"20 Supernatural Stories" Book CONTENTS
The House and the BrainEdward Bulwer-Lytton 9
*The BlackCat Edgar Allan Poe 43
*The Boarded WindowAmbrose Bierce 52
*The SquawBram Stoker 57
*The Drowned ManGuy de Maupassant 68
*The Upper BerthFrancis Marion Crawford 75
*The Haunted ChairRichard Marsh 94
*The MezzotintM. R. James 110
*Deep in the ForestH. de Vere Stacpoole 121
*The WellW. W. Jacobs 133
*LukundooEdward Lucas White 144
*When I was DeadVincent O-Sullivan 157
*The Wolves of CernogratzSaki 161
*The Voice in the NightW. H. Hodgson 166
*The DiverA. J. Alan 178
*Nobodys HouseA. M. Burrage 185
*The Hell of MirrorsEdogawa Rampo 196
*W. S.L. P. Hartley 204
*Yours Truly, Jack the RipperRobert Bloch 214
*The Black FerrisRay Bradbury 232
Studies show that fewer than one-third of employees feel engaged with their work and that half of all jobs are at risk due to technology. But Peters has a solution, a sustained commitment to excellence combined with a commitment to people. These are, he argues, the only tools for coping with and thriving amidst the tsunami of change facing business today. In the Excellence Dividend, Peters shows that nothing beats a high-quality product or service, designed and delivered by people who are as dedicated to each other as they are to their shared goal. With his unparalleled expertise and inimitable charisma, Peters offers brilliantly simple, actionable guidelines for success that any business leader can immediately implement.
The measure of the executive, Peter F. Drucker reminds us, is the ability to "get the right things done." This usually involves doing what other people have overlooked as well as avoiding what is unproductive. Intelligence, imagination, and knowledge may all be wasted in an executive job without the acquired habits of mind that mold them into results
Sixteen-year-old Tessa Grey travels to London to find her brother during the reign of Queen Victoria. She journeys to the world below London, a world full of vampires, warlocks and other supernatural beings. This is Downworld, where the Shadowhunters fight against the demons and maintain law and order. Tessa is soon captured by the mysterious Dark Sisters who tell her that she is also one of them, a Downworlder. She has the power to transform at will into another person. Before she has a chance to control her powers, she discovers that there is someone who will do anything to claim it for himself by marrying her. Tessa will need to work with the Shadowhunters if she wants any chance of saving her brother, but she is soon caught between two close friends. The fragile Jem and the blue-eyed Will, both of whom begin to harbour feelings for her.
Tessa Gray's joy at her wedding is shortlived as evil automatons abduct her. She is a vital ingredient in the Clockwork Prince's plan to destroy the Shadowhunters. Jem and Will are ready to do anything to save her, but Will struggles with his own feelings for her even though she is engaged to Jem. In a race against time, Will must risk everything to save both his closest friend and the girl he loves. And Tessa must come to terms with her own abilities for once she does, she might become more powerful than she ever imagined. The first book in The Infernal Devices is Clockwork Angel and the second book is Clockwork Prince.
The Shadowhunter world faces darkness once again. Clary and the rest of the Nephilim have to fight her own brother in battle. Seemingly undefeatable, he is an enemy like no other. Can Clary, Jace, Simon and their friends defeat him, or will they be forced into another world to find a chance? Lives are at stake and love will be sacrificed, changing the entire world in this last installment to the series which has held readers around the world stuck to their seats for the past few years.
From one of Turkey's most acclaimed and outspoken writers comes a novel about the tangled histories of two families. In her second novel written in English, Elif Shafak confronts her country's violent past in a vivid and colorful tale set in both Turkey and the United States. At its center is the "bastard" of the title, Asya, a nineteen-year-old woman who loves Johnny Cash and the French Existentialists, and the four sisters of the Kazanci family who all live together in an extended household in Istanbul: Zehila, the zestful, headstrong youngest sister who runs a tattoo parlor and is Asya's mother; Banu, who has newly discovered herself as a clairvoyant; Cevriye, a widowed high school teacher; and Feride, a hypochondriac obsessed with impending disaster.
