A masquerade ball in a secluded abbey; a vendetta settled in the wine cellars of an Italian palazzo; a gloomy castle in a desolated landscape; the beating of a heart beneath the floorboards: the plots
This is a compendium of story starters taken from some of the very best stories ever written. Bewitching scenes from Hansel and Gretel, magical transformations from the Ugly Duckling and happy endings
My Book of Stories: Write Your Own Myths is a compendium of story starters taken from some of the very best stories ever told. Explosive creation myths, tales of gods at war and awesome acts of braver
Thousands of short stories were published during the First World War, which coincided with the heyday of the fiction magazine in Britain. Much of this material has never been republished since the end
A fact-filled introduction to global history with stories and characters from the most important turning points from the dawn of civilisation to the Second World War. Designed for children with an int
Decadent literature in Britain blossomed in the 1890s around such figures as Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, Max Beerbohm, Ernest Dowson and Arthur Symons. Under the maxim 'Art for Art's Sake' they oft
The Haunted Library is a new collection of classic ghost stories many of which have never before been anthologized from the golden age of the genre in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Each of t
Science fiction (SF) has existed as a popular genre for around 150 years. This book offers a survey of the genre from nineteenth-century pioneers to contemporary authors, introducing the plural versio
H. P. Lovecraft is best known for his tales of cosmic horror, in which unnameable nightmares torment the limits of human consciousness. This mastery of weird and unspeakable terror is underpinned by t
"The idea was too big for the mind to grasp in all its implications at the first attempt. But when you did get a grip on it, just to let the imagination rove with the possibilities!'' Science is on th
Even Lady Bobbin could not prevent the day from being marked by a good deal of crossness, much over-eating, and a series of startling incidents. The battle opened, as it were, with the Christmas stock
The Endeavour has made rocket ship history. With its automatic pilot and artificial gravity, anyone is qualified to fly to the moon. But the scientists who designed it did not envision the hidden dang
Arthur Simpson - 'British to the core', but without a passport to prove it - lives in Athens, scraping by as a driver, journalist and petty thief. When Simpson spots Harper at the airport he recognise
Christmas is a mysterious, as well as magical, time of year. Strange things can happen, and this helps to explain the hallowed tradition of telling ghost stories around the fireside as the year draws
A car hurtles down the driveway of a luxury villa in Switzerland. The driver is a young woman, Lucia Bernardi. Inside the house, police find the body of her lover on the bedroom floor. The dead man -
