Spawn of the Comet

Otis Adelbert Kline

Silently, without warning they came, those fishermen of deep space who spread their net for man living flying saucers the Earth must destroy yet who multiplied by dying! Spawn of the Comet is a short alien invasion story by Otis Adelbert Kline. Otis Adelbert Kline (18911946) born in Chicago, Illinois, USA, was an adventure novelist and literary agent during the pulp era. He is best known for his interplanetary adventure novels set on Venus and Mars, which instantly became science-fiction classics. Much of his work first appeared in the magazine Weird Tales. Kline was an amateur orientalist and a student of Arabic, like his friend and sometime collaborator, E. Hoffmann Price. Recommended for lovers of the offbeat.

War in Heaven

Charles Williams

War in Heaven is a horrific romance, with many mythical creatures present. Instead of creating a unique secondary fantasy world or switching between two universes, Williams allows the supernatural to invade his modern world. This allows him to explore the influence of another reality on different characters. The object that guides the supernatural to the natural in this novel is the Holy Grail

The Measure of the Rule

Robert Barr

Robert Barr has been almost completely overlooked by critics and anthologists of Canadian literature, in part because, although he was educated in Canada, he spent most of his life in the United States and England. However, since most of his serious novels are either set in Canada or have some Canadian connection, Barr deserves attention. The Measure of the Rule is a 1907 coming-of-age novel about a country teacher who migrates to the city to study engineering, but is forced by dint of circumstance to go to a teachers training college, where he meets his wife-to-be. In this novel, Barr is exorcising unhappy memories and is ironic, even bitter, about the schools system and schools quality of education, the rigid discipline observed by its staff and their indifference to their students, and the sexual segregation practiced. A number of men under whom Barr actually studied are vividly caricatured.

Nena Sahib

John Retcliffe

Sir John Retcliffe, eigentlich Hermann Ottomar Friedrich Goedsche (1815-1878), war ein deutscher Schriftsteller. Er benutzte auch das Pseudonym Theodor Armin. Die Historisch-politischen Romane aus der Gegenwart von Sir John Retcliffe sind mit Abenteuern angereicherte Tendenzromane, die das gesamte politische Geschehen seiner Zeit zum Inhalt haben. Der indische Aufstand war ein Medienereignis, über das 1857 weltweit berichtet wurde. Indien wird einerseits als tropisches Paradies, andererseits als ein höllischer Ort blutrünstiger Menschenopfer dargestellt. Zum Rückfall Nena Sahibs kommt es, als ein britischer Major seine Frau vergewaltigt. Er wird der Agent der Vergeltung, indem er eine Mörderbande in den Kampf gegen die Kolonialherren führt. Retcliffes Roman orientalisiert die Rebellen zu unbeherrschten Gewalttätern, deren angeblich essenziell rachsüchtige und sadistische Natur in der Revolte durchbricht. Nena Sahib mutiert zum radikalen Terroristen, der antikoloniale Aufstand wird auf einen Ausbruch der wilden Natur gegen die Zivilisation reduziert.

Księżniczka

Zofia Urbanowska

Tytułowa księżniczka to Helenka Orecka, córka zubożałego szlachcica. Wychowywana pod kloszem dziewczynka jest rozpieszczona i oderwana od realiów życia. Po śmierci ojca musi sama wkroczyć w dorosłe życie i nauczyć zasad w nim panujących. Przekonuje się, że dotąd wyznawane wartości nie przysparzają jej szczęścia. Pod wpływem pracy w firmie ogrodniczej przechodzi wewnętrzną przemianę, dzięki której zaczyna cenić pracowitość i samodzielność.

Master Humphreys Clock

Charles Dickens

Originally a regular magazine written entirely by Charles Dickens from April 4, 1840-December 4, 1841, Master Humphreys Clock uses an elderly gentleman named Master Humphrey as a frame for a number of stories. He is a lonely, crippled old man who lives in London. He keeps manuscripts in an antique clock by the chimney. He decides to start a little club, Master Humphreys Clock, at which the members eventually six in total, including Mr. Pickwick would write and read out their manuscripts to the others. A mirror club in the kitchen, Mr. Wellers Watch, includes Master Humphreys maid, the barber, and Sam Weller. Ultimately, the periodical included the complete novels The Old Curiosity Club and Barnaby Rudge. These two novels are, however, referenced in the recording, when Master Humphrey and his friends refer to them. This recording presents all the published material except for the two novels.

The Uphill Climb

B.M. Bower

Beloved Western author B. M. Bower is back with another classic yarn of the Old West. Much like her best-known works, The Uphill Climb showcases the inner lives of the cowhands and ranchers who made the region livable and whose rough-and-tumble lifestyles all too often exacted a harsh toll. Also this story deals with one mans fight to overcome alcohol addiction. Still very relevant to today. But it also has romance and a good bit of humor from supporting characters. Bower knows the West of the cowboys, as do few writers... the writing is realistic, and strongly suffused with local color. One of many recommended Westerns by this prolific author.

Szaleństwo Almayera

Joseph Conrad

Debiut powieściowy Josepha Conrada. Tytułowemu Almayerowi, Holendrowi mieszkającemu na wyspie Borneo, nie wiedzie się zbyt dobrze. Jest niezaradny, zacietrzewiony i podejmuje nie do końca przemyślane decyzje. Odstaje od ludności tubylczej, która naśmiewa się z jego nieprzystosowania. Aby odwrócić swój los, Almayer podejmuje szaleńczą wyprawę po legendarne złoto.