John Van Stan
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 2: The Massacres of the South
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
Dumas's 'Celebrated Crimes' was not written for children. The novelist has spared no language--has minced no words--to describe the violent …
Marguerite de Valois
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Alexandre Dumas
A historical fiction novel set in Paris (1572) during Charles IX's reign and the French Wars of Religion. Marguerite de Valois, daughter of …
Chicot the Jester
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Alexandre Dumas
This sequel to Dumas' “Marguerite de Valois” begins four years after the sudden death of King Charles IX and succession of his brother Henry…
The Forty-Five Guardsmen
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Alexandre Dumas
The sequel to "Chicot the Jester" and final book of the "Valois Romances." This story begins six years after the famed &…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 1: The Borgias and the Cenci (version 2)
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Alexandre Dumas
Dumas's 'Celebrated Crimes' was not written for children. The novelist has spared no language--has minced no words--to describe the violent …
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 3: Mary Stuart (version 2)
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Alexandre Dumas
The contents of these volumes of 'Celebrated Crimes', as well as the motives which led to their inception, are unique. They are a series of …
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 4: Karl-Ludwig Sand (version 2)
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Alexandre Dumas
This is the fourth volume of Alexandre Dumas' studies of celebrated crimes and their perpetrators. This volume is concerned with the story o…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 4: Part 2: Urbain Grandier (version 2)
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Alexandre Dumas
This is the dramatic story of Urbain Grandier, a catholic priest, who had a reputation to rival that of Casanova, which ultimately led to hi…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 4: Part 3: Nisida
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Alexandre Dumas
This story details the many crimes (attempted rape, assault, filicide, etc.) surrounding a significant historical confrontation between a fi…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 5: Part 1: Desrues
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Alexandre Dumas
This story chronicles the crimes of Antoine-Francois Desrues (also called "Derues") from his childhood to his execution. Desrues c…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 5: Part 2: La Constantin
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Alexandre Dumas
Dumas chronicles the court intrigues that led to the execution of Marie La Roux Constantin. La dame Constantin was known by French nobility …
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 6: Part 1: Joan of Naples
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Alexandre Dumas
The celebrated crimes committed during the life of Joan (Joanna I) of Naples span from personal misdeeds (adulteries and mariticide) to regi…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 6: Part 2: The Man in the Iron Mask
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Alexandre Dumas
In the late 1600s a man was doubly-imprisoned: his body in an iron cell and his face in an iron mask. Who the “man in the iron mask” was, wh…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 6: Part 3: Martin Guerre
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Alexandre Dumas
Martin Guerre was a French peasant that, during a long absence, was famously impersonated in the 16th century. Although the real Martin Guer…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 7: Part 1: Ali Pacha
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Alexandre Dumas
Ali Tepeleni, Pacha of Janina, rose to power during the early 1800s in one of the Ottoman Empire’s most unruly territories (Albania). His fe…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 7: Part 2: Countess de Saint-Geran
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Alexandre Dumas
This story details the crimes and trial surrounding the unexpected pregnancy and subsequent childbirth of the Countess de Saint-Geran in 164…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 7: Part 3: Murat
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Alexandre Dumas
Amidst the political winds from Napoleon’s downfall, this tale turns our attention to the flight of a former French marshal and King of Napl…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 8: Part 1: The Marquise de Brinvilliers
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Alexandre Dumas
The crimes of the Marquise of Brinvilliers, a French aristocrat during the reign of Louis XIV, included some of the most famous murders, sca…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 8: Part 2: Vaninka
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Alexandre Dumas
The story of Vaninka, generally regarded as the most fictionalized of Dumas’ Celebrated Crimes series, occurs during the short and eccentric…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 8: Part 3: The Marquise de Ganges
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Alexandre Dumas
