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Bret Harte (1836-1902) was born in New York but moved to California at a young age, following the death of his father and his mother's remarriage. He is best known for his short stories of the West, but he spent many years as a typesetter, school teacher, editor, and journalist, working for such well known publications as the «Overland Monthly» in San Francisco and «The Atlantic Monthly». As a child he was an avid reader, and took a strong liking to Charles Dickens. Many of Harte's stories and characters later served as models for thousands of Western novels and films. This collection contains the most popular stories of Bret Harte, such as «The Luck of Roaring Camp,» «The Outcasts of Poker Flat,» «M'liss,» and «An Ingénue of the Sierras.» The title story of this book was almost not published because it contained a prostitute character and some profanity, however Harte was adamant in its publication, and as a result, he played a significant part in further realism in American literature.

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"His Last Bow" is a collection of eight detective stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous literary creation, Sherlock Holmes. Contained within this collection are the following tales: The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge, The Adventure of the Cardboard Box, The Adventure of the Red Circle, The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, The Adventure of the Dying Detective, The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax, The Adventure of the Devil's Foot, and His Last Bow.

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O. Henry, the pen name of William Sydney Porter, is known for short stories with surprise endings. In this collection you will find the following beloved O. Henry stories: «The Plutonian Fire», «The Princess and the Puma», «By Courier», «The Gift of the Magi», «The Love-Philtre of Ikey Schoenstein», «Mammon and the Archer», «The Memento», «Springtime À La Carte», «The Last Leaf», «The Skylight Room», «The Caliph, Cupid and the Clock», «The Count And The Wedding Guest», «The Romance of a Busy Broker», «The Higher Pragmatism», «While the Auto Waits», «The Social Triangle», «After Twenty Years», «The Green Door», «A Lickpenny Lover», «Lost on Dress Parade», «Transients in Arcadia», «Brickdust Row», «The Furnished Room», «Schools And Schools», «The Defeat of the City», «Madame Bo-Peep, of the Ranches», «From Each According to his Ability», «The Cabellero's Way», «Hygeia at the Solito», «The Higher Abdication», «A Double-Dyed Deceiver», «Friends in San Rosario», «The Hiding of Black Bill», «Jeff Peters as a Personal Magnet», «The Man Higher Up», «The Handbook of Hymen», «Telemachus, Friend», «The Lonesome Road», «A Retrieved Reformation», «The Renaissance at Charleroi», «The Thing's the Play», «Tobin's Palm», «A Newspaper Story», «Proof of the Pudding», and «Confessions Of A Humorist».

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While most of W. Somerset Maugham's novels achieved high commercial sales and critical acclaim at the turn of the 20th century, Maugham was also an accomplished short story writer. His stories compiled in «Rain and Other South Sea Stories» describe the beauty and feelings of the South Pacific at a time of British colonization. The most popular short story, «Rain», describes the futile attempts of an English missionary to convert a certain prostitute on the Pacific isles. The prostitute's immorality bothers the missionary, but Maugham refused to «punish» his more depraved characters. He was less concerned about satisfying the principles of his time period and more interested in allowing his characters to live their lives free of judgment. Maugham's prose style in the stories varies; as he was writing during the conversion to modernism, Maugham tried his hand at both the typical prose style and the more avant-garde style. «Rain» falls under the first category, while the stories «Honolulu» and «Mackintosh» are more experimental in nature. Regardless, Maugham's works are a welcome addition to the early 20th century literature canon because of their inclusive nature, strong female characters, and well-rounded plot arcs. The tales combined within «Rain and Other South Sea Stories» tell more than their own stories, but they also tell the story of the changing world views of the time.

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Edith Wharton was born in 1862 into an aristocratic New York family. Educated by the best governesses and tutors, Wharton profited from an exceptional education. She began her writing career with short stories before moving to novels. Collected in «Ethan Frome and Selected Stories,» are the best of both. In her 1911 novel «Ethan Frome» a young engineer on assignment in a small New England town becomes fascinated by the deformed and troubled local Ethan Frome. This fascination leads him on a quest to unravel Frome's unique history while discovering a great deal about the society around him. In the short story «Afterward,» a dirty business transaction comes back to haunt one family in this dynamic ghost story. The humorous short story «Xingu» follows a group of posh pseudo-intellectuals who host literary luncheons when one day one of their favorite authors pays a visit. Also included are «The Pretext» and «The Legend.» Edith Wharton may be most recognized for her novels but it is in her short stories that her panache, spirit, and intellect come shining through with unavoidable delight.

