Year: 2020

  • The Dryad by Hans Christian Andersen

    Read The Dryad by Hans Christian Andersen (1868) onlineWE are travelling to Paris to the Exhibition.Now we are there. That was a journey, a flight without magic. We flew on the wings of steam over the sea and across the land.Yes, our time is the time of fairy tales.We are…

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  • Love Of Life by Jack London

    Love Of Life(First printed in McClure’s Magazine, Vol. 26, Dec., 1905)“This out of all will remain —They have lived and have tossed:So much of the game will be gain,Though the gold of the dice has been lost.”They limped painfully down the bank, and once the foremost of the two men…

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  • The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

    Edgar Allan Poe. The Cask of AmontilladoThe thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I bestcould, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowedrevenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul,will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to athreat. At length I would be avenged;…

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  • Traveling with the dead by Barbara Hambly

    Barbara Hambly. Traveling with the deadChapter OneAll Souls and black rain, and cold that passed like needles through flesh and clothing to scrape the bones inside. Sunday night in Charing Cross Station, voices racketing in the vaults of glass and ironwork overhead like ball bearings in a steel drum. All…

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  • Read “Lady into fox” by David Garnett online

    David Garnett. Lady into foxWonderfulor supernatural events are not so uncommon, rather they areirregular in their incidence. Thus there may be not one marvel to speak ofin a century, and then often enough comes a plentiful crop of them; monstersof all sorts swarm suddenly upon the earth, comets blaze in…

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  • The October Game by Ray Bradbury read online

    Ray Bradbury. The October GameHe put the gun back into the bureau drawer and shut the drawer.No, not that way. Louise wouldn’t suffer. It was very importantthat this thing have, above all duration. Duration throughimagination. How to prolong the suffering? How, first of all, to bringit about? Well.The man standing…

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  • The Boogeyman by Stephen King

    Stephen King .The Boogeyman‘I came to you because I want to tell my story,’ the man on Dr Harper’s couch was saying. The man was Lester Billings from Waterbury, Connecticut. According to the history taken from Nurse Vickers, he was twenty-eight, employed by an industrial firm in New York, divorced, and…

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  • The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe

    Edgar Allan Poe. The Masque of the Red DeathThe “Red Death” had long devastated the country. Nopestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Bloodwas its Avatar and its seal–the redness and the horror ofblood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, andthen profuse bleeding at the pores, with…

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  • Fragments of A Hologram Rose by William Gibson

    William Gibson. Fragments of A Hologram RoseThat summer Parker had trouble sleeping.There were power droughts; sudden failures of the delta-inducer brought painfully abrupt returns toconsciousness.To avoid these, he used patch cords, miniature alligator clips, and black tape to wire the inducer to a battery-operated ASP deck. Power loss in the…

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  • Read Nevermore by Henry Lion Oldie online

    Henry Lion Oldie. Nevermore Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore, “Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said,”art sure no craven, Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore — Tell…

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  • The Story Behind The “Foundation” by Isaac Asimov

    The Story Behind The “Foundation” by Isaac AsimovThe date was August 1, 1941. World War II had been raging for two years. France had fallen, the Battle of Britain had been fought, and the Soviet Union had just been invaded by Nazi Germany. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was four…

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  • The Two-Centimeter Demon by Isaac Asimov read online

    The Two-Centimeter Demon by Isaac AsimovI met George at a literrary convention a good many years ago, and was struck by the peculiar look of innocence and candor upon his round middle-aged face. He was the kind of person, I decided at once, to whom you would give your wallet…

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  • The Great Sea-Serpent A New Wonder Story by Hans Christian Andersen

    The Great Sea-Serpent A New Wonder Story by Hans Christian AndersenTHERE was a little fish—a salt-water fish—of good family: I don’t recall the name—you will have to get that from the learned people. This little fish had eighteen hundred brothers and sisters all just as old as he; they did…

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  • One Night of Song by Issac Asimov

    Read online One Night of Song by Issac AsimovAs it happens, I have a friend who hints, sometimes, that he can call up spirits from the vasty deep.Or at least one spirit—a tiny one, with strictly limited powers. He talks about it sometimes but only after he has reached his…

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  • The gift of the magi by O. Henry read online

    The gift of the magi by O. HenryOne dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. Andsixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and twoat a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man andthe butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silentimputation of parsimony that such…

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  • Read The prophet by Henry Lion Oldie

