Fiction Books

CHAPTER I. THE DREAMER. So many of my dreams have come true, that I sometimes incline to believe that dreams are in reality the only truths. I fancy this dream, at any rate, will be fulfilled. A hard gale rushed over a torn sea, and the drift was swept so that the moon was obscured with every fresh gust. High overhead a clear, steely sky was flecked here and there with fleecy white, and, ever and... more...

CHAPTER I URANUS AND EROSPopular view of discovery.Discovery is expected from an astronomer. The lay mind scarcely thinks of a naturalist nowadays discovering new animals, or of a chemist as finding new elements save on rare occasions; but it does think of the astronomer as making discoveries. The popular imagination pictures him spending the whole night in watching the skies from a high tower through... more...

LOCAL DESCRIPTIONS. Nothing is more idle, and, what is less to be forgiven in a writer, more tedious, than minute and lengthened descriptions of localities; where it is very doubtful whether the writers themselves had formed any tolerable notion of the place they describe,—it is certain their readers never can! These descriptive passages, in which writers of imagination so frequently indulge, are... more...

Rehan, a sharp but impulsive journalist, finds himself at the center of multiple conflicts—at work, in his family, and within himself. He has a habit of confronting issues head-on, often fighting the visible enemy without seeking the hidden root cause. When a personal crisis threatens to ruin his career and relationships, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery, realizing that true resolution lies... more...

INTRODUCTORY It was a night of bright moonlight that made for pitchy shadows under wall or tree. Patsy Kenny was looking for the goat, she having broken her tether. He had been driven forth by his fierce old grandfather with threats of the most awful nature if he should return without the goat. The tears were not yet dry on Patsy's small face. He had kneaded them in with his knuckles, but the... more...

The thunder of the jets died away, the sound drifting wistfully off into the hills. The leaves that swirled in the air returned to the ground slowly, reluctantly. The rocket had gone. Aron Myers realized that he was looking at nothing. He noticed that his face was frozen into a meaningless smile. He let the smile slowly dissolve as he turned to look at his wife. She was a small woman, and he realized... more...

CHAPTER I.   At last the golden orientall gate    Of greatest heaven gan to open fayre,  And Phoebus fresh as brydegrome to his mate,    Came dauncing forth, shaking his deawie hayre,  And hurld his glistening beams through gloomy ayre. SPENSER'S FAERY QUEENE. It was a lovely morning in the autumn of the year of grace 18—. The beams of the sun had not yet fallen upon the light veil... more...

CHAPTER I The butler made an instinctive movement to detain him, but he flung him aside and entered the drawing-room, the servant recovering his equilibrium and following on a run. Light from great crystal chandeliers dazzled him for a moment; the butler again confronted him but hesitated under the wicked glare from his eyes. Then through the brilliant vista, the young fellow caught a glimpse of a... more...

CHAPTER I."What, am I poor of late?'Tis certain, greatness, once fallen out with fortune,Must fall out with men too. What the declined is,He shall as soon read in the eyes of others,As feel in his own fall: for men, like butterflies,Show not their mealy wings but to the summer;And not a man, for being simply man,Hath any honour; but honour for those honoursThat are without him, as place,... more...

After the Doctor gave him the hypo and left the ship, Bowren lay in absolute darkness wondering when the change would start. There would be pain, the Doctor had said. "Then you won't be aware of anything—anything at all." That was a devil of a thing, Bowren thought, not to be aware of the greatest adventure any man ever had. He, Eddie Bowren, the first to escape the Earth into space, the... more...