Résultats de "J.R. Calcaterra - Influencer | Mentor | Shaper" dans Toutes les catégories

These are three of the strangest stories I could find by the very talented Fritz Leiber. And by strange I mean odd, weird, kinda creepy and yet wonderful. Not your normal Science Fiction here but then Leiber had an amazing imagination and these certainly made me stretch mine.

Young Pat Glendon is twenty-two years old, weighs two-hundred and twenty pounds, has never drunk alcohol nor tasted tobacco and knows little of city life. He’s all muscle, moves with cat-like grace and possesses great stamina and strength acquired from living natural in the wilds of northern California with his father. Young Pat is a natural at prize-fighting. In addition to his brawn he has speed and a natural instinct for the sport. His father, a former heavyweight prize-fighter himself, has trained Young Pat and believes it is time for the boy to take on the heavyweight world. But being ...

IIn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain presents a lively portrait of 19th-century Middle America, centered on a raft drifting down the Mississippi River. Huck fakes his own death to escape a stifling, “civilized” existence, reverting to his backwoods roots and helping Jim—a runaway slave—gain his freedom. As they float south, the pair encounters a patchwork of small towns, each providing fresh trouble that Huck dodges with his knack for spinning tall tales. While critics often focus on Twain’s commentary on slavery, it underpins rather than dominates the story, ...

Italy from 1409 to 1530 is synonymous with the Renaissance, but this was also the age of the condottieri, Italian captains of mercenary companies and multinational armies who fought in the service of city states, monarchs, and the Pope. Some like Ludovico Sforza in Milan seized power and founded dynasties in their own right. The merchant princes of the Medici family reached their apogee in Lorenzo the Magnificent in Florence, but faltered in the Papacy; Leo X proved no match for Martin Luther and Clement VII was powerless to avert the sack of Rome in 1527. Venice lost her overseas empire to ...

In 1960 when this was published, the Cold War was at its height. Communism and Free Enterprise (Democracy) were locked in a ferocious struggle to prove that their political ideology was the best form of government for human kind. No holds were barred in this fight; propaganda was poured forth by both sides in a constant push to be seen as better, more progressive, more productive. Nuclear war was a constant threat. I know, I lived through that time. Thankfully the world came through that stressful time without a hot war but the question was not really settled: which is the better system? This ...

I am Roderick Random. This is the contemporary story of my struggle against the adversity of orphan-hood, poverty, press gangs, bloody duels, rival fortune hunters, and the challenge to be well-dressed through it all. In the course of recounting my adventures to you, dear reader, I will give you a front row seat to the characters of English eighteenth century life including highway robbers, womanizing monks, debt-laden gallants, lecherous corrupt officials, effeminate sea captains, bloodthirsty surgeons, and my dear friend Miss Williams, a reformed prostitute. Educated in the classics, armed ...

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Mark Twain is one of the truly great American novels, beloved by children, adults, and literary critics alike. The book tells the story of “Huck” Finn (first introduced as Tom Sawyer’s sidekick in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer), his friend Jim, and their journey down the Mississippi River on a raft. Both are on the run, Huck from his drunk and abusive father, and Jim as a runaway slave.As Huck and Jim drift down the river, they meet many colorful characters and have many great adventures. The true heart of the story, however, is the friendship ...

Loaded with cryptic, nearly indecipherable inside jokes and double entendres, this early comedy of Aristophanes has a simple, anti-war premise that resounds down the centuries. On flimsy pretexts, greedy politicians have embroiled the nation of Athens in war after war after war. Dicæopolis is Everyman, an ordinary, plain-speaking citizen fed up with the bumbling, belligerence, and insincerity of the professional leaders. He decides on a whim to make a separate peace with Sparta all by himself, returning with a treaty good for thirty years. Envious of the good deal he has made and of the ...

This short survey of the age of Queen Anne begins with the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) and the career of the Duke of Marlborough, leader of the allied armies against Louis XIV. Scotland joins England to form the United Kingdom. Peter the Great wrests control of the Gulf of Finland from Charles XII of Sweden and builds St. Petersburg. Despite the Jacobite threat, the Whigs secure the Protestant Succession and George I ascends the throne. Pope writes a mock epic in couplets, Addison's "Spectator" enlivens coffee houses and tea tables, and Defoe creates the immortal "Robinson Crusoe...

"“Who is he?” I asked. “The worst man in London,” Holmes answered, as he sat down and stretched his legs before the fire." And so begins this Sherlock Holmes adventure with the most morally corrupt and vile man in London. A man whom Sherlock must accept into his home and treat with professional courtesy despite intense personal disgust and animosity. What power does this man hold over Holmes and the other people he forces into terrible situations? - Summary by phil c

The Achilleid is the third and unfinished work by the Roman poet Publius Papinius Statius. In its introduction, it promises to present the life of the hero Achilles from his youth as a pupil under the centaur Chiron to his death at Troy. The author died however before writing most of the poem, leaving only one and a half books completed. The part that remains though holds interest for being unusual, bringing an account of the hero's early life and an episode in which his mother, Thetis, disguised him as a girl on the island of Scyros before he joined the Greek expedition against Troy. (Summary...

This romantic comedy stars a young American girl named Sally, who inherits a considerable fortune and finds her life turned upside down. The typically Wodehouseian cast includes Sally's ambitious brother, an assortment of theater people, a pair of English cousins, and, of course, an Uncle. It's jolly good fun! (Summary by Kara and Wikipedia)

Please note: this recording contains strong language. Also known simply as "1601", this is a humorously risque work by Mark Twain, first published anonymously in 1880, and finally acknowledged by the author in 1906. (Summary by John Greenman & Wikipedia)

The quirky mind of famous SF writer Lester del Ray gives us three wonderful tales ranging from zombies (Dead Ringer), time travel (how do you convince your earlier self it is safe to get into the time machine, eh?)(...And It Comes Out Here) and eternal life (The Dwindling Years). Listen and enjoy.

The turmoil of the world we cannot avoid, but the disturbances of mind we can overcome. The duties and difficulties of life claim our attention, but we can rise above all anxiety concerning them. Surrounded by noise, we can yet have a quiet mind; involved in responsibilities, the heart can be at rest; in the midst of strife, we can know the abiding peace. The twenty pieces which comprise this book, unrelated as some of them are in the letter, will be found to be harmonious in the spirit, in that they point the reader towards those heights of self-knowledge and self-conquest which, rising above...

Compilation of 20 Science Fiction Short Stories - Summary by Kirk Ziegler

“The Airplane Boys accidentally bump into a new mystery which is only solved after many pages of excitement in this seventh book of air adventures.” Excerpt From: E. J. Craine. “Airplane Boys in the Black Woods.”

"Aircraft and Submarines" is a history of the development of these forms of transportation and their ultimate use in warfare. Also a brief history of submarine use in commercial applications. A thoroughly enjoyable piece for anyone interested in the detailed development of these modes of transportation. Summary by William Tomcho

This is what people were reading in 1903, short stories, poetry, and non-fiction articles. (Summary by BellonaTimes)

In this essay, the author directs our attention on the African continent and describes how the exploitation and colonization of Africa by European powers contributed to the then-ongoing World War. Without a just and measured settlement of African concerns, the promise is for continued warfare among nations even after the peace to be negotiated at the close of the European conflict. - Summary by KevinS