Showing results by publisher "Audio Sommelier" in Literature & Fiction

Basil Elton is a lighthouse keeper prone to fantasies - especially one recurring fantasy of a man in white robes on a white ship that only appears on a full moon. During this fantasy, Elton goes with the man on his ship, following an azure bird. Despite the man’s warnings that no man has ever returned from one of these realms, Elton asks that he take him to legendary land of hope. Their journey takes them to the end of the world, and instead of toppling over the side and dying, Elton wakes up on the rocks of his lighthouse next to the first shipwreck in his time as lightkeeper.

William Penn acquired a large section of American land in a debt settlement and transformed it into a thriving colony. He wrote this tract (and others) to recruit British colonists to Pennsylvania. In it, he praises the quality of the weather, the abundance of agricultural opportunities, and their good relations with the native people. His persuasive words capture a sense of “America the beautiful” that drove thousands to seek a new life in the land of opportunity.

When a Cherokee Sal dies giving birth to her son in a prospecting camp, the gold miners adopt him as their own. They name him Thomas Luck, as he seems to indicate a change in fortune for the camp. The miners start to turn their lives around in order to be a better example to the shining boy. But just as their ship seems to have come in, disaster hits, and it soon goes out again in this gripping yet tragic work of historical fiction.

A man stands on Owl Creek Bridge with his hands tied, preparing to face death by hanging. Then the ground slips out from under him, the rope breaks, and he has a moment to reimagine his future. Praised for its experimental shifts in time and surprise ending, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is not one to miss. It has been hailed by Kurt Vonnegut as “the greatest American short story.”

This is a charming children’s story penned by the great literary legend Oscar Wilde. The giant protects his beloved garden from intrusion but at a cost of eternal winter inside. Then one day a special young boy shows up who changes everything. Though infused with religious symbolism, you don’t have to embrace religious faith to appreciate this timeless lesson about love and generosity.

Much like Celephaïs, the unnamed narrator recalls his dreams of drifting on a dreamy ship toward the west and exploring the mystical and ethereal land of the west. The narrator recalls that he always ended at an ivy wall with a gate in it. After years of unrelenting depression in the real world, the narrator decides that he will try and go through the gate of his dreams, wherein he swallows “the drug”. After opening the door, he realizes quickly (and to his delight) that his expectations of what lay beyond were completely wrong.

Jim Bridger was a famous frontiersman in the Rockies whose legacy extended beyond the wilderness he explored. The legends of his life inspired countless Western stories, this one included.

At his 70th birthday party, Mark Twain delivered this delightful retrospective of his life. He dished out sarcastic advice on how he’d made it so far, discussing diet, sleep, cigars, alcohol, and exercise, among other topics. In the end, he said, “I am seventy; seventy, and would nestle in the chimney-corner, and smoke my pipe, and read my book, and take my rest, wishing you well in all affection.” He died three years later. 

In this story, the narrator showcases his friend, Toby Dammit, who is a man of low morals and often makes bets against the devil. One day, while on a bridge, Dammit sees a turnstile and bets the devil his head he can make it that far. An old man goads Dammit into making the leap - and the cost is about what you might expect.

One of the many documented lives in Plutarch’s Parallel Lives series, The Life of Coriolanus looks into the controversial life of one of Rome’s most famous generals. When the town of Corioli was under siege, Coriolanus gathered a group of men together to fight for freedom. Always loyal to his town, he advocated during the Roman grain shortage that any grain stocks be divvied out based on loyalty. Because of his harsh views, he was eventually exiled - but he never stopped fighting for what he believed to be right.

Poe brings the reality of life and death to the forefront as he weaves a story within a story. When the narrator runs into an old man, the man begins to tell the tale of how he aged so rapidly. Only a day before, he was young - but lost his shipmates into a vicious maelstrom and the powers of the sea. After the initial terror of the event has subsided, he is able to examine the beauty and the power of the forces that can both provide life and take it away without note.

It may seem odd that Mark Twain delivered a 4th of July speech in London in 1907. Aside from poking fun at the American obsession with fireworks and drunken revelry, however, the brilliant Twain knew just how to tie the topic of American independence with his British audience. He recounts how the Revolutionary War was fought between Brits over a Declaration of Independence written by Brits before the United States officially formed as a nation.

In this classic tale, the young Puritan Goodman Brown heads into the woods for a meeting with the devil. His world turns on its head, however, when he sees who else has gathered for the satanic ceremony.

In 1882, Congress passed a law that criminalized polygamy. Emmeline Wells, a staunch defender of plural marriage, gave this speech in 1883. In it, she addresses the popular opinion that polygamy is an act that keeps ignorant Mormon women “in bondage.” She provides a counter argument, describing how Mormon women consider their choices carefully, and that those who do agree to a polygamous marriage “are like other good, pure, virtuous women, industrially, morally and intellectually.”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal,” Elizabeth Cady Stanton said at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. One-hundred of the 300 convention attendees signed this speech that, modeled on the Constitution, served as a declaration of the women’s rights movement. Stanton did not mince words when she stated, “The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her.”

The tomb is the story of Jervas, a little boy whose whole life begins to revolve around the tomb of the Hyde family. A childhood spent sneaking out to sleep beside the tomb eventually turns into a young adulthood of sleeping in a tomb with his name on it. After a stormy night and after heading for the tomb, he turns back and sees the Hyde mansion, which had been burnt down in previous years, aglow with splendor. Once Jervas went inside, the spectral mansion sets ablaze, and his vision is broken by his father. Jervas comes to find out he had never been inside the tomb at all.

When prompted to give a speech at his 67th birthday party, Mark Twain was at no loss for wit. Several notable individuals proceeded him, heaping compliments upon him, so Twain began his speech by saying, “You cannot talk on compliments; that is not a text. No modest person, and I was born one, can talk on compliments.” So instead, he proceeded to give compliments back to his notable friends who were in attendance.

Edgar Allan Poe is a master of short horror stories, and “The Cask of Amontillado” is among his finest. This woeful tale comes from a mysterious narrator seeking revenge against an acquaintance, the ironically ill-fortuned Fortunato. The narrator lures him into his family’s crypt with the promise of fine Amontillado wine, but though two go down only one returns. The ending lines will leave readers with a chill running down their spine and a thirst for more Poe.

When the narrator accompanies a withered old Yankee back to his house, he is intrigued by the many old curiosities he finds around it - including precolonial furniture. One of these curiosities, an engraving, brings the old man on a terrifying reminisce about eating things that he was not allowed to have, and the narrator realizes that he could next on the plate. As blood drips from the ceiling onto the book, the narrator narrowly escapes when a bolt of lightning strikes the house, finally ending his streak of immortality.

In this story by H.P. Lovecraft, the line between man and beast is blurred. The Beast in the Cave follows the story of a man who gets separated from his group of tourists. They’ve all come to see the mammoth cave, but the man fears that it might be the last wonder he sees as he continues to wander further from his group. Eventually, his torch runs out of fuel and he is left with no other choice but to fend off approaching inhuman footsteps with the toss of a rock.