検索キーワード： 選集・短編小説

The dawn settled the dust of the previous day. Colonel William Walker faced a churned pink horizon, ready to die. He was about to be executed by a Nicaraguan government. Three smooth, shiny bore muskets aimed for this heart. “Why did it come to this? Will I see Ellen again?” thought Walker. As the sentence of execution was read, the sun peaked cautiously from its cloud haven. Then a sword came slashing forward for the firing squad to quit the prisoner’s life. At 36 years of age, William Walker became a quick legend. The date was September 12, 1860.

It’s 1974 in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and 15-year-old Justine grows up in a family of tough, complicated, and loyal women, presided over by her mother, Lula, and Granny. After Justine’s father abandoned the family, Lula became a devout member of the Holiness Church - a community that Justine at times finds stifling and terrifying. But Justine does her best as a devoted daughter, until an act of violence sends her on a different path forever.   

In the third installment of the MacInnes Saga, Elise finds herself caught between two men, the one she loves and the one who desires her. Even if she chooses Calum, the Stone of Destiny only approves those descended from past kings. Elise must marry someone approved by the stone. Who will it be? Can she resist the temptation of a wild-hearted Pictish chief? Or will she remain faithful to her darling Calum?

A federal officer's best friend is mortally wounded but still alive and suffering terribly. He just euthanized an injured horse, but the rules are quite different and specific regarding humans. They are alone with no sign of help for the dying man. What to do? 

A friend of the narrator, a very brave but sometimes reckless lieutenant, is killed in action. The narrator becomes the possessor of a letter that he returns to the sender after the war is over. He finds the sender of the letter to be a very beautiful, sophisticated, but self-centered woman. So self-centered one wonders if she understands the meaning of the narrator's last words to her. 

Debutante Peyton Fuller's life consists of friends, parties, and waiting for her beau to propose to her. With little knowledge of politics and fighting, her cosseted world changes overnight as soldiers stream into Harrisburg to prepare for a war between the states. As they march past her door, she catches the eye of one soldier who makes her question everything. 

Award-winning audiobook narrator and producer Mike Vendetti reads An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge a short story by Civil War veteran Ambrose Bierce. Described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature". The story, which is set during the American Civil War, is known for its irregular time sequence and twist ending. 

The Resistors is a parallel sequel to 2018's The Kidnapped. It focuses on blacks, whites, and Native Americans resisting pre-Civil War oppression while attempting to establish dignified identities. It is also in the voice of Sarah, one of the author's direct ancestors. It is imagined that Sarah was primarily educated by her father who himself was taught reading and writing by Nathan Prescott, his slave master, and secondarily through two years of education at Goose Creek Friends School, a Quaker school in Northern Virginia, renown for being integrated.

Dwight Wilson researched for more than a dozen years to ensure this brilliant historic fiction collection portrayed the very nuanced history of African Americans in the United States. These stories span initial capture of Dwight's ancestors to those who broke the laws in the name of truth, humanity, and kindness.

Miss Valencia Ravensdale was only supposed to observe the festivities at her aunt’s masquerade ball on New Year’s Eve, 1814, but when the handsome Colonel Robert Clayworth sees her holding up the walls, everything changes. Valencia finds herself falling in love with the Colonel, but he only has the one night in London before he has to rejoin his troops in France.

The newly married Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy arrive at Pemberley ready to enjoy the benefits of marriage...especially the one benefit they'd yet to savor. Their hopes are deflated, among other things, when his aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh makes an unexpected and unwanted visit.   

Lancashire, 1612: Fourteen-year-old Grace Sowerbutts is at a dangerous crossroads, caught between the righteous might of the local Pendle Protestants, the fury of their Catholic neighbors, and the insidious threat of witchcraft. Divided by Witchcraft is the second in a new series of historical fiction short stories examining the frenzy of witch hunting that swept the north of England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries - including the most famous, that of the Pendle Witches in 1612.

Welcome to the Gothic London of the 1800s. These saucy tales quicken the pulse, thrill the mind, and excite parts of the body that other, lesser books fail to reach. Short stories featured in this sweet confection of blood, sex, and Gothic melodrama include "Holmes of the Baskervilles", "Miss Katie Bell - Victorian Vampire", "Joan Dark Is Lost", and "The Vampire Alice Through the Looking Glass". Here, vampires walk the streets and your favorite characters from Victorian literature are twisted until they snap.

Jennet Preston was an ordinary woman with an extraordinary death. Pursued and vilified by her young lord and master, Thomas Lister, she was accused and tried - twice - for murder by witchcraft in 1612. This is the story of her second trial. A friend of the Device family of Malkin Tower, Jennet Preston’s story starts and ends in Yorkshire, yet is inextricably entwined with the most famous witch trial in British history - that of the Pendle Witches.

Imagine, its 1956 – over a decade since the war ended. You’re in London, and it’s the worst year of your life. Your wife left you, your dirt poor, and your best friend just moved to Germany. This is the cruel reality of Edgar Carlisle, at least in his mind. Unknowingly suffering from moderate stage Alzheimer’s disease, Edgar Carlisle ventures out on one crisp, winter morning for a mere sign of hope, but what he finds instead, is something much more interesting.

In the Year 2889 by Jules Verne is a diary of the observations of Fritz Napoleon Smith, the editor of an influential futuristic newspaper. It is an action-packed tale of technological advances and science fiction scenarios. Some of the predictions were remarkably accurate. 

In this classic by Ambrose Pierce, a soldier falls asleep during war times. When he awakens, he finds an enemy man on a horse - but struggles with himself on shooting him. Instead he shoots the horse, and a comrade sees the horse and the man falling through the sky. 

In 1867, a good-natured Bavarian priest is sent by God and mad King Ludwig to the wilds of North America. Soon the backwoods are transformed into a parish and the settlers into a congregation, and Joseph Becker, a woodcarver, meets his future wife. Several decades later, Joseph Becker teaches his astounding carving skills to his grandchildren. One of them, Klara, shows exceptional talent and has a surfeit of what the local nuns call "a fondness for men's work". Untamed, she falls in love with Eamon O'Sullivan, an Irish boy, only to have him leave to fight in the Great War.

"Canadian Family Adventures" follows the tale of 10 Irish siblings who immigrate to Canada in the late 1880s. Their mother, Maggie Collins, wants her children, between the ages of 10 years old and 30 years old, to have a good life, and she arranges for them to sail to Canada. The ten siblings arrive in Canada by ship, and each one settles in a different area of Canada and pursues a different career.

The reenactment of the iconic battle of the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, is in its second day, and the paramedics at Aid Station Three have seen their share of cuts and scrapes and heat exhaustion. With 20 minutes until the start of the next battle scenario, Eric, the senior EMT, sends the minor injury cases on their way. Suddenly, a cannon shot booms, followed by more in quick succession, followed by thunder. Has the battle started early? Strangely, it sounds more like the sounds of battle are coming from the actual site of the Battle of Gettysburg.