Showing results for "The Ascent" in Anthologies & Short Stories

In these disturbing, haunting, yet strangely beautiful stories, the terrible carnage of the Middle East is rendered in unforgettable form. In "An Unwelcome Guest", a young Jewish settler from New York plays a deadly game of backgammon with a ghostly old Arab while his pregnant wife sleeps unaware. In "The King of the King of Falafel", a restaurant rivalry ends in apocalyptic violence. And in the brilliant, horrifying title story, a lonely shepherd wanders a broken no-man's land, carrying with him the burden of an unspeakable act.

Nikolay is tired of his dull life working at a railway station and his loveless marriage. When he accidentally breaks a champagne bottle on New Year’ s Eve, his wife is convinced that it is an omen of bad luck to come. Nikolay, already dissatisfied with his life, thinks his wife is overreacting. His feels that not much more could go wrong in his life. Then, in the brink of his despair, a young and beautiful visitor, his wife’s aunt, arrives unexpectedly.

Bill and Joe, two best friends, discover they have both fallen in love with Mary, a girl they have grown up with and enjoyed a close friendship with throughout their lives. They both decide that they do not want to tell her about their feelings, but they must do something about it before another man comes along and steals her away. And so they decide that Joe will go to her first and confess his feelings, and let Mary decide if she feels the same or if she might prefer Bill instead. But even after she makes her choice, the other man winds up making the ultimate sacrifice out of his love for Mary.

The great writings of American transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) are not some distant ponderings on life – they are works of the highest practicality, intended to supply guidance and daily help. Emerson’s ideas arose from his simple observations of human existence, with all its pitfalls and possibilities.

Snowbound: A company of traveling actors gets snowbound during a storm while venturing to their next locale. In order to pass the time, the actors share stories with each other. The Manager begins with one about the time he spent in an unsavory saloon before his time with the company. Next, the Leading Lady shares a story about a certain play she worked on. The Wardrobe Mistress, a matronly woman not known among the company for speaking much, continues on with the promise of a story about a dead baby but fails to deliver.

Rashevitch was enjoying Meier's company, providing him with a body to talk at. Rashevitch would go on and on about his beliefs and ideas, and found himself thinking that Meier might be a good match for one of his daughters to marry. As he continues to prattle on about social Darwinism, he develops this idea further and further in his mind, His daughters join the two men for dinner and Rashevitch takes his social critiques a step too far for Meier.

The Dualitists recounts the tale of the Bubb family, childless for very long but finally blessed with twins. Two friends lived in the houses surrounding the Bubbs, Harry and Tommy, but they were forbidden to see each other because of the trouble they caused. Harry and Tommy began to secretly meet in the Bubb's garden, bringing with them their knives and items to destroy with the knives. Soon, items are not enough for the boys and they begin dueling, then killing animals. But their thirst could not be quenched.

When a young couple moves into their new home, they are taken aback by the strange behavior of their new landlord. While at first he bid them to do all of the fixing-up the home needed on their own, he quickly changed his tune and was persistent in his attempts to help them tackle some of the rooms himself. The source of his desire to help lies in the fact that the old tenant may have hidden a fortune within the walls - a fortune that winds up belonging to the young couple after all!

The Eroes of Thames tells the story of a famous swimmer, Peter Jimpson and his son, also named Peter, trying to maintain their fame in the big city of London. The father designed a skit in which his son would fake drowning in the Thames, and a random passerby (actually Peter himself) would dramatically rescue the boy. His plan is thwarted when a pair of grifters catch onto Peter's scheme and prevent him from following through with it as planned.

Members of the 'Old Coast-Guard' are sent to put down pirates in the Straits of Malacca. A young boy, named Tempest, finds himself often criticized for being a coward by the crew, but he proves his mates wrong during the thick of battle. Tempest allows the crew to defeat the pirates in the Red Stockade due to his bravery and willingness to sacrifice.

This is the tale of a 228 year old man, born in 1690, telling about his interactions with Dr. Samuel Johnson. A large part focuses on their belonging to a literary club and the other men who also participated in the club. It is a simple observance of social interactions, as put forth by a very old man and his dated voice.

A chilling short story from the author of Dracula. In the Valley of the Shadow is a tale about a delirious man and his hallucinations while hospitalized.

"Under the Sunset" was Bram Stoker's first short story collection written in 1881. These short stories were intended for children and includes the following stories: "Under The Sunset", "The Rose Prince", "The Invisible Giant", and much more.