Louna, daughter of famed wedding planner Natalie Barrett, has seen every sort of wedding: on the beach, at historic mansions, in fancy hotels and clubs. Perhaps that's why she's cynical about happily-ever-after endings, especially since her own first love ended tragically. When Louna meets charming, happy-go-lucky serial dater Ambrose, she holds him at arm's length. But Ambrose isn't about to be discouraged, now that he's met the one girl he really wants.
On a moonlit beach a father cradles his sleeping son as they wait for dawn to break and a boat to arrive. He speaks to his boy of the long summers of his childhood, recalling his grandfather's house in Syria, the stirring of olive trees in the breeze, the bleating of his grandmother's goat, the clanking of her cooking pots. And he remembers, too, the bustling city of Homs with its crowded lanes, its mosque and grand souk, in the days before the sky spat bombs and they had to flee.
France, 1916. Sophie Lefevre must keep her family safe whilst her adored husband Edouard fights at the front. When she is ordered to serve the German officers who descend on her hotel each evening, her home becomes riven by fierce tensions. And from the moment the new Kommandant sets eyes on Sophie's portrait - painted by Edouard - a dangerous obsession is born, which will lead Sophie to make a dark and terrible decision.
This title is second in the "New York Times" bestselling urban fantasy series set in Victorian London. Still reeling from her terrifying confrontation with the Magister and her brother's betrayal, Tessa Gray is drawn ever deeper into the Shadowhunter's dark underworld of demons and danger. In a desperate attempt to help her friends, Tessa tries to uncover the truth about the Magister and learns that blames the Shadowhunters for the murder of his parents nearly a half-century ago. But who were his parents, and why did the Shadowhunters kill them? Determined to unravel the secrets of his past, Tessa, Will and Jem journey to mist-shrouded Yorkshire, only to encounter corrupt Shadowhunters more intent on burying the past than finding the Magister - a past that holds the key not only to the enemy's motivations and weakness, but to the secret of what Tessa really is and what she was born to do.
In his most personal novel to date, internationally bestselling author Paulo Coelho returns with a remarkable journey of self-discovery. Like the main character in his much-beloved The Alchemist, Paulo is facing a grave crisis of faith. As he seeks a path of spiritual renewal and growth, his only real option is to begin again—to travel, to experiment, to reconnect with people and the landscapes around him.
‘One Night at the Call Centre’ focuses on the story of one night’s happening with 6 people working together at a call centre in Gurgaon, India. At this particular call centre, the employees are focused on giving technical support to American clients. The 6 characters, Shyam, Priyanka, Esha, Vroom, Radhika and Military Uncle are friends, who are all working on this particular night shift together. In America, it is the THANKSGIVING time and the phone lines are ringing frantically. The call centre receives one call from a very special caller, GOD. A call that alters everything.
Uncle Fred believes he can achieve anything in the springtime. However, disguised as a loony-doctor and trying to prevent prize pig, the Empress of Blandings, from falling into the hands of the unscrupulous Duke of Dunstable, he is stretched to his limit.
Saki is perhaps the most graceful spokesman for England's 'Golden Afternoon' - the slow and peaceful years before the First World War. Although like so many of his generation, he died tragically young, in action on the Western Front, his reputation as a writer continued to grow long after his death. The stories are humorous, satiric, supernatural, and macabre, highly individual, full of eccentric wit and unconventional situations. With his great gift as a social satirist of his contemporary upper-class Edwardian world, Saki is one of the few undisputed English masters of the short story.
Making the Future is the sequel to Chomsky’s Interventions. Both these books are drawn from the articles the author has been writing regularly for the New York Times Syndicate. This book offers fierce and accessible political writing by one of America's foremost political commentator and activist. In Making the Future, the collection of essays by Chomsky presents a powerful narrative to official accounts of the major political events of the world in the last four years. He writes about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the elections in the U.S. and Israel's invasion of Gaza and expansion of settlements in Jerusalem, among others. This book will make for an ideal read for those interested in the events that have made the future since 2007.
