Showing results by publisher "Simply Media" in Anthologies & Short Stories

Belfador is the single novella remaining of Machiavelli’s works. It was considered one of the finest of the period. Machiavelli was considered a skilled storyteller by all who knew him for, after all, stories form the basis of his most famous work, The Prince, "Belfagor" is a compact version of lessons from The Prince.

A very short Dickens story relating our journey through life in 5 stages: being merry when very young, playing while a child, in love as a young adult, being busy in middle age with a family, and remembering in old age. Though sad throughout, Dickens has a flash of uplift at the end. A classic story for the Christmas season when one tends to do summing up during the holiday and the almost-new year. Another Dickens must-listen. Read by an American voice by listener request.

A legendary Oscar Wilde title that tells the whole story by its name. A fascinating woman or an enthralling a man is a Sphinx without a secret according to the story's narrator. The man involved is not so sure. A perfect rendering of a fascinating subject. (American accent narration.)

Here are five of Mark Twain's best short stories, including "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" - classic humor from the author of Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and other great American novels.

Dr. John Sand is a Board Certified physician in Family Practice. He is a sleep expert and a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Dr. Sand presents a straightforward approach to get you off pills. He tells how the medical community has become increasingly concerned about over the counter drugs including sleep medicine and underscores the special magic of sleep that can restore us to a wonderful state each morning.

A hilarious Dickens story, with his masterly story-within-a-story format, about a sideshow and the various characters who inhabit it - especially a dwarf who seeks to gain property and go into society. He gets the money by winning a lottery and does enter into society, with hilarious and sad results. A rollicking good time, "Going into Society" is reminiscent of O'Henry and Mark Twain, too. One of Dickens' best humorous stories. Read by an American voice, per listener request.

Ambrose Bierce's "One Kind of Officer" is a story of the heartache of orders given without discretion in the field. Like so many of his Civil War stories, it is a thoughtful look at the problems facing soldiers during wartime. An abuse of power leads to a needless death in this classic American tale.

A Charles Dickens Christmas story about remembering the poor, forgotten, and overlooked once a year by the Christmas fire. This grand story sets up the bickering Big Wig family as a guide to the laboring Nobody family, led by a man named Legion, and nothing good comes of it. Legion's master discusses his losses in term of the poor and their habits and diseases. Legion points out it is one world: "What happens to us happens to you."

Spoon River has 244 accounts of the lives of people in the town that explain its goings on over a couple of centuries. Each free form verse is presented as an epitaph of one of the citizens delivered themselves, often criticizing the words said about them on their tombstone or the monument or stone left above them. The stories build on one another as well as reference various family members and others mentioned in other stories.

This is a Dickens Christmas story of remembrance, in the tradition of people remembering their past. In this case, the poor relation at a holiday feast given by a rich relation tells the story of his life, dominated by his being his own worst enemy through being soft and credulous as opposed to hard and sharp. The rich relation funds him in a meager amount and Michael, the poor relation, thinks he should not go first in anything, including telling stories around the Christmas fire, but is encouraged to do so.

A story that blends practical joking with death; the irony of the Devil's Dictionary is a live and well in this story. A jewel.

"A Dark Brown Dog" is an unexpected Stephen Crane jewel. Crane is best known for three short stories, "The Open Boat", thought by many to be the best short story ever written; "The Blue Hotel"; and "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky". "A Dark Brown Dog" is the first cousin of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, in being set in the rough, tough world of the New York Bowery of the late 19th century.

The Man Without a Country is a short story by American writer Edward Everett Hale, first published in The Atlantic, during the height of the Civil War. It is the story of American Army lieutenant Philip Nolan, who gets entangled with Aaron Burr in 1807 and renounces his country during his trial for treason, saying he never wants to hear about the United States again.

This story wonderfully combines a murder trial and apparitions - or more plainly, ghosts. It describes a moment in the life of a bored bank official who has an alarming experience. A great story, smoothly presented by the pen of Dickens. (American accent narration.)

"The Signal Man" is a magnificent, tightly focused ghost story. Dickens' charm pervades this mysterious and ominous tale. Various grim events occur but feel somewhat calm - not bloody or appalling, but enthralling and other worldly. Dickens invests the signal-man with education beyond his station. This adds to the credibility of the story as well as impressing the narrator. A must-listen for Dickens fans. An American voice at the request of our listeners.

Nine stories narrated by Pertie and one by Jeeves. In an American voice for easy listening by Americans with occasional American words used for more obscure English ones with a bit of the halting style of comic dialogue. Number two in the Jeeves series.

This classic collection includes Hemingway’s best short stories: "Indian Camp", "My Old Man", and "Big Two Hearted River", and less appreciated ones such as "Mr. and Mrs. Elliot".

The plot follows a country doctor's hapless struggle to attend a sick young boy on a cold winter's night. A series of surreal events occur in the process, including the appearance of a mysterious groom in a pig shed.

A Hunger Artist is a short story by Franz Kafka first published in Die neue Rundschau in 1922. The story was also included in the collection A Hunger Artist, the last book Kafka prepared for publication, printed after Kafka's death. The protagonist, a hunger artist who experiences the decline in appreciation of his craft, is an archetypical creation of Kafka: an individual marginalized and victimized by society at large.

A Bret Harte Western story about an interesting child, seven-year-old Melons, and his goings-on.