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Kate Chopin (1850-1904) was an American writer of novels and short stories. She is now considered to have been a forerunner of the feminist literature of the 20th century. Throughout her career, Chopin gained inspiration from a trip to the South in Louisiana and much of her fiction was set there. She valued its vague, less structured and more sensual atmosphere. Although she was pigeonholed as a regional writer, she wanted badly to reach a national audience. She tried to consign with her collection of Creole stories and finally succeeded with «Lilacs and Other Stories». «Lilacs» is the tale of a worldly Parisian actress, Adrienne Farival, who inspired every spring by the scent of the first lilac blossom, visits the convent where she spent her youth to find one day, she is banished forever. This collection includes 23 other distinctive tales of Southern Life including «Beyond the Bayou,» a story of a middle-aged black woman named La Folle who lives on an abandoned field next to the bayou from which she has never ventured to the lands beyond her home.

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Henry James (1843-1916) was an America-born English writer whose novels, short stories and letters established the foundation of the modernist movement in twentieth century fiction and poetry. His career, one of the most significant and influential in English literature, spanned over five decades and resulted in a body of work that has had a profound impact on generations of writers. Born in New York, but educated in France, Germany, England and Switzerland, James often explored the cultural discord between the Old World (Europe) and the New World (United States) in his writings. Included in this seventh volume of «The Complete Tales of Henry James» are the following stories: «The Modern Warning,» «A London Life,» «The Lesson of the Master,» «The Patagonia,» «The Solution,» and «The Pupil.»

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O. Henry, the pen name of William Sydney Porter, is known for his short stories with surprise endings. In this collection you will find the following beloved O. Henry stories: “The Plutonian Fire”, “The Princess and the Puma”, “By Courier”, “The Gift of the Magi”, “The Love-Philtre of Ikey Schoenstein”, “Mammon and the Archer”, “The Memento”, “Springtime À La Carte”, “The Last Leaf”, “The Skylight Room”, “The Caliph, Cupid and the Clock”, “The Count And The Wedding Guest”, “The Romance of a Busy Broker”, “The Higher Pragmatism”, “While the Auto Waits”, “The Social Triangle”, “After Twenty Years”, “The Green Door”, “A Lickpenny Lover”, “Lost on Dress Parade”, “Transients in Arcadia”, “Brickdust Row”, “The Furnished Room”, “Schools And Schools”, “The Defeat of the City”, “Madame Bo-Peep, of the Ranches”, “From Each According to his Ability”, “The Cabellero’s Way”, “Hygeia at the Solito”, “The Higher Abdication”, “A Double-Dyed Deceiver”, “Friends in San Rosario”, “The Hiding of Black Bill”, “Jeff Peters as a Personal Magnet”, “The Man Higher Up”, “The Handbook of Hymen”, “Telemachus, Friend”, “The Lonesome Road”, “A Retrieved Reformation”, “The Renaissance at Charleroi”, “The Thing’s the Play”, “Tobin’s Palm”, “A Newspaper Story”, “Proof of the Pudding”, and “Confessions Of A Humorist”. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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“The Death of Ivan Ilyich” tells a tale of a man in his 40s who has spent his entire life climbing the social ladder in Russia. Barely tolerant of his wife and generally indifferent to the other people around him, Ivan has a minor accident hanging curtains in a new apartment that proves to be a terminal injury. As his life slowly and painfully spirals inexorably toward death, Ivan struggles immensely against what he perceives to be an unfair fate. Only in the end does he see how he might have lived a different and more authentic life. In this and the other short stories of this collection the themes of loss and death are brilliantly explored by one of the world’s greatest writers. Also included in this collection are the following other stories: “The Invaders” (or “The Raid”), “The Wood-Cutting Expedition,” “Three Deaths,” “Polikushka,” “After the Dance,” and “The Forged Coupon.” This edition follows the translations of Benjamin R. Tucker and Nathan Haskell Dole.

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Some of the most popular horror and mystery stories of all time are collected together here in “The Best Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe.” A master of the macabre, Poe exhibits his literary prowess in these chilling and classic tales. Included in this collection is “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the story of a man and his sister who suffer from a strange, debilitating illness. Her death drives him to the point of madness as their fragile mansion falls along with the Usher family line. One of Poe’s most famous stories, it is a masterpiece of Gothic literature. Also included in this collection is “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” considered one of the world’s first detective stories, which concerns the curious circumstances surrounding a double homicide in France. The emotional tone of fear and trepidation evoked in Poe’s work has often been imitated but seldom duplicated. The influence of Poe’s writing cannot be overstated, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once wrote, in his short stories there “is a root from which a whole literature has developed.” This collection includes twenty-eight of Poe’s best tales, an introduction by Edmund Clarence Stedman, a biographical afterword, and is illustrated by Harry Clarke.

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