Showing results by narrator "Rayner Bourton" in All Categories

The Cone is a short story by H. G. Wells, first published in 1895 in Unicorn. It was intended to be "the opening chapter of a sensational novel set in the Five Towns", later abandoned. The story is set at an ironworks in Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire. An artist is there to depict the industrial landscape; the manager of the ironworks discovers his affair with his wife, and takes him on a tour of the factory, where there are dangerous features.

'The Country of the Blind' is the strange story of a mountain guide who accidently falls off a cliff ledge in the Andes. He survives the fall unhurt, and finds himself in a remote valley where a tribe lives completely cut off from the rest of the world. A hereditary illness has meant that for 15 generations all the members of the tribe have been born blind. As a result, they now have a highly evolved sense of hearing, scent and touch. 'In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king,' thinks the mountaineer.

The eight stories here show Wells in various moods and foreshadow his celebrity. These are uncanny tales, resonating strangely, despite arising from ordinary thoughts, interactions, and memories. Wells shows just how fantastic the everyday can be, if one only pauses to reflect on missed chances, suggestions of what might have been, bleak premonitions of blessed futures whose utopian promise is destroyed by new forms of war.

'The Moth' is the strange tale of two rivalling entomologists, each determined to demolish the other's life's work. When one of them dies, the other struggles to cope in the absence of his rival. And then he discovers an entirely new species of moth - a moth very reminiscent of his dead rival - and which pursues him wherever he goes.

Mr. Britling Sees It Through is H.G. Wells's "masterpiece of the wartime experience in south eastern England." The novel was published in September 1916. Mr. Britling Sees It Through tells the story of a renowned writer, Mr. Britling, a protagonist who is quite evidently an alter ego of the author. The garrulous, easy-going Mr. Britling lives with family and friends in the fictional village of Matching's Easy, located in the county of Essex, northeast of London. The novel is divided into three parts.

The Jilting of Jane is a short story by H. G. Wells. Herbert George "H. G." Wells (21 September 1866 - 13 August 1946) was an English writer, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing textbooks and rules for war games. Wells is sometimes called "The Father of Science Fiction," as are Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. His most notable science fiction works include The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man.

Kotick, a rare white-furred fur seal, sees seals being killed by islanders in the Bering Sea. He decides to find a safe home for his people, and after several years of searching as he comes of age, eventually finds a suitable place. He returns home and persuades the other seals to follow him.

This first collection of tales by Rosalie Parker contains eight stories that explore the uncanny in the modern world. As Glen Cavaliero observes in his introduction, "like all good stories of the preternatural, these in The Old Knowledge have a subversive effect." In them, "the world of logical, predictable reality is seen to be at risk from rejected modes of knowledge which can thwart the materialist and victimise those innocents who stumble into another order of reality."

'The Treasure in the Forest' is the tale of two treasure hunters, Evans and Hooker, who have murdered a Chinese man to steal his map, which locates a buried stash of gold ingots. The Chinese man had boasted that he had ensured the safety of his secret hoard. But what can he have meant by this? When Evans and Hooker arrive at the location of the hoard, the first thing they find is a dead body of another Chinese man. But how did he die? And why did he fail to get away with the gold?

DI Barbara Forster is investigating a chilling cold case, but what at first seems an isolated child's death soon becomes a conspiracy of secrets and lies. And not only does she have to outmaneuver the agendas of powerful associates, including investigative journalist Alice Myers, who is hell-bent on a major scoop, she also has to confront the demons of her own past. Within days, three young women are found dead in suspicious circumstances, leaving behind suicide notes, and Barbara finds herself caught up in one of the darkest, most harrowing cases of her career.

Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 - 13 August 1946) was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, history, satire, biography and autobiography. His work also included two books on recreational war games. MATCHING'S EASY AT EASE: It was the sixth day of Mr. Direck's first visit to England, and he was at his acutest perception of differences. He found England in every way gratifying and satisfactory, and more of a contrast with things American than he had ever dared to hope.

"The Star" is an 1897 apocalyptic short story by H.G. Wells. In January (about 1900, presumably), the people of Earth awaken to the news that a strange luminous object has erupted, into the Solar System, after disturbing the normal orbit of the planet Neptune. The object is a celestial body whose luminosity is distinguishable on the sky about the constellation of Leo.

"In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." Or is he? In H. G. Wells' acclaimed tale, a stranded mountaineer encounters an isolated society in which his apparent advantage, sight, since all the people are blind, proves less than valuable.

This story talks about social class at universities in the late 1800s and it also looks at the idea of scholarships. The main character is the son of a cobbler and he's at university on a scholarship, unlike the other students who are from wealthy families who are able to pay for their education.

'... slowly uncoiling their tentacles... and making a soft purring sound to each other' A disgusting account of a school of giant squid attacking a seaside resort, and two other examples of Wells' extraordinary imagination at work - 'The Magic Shop' and 'The Land Ironclads'.

A story of murder, deception, and revenge set in Derbyshire’s Peak District, an area of isolated farms, close-knit villages, and festering secrets. Into this secluded world steps journalist Alice Myers at the invitation of DI Neil Hunter, who soon begins investigating deaths that look increasingly like murder. All the deaths seem linked to a serial killer, now serving a life sentence. A cat-and-mouse game unfolds for both Neil and Alice. Is a copycat at large? Who will be the next victim?

Every morning, the same path, the same route, the same time. Except when a wrong turning changes one man’s life for ever...When Steve Ellison discovers the body of a neighbour’s six-year-old daughter - who strongly resembles a child who disappeared in similar circumstances 26 years earlier - it unleashes a sequence of events that turns his life upside down, overwhelms his family, and the local community alike. DCI Neil Hunter immediately begins his investigation and the media invade Steve’s privacy, leaving him stunned, bewildered and...the prime murder suspect.

After 15 years of self-imposed exile in Canada, successful businessman Nick Lawrence returns to the Derbyshire village where he grew up, to rescue a company on the verge of bankruptcy and its workforce from mass unemployment. But, it soon becomes clear why he left. He was convicted and later acquitted of the murder of his girlfriend Emily, the daughter of Oliver Fleming - owner of the failing company that is still determined to prove he was guilty all along.

Around three and a half thousand years ago, members of a small community of Bronze Age people spent several days away from their usual activities of farming, hunting, weaving and food processing in order to construct a burial mound.

Mowgli returns to the human village and is adopted by Messua and her husband, who believe him to be their long-lost son. Mowgli leads the village boys who herd the village's buffaloes. Shere Khan comes to hunt Mowgli, but he is warned by Gray Brother wolf, and with Akela they find Shere Khan asleep, and stampede the buffaloes to trample Shere Khan to death. Mowgli leaves the village, and goes back to hunt with the wolves until he becomes a man.