List of all Authors of Full Text - SHORT STORIES
Joseph Conrad
Charles Dickens
Edgar Allan Poe
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Full Text of Classic Literature - Short Stories - Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe - The Black Cat
Edgar Allan Poe - The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe - Elenora
Edgar Allan Poe - The Imp of the Perverse
Edgar Allan Poe - The Masque of the Red Death
Edgar Allan Poe - The Pit and the Pendulum
Edgar Allan Poe - The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe - The Power of Words
Comments on Modern Novels - Neil Stephenson's QUICKSILVER
In Neil
Stephenson’s novel, Quicksilver, the author explains the nature of religious
leaders.
“People who are especially bad and know that they are may be drawn to
religion because they harbor a desperate hope that it has some power to make
them virtuous– to name their demons and cast them out. But if they are clever
then can find ways to pervert their own faith and make it serve whatever bad
intentions they had to begin with. The true benefit of religion is not to make
people virtuous, which is impossible, but to put a sort of bridle on the worst
excesses of their viciousness.”
Does religion
stand as a sort of sanctuary for those that are not virtuous, as a defense
against their uncontrollable behaviors? I hope to believe that Stephenson is
mistaken, that the highlighting of religious leaders’ wrong doings is just
that, a highlighting of only the bad. But there is a failure to show the
everyday good of the majority of religion and religious leaders. I believe that
religious leaders can be looked at as having to uphold a higher standard than
those not in a leadership role. However is this not true of government and
organizational leaders as well? I believe that there exists a factor in a
person’s makeup that lead them to extremes, this same factor is what compels
leaders to rise to the top. Those that are followers lack this gift and/or drive.
Religious leaders are no different.
Monday, April 28, 2014
Comments on Classic Literature - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN
The main character of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is
not the monster itself as one would think prior to reading the classic work,
but it is the monster’s creator. Victor Frankenstein gives life to the monster
that he then turns his back on. He is disgusted with the mere look of the creature.
When Victor hears of his younger brother’s murder and witnesses the monsters
presence near his family’s home, he is struck with terror that his own creation
is the murder. Justine, a young woman who Victor’s mother had taken into their
home as a child is accused of the murder. Victor is certain that the monster is
the real culprit but doesn’t think anyone will believe his crazy story of his actually
creating life. Following her trial, Justine is put to death for the murder of
the child. Victor places blame on himself for not only creating the monster who
murdered his brother, but also for the death of the innocent Justine.
Should Victor
have fought for Justine’s innocence instead of remaining quiet? If he had,
given the time period for which the story takes place, would he himself have
been locked away, thought to be crazy? I think that his true mistake was not in
creating the monster since his main pursuit was to help man in general from the
loss of life prematurely. His true mistake was in remaining silent and allowing
an innocent person to perish at the hand of the state.
Friday, April 25, 2014
Book Analysis - Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad’s
book, “The Heart of Darkness” was first published in 1902, but since then has
been adapted by many other writers. The most well-known adaption of this story
was the movie “Apocalypse Now”, directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1979.
Conrad’s writing
and descriptive ability brings the reader back to the late 1800s, in the depths
of the deep African jungle. He uses his story’s environment to reflect on human
nature. As the main character ventures deeper into the jungle, up a secluded
river, he is witness to the animalistic behavior of man. As he departs from
civilization in the physical sense, the civilized behavior of those around him also
ceases to exist. This story of one culture dominating another is very adaptive
to many other times and places in human history. Francis Ford Coppola grasps
this in his bringing Conrad’s story out of Africa and moving it to a more
modern era of the Vietnam War during the late 1960s-1970s.
The depth of
description in this book specifically is very intriguing. Joseph Conrad’s
writing is very much worth the time to read slowly and enjoy. Although looked
at as a biased figured because of his use of terminology and how he
characterizes other races and cultures, this author’s work is still valuable.
The reader must only accept that he wrote in his own time, and not in
ours.
Book Analysis - Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage
The Red Badge of Courage, written by Stephen Crane and first published in 1895, is a striking example of an author’s ability to transport the reader to another time and place. Through his pen, we are able to share in the experiences of his character.
The story takes place during the American Civil War. Stephen Crane provides us with insight into the inner thoughts of the main character, Henry Fleming as his courage is placed under fire. We can feel his fear and self-doubt. As he is placed within the fight of a real battle is he able to stand with the veterans for will he run away.
In this first battle in which this main character faces, the author gives such a wonderfully realistic feel to the emotion that takes hold of this very young soldier. The author doesn’t simply describe the scene around the soldier but paints a picture as the boy himself is able to understand the carnage surrounding him.
Stephen Crane used accounts described by veterans of the American Civil War to capture war at its most basic level, that which takes place within every soldier. Below is a short segment that highlights the author’s realism at work.
"Perspiration streamed down the youth's face, which was soiled like that of a weeping urchin. He frequently, with a nervous movement, wiped his eyes with his coat sleeve. His mouth was still a little ways ope.
He got the one glance at the foe-swarming field in front of him, and instantly ceased to debate the question of his piece being loaded. Before he was ready to begin--before he had announced to himself that he was about to fight--he threw the obedient well-balanced rifle into position and fired a first wild shot. Directly he was working at his weapon like an automatic affair. He suddenly lost concern for himself, and forgot to look at a menacing fate. He became not a man but a member. He felt that something of which he was a part--a regiment, an army, a cause, or a country--was in crisis. He was welded into a common personality which was dominated by a single desire. For some moments he could not flee no more than a little finger can commit a revolution from a hand.
