Social Linguistics

This book is a collection of stories revolving around language by a seasoned conference interpreter and former chief interpreter in the United Nations system. Ewandro Magalhaes shares actionable career insights and offers an insider’s look into practical and historical aspects of one of the most exciting and stressful professions known to man.

One of the first psychic vampire novels of its time - where the vampire feeds off of more than just blood - The House of the Vampire is an early classic in its genre. This Victorian novel operates in the continuum of life and death. What has been can be again, though often terribly transformed. Energetically inventive and infused with a relish for the supernatural, especially the trappings of the dark, The House of the Vampire delivers a horror which we know does not - but none the less conceivably might - exist and threaten ourselves.

Vera; or, The Nihilists is Oscar Wilde’s first play. It features Russian revolutionaries who seek to assassinate a reform-minded Emperor, and is loosely based on the life of Vera Zasulich who shot the Governor of St. Petersburg in 1878. Contemporary events in Russia, as published in the British press of the time, clearly influenced the plot and characters. The first public performance of Vera; or, The Nihilists was in New York City in 1883. The play was a failure and folded after one week. It remains fascinating as part of a study into the development of Wilde's work.

"The Song of the Cardinal" by Gene Stratton-Porter is the story of a big male Cardinal bird in the Wabash Valley, Indiana. Living in a tree near the home of a farmer and his wife, the bird sings with passion and joie de vivre to attract a mate, which he finds, and a charming romance develops. Unfolding at a leisurely pace, the story portrays the varied natural settings of the region in a most engaging way. The theme of nature and mankind’s responsibility to care for it, is present throughout the narrative.

By the end of the 21st century, a deep-state human-systems organization, the Psychotechnic Institute, has begun melding neuroscience and psychoanalytics to create the foundation for generations of more peaceful, more powerful, more "sensitive" human beings. In Poul Anderson's 1954 science-fiction thriller, The Sensitive Man, one such human, Simon Dalgetty, is on the trail of brutal men who kidnapped Michael Tighe, keeper of the keys to the Institute's secrets, and, thus, to the fate of world order.

Some writers of science fiction turn out to be reasonably accurate prognosticators of the future. In Mack Reynolds’ Mercenary, the elite 1 percent control the wealth of the nation and thus the nation. War as we know it has been eliminated, and disputes between nations, unions, and corporations are settled on a battlefield by mercenary soldiers with pre-1900 weapons. These battles are televised, and the combatants become heroes, not unlike NFL players. Meet Joe Mauser, one of the best of the best; a tactician and gun for hire.

Rosmersholm is a play surrounding the deep and intense political and cultural change in Norway in the middle of the 1880s, a period during which the traditional ruling class were forced to relinquish their right to impose their ideals on the rest of society. We follow Johannes Rosmer, a pastor who has resigned from his position; Rebecca West, a woman who sees Rosmer's potential and believes she can help him to realize his dream of creating a world of "happy, noble people"; and Headmaster Kroll, Rosmer's former best friend.

Hedda Gabler is one of the most interesting and intricate figures to appear on stage. Her boredom with her mariage and jealousy of her former lover set off a chain of events that result in an untimely death. Oh, but the deceased did "die beautifully"!

Ann Eliza and Evelina Bunner are two unmarried sisters who own a small notions shop in a shabby section of New York City circa 1900. The older sister, Ann Eliza, buys a small clock for her sister's birthday from a tiny shop and meets the owner, a German immigrant named Herman Ramy. Once Mr. Ramy enters their lives, things begin to change in ways that neither sister could have imagined.

It is 2420 A.D., one year after mining engineer Anthony "Buck" Rogers awoke from nearly 500 years of suspended animation. The down-trodden Americans have their Han overlords on the run, and victory seems near. But then Rogers is captured, and the Hans try to wring out his secrets - secrets which could send the American war effort crashing to an ignominious defeat.

This superb comedy of manners pierces the pretentiousness and affectations of aristocratic Londoners in the late 1700s. Such aptly named characters as Lady Sneerwell, Sir Benjamin Backbite, and Sir Joseph Surface make this a truly delightful romp!

Lady Windermere's Fan is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde. Like many of Wilde's comedies, it bitingly satirizes the morals of Victorian society, particularly marriage. The story concerns Lady Windermere, who discovers that her husband may be having an affair with another woman. She confronts her husband but he instead invites the other woman, Mrs. Erlynne, to his wife's birthday ball. Angered by her husband's unfaithfulness, Lady Windermere leaves her husband for another lover. Or does she?

Charles Dickens' classic novel of mystery, read by Alex Jennings. A body is found in the River Thames and is identified as John Harmon. He was due to inherit a great fortune on the condition that he marry a young woman called Bella Wilfer. And so the story begins and unravels and we are introduced to the mysterious John Rokesmith, Our Mutual Friend.

This collection consists of eight short stories and nine poems and was first published in 1910. The opening story is an examination of a quaint legal custom in New South Wales whereby a defendant could be sentenced to a period of imprisonment that was to end when the court hearing finished.

Scarlet is the colour of sin, and the letter ’A’ stands for ’Adultery’. In the 1600s, in Boston, Massachusetts, love was allowed only between a husband and a wife. A child born outside marriage was a child of sin. Hester Prynne must wear the scarlet letter on her dress for the rest of her life. How can she ever escape from this public shame? What will happen to her child, growing up in the shadow of the scarlet letter? The future holds no joy for Hester Prynne.

Travel with young Teddy and the Counterpane Fairy on such adventures as "The Princess of the Golden Castle", "The Owls and the Gambolsome Elf", "Starline and Silverling", "The Magic Circus", "At the Edge of the Polar Sea", "The Ruby Ring", "The Rainbow Children", "Harriet's Dream", "Down the Rat Hole", and "The Counterpane Fairy Says Goodbye".

These tales are full of play-on-words and unusual characters that will charm children and grown-ups alike. Come along with us and meet Gold Buskin Wincher, the Potao-Face Blind Man, Rags Habakuk, the Flongboos, Hatrack the Horse, Slipfoot, and many others!

Soon I felt something alive moving along my leg and up my body to my face, and when I looked down, I saw a very small human being, only 15 centimetres tall . . . I was so surprised that I gave a great shout. ’But that is only the first of many surprises which Gulliver has on his travels. He visits a land of giants and a flying island, meets ghosts from the past and horses which talk. An Oxford Bookworms Library reader for learners of English, adapted from the Jonathan Swift original by Clare West.

Brothers Greg and Tom Hunter are shocked at the news that their father Roger had died in an accident while prospecting for ore in the Asteroid Belt, but a too-generous buy-out offer from the powerful but unethical Jupiter Equilateral Corporation suggests it may not have been an accident at all. Roger had hit something big - really big - and Greg and Tom want to find out what. But will they live long enough to solve the mystery out in the lawless Belt with an evil corporation poised to jump their claim?

M. R. James (1862-1936) was provost of King's College, Cambridge, and Eton College. He was a highly regarded scholar and academic but is today remembered for his ghost stories, which are considered among the finest in the genre. His short novel for children, The Five Jars, is a bewitching fairy tale in the form of a letter to a young friend, telling of the writer's strange experiences after discovering a box containing five jars with labels that indicate the mysterious powers of their contents.