Prince" is the tragic tale of a cattle baron and his final conflict with the forces of political correctness. "Dead Weight" introduces us...

Judged guilty by the Inquisition, a condemned man is slowly tortured.

"Featuring the original Russian on the left-hand page and new English translations on the right-hand side, contents include "The Fugitive" by Vladimir A. Gilyarovsky, "The Present" by Leonid Andreev, "Trataton" by Dimitry Mamin-Sibiryak, "Life Granted" by Aleksandr Grin, and "Icarus" by Stepan Skitalets, plus stories by Vasily Grossman, Aleksandr Kuprin, and others. No further apparatus or reference work is necessary for the self-contained text. Appropriate...