If he had thought the regiment was about to be annihilated perhaps he could have amputated himself from it. But its noise gave him assurance. The regiment was like a firework that, once ignited, proceeds superior to circumstances until its blazing vitality fades. It wheezed and banged with a mighty power. He pictured the ground before it as strewn with the discomfited.
There was a consciousness always of the presence of his comrades about him. He felt the subtle battle brotherhood more potent even than the cause for which they were fighting. It was a mysterious fraternity born of the smoke and danger of death."
Stephen Crane - The Red Badge of Courage
The story takes place during the American Civil War. Stephen Crane provides us with insight into the inner thoughts of the main character, Henry Fleming as his courage is placed under fire. We can feel his fear and self-doubt. As he is placed within the fight of a real battle is he able to stand with the veterans for will he run away.
In this first battle in which this main character faces, the author gives such a wonderfully realistic feel to the emotion that takes hold of this very young soldier. The author doesn’t simply describe the scene around the soldier but paints a picture as the boy himself is able to understand the carnage surrounding him.
Stephen Crane used accounts described by veterans of the American Civil War to capture war at its most basic level, that which takes place within every soldier. Below is a short segment that highlights the author’s realism at work.
"Perspiration streamed down the youth's face, which was soiled like that of a weeping urchin. He frequently, with a nervous movement, wiped his eyes with his coat sleeve. His mouth was still a little ways ope.
He got the one glance at the foe-swarming field in front of him, and instantly ceased to debate the question of his piece being loaded. Before he was ready to begin--before he had announced to himself that he was about to fight--he threw the obedient well-balanced rifle into position and fired a first wild shot. Directly he was working at his weapon like an automatic affair. He suddenly lost concern for himself, and forgot to look at a menacing fate. He became not a man but a member. He felt that something of which he was a part--a regiment, an army, a cause, or a country--was in crisis. He was welded into a common personality which was dominated by a single desire. For some moments he could not flee no more than a little finger can commit a revolution from a hand.
If he had thought the regiment was about to be annihilated perhaps he could have amputated himself from it. But its noise gave him assurance. The regiment was like a firework that, once ignited, proceeds superior to circumstances until its blazing vitality fades. It wheezed and banged with a mighty power. He pictured the ground before it as strewn with the discomfited.
There was a consciousness always of the presence of his comrades about him. He felt the subtle battle brotherhood more potent even than the cause for which they were fighting. It was a mysterious fraternity born of the smoke and danger of death."
Stephen Crane - The Red Badge of Courage
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Examining Advertisement Networks - Pocket Cents
Pocketcents ad network provides advertisement that is
driven by locality. They use website content and location to match ads of local
businesses to appear on you site. Pocket Cents maintains a very low payout
threshold of only $10 and a decent publisher pay rate of $ .15 per click.
1) Initial Release Year - 2008
2) Publisher Requirements - Submit
Online Application for Approval
3) Revenue Type - Pay-Per-Click
(PPC)
4) Ad Types - Plain
Text, Hybrid, Banner, Video and Mobile
5) Payout Threshold - $10
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Danielle Trussoni's Novel, Angelology
I highly recommend Danielle Trussoni’s novel,
Angelology. Trussoni’s writing is gripping, able to capture the reader early on
in the plot that was very well researched. She combines the depth of historic
adventure and religious spirituality into a well-balanced thriller.
This New York Times Best-Seller is Trussoni’s first published novel. It follows in the shadow of her highly acclaimed non-fiction work, Falling Through the Earth: A Memoir, which was inspired by her father’s experiences as a tunnel rat during the Vietnam War and was elected by New York Times as one of the Ten Best Books of 2006. To add to Trussoni’s continued success, Columbia Pictures has purchased the rights to begin working on the movie adaption of Angelology.
This New York Times Best-Seller is Trussoni’s first published novel. It follows in the shadow of her highly acclaimed non-fiction work, Falling Through the Earth: A Memoir, which was inspired by her father’s experiences as a tunnel rat during the Vietnam War and was elected by New York Times as one of the Ten Best Books of 2006. To add to Trussoni’s continued success, Columbia Pictures has purchased the rights to begin working on the movie adaption of Angelology.
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after
that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore
children to them. -Genesis 6:5
Sister Evangeline was just a girl when her father entrusted
her to the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in upstate New York. Now,
at twenty-three, her discovery of a 1943 letter from the famous philanthropist
Abigail Rockefeller to the late mother superior of Saint Rose Convent plunges
Evangeline into a secret history that stretches back a thousand years: an
ancient conflict between the Society of Angelologists and the monstrously
beautiful descendants of angels and humans, the Nephilim.
For the secrets these letters guard are desperately coveted
by the once-powerful Nephilim, who aim to perpetuate war, subvert the good in
humanity, and dominate mankind. Generations of angelologists have devoted their
lives to stopping them, and their shared mission, which Evangeline has long
been destined to join, reaches from her bucolic abbey on the Hudson to the apex
of insular wealth in New York, to the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris and the
mountains of Bulgaria.
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