LITMIR.BIZ

While French writer Alexandre Dumas is best-known for The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, many critics consider his Marie-Antoinette novels to be his greatest achievement. Indeed, he was working on a dramatization of The Queen's Necklace at the time of his death in 1870. This was never published, but French playwright Pierre Decourcelle then produced his own version of this work. A successful dramatist, Decourcelle did a brilliant job of adapting Dumas's epic novel, salting the text with such larger-than-life figures as King Louis XVI, Queen Marie-Antoninette, Cagliostro, and the Countess de la Motte. When the scandal surrounding the French court finally breaks, you have the feeling that you're actually there, watching the tragedy unfold before your eyes. First-rate historical drama!

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Dr. Ivans, unable to make a living in London, migrates with his two daughters to Australia, where he hopes to make his fortune; one of his girls, Melida, is forced to leave her suitor, Williams, behind. Arriving in Australia, Ivans finds himself unable to improve his fortune–he's too willing to help the poor, and has a good reputation for charitable works. Then a group of gold miners, a motley crew of Frenchmen, send for him to heal a young miner who's dying. This poor lad was stabbed by a young man named Max, who posed as his friend to steal his gold. Max falls madly in love with Melida, who is still pining for Williams. When Williams follows his lover to Australia, and gets a job with the government escorting gold shipments from the mines to Melbourne, Max decides to hijack the shipment and kill Williams. Eventually, Max is exposed and tries to kidnap Melida, leading to the action-filled climax of this fast-moving Australian «western.» One of Dumas's most unusual creations, this was based on a bestselling novel by the Countess de Chabrillan.

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Written in 1847, while Dumas was at the height of his powers, this play recounts the events leading up to the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre of the French Huguenots–and the subsequent death of King Charles IX. The playwright focuses on the people inadvertently caught up in the slaughter–which, once started, cannot be repressed. By following the fate of two nobles, the Catholic Count Coconnas and the Huguenot Count de la Mole, and linking their stories to Queen Marguerite (called Margot), wife in name only to the Huguenot King of Navarre (the future King Henry IV of France), Dumas reveals the terror and duplicity that the massacre incurred even at the highest levels of society–including the royal family. Despite its length, the story moves quickly and with great force. One of Dumas's best historical narratives!

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This adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas tale tells the story of two brothers, born as Siamese twins, but separated not long after birth. They're raised by two different families, but are still able to «feel» the emotions of the other, even at a distance. On the island of Corsica they become entwined in the long-running feud between the Orlandi and the Colonnas–a dispute that had its beginnings in a dispute over the ownership of a chicken! Most of the two families have now been eliminated through the ongoing blood-feud, but the twins, unbeknownst to each other, are being manipulated to settle the fate of the two clans once and for all. The result is a stunning climax of swordplay and violence!

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"The Werewolf Megapack" collects 22 classic and modern tales of shape-shifters (and not just wolves!) – including works by Jay Lake, Jack Williamson, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, John Gregory Betancourt, Rudyard Kipling, Saki, and many more. Included are: <P> LEOPARD, by Jay Lake<BR> GABRIEL-ERNEST, by Saki<BR> SYMPATHY FOR WOLVES, by John Gregory Betancourt<BR> THE DRONE, by Abraham Merritt<BR> THE WERE-WOLF, by Clemence Housman<BR> AND BOB’S YOUR UNCLE, by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro<BR> THE MARK OF THE BEAST, by Rudyard Kipling<BR> DUMPSTER DIVING, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman<BR> THE WEREWOLF, by Eugene Field<BR> THE WOLF, by Guy de Maupassant<BR> WOLVES OF DARKNESS, by Jack Williamson<BR> THE MAN WHO WAS CHANGED INTO A CROW, by P’u Sung-ling<BR> HUGUES, THE WER-WOLF, by Sutherland Menzies<BR> THE WHITE WOLF OF THE HARTZ MOUNTAINS, by Frederick Marryat<BR> THE SHE-WOLF, by Saki<BR> MORRAHA, by Joseph Jacobs<BR> THE OTHER SIDE: A BRETON LEGEND, by Eric Stenbock<BR> THE WHITE WOLF OF KOSTOPCHIN, by Sir Gilbert Campbell<BR> THE WOLF LEADER, by Alexandre Dumas<BR> THE HUNTER’S MOON, by Michael McCarty & Terrie Leigh Relf<BR> WEREWOLF OF THE SAHARA, by G. G. Pendarves<BR> EVIL FORCES, by Gary Lovisi <P> And don't forget to search for «Megapack» or «Wildside Megapack» in your favorite ebook store for more entries in Wildside Press's Megapack series, ranging from science fiction and fantasy to westerns, mysteries, ghost stories – and much, much more!

