Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in World Literature

Is this truly "the battle-cry of the next thousand years"? This classic poem sets out to describe the plight of certain workers. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

When Mark Twain reflects on childhood you can be certain humor will follow. Such is the case with a young boy and an attempt to capture a turkey bare handed. You may wonder if you should sympathize with the turkey—or the boy.

My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I am a Presbyterian." What else can be said about a dog, other than it is loyal and faithful, and can become so much a part of our lives.

The themes of shared experience, the relationship of human beings to one another throughout time, and the ultimate power of place are explored in this poem by one of the most revered American poets, Walt Whitman. Its setting of NYC is dear to narrator Diane Havens, a native New Yorker, a Brooklynite.

River Rules is a small-town environmental suspense novel with a deep heart and powerful conscience. What the housing bubble didn’t break in Bridgeville - a small New England community blessed by the Connecticut River - greed, double-dealing, and rapid-fire change just might. Peter Russo, a part-time farmer and full-time rambler with his rescue dog, has a knack for conflict, and a burning desire to protect Bridgeville’s land and water from exploitation.

In her first-ever solo anthology, New York Times best-selling author Rebecca Cantrell demonstrates her award-winning skill with four wonderful stories - including the prequel to her Hannah Vogel series where Ernst Vogel explores the shadowy world of Weimar-era Berlin as he investigates the murder of a young cigarette boy at his cabaret. The collection also includes a journey through the wreckage of postwar Berlin in a search for hope, a fated meeting on a train to a concentration camp, and a supernatural warrior protecting a shtetl in wartime Czechoslovakia.

Two time periods. Two coasts. Lives intertwined and impacted forever. Greed, societal forces, religion, eugenics, and racial prejudice came together in a shameful and shocking way on a small, wooded island off the coast of Maine in the early 1900s. The atrocious events that occurred on Malaga Island continue to echo through the years. Their impact is felt in many ways and by many lives.

It’s a dark and stormy night, and “The Raven”, read by award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti, transports us to a lonely chamber illuminated by firelight. The inhabitant who becomes the narrator hears a gentle tapping at the chamber door. The tapping is a raven who speaks one word, “Nevermore."

Released in France anonymously in 1678, The Princess of Cleves is a terse, fictional account of unconsummated love set in the court of Henri II. Regarded as a pivotal piece in the history of women's writing, this tragic tale sees the life squeezed painfully out of the young, female protagonist as she struggles to abide by confusing moral mores amidst a world of complex, amorous intrigues and the fierce grip of her own—disastrous—passion.

This lyrical ballad is one of Tennyson's most famous poems. The subject, the tragic passing of a reclusive noblewoman, was suggested by a 13th-century Italian romance, the Donna di Scalotta.

Zuleika Dobson, internationally famous prestidigitator visits her grandfather, the Warden of Judas College, Oxford. But Zuleika, "though not strictly beautiful" is a devastatingly attractive young woman, and proves utterly irresistible among the all-male undergraduate body - including the snobbish and trend-setting young Duke of Dorset. Thus begins a chain of events that culminates in a very watery end to the Eights Week boat races...

Sultana’s Dream by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, published in 1905, is considered one of the earliest feminist science fiction works, especially in South Asian literature.

Imagine a romantic afternoon on the seashore when a man and woman sunbathing have the sense that there is something wrong. The woman has the intuition that the sea or something in the sea has designs on her man. Has the ocean developed a personality, an identity? Women are said to have a sixth sense and the man's partner senses that the ocean is a female lusting for her man. The woman makes every effort to keep the man out of the grasp of the lustful sea, but will her efforts be enough to keep her man?

Ramona Ortegna, the foster child of Señora Moreno, is much loved by all who live and work at the Moreno ranch, except Señora herself, who cannot bring herself to think of the girl as anything but a mixed-blood child. Half white, half Indian, Ramona had been adopted by the Senora’s sister who then entrusted the child to her upon her death. Already embittered by the loss to the Americans of much of her southern California land as the result of the 1846 Mexican-American War, the pious old woman is also distraught by the near destruction of California’s Catholic missions.

In "The Auction" by Stephen Crane, brought to life by Mike Vendetti, we are transported to a public auction featuring the possessions of a former sailor named Ferguson. Tired of life at sea, Ferguson meets a woman who symbolizes everything he wishes to embrace away from the ocean's call. They marry and begin building their life together on dry land. During his time at sea, Ferguson had a pet parrot that traveled with him, and his wife soon became enamored with the lively bird, making it a beloved member of their home.

In a world where the extraordinary meets the ordinary, immerse yourself in H.G. Wells' captivating short story "Aepyornis Island," narrated by the talented Mike Vendetti. Join us on a journey to an uninhabited atoll with a man who hatches an Aepyornis egg from an extinct bird that will forever alter his life. As he watches the egg hatch and a long-extinct Aepyornis emerges, his excitement knows no bounds. But as the creature grows, so does his sense of wonder and concern. Will his fourteen-foot-tall companion remain his friend?

The story is told by the clergyman to his brother as a later-life confession concerning a brush with the supernatural which he has kept a secret for many years. Before he joined the church he met and fell in love with Miss Jeromette, a Frenchwoman living alone in London. They enter into a relationship but she tells him candidly she loves another man who has deserted her. Miss Jeromette predicts the man will return to her but that she will die young and miserably.

Are you ready to step into a universe where insanity does not exist? Individuals exhibiting aberrant behavior are welcomed and understood on asteroids far from Earth. Get ready for an unforgettable journey with "The Square Pegs" by Ray Bradbury! This captivating short story, narrated by the talented Mike Vendetti, follows a dysfunctional family as they bring their demented sister, who believes she is Catherine the Great, to an asteroid where she can truly fit in.

Over one hundred poems by A. E. Housman, including the full text of both 'A Shropshire Lad', one of the best-loved collections in English poetry, and of 'Last Poems', the second volume of his verse to be published in the poet's lifetime. In simple, gently accessible language, the poet explores universal themes of life, death, love, and loss.

In "The Parasite," Arthur C Clarke explores the dark and unsettling world of "mental illness" through the eyes of Roy Connolly. But Roy knows he isn't crazy, he has been possessed by Omega, a creature of the very distant future where humanity exists primarily as intellect with severely emaciated bodies. And what fun is that? The solution is to travel back in time to a more physical era