Showing results by publisher "Bookstream Audiobooks" in Anthologies

"The Man That Was Used Up", sometimes subtitled "A Tale of the Late Bugaboo and Kickapoo Campaign", is a short story and satire by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in August 1839 in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. The story follows an unnamed narrator who seeks out the famous war hero John A. B. C. Smith. He becomes suspicious that Smith has some deep secret when others refuse to describe him, instead remarking only on the latest advancements in technology. When he finally meets Smith, the man must first be assembled piece by piece.

Von Kempelen and his Discovery (1849). First published in The Flag of Our Union, April 14, 1849. Created as a hoax during the California Gold Rush. After the very minute and elaborate paper by Arago, to say nothing of the summary in 'Silliman's Journal,' with the detailed statement just published by Lieutenant Maury, it will not be supposed, of course, that in offering a few hurried remarks in reference to Von Kempelen's discovery, I have any design to look at the subject in a scientific point of view.

The mountain pinnacles slumber; valleys, crags and caves are silent. - “Listen to me,” said the Demon, as he placed his hand upon my head. “The region of which I speak is a dreary region in Libya, by the borders of the river Zäire. And there is no quiet there, nor silence.

"Eleonora" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1842 in Philadelphia in the literary annual The Gift. It is often regarded as somewhat autobiographical and has a relatively "happy" ending. The story follows an unnamed narrator who lives with his cousin and aunt in "The Valley of the Many-Colored Grass", an idyllic paradise full of fragrant flowers, fantastic trees, and a "River of Silence". It remains untrodden by the footsteps of strangers and so they live isolated but happy.

The Duel of Dr. Hirsch is a short story by Gilbert Keith Chesterton: M. Maurice Brun and M. Armand Armagnac were crossing the sunlit Champs Élysées with a kind of vivacious respectability. They were both short, brisk and bold. They both had black beards that did not seem to belong to their faces, after the strange French fashion which makes real hair look like artificial. They were both young. They were both atheists, with a depressing fixity of outlook but great mobility of exposition.

"The Premature Burial" is a horror short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1844 in The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper. Its main character expresses fear about being buried alive. This fear was common in this period and Poe was taking advantage of the public interest. In "The Premature Burial", the first-person unnamed narrator describes his struggle with "attacks of the singular disorder which physicians have agreed to term catalepsy", a condition where he randomly falls into a death-like trance. This leads to his fear of being buried alive.

"La musique," says Marmontel, with the same odd confusion of thought and language which leads him to give his very equivocal narratives the title of "Contes Moraux" — "la musique est le seul des talens qui jouissent de lui même; tous les autres veulent des temoins." He here confounds the pleasure derivable from sweet sounds with the capacity for creating them.

As it is well known that the "wise men" came "from the East," and as Mr. Touch-and-go Bullet-head came from the East, it follows that Mr. Bullet-head was a wise man; and if collateral proof of the matter be needed, here we have it — Mr. B. was an editor. Irascibility was his sole foible; for in fact the obstinacy of which men accused him was anything but his foible, since he justly considered it his forte. It was his strong point — his virtue; and it would have required all the logic of a Brownson to convince him that it was "anything else.

Antiochus Epiphanes is very generally looked upon as the Gog of the prophet Ezekiel. This honor is, however, more properly attributable to Cambyses, the son of Cyrus. And, indeed, the character of the Syrian monarch does by no means stand in need of any adventitious embellishment.

Let me introduce you to Signora Psyche Zenobia. An adopted name of course, but for someone so flamboyant, appropriate. The good signora has aspirations. She would like to be a writer. At present she is the corresponding secretary to an interesting group of notables in Philadelphia which goes by a lengthy name with the initials of P.R.E.T.T.Y. B.L.U.E. B.A.T.C.H.! But how to get published? She travels to Edinburgh to meet with the esteemed proprietor and editor of 'Blackwood Magazine.' A real publication of the 1830s.

"The Oval Portrait" is a horror short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, involving the disturbing circumstances of a portrait in a château. It is one of his shortest stories, filling only two pages in its initial publication in 1842. The tale begins with an injured narrator seeking refuge in an abandoned mansion in the Apennines. The narrator spends his time admiring the paintings that decorate the strangely shaped room and reading through a reference book, found on a pillow, that describes them.

"The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" is a dark comedy short story by the American author Edgar Allan Poe. First published in Graham's Magazine in November 1845, the story centers on a naïve and unnamed narrator's visit to a mental asylum in the southern provinces of France. The story follows an unnamed narrator who visits a mental institution in southern France (more accurately, a "Maison de Santé") known for a revolutionary new method of treating mental illnesses called the "system of soothing".

The Colloquy Of Monos And Una: Una. "Born again?" Monos. Yes, fairest and best beloved Una, "born again." These were the words upon whose mystical meaning I had so long pondered, rejecting the explanations of the priesthood, until Death himself resolved for me the secret. Una. Death! Monos. How strangely, sweet Una, you echo my words! I observe, too, a vacillation in your step — a joyous inquietude in your eyes. You are confused and oppressed by the majestic novelty of the Life Eternal. Yes, it was of Death I spoke.

"The Angel of the Odd" is a satirical short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1844 in The Columbian Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine . The story follows an unnamed narrator who reads a story about a man who died after accidentally sucking a needle down his throat while playing a game known as "puff the dart". He rages at the gullibility of humanity for believing such a hoax. He vows never to fall for such odd stories. Just then, a strange-looking creature made of a keg and wine bottles appears.

It’s on my wisiting cards sure enough (and it’s them that’s all o’ pink satin paper) that inny gintleman that plases may behould the intheristhing words, “Sir Pathrick O’Grandison, Barronitt, 39 Southampton Row, Russell Square, Parrish o’ Bloomsbury.” And shud ye be wantin to diskiver who is the pink of purliteness quite, and the laider of the hot tun in the houl city o’London — why it’s jist meself.

Another of the tales submitted in 1831 to the Saturday Courier, this story is a harmless buffoonery upon a very old theme. The attitude of Jews toward swine has frequently seemed amusing to those who do not share it. Poe made the most of a historical incident in which some ancient Romans played a clever trick upon the defenders of Jerusalem.

Since the world began there have been two Jeremys. The one wrote a Jeremiad about usury, and was called Jeremy Bentham. He has been much admired by Mr. John Neal, and was a great man in a small way. The other gave name to the most important of the Exact Sciences, and was entitled Jeremy Diddler. He was a great man in a great way — I may say, indeed, in the very greatest of ways.

"Some Words with a Mummy" is a satirical short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in The American Review: A Whig Journal of Politics, Literature, Art and Science in April 1845. It is an important early portrayal of a revived Egyptian mummy. The narrator eats a very large amount of Welsh rabbit, accompanied by "brown stout", and then goes to bed for a night's sleep. However, he is soon awakened and taken to Doctor Ponnonner's home to witness the unwrapping of a mummy.

Shadow. A Fable: Ye who read are still among the living, but I who write shall have long since gone my way into the region of shadows. For indeed strange things shall happen, and secret things be known, and many centuries shall pass away ere these memorials be seen of men. And when seen there will be some to disbelieve, and some to doubt, and yet a few who will find much to ponder upon in the characters here graven with a stylus of iron.

To Frances S. Osgood: Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories. Thou wouldst be loved?—then let thy heart From its present pathway part not! Being everything which now thou art, Be nothing which thou art not.