Showing results by narrator "Sam Kusi" in All Categories

The Haunted Palace: Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories. In the greenest of our valleys By good angels tenanted, Once a fair and stately palace— Radiant palace— reared its head.

"Daffodils", also known as “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", is a poem by William Wordsworth, commonly considered as a classic of the English romantic poetry genre. It was initially published in 1807 and later revised in 1815. The poem was ahead of its time, yet its accrued appreciation and enduring appeal have given it much clout as one of the best-known poems in the English language.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Stevenson's famous exploration of humanity's basest capacity for evil, has become synonymous with the idea of a split personality. More than a moral tale, this dark psychological fantasy is also a product of its time, drawing on contemporary theories of class, evolution, criminality, and secret lives. Also in this volume are The Body Snatcher" which charts the murky underside of Victorian medical practice, and Olalla" a tale of vampirism and The Beast Within which features a beautiful woman at its center.

In Russia's struggle with Napoleon, Tolstoy saw a tragedy that involved all mankind. Greater than a historical chronicle, War and Peace is an affirmation of life itself, `a complete picture', as a contemporary reviewer put it, `of everything in which people find their happiness and greatness, their grief and humiliation'. Tolstoy gave his personal approval to this translation, published here in a new single volume edition, which includes an introduction by Henry Gifford, and Tolstoy's important essay Some Words about War and Peace.

London is still going to hell, even with Albion on the back foot, but Olly and Ro are hard at work finding allies for DedSec and taking down the bad guys. When a job goes awry, they end up doxxed, on the run, and in serious trouble. Bagley, the DedSec AI, gets involved and discovers someone new, someone just like him . . . another ghost in the machine. Frenemy hacktivist network, 404, tips them off that since terminating the ambitious plan to digitize human consciousness, Project Daybreak, DedSec has become the target for a new player in London. 

Middlemarch (Book 2: Old and Young), A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by English author George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. It appeared in eight installments (volumes) in 1871 and 1872. Set in Middlemarch, a fictional English Midlands town, from 1829 to 1832, it follows distinct, intersecting stories with many characters. Issues include the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism, self-interest, religion, hypocrisy, political reform, and education.

Les Compagnons de Jehu (The Companions of Jehu) is set in the 1800s, during Napoleon's rise to power. The title refers to a secret organisation of young aristocrats-turned-highwaymen that continuously steals the money of the Directoire in order to finance the restoration of monarchy. It has all the typical Dumas ingredients, that is to say duels, political intrigues, noble heroes and a tragic love store that would make Shakespeare green with envy. Not to mention a hero with a murky past who you will love to hate.

"The Signal-Man" is a first-person horror/mystery story by Charles Dickens, first published as part of the Mugby Junction collection in the 1866 Christmas edition of All the Year Round. The railway signal-man of the title tells the narrator of an apparition that has been haunting him. Each spectral appearance precedes a tragic event on the railway on which the signalman works. The signalman's work is at a signal-box in a deep cutting near a tunnel entrance on a lonely stretch of the railway line, and he controls the movements of passing trains.

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is an analysis of a beleaguered, multilayered, and conflicted suitor, trying to reconcile his dichotomy of having a foray of overwhelming ideas juxtaposed with underwhelming execution, in the arena of life and love. It was the poetic debut of the American-born British poet T.S Eliot. The poem was originally published in 1915.

Voiceover and Public Speaking Prowess is a tool designed to aid you in mastering vocal executive presence and presentational deftness. This manual lifts the lid on the workings of elite voiceover and keynote speaking, from the vantage point of an industry insider. Whether it be performing voiceover, speaking at virtual or in-person conferences, or meetings at work, adherence to the principles outlined in this handbook will encourage your voice and its message to be heard. It will be the difference between your thoughts and ideas being operationalized or cast into oblivion.

Ozymandias is a pithy sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley. It was first published in 1818, and explores the impermanence of humans, their empires, and legacies, as well as the futility of their snobbery and excessive gravitas. A sage and contemplative piece from a poetic maestro.

"The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft contains all the original stories which Lovecraft wrote as an adult. It begins in 1917 with "The Tomb" and ends in 1935 with his last original work "The Haunter of the Dark." The book is ordered chronologically by the date the story was written.

"The Philosophy of Furniture" is an essay written by American author Edgar Allan Poe and published in 1840. It presents Poe's theories on interior decorating. Poe begins by suggesting that the English are the "supreme" examples of internal decoration, above the Italians, French, Chinese, Scotch, Dutch, Spanish and Russians. "Yankees", he says, "are preposterous". He blames this American failing on a lack of aristocracy by blood, having instead "an aristocracy of dollars".

"The Book" is an unfinished short story by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, believed to have been written in late 1933. It was first published in the journal Leaves in 1938, after Lovecraft's death. In the story fragment, the narrator is given an ancient book by a strange bookseller, and when he takes it home and examines it, weird and sinister events ensue. In October 1933, Lovecraft wrote in a letter: I am at a sort of standstill in writing disgusted at much of my older work, and uncertain as to avenues of improvement.

The Canterville Ghost The first of Wilde's stories to be published, appearing in the magazine The Court and Society Review in February 1887. When a family from the United States buys Canterville Chase, they are told it is haunted by a horrible spirit, but this does not deter them in the slightest.

"The Dunwich Horror" is a horror novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1928, it was first published in the April 1929 issue of Weird Tales (pp. 481–508). It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in Massachusetts. It is considered one of the core stories of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Invictus is stoicism encapsulated in a poem. It is a potent piece by William Ernest Henley, first published in 1888. The poem is short. yet highly motivational. It oozes gems pertaining to perseverance, willpower, and an unconquerable spirit. A powerful pithy poetic pep talk.

Valancy is, at twenty-nine, the old maid of the Stirling clan, which is a reputable family that has lived in the same region for over fifty years. As an only child, her entire life has been spent with her nagging mother, her perpetually down-trodden aunt, and a gossipy extended family, who, in spirit of the Victorian and middle class, actively discourage happiness and treat Valancy like a child, telling her what to do every day and constantly comparing her with her beautiful cousin, Olive, putting her down, and calling her by the baby name "Doss."

Middlemarch (Book 1: Miss Brooke), A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by English author George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. It appeared in eight installments (volumes) in 1871 and 1872. Set in Middlemarch, a fictional English Midlands town, from 1829 to 1832, it follows distinct, intersecting stories with many characters. Issues include the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism, self-interest, religion, hypocrisy, political reform, and education.

"A Descent into the Maelström" is an 1841 short story by Edgar Allan Poe. In the tale, a man recounts how he survived a shipwreck and a whirlpool. It has been grouped with Poe's tales of ratiocination and also labeled an early form of science fiction. Inspired by the Moskstraumen, it is couched as a story within a story, a tale told at the summit of a mountain climb in Lofoten, Norway. The story is told by an old man who reveals that he only appears old - "You suppose me a very old man," he says, "but I am not.