Showing results by narrator "B.J.Harrison" in All Categories

Bryan Dalyrimple returns to his hometown as a war hero after World War I. But after the ticker tape parades and back-slapping handshakes, he finds himself stuck in a dead-end job with little room for advancement, and frustration begins to mount. He decides to turn to the only option left for him—crime. Originally published in the 1920 short story collection Flappers and Philosophers, Fitzgerald shines a light on the sentiment toward the returning doughboys of World War I, and the dwindling opportunities awaiting them upon their return.

“Have you seen the Yellow Sign?” mumbles a cadaverous hearse driver with a soft, squishy head. He’s been skulking about Scott’s painting studio, where he and Tessie have been developing a tangled relationship between artist and model. But as this ever-present watchman resembling a coffin worm begins to distract Scott, his portrait of Tessie takes on a deathlike pallor. How can they forever rid themselves of this hearse stalker? And what precisely does he mean by a “Yellow Sign”?

A country doctor visits the spacious house of a Baron. But when he arrives, he draws up in shock. Everything inside and outside of the house, down to the clothing of the inhabitants, is all the same color—white. Why is everything about the house eerily bloodless? Mary Fortune was one of the earliest female writers of crime fiction, and likely the first to write from the point of view of the detective. She enjoyed a prolific career in Australia, where she also wrote under the pseudonyms Waif Wanderer and W.W.

The bombastic Professor Challenger is convinced that a sentient being lurks in the mantle of the Earth. Aided by Edward Malone and Peerless Jones, he must drill down through the Earth’s crust to alert the creature of humankind’s existence. After his debut in The Lost World, Arthur Conan Doyle went on to develop the grandiloquent Professor Challenger in four other works. When the World Screamed is the fourth in the series, and a satisfying addition to the canon.

What must Ruscha do to secure the magic word that kills when it’s uttered? Taken from a Danish folk tale, and spiced up with lively characters and murky atmosphere, this short tale delivers some wonderful chills. Elizabeth Ellet wrote for the magazines, or periodicals in the mid-1800s, and the name of Mrs. Ellet was recognized in literary circles. Today, Ellet is perhaps known best for the scandal she leaked about Edgar Allan Poe’s rumored affair with Frances Sargent Osgood when both were married to other people.

A Christmas ball sets the plans in motion for the wealthy Julian Mastakovich, for an immensely wealthy business man has just announced that his daughter has a dowry of 300,000 rubles. First published in 1848, and adapted into a motion picture in 2000, Dostoyevsky shines a light on the business end of well-moneyed marriage. It begins when an 11-year-old girl gets an extravagant doll at a Christmas ball.

Something seems off. Lupin sensed it before it happened. When a simple burglary goes terribly wrong, and two of Lupin’s accomplices are sentenced to the guillotine, Lupin’s quest to free them reveals itself to be more twisted and darker than he’d ever imagined. Inspired by the infamous Panama scandals of 1892 and 1893, and expanding on the main concept in Poe’s The Purloined Letter, Leblanc weaves a thrilling tale of twists and turns with Lupin’s characteristic panache.

Everett’s brother rocked the world with his incredible musical talent. And Everett is…fine. But he’s okay with that. He’s a member of “a certain lovable class of men who never accomplish anything in particular”. But when traveling in the West, Everett meets a remarkable woman who is dying, and discovers that she has a history her brother, he gives her the greatest gift of all during her final days—the gift of understanding.

Some poems can really teach us something if we read carefully and understand the essence. This lyric poem by Kipling makes no difference. By reading it, a man can find some wise advice in it. The advice that most of us will find is how to deal with different situations in life. But is this all? Maybe there is a secret message which only few of us will understand. If you want to find out, do not hesitate to read Rudyard Kiplings poem "If-".
B. J.

"The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu" is the first book in the Fu-Manchu series, about the notorious evil mastermind. In the crime fiction world, Fu-Manchu stands on equal grounds with Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis. Rohmer created an archetypal villain who is very much a product of his times, and a reflection of the social and political conditions. Fu-Manchu’s plans are always attacked and challenged by Detective Nayland Smith, who gives his all to defeat the mad doctor.

Shadowvale isn’t your typical American small town. The sun never shines, the gates decide who enters, magic abounds, and every resident bears a curse. Making a pact with a chocolate addict like Nasha might not be the right move, but Charlie will do anything to avoid the dragon mating games.

B.J. Harrison reads Louisa May Alcotts famous novella "Behind a Mask", which is widely considered to be Alcotts masterpiece in sensation fiction. A wealthy Victorian-era family recruits Jean Muir as sixteen-year-old Bellas governess. But soon enough, Jean Muir appears to have everyone under her spell, and to have the power to do everything as she pleases. This novella from the late 19th century was initially published under Louisa May Alcotts pseudonym A. M. Barnard...

Charles Marlow, sails up the Congo River to meet with Kurtz a prosperous ivory trader and a man of great abilities. Marlow ends up signing a contract and becoming a riverboat captain for a Belgian company that trades in the Congo. He hopes that this contract will give him a good opportunity for career development. However, Marlows expectations quickly sour as he is faced with the evil of imperialism, witnessing violent acts and brutality against the local, native population.

The Hague, 1672: A prize of 100,000 florins is offered to the person who can produce a perfectly black tulip - a feat considered impossible. But at the very moment when Cornelius van Bearle is on the brink of achieving the impossible feat, he is imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. The story of his delicate tulip’s tumultuous journey to The Hague is absolutely riveting, and an event you don’t want to miss.

Only one yellow rose bush exists in the whole of the Hungarian Plain known as the Hortobágy, and its flowers are only given by the maiden who runs the Hortobágy Inn. But when she has a lover’s spat with her betrothed, and remembers a recipe for love she learned from a gypsy woman, how could she know that she would poison her beloved?

John Carter has exposed the fraudulent Martian religion, and now there are many who want him to pay. Among them are the defrocked and black-hearted Thurid, and the bitter patriarch Matai Shang. These two villains concoct a plot that will not only plunge the Martian governments into perpetual chaos, but will condemn the plucky Dejah Thoris to a life of cruelty and misery.

“Les Standiford takes us under the big top and behind the curtain in this richly researched and thoroughly engaging narrative that captures all of the entrepreneurial intrigue and spirit of the American circus.” —Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Devil in the Grove Millions...

Custom-aquarium specialist, Undrea Seeley, is supernaturally good at creating made-to-order fish tanks for her customers. Probably because she loves what she does. And because she’s a mermaid. She also loves living in a town where she can be herself. Well, the version of herself everyone thinks she is. But then, who isn’t harboring a secret, right? 

Newly appointed vampire governor of New Jersey Belladonna Barrone is fast discovering that life as a vampire isn’t much easier than life as a mobster’s wife. But that experience certainly taught her some things about how to handle the problems that come with being governor. That is until a friend is kidnapped by the fae and his life put in danger, all because of her actions.

Shadowvale isn’t your typical small-town America. The sun never shines, the gates decide who enters, magic abounds, and every resident bears some kind of curse. Exiled king of the goblins Robin Gallow has no choice but to live in Shadowvale. That was the deal he made with his ex-wife and current queen of the goblins in exchange for the antidote to the poison she gave him. Now, the town has become his prison, and his world is closing in on him. It’s enough to drive a man insane.