সম্বিৎ সামনে সবুজ রেক্সিনে মােড়া সেক্রেটারিয়েট টেবিল। পেছনে ফাইল ক্যাবিনেট। হাতের কাছে টেলিফোন। কলমদানিতে কলম, ঘরের অঙ্গসজ্জাই নিছক। কাচে মােড়া চারপাশ। যেন কাচের কফিন কারণ ভেতরে নিহত মানুষ সম্বিৎ গুম হয়ে বসেই থাকে। সােম মঙ্গল বুধে গড়ায়। বৃহস্পতির বারবেলা কাটে। শুক্র। তারপর শনি। সম্বিৎ নট নড়নচড়ন নট কিচ্ছু। যেভাবে নিহত সেইভাবেই রাইগর মর্টিস ধরেছে। সই সাবুদ করবার সময়ে শুধু অনিচ্ছুক আঙুল নড়ে কয়েক পলক। তারপর আবার যে-কে সেই।
রাসসুন্দরী শুনতেন চণ্ডীমণ্ডপ বা দরদালান যেখানেই হােক পাঁচজন পুরষ একত্র বসলেই এরকম কথাবার্তা হত। কেউ বলতেন, 'এতকাল ইহা ছিল না। একালে বুঝি হইয়াছে। এখন মাগের নাম ডাক, মিনসে জড়ভরত। আমাদের কালে এত আপদ ছিল না।' অন্যজন তাতে সায় দিয়ে বলতেন, এখন মেয়ে রাজার কাল হইয়াছে। দিনে দিনে বা আর কত দেখিব। এখন যেমত হইয়াছে, ইহাতে আর ভদ্রলােকের জাতি থাকিবে না। এই মেয়ে রাজা' হচ্ছেন মহারানী ভিক্টোরিয়া। জাতিচ্যুত হবার আশঙ্কায় সবাই আতঙ্কিত হয়ে ভাবতেন, এখন বুঝি সকল মাগীরা একত্র হইয়া লেখাপড়া শিখিবে।
সে বলে, ঈশ্বর আছেন, আমি আছি। ঈশ্বর সত্যই আছেন, আমি আছি কি না সেটাও ঈশ্বর জানেন। আমি জানি ঈশ্বর আছেন, তাই আমিও আছি। নইলে কী করে জানব ঈশ্বর আছেন? এটা অতি সােজা কথা। পাত্ৰাধার তৈল কি তৈলাধার পাত্র—সে ইয়ার্কি নয়! সহজ সরল কথা। আমি আছি কি নেই? এটা জানেন ঈশ্বর। বেশ কথা। ঈশ্বর কী জানেন বা না জানেন সে প্রশ্নই ওঠে । তিনি সব জানেন—আবার কিছুই জানেন না। তিনি অনন্ত কিন্তু সৃষ্টি করেন—আবার অনন্তশয্যায় অনন্ত ঘুমে ঘুমিয়ে থাকেন। কাজেই হিসাবটা ওদিক দিয়ে নয়। ঈশ্বর আছেন আমি এটা জানি। সেটাই প্রমাণ যে ঈশ্বরও জানেন আমি আছি। আমি যদি না থাকব তবে কী করে জানব একমাত্র ঈশ্বরই জানেন আমি আছি কি নেই? কাজেই আমি আছি।
আমি একটি মানচিত্র-প্রিয় মেয়ে। জীবনের পর্বে-পর্বে আমার মানচিত্র বদলে বদলে যায়। যেমন প্রথম ম্যাপটা ছিল একটি সেতার বাজিয়ের। আমি ভেবেছিলাম মায়া মিত্র, কল্যাণী রায়ের মতাে সেতারের তুম্বিতে কনুই রেখে স্টাইলে বাজাব, ওইটাই আমার জীবন হবে। কনফারেন্সে জলসায় ডাক পড়বে, মাঝরাতে ডাকবে আমায়। নিখিল বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়, রবিশঙ্কর আহা আহা করবেন, আমার বাবা-মায়ের বুক দশহাত হয়ে উঠবে।
আমি রামগড় থেকে ঘুরতে ঘুরতে পুরুলিয়ার দিকে আসছিলাম। ধরে নাও চাস রােডেই কোথাও সেই বাংলােটা। আশেপাশে কোনাে শহর নেই—বাংলােটা বলতে গেলে জনশূন্য মাঠের মধ্যে। তখনও ওসব জায়গায় ইলেকট্রিক যায় নি। এখনও গেছে কিনা আমি জানি না। ডাকবাংলােটা নতুন তৈরি হয়েছে, বেশ ছিমছাম চেহারা। আমি সেখানেই সে রাতের জন্য বসতি নেবাে ঠিক করলুম।
