One of the most controversial and censored books in English literature, Fanny Hill is regarded as the first original English prose pornography. Notorious for its vivid depiction of sexual exploits in all possible forms, the novel digs up the most thrilling erotic fantasies and pieces them together in a most seductive manner. Published in two installments in 1748 and 1749, the novel was attacked for its obscene content and was consequently banned and withdrawn from publication, due to disparaging moral values whilst promoting debauchery and sexual promiscuity. It is indisputably a tantalizing, erotic novel guaranteed to stir up the imagination and senses.
The novel, w...
In 1877, two gentlemen, Messrs Tonnison and Berreggnog, head into Ireland to spend a week fishing in the village of Kraighten. While there, they discover in the ruins of a very curious house a diary of the man who had once owned it. Its torn pages seem to hint at an evil beyond anything that existed on this side of the curtains of impossibility. This is a classic novel that worked to slowly bridge the gap between the British fantastic and supernatural authors of the later 19th century and modern horror fiction. Classic American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft lists this and other works by Hodgson among his greatest influences.
Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his detective stories, he also wrote other short stories which are masterpieces of mystery and suspense. In some of the stories in “Tales of Terror and Mystery”, a suppressed uneasiness gradually builds up and evolves into sheer terror. In others, the story line unexpectedly changes and comes to a horrific conclusion.
Sit back in the comfort of your armchair and let yourself be transported to the strange but compelling world created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs was first published in 1913. It was the third book in an eleven part series known as the Barsoom Chronicles which relate to a sequence of exciting adventure tales set on the fictional planet of Barsoom. In the Barsoom series, Mars, assumed to be older than Earth, is a dying planet. “Barsoom” is the native word for Mars in the Martian language. The stories first appeared in serialized form in various magazines like All-Story, Argosy, Amazing Stories and The Blue Book. They were later compiled into book form and were hugely popular in their day.
Edgar Rice Burroughs, known more famously as the creator of the Lord of t...
It's sad, but true to say that today Edward Morgan Forster's works are known more from their film and television adaptations rather than from their original novels. Yet, these adaptations have spurred many a fascinated viewer into going back to the library and finding the book that the film or miniseries was based on and this is ultimately the power of Forster's literary appeal.
Howard's End was published in 1910 and it marked Forster's first taste of critical and commercial success. He had published three other novels earlier, Where Angels Fear To Tread (1905), The Longest Journey (1907) and A Room With a View (1908) but none of them had been rec...
H. P. Lovecraft’s name is synonymous with horror fiction. His major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally alien. This collection contains 24 Lovecraft works that are in the public domain.
This story opens with a young girl on a visit to a stately mansion, which is a local tourist attraction. Exhausted and waiting for the rest of the party to finish the tour, she falls asleep under a tree. She is discovered by the daughter of the house and the governess, who comfort her and put her to bed in the governess's room, promising to wake her before the tourists leave. However, the governess forgets and the girl is stranded in the mansion. Her father arrives to take her home. Many years later, her father brings the same governess home as his new wife. The lady has a daughter of her own and the two girls become close friends. Another mansion in the neighborhood is owned by a weal...