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This powerful, eloquent play moves like a Greek tragedy to its inevitable conclusion. Dumas's drama is based on an actual event–the assassination of Duke Alexander of Medici in 1537 by his cousin, Lorenzo. Lorenzino lures his relative to a trap under the pretext of providing him with a woman. He gets close to the Duke by pandering to his lusts, just so that he'll have the opportunity to kill him. His plan ultimately works, but results in the suicide of the woman Lorenzino loves, and the complete discrediting of the assassin in the public eye. Freedom from tyranny comes with a terrible price! A first-rate drama penned two years before The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.

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There are many dreadful – and perhaps scurrilous – rumors about the Borgia family of renaissance Italy, and Alexandre Dumas (author of «The Three Musketeers» and many other period classics) reveals one possible truth in all its ugly glory. Dumas minces no words in describing the violent acts of a violent time.

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The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the great adventure novels of the nineteenth century. But the author, Alexandre Dumas, also converted many of his fictions into riveting dramas, dividing his classic tale of revenge into four plays. In this fourth and final part, Edmond Dantes (the Count of Monte Cristo) sets out to destroy Danglars and Villefort, the other two men who had helped shanghai him to the island prison of Chateau d'If. He uses Danglars's illegitimate child, Benedetto, to secure his downfall, but loses control of his plan when Madame de Villefort begins poisoning her in-laws to allow her own son to inherit her husband's wealth. Monte Cristo must use all of his power to save Villefort's daughter, Valentine, the beloved of Maximilian Morel, the son of Monte Cristo's old benefactor. Can he find a way to outwit his enemies?

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The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the great adventure novels of all time. But the author, Alexandre Dumas, also adapted his novel into four riveting plays. Part Three: The Rise of Monte Cristo is set two decades after Edmond Dantès has been unjustly imprisoned in the Château d'If. Edmond has made himself into the Count of Monte Cristo, and he now sets out to gain his revenge upon the three men who shangaied him into 14 years of prison. First on the list is Fernand Mondego, whose treacheries have brought him a fortune, a title (the Count of Morcerf), and a wife: Edmond's fiancée, Mercédès, who's long believed him dead. Monte Cristo uses his great wealth to draw a net around Fernand, gradually exposing his lies to the world. Finally, the two men must confront each other–knowing that only one of them will leave the room alive! Great action drama!

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This dramatization of the classic novel is the first of four parts. In 1815 Napoleon has fled to Elba, and the Bourbons have been restored to the French throne. Young Edmond Dantes is First Mate and Acting Capt. of the merchant ship Pharoah. Everything seems bright for his future, until he's arrested for delivering a letter to Elba–a dying request of his former captain. Then three men conspire to send the innocent youth to the notorious island prison, the Chateau d'If. There Dantes meets the Abbe Faria, who gives him an education, and tells him of a fabulous treasure he's discovered. But Faria suddenly dies, and Edmond must take advantage of the sudden opportunity, or risk being imprisoned for life. He sews himself into the Abbe's burial shroud. Can he survive the plunge into the sea? An absolutely riveting drama.

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