Showing results by narrator "Stewart Crank" in All Categories

The buying of orchids always has in it a certain speculative flavour. You have before you the brown shrivelled lump of tissue, and for the rest you must trust your judgment, or the auctioneer, or your good luck, as your taste may incline. The plant may be moribund or dead, or it may be just a respectable purchase, fair value for your money, or perhaps-for the thing has happened again and again - there slowly unfolds before the delighted eyes of the happy purchaser, day after day, some new variety, some novel richness, a strange twist of the labellum.

It is a moot point whether burglary is to be considered as a sport, a trade, or an art. For a trade, the technique is scarcely rigid enough, and its claims to be considered an art are vitiated by the mercenary element that qualifies its triumphs. On the whole it seems to be most justly ranked as sport, a sport for which no rules are at present formulated, and of which the prizes are distributed in an extremely informal manner. It was this informality of burglary that led to the regrettable extinction of two promising beginners at Hammerpond Park.

In the Avu Observatory" is a short story by H. G. Wells (1866-1946), first published in the Pall Mall Budget on 9 August 1894, and subsequently included in The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents (1895) and The Country of the Blind and Other Stories (1911). It describes an attack by a large bat-like creature on an assistant at a remote observatory in Borneo.

An 1895 short story from H. G. Wells in which an entomologist is haunted by the ghost of his rival; a ghost that takes the form of a unique and uncatchable moth.

"A Deal in Ostriches" is a short story by the British writer H. G. Wells. It is a cautionary tale about simple human greed. The taxidermist of Wells' story "Triumphs of a Taxidermist" (1894) makes a return appearance as the narrator of the story.

As the town Steve and his friends built in the middle of the ocean starts falling into chaos, Steve is transported to a mysterious castle on a cliff. The School of Magecraft, where wizards teach mages how to manipulate the world around them. Strange truths about the world begin revealing themselves to Steve as he races against the clock to save those he cares about the most.

With the help of Renie and Edmond, the battle for Belle Morte has been fought and won. However, the bigger fight is not over, as enemy vampires have escaped into the city and the future of vampirekind hangs in the balance. The escapees must be brought to justice—and fast.

Alex Bailey is a divorced single dad of a pair of teenagers, struggling to find more in his life than the daily grind. Between long hours at work and a toxic ex, he doesn't have much time to worry about anything other than how to make ends meet. However, his life is about to change when he stumbles upon a stunning naked woman in the streets. Artemis has always been known as the Goddess of the Hunt amongst many of her titles: harsh, wild, mysterious, and often vengeful. She's also been stuck in the abyss for two thousand years when she gets thrown into the streets of suburban Chicago.

The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents is a collection of fifteen fantasy and science fiction short stories written by the English author H. G. Wells between 1893 and 1895. It was first published by Methuen & Co. in 1895 and was Wells's first book of short stories. All of the stories had first been published in various weekly and monthly periodicals.

Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 - 13 August 1946) was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, history, satire, biography and autobiography. His work also included two books on recreational war games. THE TEMPTATION OF HARRINGAY: It is quite impossible to say whether this thing really happened. It depends entirely on the word of R.M. Harringay, who is an artist.

The canoe was now approaching the land. The bay opened out, and a gap in the white surf of the reef marked where the little river ran out to the sea; the thicker and deeper green of the virgin forest showed its course down the distant hill slope. The forest here came close to the beach. Far beyond, dim and almost cloudlike in texture, rose the mountains, like suddenly frozen waves. The sea was still save for an almost imperceptible swell. The sky blazed.

Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 - 13 August 1946) was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, history, satire, biography and autobiography. His work also included two books on recreational war games. THROUGH A WINDOW: After his legs were set, they carried Bailey into the study and put him on a couch before the open window. There he lay, alive - even a feverish man down to the loins, and below that a double-barrelled mummy swathed in white wrappings.

Bellows visits a friend, the taxidermist of the title, in the latter's home. Like much of Wells' fiction, the Taxidermist remains unnamed and the story is a concealed assault on the English culture of the time of its writing. The Taxidermist proudly tells the younger man of his accomplishments both grotesque and fraudulent.

"Æpyornis Island", or "Aepyornis Island", is a short story by H. G. Wells, first published in 1894 in the Pall Mall Budget. It was included in The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents, the first collection of short stories by Wells, first published in 1895. In the story, a man looking for eggs of Aepyornis, an extinct flightless bird, passes two years alone on a small island with an Aepyornis that has hatched.

The transitory mental aberration of Sidney Davidson, remarkable enough in itself, is still more remarkable if Wade's explanation is to be credited. It sets one dreaming of the oddest possibilities of intercommunication in the future, of spending an intercalary five minutes on the other side of the world, or being watched in our most secret operations by unsuspected eyes. It happened that I was the immediate witness of Davidson's seizure, and so it falls naturally to me to put the story upon paper.

Azuma-zi came to London from the dark jungles of Asia. Nearly penniless, he secures a job and is constantly bombarded with verbal and physical abuse. But to Azuma-zi, each beating holds a hidden justification. For he alone has uncovered the secret of the Lord of the Dynamos.

The Ethnologist looked at the bhimraj feather thoughtfully. "They seemed loth to part with it," he said. "It is sacred to the Chiefs," said the lieutenant; "just as yellow silk, you know, is sacred to the Chinese Emperor." The Ethnologist did not answer. He hesitated. Then opening the topic abruptly, "What on earth is this cock-and-bull story they have of a flying man?"

Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 - 13 August 1946) was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, history, satire, biography and autobiography. His work also included two books on recreational war games. THE DIAMOND MAKER: Some business had detained me in Chancery Lane until nine in the evening, and thereafter, having some inkling of a headache, I was disinclined either for entertainment or further work.

Ever since Renie Mayfield survived the merciless attack on Belle Morte that killed donors and vampires alike, she is forever changed. Now a vampire, the agonizing transformation of her body and mind is rivaled only by uncovering the horrific truth about her sister, June, who has escaped the mansion in her rabid form, adding even more chaos to Renie's reality.

As Raul leaves his simple village life to start a rebellion against the tyrannical Dunholmi government, he begins to wonder if his destiny is more someone else’s plan for a future he doesn’t want to be a part of. He’ll go along with things, for now, if only to prove that change can come from kindness instead of outright destruction. After all, destiny is what you make of it.