    Henry Lion Oldie. The prophet “Arise, oh prophet, hark and see, Perform that will o’mine! And wandering through lands and seas Burn hearts by verbal fire.” A. S. Pushkin Antisthenes took the test-tube and examined the fluid against thelight. The elixir was dark-golden, thick, resembling old Tokay. Was thisthe one…

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  • The Prophet ‘Isa ibn Maryam

    The story of a miracleThe Prophet ‘Isa was the last of the Messengers before the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. His is a story which reveals the conquering Will of Allah, His absolute Power and His fine Wisdom. Everything about ‘Isa is a miracle. His…

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  • The Prophets Zakariyya and Yahya

    Zakariyya’s prayer for a righteous sonAnother way in which Allah blesses His slaves, and reveals a sign of His power that encompasses all things, is found in the prayer of Zakariyya. Zakariyya prayed for a son who would be righteous, pleasing to Allah, dutiful and God-fearing; who would be his…

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  • About The Prophets Ayyub and Yunus

    The story of AyyubThe story of the Prophet Ayyub in the Qur’an shows another aspect of the blessing of Allah to His believing slaves who remain patient and thankful, and to His beloved Prophets.Ayyub had many animals, flocks and fields, and fine sons, with all of whom he was pleased.…

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  • The Prophets Da’ud and Sulayman

    The Qur’an records the rejection, humiliation and banishment which the Prophets and Messengers suffered at the hands of the communities to which they were sent. It also mentions the punishment, the destruction and ruin that came upon these communities when they rejected their Messengers, mocked them, and conspired against their…

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  • The Prophet Shu’ayb

    To Midian, their brother Shu’aybIn the Qur’an, is the story of the Prophet of Allah, Shu’ayb, whom He sent to Midian and the People of the Thicket. These people were merchants, and controlled the great trade routes between Yemen and Syria, and between Iraq and Egypt on the shores of…

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  • All about The Prophet Musa

    From Canaan to EgyptYa’qub and his sons moved to Egypt because Yusuf the son of Ya’qub was the ruler of Egypt. Back in Canaan, they had herded their flocks, milked their sheep and sold their wool, while in Egypt even Yusufs slaves and servants ate well and enjoyed themselves.Yusuf sent…

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  • All about The Prophet Yusuf

    A wonderful dreamYusuf was a young boy, both handsome and intelligent. He had eleven brothers. His father Ya’qub loved him more than any of his other sons.One night Yusuf had a wonderful dream. He saw eleven stars and the sun and the moon all bowing down to him. He was…

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  • All about The Prophet Ibrahim

    The idol-sellerIn a city, long, long ago, there lived a very famous man whose name was Azar. He was famous because he was a seller of idols.In a huge building in’ the middle of the city, the people kept lots of idols and bowed down before them. Azar was no…

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  • All about The Prophet Salih

    After the ‘AdThe people of Thamud were the heirs to the ‘Ad as they were the heirs to the community of Nuh. The Thamud followed after the ‘Ad as the ‘Ad had followed after Nuh. The land of Thamud was also a beautiful green land of gardens with running rivers…

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  • The Prophet Hud

    After NuhAllah blessed the descendants of Nuh and they spread over the earth. One community from them was called ‘Ad.They were strong men with bodies like iron. They conquered everyone, and no-one was able to conquer them. They did not fear anyone but were feared by everyone.Allah blessed the ‘Ad…

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  • All about The Prophet Nuh

    After Adam (peace and blessings be upon him)[1]Allah blessed the descendants of Adam, his children and grandchildren, and they spread and multiplied. If Adam had come back and seen them all, and someone had said to him, These are your descendants, Adam,’ he would have been astonished. He would have…

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  • Interview: The Experience of a Russian-American Family

    Interview: The Experience of a Russian-American FamilyAn American, Jeanine, who was graduated from a university in Ohio, went to Leningrad to work in the American consulate. That was eight years ago, and since then a lot has happened. She fell in love with a Muscovite, Andrei, moved to Moscow, had…

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  • Interview with Andrei Nakov about Malevich

    Interview with Andrei Nakov about MalevichWay back when I was starting to study the history of art in Paris, I said to my professor that I was much taken with twentieth century painting. He looked at me disapprovingly and asked, “Do you want to become a serious art expert or…

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  • Interview with Viktoria Fyodorova

    Interview with Viktoria FyodorovaViktoria Fyodorova arrived in Moscow. She went to see her old friends, strolled about a city that is now totally foreign to her, visited her mother’s grave. The daughter of a movie star of the 30s and 40s and of an American officer (he paid for his…

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