Phil Benson
The Astral Plane: Its Scenery, Inhabitants and Phenomena
As skeptics dismissed other-worldly phenomena as the stuff of legend, trickery or delusion, nineteenth-century 'occult science' set out to e…
That Lass o' Lowrie's
Frances Hodgson Burnett was born and grew up in Manchester, England, and emigrated to the United States with her family at the age of 16. Fo…
Hard Times (version 3), Locked Out and On Strike
Hard Times was Dickens's shortest novel and the only one to be set in the industrial north of England. A fast moving story with a typical ca…
The Spirit of Bambatse
A romance, a shipwreck and a hunt for buried Portuguese treasure in the Transvaal. All the ingredients of an imperial adventure that made Ha…
Nada the Lily
A classic tale of love and revenge set in the Zulu Kingdom of present-day KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. A work of fiction loosely woven aro…
Short Stories (Household Words 1850-53)
Elizabeth Gaskell was a regular contributor to Charles Dickens's weekly magazine, Household Words, from 1850 through to 1853 In addition to …
In a North Country Village
M. E. Francis was born Mary E. Sweetman in Dublin and moved to Lancashire on her marriage to Francis Nicholas Blundell, of the Blundell fami…
Short Stories (All the Year Round, 1859-1863)
In 1859 Charles Dickens launched a new weekly journal, All the Year Round, to replace Household Words. Elizabeth Gaskell remained a prolific…
Thorstein of the Mere: A Saga of the Northmen in Lakeland
A fine adventure set in 10th-century England at a time when everyday life in north was made hazardous by wars and shifting alliances among S…
Allan's Wife and Other Tales
In 1885, H. Rider Haggard introduced Allan Quatermain, elephant hunter extraordinaire, in his best-selling African adventure novel 'King Sol…
Clog Shop Chronicles
John Ackworth was the pen name of the Rev. Frederick R. Smith, a Methodist minister who was born in Snaith, Yorkshire, but spent much of his…
Who Did It?
Following the dissolution of the New South Wales government, Henry Bryce is ready to take on the Labour Party for the seat of Balmain East. …
The Hampdenshire Wonder
By the age of three, Victor Stott's intellectual powers exceed those of any known human. He is the Hampdenshire Wonder, son of an extraordin…
The Roots of the Mountains
The Roots of the Mountains was the second in a projected series of three historical novels set in a pre-medieval Germanic world (the third w…
Two Tales about Aviation
Two science fiction stories in which Rudyard Kipling imagined a future world controlled by the Aërial Board of Control with its motto, …
The Experienced English Housekeeper
'Cut a large old hare in small pieces, and put it in a mug with three blades of mace, a little salt, two large onions, one red herring, six …
Short Stories (Later works 1858-65)
Elizabeth Gaskell was a regular contributor to Dickens's 'Household Worlds' and 'All The Round' until he later years. From 1858 onwards, she…
The Story of the Glittering Plain
In this early example of the modern high fantasy genre, Hallblithe, a warrior of the House of Raven, sets out in pursuit of the pirates who …
The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician
Phra, a Phoenician merchant and warrior, settles in the south of England as husband to Blodwen, a British princess. Slain during the Roman i…
Small Souls
Constance van der Welcke returns to the Hague and the bosom of her family after a twenty year exile caused by a marital indiscretion and div…