Showing results by narrator "Jim Killavey" in All Categories

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic in which Verne prophesized many modern uses of the submarine. The story concerns the now famous fictional character Captain Nemo and his submarine, Nautilus, as seen by one of his passengers, Professor Pierre Aronnax. Over the years there have been many film, TV, and theatrical adaptations and variations of the book.

The Talisman is Sir Walter Scott's tale of the Crusades, a tale of chivalry, of violence, of virtue, romance, and deceit.

Fascinated by vampires? Then this book - the first of a series - is for you. Early writers of vampire stories did not see them quite as they are presented to us today. These "classic" vampires were looking for blood - not love. These shivery reads will capture your imagination and introduce you to the first fiends - male AND female - that spawned today's kinder gentler vampire.

Politics is the second half of a single treatise by Aristotle (384 B.C.E - 322 B.C.E.), Ethics being the first. Both deal with one and the same subject: what Aristotle calls the philosophy of human affairs. He also refers to it as political science and social science. Aristotle collected and studied the constitutions of over 150 city states before writing his Politics.

For some, the Bible can be an intimidating book to dig into. Its pages reveal a history of days past, with practical application for the here and now. Every word inspired by God himself, penned by the hands of mere mortals. It contains stories, not of super-human people with amazing powers or special abilities that no one can possibly measure up too, but of real people. Just like us. Human beings who were lost and without hope until a savior was sent to shed his blood on a tree.

Martin Eden, Jack London's semiautobiographical novel about a struggling young writer, is considered by many to be the author's most mature work. Personifying London's own dreams of education and literary fame as a young man in San Francisco, Martin Eden's impassioned but ultimately ineffective battle to overcome his bleak circumstances makes him one of the most memorable and poignant characters Jack London ever created.

Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan was a United States Navy flag officer, who has been called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His concept of "sea power" was based on the idea that countries with greater naval power will have greater worldwide impact; it was most famously presented in The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783.

William Dean Howells was born in Martin's Ferry, Ohio, of Welch, Irish, and German forebears. Along with Mark Twain, he was one of the great novelists of his time. This book, the realisic saga of the rise and redemptive fall of an American tycoon, is considered to be his best novel.

In this fourth novel of the Martian Barsoom series, the son of John Carter, Carthoris, takes center stage as he vies for the attention of the beautiful Princess of Ptarth. The thrilling adventure continues as Carthoris, Prince of Helium, and son of John Carter and Princess Dejah Thoris of Helium, launches a desperate rescue attempt to recapture the woman who has already taken his heart: Thuvia, Princess of Ptarth.

The story concerns a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who conducts a great experiment to see if he can create a living being from the body parts of corpses. Only whe the experiment is successful does he begin to think of the ethics and consequences of what he has done. The creature he created becomes embittered when he finds that no one will love him becuase of his appearance.

Henry James wrote many excellent ghost stories, his most famous being, The Turn of the Screw. In The Ghostly Rental a newcomer in town, who loves to walk for exercise, comes upon a deserted rural road. He follows the road and comes upon a house that immediately strikes him as "simply haunted." He is determined to get into the house and find out the truth about it. What he finds out turns out to be quite different than what he expected.

Carlo Collodi, whose real name was Carlo Lorenzini,was a Florentine children's writer most famous for this world-renowned fairytale novel. The name "Pinocchio" is a Tuscan word meaning "pine nut." The story concerns a puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy. The book has appeared in many adaptations including the famous 1940 Disney movie.

Brand Whitlock was an American attorney, author, elected official and diplomat in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He wrote this excellent little life of Lincoln but recognized that his book could serve only as an introduction to the great man's life when he wrote, "To compress between the covers of a little book like this the whole story of AbrahamLincoln, to present within such limitations a life so epical, a character so original and yet so universal, is obviously impossible."

Horatio Leavenworth is a New York merchant whose material wealth is matched by his eminence in the communityand reputation for good works. He is also the guardian of two striking nieces who share his Fifth Avenue mansion. Mary, her uncle's favorite, is to inherit her uncle's fortune at his death. As this mystery opens, that lamentable event has just occurred. Leavenworth has been shot to death and circumstances point to one of his young wards.

During a trip to Europe, Christopher Newman, a wealthy American businessman, asks the charming Claire de Cintre to be his wife. To his dismay, he receives an icy reception from the heads of her family, who find Newman to be a vulgar example of the American privileged class. Brilliantly combining elements of comedy, tragedy, romance and melodrama, this tale of thwarted desire vividly contrasts nineteenth-century American and European manners.

Guy de Maupassant is considered one of the fathers of the modern short story as well as one of the form's finest writers. His stories are characterized by their economy of style and efficient, seemingly effortless dénouements

Stephen wrote astonishingly realistic stories of men under the stress of battle, the most famous being The Read Badge of Courage. He also wrote a number of very insightful stories with the same theme. This is considered one of his best.

This second delightful collection of children's stories contains the following titles: "The Three Goblins", by Mabel G. Taggart; "Alladin and the Wonderful Lamp", edited by Andrew Lang; "Cinderella", by the Brothers Grimm; "The Griffon and Minor Canon", by Frank Stockton; "Beauty and the Beast", by Madame de Villeneuve; "The Frog Prince", by The Brothers Grimm; "Goody Two Shoes", a traditional tale; "How Fear Came", by Rudyard Kipling; "Jack and the Beanstalk", a traditional tale; and many more.

This mystery is part of the famous "Had-I-But-Known School" of mysteries founded by Mary Roberts Rinehart with the 1908 publication of her first work, The Circular Staircase. The story deals with civic corruption, a popular theme of early American mysteries. Stories like this anticipate the hard-boiled school to come. So does Rinehart's realistic style, which does not gloss over life's problems.

Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is of the best "macabre" tales ever written. It is presented here in its entirety along with eight other incredible tales.