The assassination of Diane de Joannis de Chateaublanc (the Marquise de Ganges) is a fitting tale to conclude Dumas’ celebrated crimes series…
Candide (version 3)
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Voltaire
Ever since 1759, when Voltaire wrote "Candide" in ridicule of the notion that this is the best of all possible worlds, this world …
The d'Artagnan Romances, Vol 1: The Three Musketeers (version 3)
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Alexandre Dumas
The d'Artagnan Romances are six volumes that intertwine exciting events (real and fictionalized) from 17th-century Europe and the life of th…
The d'Artagnan Romances, Vol 2: Twenty Years After (version 2)
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Alexandre Dumas
Volume 2 of The d'Artagnan Romances begins twenty years after "The Three Musketeers." Since then, d'Artagnan's career has stagnate…
A Christmas Carol (Version 11)
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Charles Dickens
The classic Christmas story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley an…
The d'Artagnan Romances, Vol 3, Part 1: The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years La…
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Alexandre Dumas
Volume 3 of The d'Artagnan Romances is divided into three parts. The first begins in 1660, ten years after Volume 2, with d’Artagnan as Lieu…
The d'Artagnan Romances, Vol 3, Part 3: The Man in the Iron Mask (version 2)
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Alexandre Dumas
Volume 3 of The d'Artagnan Romances is divided into three parts. In this, the final part, d’Artagnan’s fortune is near its height; having be…
The House on the Borderland (Version 2)
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William Hope Hodgson
This story helped propel 19th Century gothic fiction in the direction of “cosmic” horror. In fact, H.P. Lovecraft lists it as among his grea…
Short Stories (Version 2)
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Fyodor Dostoyevsky
This is a collection of short stories written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Dostoevsky), who is arguably better-known for his lengthy, contemplativ…
Moral letters to Lucilius (Epistulae morales ad Lucilium)
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Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Seneca the Younger’s letters to his friend, Lucilius Junior, appear to have been written with a broad audience in mind. These letters introd…
The Marie Antoinette Romances, Vol 1: Balsamo, The Magician
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Alexandre Dumas
This is the first volume of Dumas' Marie Antoinette Romances (also called "The Memoirs of a Physician"). This historical fiction c…
The Marie Antoinette Romances, Vol 2: The Mesmerist's Victim
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Alexandre Dumas
This 2nd volume of the Marie Antoinette Romances continues the intrigues of "Balsamo, The Magician" and adds to them the schemes o…
The Marie Antoinette Romances, Vol 3: The Queen's Necklace (Version 2)
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Alexandre Dumas
This 3rd volume of the Marie Antoinette Romances begins a decade after the close of "The Mesmerist’s Victim” and is based on a real sca…
Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None (version 2) (includes annotatio…
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Friedrich Nietzsche
The modern British philosopher, Anthony M. Ludovici, said that this text “is unquestionably Nietzsche’s opus magnum.” However, he warns the …
Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus (Version 4)
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Mary Shelley
This is a classic (gothic) horror story, and one of the earliest examples of science fiction. The main characters are Dr. Frankenstein and h…
Marie Antoinette Romances, Vol 4: Taking the Bastile
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Alexandre Dumas
This 4th volume of the Marie Antoinette Romances begins several years after the close of "The Queen’s Necklace.” It describes the event…
Some Short Christmas Stories
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Charles Dickens
Here are some classic, short Christmas stories from Charles Dickens, who, one may easily argue, was the greatest Christmas storyteller to da…
The Marie Antoinette Romances, Vol 5: The Countess of Charny
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Alexandre Dumas
This 5th volume of the Marie Antoinette Romances begins after the fall of the Bastille and the March on Versailles, which forced Louis XVI a…
The Birth of Tragedy; or, Hellenism and Pessimism (Version 2)
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Friedrich Nietzsche
This is one of Nietzsche's early academic writings - a scholarly theory about Ancient Greek theatre, specifically tragedies. In a nutshell, …
Early Greek Philosophy & Other Essays (Version 2)
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Friedrich Nietzsche
“The essays contained in this volume treat of various subjects. With the exception of perhaps one we must consider all these papers as fragm…
On the Future of Our Educational Institutions (Version 2)
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Friedrich Nietzsche
These are lectures on the education system of Nietzsche's day. He states that "This book is intended for calm readers, for those who ha…