Showing results by narrator "David McCran" in All Categories

The People of the Abyss (1903) is a book by Jack London about life in the East End of London in 1902. He wrote this first-hand account after living in the East End (including the Whitechapel District) for several weeks, sometimes staying in workhouses or sleeping on the streets. In his attempt to understand the working-class of this deprived area of London the author stayed as a lodger with a poor family. The conditions he experienced and wrote about were the same as those endured by an estimated 500,000 of the contemporary London poor.

Shortly after the death of renowned socialist theorist Karl Marx, the trustee of his estate, Friedrich Engels, approaches Sherlock Holmes for help. As the mourners arrive in London for Marx's funeral, a mystery unfolds that culminates in a showdown at Highgate Cemetery.

The Lost World is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, published in 1912, concerning an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon basin of South America where prehistoric animals still survive. It was originally published serially in the Strand Magazine and illustrated by New-Zealand-born artist Harry Rountree during the months of April–November 1912. The character of Professor Challenger was introduced in this book. The novel also describes a war between indigenous people and a vicious tribe of ape-like creatures.

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608-1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books (in the manner of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout. It is considered by critics to be Milton's major work, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time.

The Sign of the Four (1890), also called The Sign of Four, is the second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle wrote four novels and 56 short stories featuring the fictional detective. The story is set in 1888. The Sign of the Four has a complex plot involving service in India, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, a stolen treasure, and a secret pact among four convicts ("the Four" of the title) and two corrupt prison guards. It presents the detective's drug habit and humanizes him in a way that had not been done in the preceding novel, A Study in Scarlet (1887).

Charles Dickens was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. THE SHORT-TIMERS: Within so many yards of this Covent-garden lodging of mine, as within so many yards of Westminster Abbey, Saint Paul's Cathedral, the Houses of Parliament, the Prisons, the Courts of Justice, all the Institutions that govern the land, I can find must find...

Baron Collingwood's eldest son and heir to the title dies from a mysterious illness. Shortly thereafter, his brother, the second in line, also falls ill. His condition takes a dramatic turn for the worse, leaving doctors and police stumped. The Baron thus turns to Holmes and Watson for help.

The elderly owner of a Scottish whisky distillery receives an anonymous death threat by mail. Holmes and Watson travel to the Highlands to get to the bottom of it and put an end to this dangerous game.

A treacherous murder rattles the Japanese embassy in London. The in-house secret service agent turns to Sherlock Holmes for help in quickly solving the case before it provokes a diplomatic crisis.

Holmes and Watson are spending their day off at the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens when the discovery of a dead body in the large Palm House requires their immediate attention. The park's head of security enlists their help in hope of solving the case before the arrival of Scotland Yard.

Sherlock Holmes is called to the London Zoo to investigate the treacherous murder of an unusual victim. While Scotland Yard ascribes little significance to the case, Holmes believes he has uncovered a politically motivated assassination.

The main attraction of an upcoming exhibition on ancient Egypt vanishes shortly before opening night at the British Museum. The pharaoh sarcophagus, which would normally contain an ancient mummy, is empty.

Holmes is faced with a moral dilemma when his latest client turns out to be a former pirate captain who had been robbed of his bounty nearly two decades ago. Can Holmes help him recover his share of the treasure from his former shipmates?

As the second book starts, Knave, Altia and Jay are coming to terms with the enormous task that lies before them. Their spaceship is faster and has weaponry superior to any imperial craft, and it also has a teleportation system that enables transport to the surface of planets. A technology no other spaceship has; an alien technology far beyond what humanity is capable of. They are also aided by the fact that the empire has become bloated and corrupt. Rebellion is in the air, across the human quadrant of the galaxy.

Once upon a time there lived a woodcutter and his wife; they had seven children, all boys. The eldest was but ten years old, and the youngest only seven. People were astonished that the woodcutter had had so many children in such a short time, but his wife was very fond of children, and never had less than two at a time.

There was once a man who had fine houses, both in town and country, a deal of silver and gold plate, embroidered furniture, and coaches gilded all over with gold. But this man was so unlucky as to have a Blue Beard, which made him so frightfully ugly that all the women and girls ran away from him.

A woodcutter complained of his poor lot. Jupiter (or alternatively, a tree spirit or fairy) granted him three wishes. The woodcutter went home, and his wife persuaded him to put off the wishing until the next day, after he had thought, but while sitting by the fire, he wished for sausages. His wife taxed him for his folly, and angry, he wished for the sausages to attach to her nose. Finally, they agreed to use the last wish to take the sausages off her nose, leaving them no better off than before (apart from having gained the sausages).

"Little Red Riding Hood" is a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European folk tales. It was later retold in the 19th-century by the Brothers Grimm. The story has varied considerably in different versions over the centuries, translations, and as the subject of numerous modern adaptations. Other names for the story are "Little Red Cap" or simply "Red Riding Hood". The story centers around a girl named Little Red Riding Hood, named after her red hooded cape that she wears.

In the version by Charles Perrault, a fairy grants an ugly prince named Riquet (Ricky) the gift of intelligence and the ability to confer wit upon the one he loves the most. At birth, Prince Riquet has a small patch of hair on his head, leading to his nickname "of the tuft".

An extremely fortunate and wealthy king lives with his beautiful wife and daughter. The source of the king's riches is his prized, marvelous donkey whose droppings are gold. The king's wife is struck by an illness and dies, but not before making her husband promise not to remarry except to a woman whose beauty and attributes equal hers. The king grieves for a lengthy period, but is finally persuaded to seek another wife. It becomes clear that the only woman who fits the promise is his daughter.