The Scarlet Citadel

Robert E. Howard

The roar of battle had died away; the shout of victory mingled with the cries of the dying. Like gay-hued leaves after an autumn storm, the fallen littered the plain; the sinking sun shimmered on burnished helmets, gilt-worked mail, silver breastplates, broken swords and the heavy regal folds of silken standards, overthrown in pools of curdling crimson. In silent heaps lay war- horses and their steel-clad riders, flowing manes and blowing plumes stained alike in the red tide.

The Pickwick Papers

Charles Dickens

This novel demonstrates Dickens experimenting with building his own voice. The Pickwick Papers is a series of linear adventures, unlike the convoluted plots of Dickenss later novels. In other words, we follow our heroes from one stop to the next and meet interesting characters, rather than unraveling a mystery. The novel is a late example of the picaresque, a style of story in which we follow a rough, but still likable, hero through his adventures.The Pickwick Club sends Mr. Pickwick and a group of friends to travel across England and to report back on the interesting things they find. In the course of their travels, they repeatedly encounter the friendly but disreputable Mr. Jingle, who becomes a continual source of trouble for all who know him. Pickwick himself is the victim of a number of misunderstandings that bring him both embarrassment and problems with the law.

The Radium Seekers

Fenton Ash

Early science fiction, a cult classic, an enjoyable adventure. The story opens when our hero and his friends go to South America to look for radium, which has anti-gravity properties, and battle with a race of cruel Inca-type people who use the radium to fly, and disguise themselves as giant birds and terrorize the locals. The Radium Seekers is a fairly good novel written by Frank Aubrey. Francis Henry Frank Atkins (18471927) was a British writer of pulp fiction, in particular science fiction aimed at younger readers, writing at least three Lost-World novels along with much else. He wrote under the pseudonyms Frank Aubrey and Fenton Ash.

Penelope of the Polyantha

Edgar Wallace

There is a man in London I guess he is still in London, though I have not had news of him in months hell be useful to you, Penn, if you ever need help. And so begins this story. It is impossible not to be thrilled by Edgar Wallace. Penelope of the Polyantha is a crime novel by this pioneer of detective fiction. One of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, Edgar Wallace was an immensely popular author, who created exciting thrillers spiced with tales of treacherous crooks and hard-boiled detectives. During the peak of his success during the 1920s, it was said that a quarter of all books read in England were written by him. Many of his novels were made into films and TV dramas.

The Kingdom of the Sun. A Romance of the Far West Coast

Alexander Maitland Stephen

A young man, Richard Anson is a crewman on board Sir Francis Drakes Golden Hind, which is travelling north to the coast of what will one day become British Columbia. The Kingdom of the Sun: A Romance of the Far West Coast (1927) is an adventure novel by Alexander Maitland Stephen (May 8, 1882 July 1, 1942), who was a Canadian author of poetry and fiction. He began writing in the early 1920s. His first book was a volume of poetry called The Rosary of Pan which was published in 1923. He wrote two novels, the first being The Kingdom of the Sun in 1927. Most of his books were published by J.M. Dent and Sons where his brother worked as a vice-president. In March 1942 he became ill with pneumonia and died in Vancouver on July 1, 1942.

The Light of Western Stars

Zane Grey

Madeline Hammond wanted more out of life than the superficial glitter of New York society. So she bought a ranch near the turbulent Mexican frontier and ended up getting more than shed ever bargained for-and most of it trouble! She has a lot to learn about running a ranch in frontier New Mexico, but there is no question in her mind that she has to intervene when Gene Stewart, a cowhand who risked his life to save her honor, is scheduled to be hanged. And Madeline Hammond rode into the lawless wilds of Mexico in a desperate bid for his life and the love she had suddenly discovered! A surprising climax brings the story to a delightful close.

The Adventures of Heine

Edgar Wallace

The hapless Heine is trying very hard to be a good German spy in Great Britain during WWI but luck and circumstance are not with him. Every adventure turns out poorly for our dear spy. This collection of stories of Edgar Wallace about Heine was published during WWI and should be taken lightly by readers some may see it as a piece of anti-German propaganda, with Heine as a bit of a hopeless idiot. But the stories are also entertaining and should be read as such. Although these stories of German spy Heine are all linked and follow on from each other it is still very much a short story collection rather than a novel.

No Mans Land

H.C. McNeile

The story of real men who sacrificed themselves for the sake of their homeland and family. McNeile pays attention to people, their psychological state. Great attention to how things are in the trenches of soldiers. About how terrifying they could be and how long stretches of boredom punctuated by moments of terror could break any man after a while.