Résultats lu par "Mark Bowen" dans Toutes les catégories

There's a moment before the mountains go quiet—when words feel full of meaning, and a stranger's voice almost changes something. Almost. In this still, delicate story, ambition rises gently and vanishes just as softly. The path is steep, the dreams sincere, the end—unspoken, but known.

There are stories that stay quiet, even after you finish them. Roger Malvin's Burial is one of those. It's not about war, though it begins there. It's about what a man carries when no one's watching—what he tells no one, not even himself. Hawthorne doesn't accuse. He simply opens a door and lets us stand in the silence. This story doesn't resolve. It echoes.

The Golden Honeymoon is a story about the road, a long marriage, old memories, and the kind of conversation that's been going on for fifty years — and shows no sign of stopping. There's Florida sunshine, checkerboard pride, the quiet company of shared days, an unexpected brush with the past, and more oranges than anyone really asked for. Told in the voice of a man who always has something to say — and a wife who's heard every word — this Ring Lardner classic is funny, plainspoken, and sharper than it first lets on. A story about what's left unsaid when you've already said everything else.

This collection brings together stories and reflections in which Leo Tolstoy turns inward. Stripped of grandeur, these works offer something more intimate: the inner noise of conscience, the weight of faith, the silence before death. A servant's silence, a horse's memory, a dying man's doubt—these are not performances. They are questions, waiting quietly for whoever dares to ask the same. Tolstoy isn't offering answers. He's writing toward something deeper. And the questions haven't aged a day.

Spring arrives with a rush of words, and Ralph Waldo Emerson stands at the threshold, pen in hand. May-Day and Other Pieces is not just a collection of poems—it is an invitation to witness the shifting tides of nature, thought, and destiny through the eyes of one of America's sharpest philosophical minds. From the awakening landscapes of May-Day to the untamed wilderness of The Adirondacs, Emerson moves effortlessly between the grandeur of the world and the depths of the soul.

How a Muzhik Fed Two Officials is not just a fable—it is a mirror, polished to a biting shine, reflecting the grotesque logic of power and servitude. In this brief yet mercilessly precise tale, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin strips hierarchy down to its raw absurdity: those who consume and those who are consumed. Two officials, stranded in a land without luxury, discover an ingenious solution to their predicament—one that requires neither effort nor skill on their part. Their savior? A humble muzhik, a man shaped by centuries of unquestioning toil.

Contents: The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli, The City of the Sun by Tommaso Campanella, The New Atlantis by Francis Bacon, Utopia by Thomas More, Utilitarianism byJohn Stuart Mill, On Liberty by John Stuart Mill, An Answer to the Question What is Enlightenment by Immanuel Kant, The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, A Confession by Leo Tolstoy, Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton, The Madman, His Parables and Poems by Kahlil Gibran, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a master of distilling vast ideas into sharp, unforgettable truths. Elements and Mottos is a collection of his intellectual essence—bold, electrifying, and timeless. Here, Emerson does not merely write; he declares, urging readers to abandon conformity, embrace their own genius, and live with unshakable purpose. Each passage is a spark, igniting thought and action. He speaks of nature, the soul, self-reliance, and the boundless strength of individual will. His words resonate across centuries, inspiring rebels, dreamers, and seekers of wisdom.

The storm arrives, unbidden yet unstoppable, sculpting the world in reckless white. The north wind, a faceless mason, works without plan or patience—bastions rise, wreaths drape, roads vanish. No symmetry, no restraint, only the wild hand of winter shaping chaos into fleeting grandeur. By dawn, the architect is gone. What remains is a frozen wonder, a masterpiece of whim and force, too perfect to last, too wild to be remade.

Finger! Finger! is a creepy story by Margaret Ronan about a teenage girl who starts work as a maid in the house of a strange old woman. Carola has been hired to work as a servant for Miss Amanda, a bed-bound heavy woman. She's quite nervous and the cook coaches her on how to care for Miss Amanda. When Carola first meets Miss Amanda, she's a bit shocked by her appearance.

Arsène Lupin is a fictional gentleman thief and master of disguise created in 1905 by French writer Maurice Leblanc. The character was first introduced in a series of short stories serialized in the magazine Je sais tout. The first story, The Arrest of Arsène Lupin, was published on 15 July 1905. Lupin was featured in 17 novels and 39 novellas by Leblanc, with the novellas or short stories collected into book form for a total of 24 books.

In the heart of Paris, where art and ambition intertwine, the boundaries between genius and madness blur. A tale of creation, obsession, and the quest for perfection, this story dances on the edge of brilliance. The artist, driven by an insatiable desire to capture the unattainable, confronts the fragility of his own vision. As the canvas comes to life, so too does a world where nothing is as it seems, and the cost of true artistry might just be too high. Balzac's story whispers of the fine line between genius and obsession, where the artist's soul is as fragile as the masterpiece he seeks.

Beneath the crumbling tombstones of Salem's old cemetery, something stirs in the dark. The dead do not rest easy here, not because of ghosts, but because of what lurks beneath—the scurrying, gnawing, ever-hungry things that slither through tunnels older than memory. Massing in the catacombs, these rats are no mere vermin. They are watchers, thieves of the dead, and perhaps something far worse. For every corpse lowered into the earth, another vanishes, stolen away into the labyrinth of writhing shadows.

A garden bathed in sunlight, tables laid with fine china, the hum of polite laughter—everything is in place for the perfect afternoon. The Sheridans' party is effortless, untouched by worry, floating on a breeze of privilege. But just beyond the garden's edge, life is different—harsh, unpolished, shaped by struggle. Laura Sheridan stands between these two worlds, drawn in by beauty yet unsettled by something she can't quite name. A hat, a voice, a fleeting hesitation—small moments that carry unexpected weight. Can innocence survive once you glimpse what lies outside the gates?

Johann Peter Hebel's The Artful Hussar is a short story that showcases the wit and resourcefulness of a clever soldier. The tale follows a cunning hussar who, through his quick thinking and charm, manages to outsmart those around him. Set against the backdrop of military life, the story highlights themes of intelligence, deception, and survival. With Hebel's signature blend of humor and moral insight, The Artful Hussar offers a delightful and thought-provoking glimpse into human nature and ingenuity.

Jack Spaulding expected to close a deal—not become an alien breeding experiment. Now he’s back on Earth with a very personal problem: something is growing inside him and feeding on his orgasms. His career’s in jeopardy, his marriage is unraveling, and his body’s become a ticking alien time bomb.

The Heroic Slave, a Heartwarming Narrative of the Adventures of Madison Washington, in Pursuit of Liberty is a short piece of fiction, or novella, written by abolitionist Frederick Douglass, at the time a fugitive slave based in Boston. When the Rochester Ladies' Anti Slavery Society asked Douglass for a short story to go in their collection, Autographs for Freedom, Douglass responded with The Heroic Slave. The novella, published in 1852 by John P. Jewett and Company, was Douglass's first and only published work of fiction (though he did publish several autobiographical narratives).

A glittering evening. The rustle of silk. The gleam of chandeliers and whispered admiration following her every graceful turn. In that moment, she is everything she was born to be—adored, envied, radiant. But the night ends. And reality waits in the shadows. In a world where appearances speak louder than truths, how much is one willing to sacrifice to fit into a vision of elegance? And when the cost of illusion becomes a lifelong sentence, what remains of the dream?

In the hush between history and myth, some voices refuse to fade. One of them rises beneath the pines of Virginia—speaking not to a crowd, but to the wind. Shackled in body, unbroken in spirit. A man, not yet a symbol. A voice, not yet remembered. But already unforgettable. The Heroic Slave is Frederick Douglass at his most daring—blending fact and fiction into something fiercer than either. In Madison Washington, he shapes more than a character: he channels the rhythm of revolt, the breath of those who ran, and the silence of those who couldn't. This is not a tale polished for comfort.

What happens when a woman dares to imagine power in a world that denies her even autonomy? In this sharp, sly, and subversive tale, one of America's most original feminist voices turns the tables on society with cool precision and a dash of irony. Written at a time when women were expected to remain silent and self-sacrificing, this short work pulses with quiet rebellion and razor-edged wit.