Prospero’s Isle

"Clothes Make People (Kleider machen Leute)" by Gottfried Keller (1874) - one of the most famous German-language stories now available in English
This famous story by the Swiss writer Gottfried Keller (1819-1890) was first published in 1874 in the second volume of his collection of stories (...)
This famous story by the Swiss writer Gottfried Keller (1819-1890) was first published in 1874 in the second volume of his collection of stories The People of Seldwyla about the mores and adventures of the people of the mythical but (...)
This famous story by the Swiss writer Gottfried Keller (1819-1890) was first published in 1874 in the second volume of his collection of stories The People of Seldwyla about the mores and adventures of the people of the mythical but somehow very typical Swiss town of that name. It recounts (...)

"The Weapon Shops of Isher" (1949) - a major golden-age novella by A. E. van Vogt never before republished!
This long, well-developed novella, revisiting the saga of the mysterious "Weapon Shops" organization that acts as a check-and balance on the (...)
This long, well-developed novella, revisiting the saga of the mysterious "Weapon Shops" organization that acts as a check-and balance on the powers of the world-dominant Isher dynasty some 7000 years in the future, was first (...)
This long, well-developed novella, revisiting the saga of the mysterious "Weapon Shops" organization that acts as a check-and balance on the powers of the world-dominant Isher dynasty some 7000 years in the future, was first published as the cover story of the February 1949 issue of Thrilling (...)

"The Weapon Shop" (1942) by A. E. van Vogt
One of van Vogt’s iconic stories, this theme of a mysterious "Weapon Shop" organization, subtly fighting to oppose by advanced technological, (...)
One of van Vogt’s iconic stories, this theme of a mysterious "Weapon Shop" organization, subtly fighting to oppose by advanced technological, ideological and organisational means the overreaching tyranny of a populist-style family (...)
One of van Vogt’s iconic stories, this theme of a mysterious "Weapon Shop" organization, subtly fighting to oppose by advanced technological, ideological and organisational means the overreaching tyranny of a populist-style family dictatorship, provided the central theme to a number of works by (...)

"Out of the Night" (1941) by Jan Valtin - an extraordinary memoir of life in the international Communist movement between the two World Wars
This is the memoir of a militant and full-time party worker in the German Communist Party (KPD) and in the Comintern – the international (...)
This is the memoir of a militant and full-time party worker in the German Communist Party (KPD) and in the Comintern – the international organization of all the Communist parties in the world - in the twenties and thirties, this is a (...)
This is the memoir of a militant and full-time party worker in the German Communist Party (KPD) and in the Comintern – the international organization of all the Communist parties in the world - in the twenties and thirties, this is a first-hand account of many of the dramatic events that shaped (...)

"Away and Beyond" - A. E. van Vogt’s other great 1952 anthology (the complete text)
This outstanding collection of nine of van Vogt’s best golden-age science-fiction stories was published in 1952, as a sort of companion volume to (...)
This outstanding collection of nine of van Vogt’s best golden-age science-fiction stories was published in 1952, as a sort of companion volume to Destination Universe, his first short-story anthology published earlier that same year. (...)
This outstanding collection of nine of van Vogt’s best golden-age science-fiction stories was published in 1952, as a sort of companion volume to Destination Universe, his first short-story anthology published earlier that same year. Curiously, almost all editions of Away and Beyond printed (...)

"Destination Universe!" - the full text of A. E. van Vogt’s superb first anthology of his science-fiction short stories (1952)
With the original magazine texts, artwork and covers of each story. ---- TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION by A. E. van Vogt. 1. Far Centaurus (...)
With the original magazine texts, artwork and covers of each story. ---- TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION by A. E. van Vogt. 1. Far Centaurus (1944) Getting to Centaurus on a spaceship can take a long time indeed, and when you get (...)
With the original magazine texts, artwork and covers of each story. ---- TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION by A. E. van Vogt. 1. Far Centaurus (1944) Getting to Centaurus on a spaceship can take a long time indeed, and when you get there, there will be surprises! (7,700 words). 2. The (...)

"The Monster" (1948) - A. E. van Vogt’s best short story (the full text)
This golden-age story, first published in the August 1948 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, was considered by its author to be one of his best (...)
This golden-age story, first published in the August 1948 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, was considered by its author to be one of his best - an opinion we heartily concur with. It was later republished in some anthologies as (...)
This golden-age story, first published in the August 1948 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, was considered by its author to be one of his best - an opinion we heartily concur with. It was later republished in some anthologies as Resurrection, but it appeared in van Vogt’s first anthology of (...)

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Latest articles

  • "Who Goes There?" (1938) - an iconic sci-fi story by John Campbell

    by John Campbell

    A scientific expedition in Antarctica discovers the remnants of an alien spaceship that had crashed there millions of years ago, and decides – unwisely – to melt the frozen remnants of one of the forms found nearby. When the alien being revives and reveals incredible shape-changing abilities and (...)

  • "The Weapon Shops of Isher" by A. E. van Vogt - the novel (1951)

    by A. E. van Vogt

    This was one of the van Vogt’s most famous golden-age novels with its iconic slogan “The Right To Buy Weapons Is The Right To Be Free” and its theme of a secret and scientifically-advanced organisation providing superior defensive weapons to citizens of a far-off future civilization to protect (...)

  • "La petite Roque" and other stories by Guy de Maupassant

    by Guy de Maupassant

    TABLE OF CONTENTS
    1. THE STORY OF A FARM GIRL (1881) Rosa, a young servant on a rather prosperous farm is pursued by Jacques, a labourer on the farm. She is a strong girl and easily fends him off but one thing leads to another and even a marriage promise. But Rosa’s life falls apart a few (...)

  • "Ward No. 6" and other stories by Anton Chekhov

    by Anton Chekhov

    TABLE OF CONTENTS
    1. OLD AGE (1886) The architect Uzelkov returns on mission to the town that he had left twenty years before after his divorce there, and is invited to dinner by the wily lawyer who had handled his divorce and who reveals to him during the dinner what really went on with his (...)

  • “Easter Eve” and other great Chekhov stories

    by Anton Chekhov

    TABLE OF CONTENTS
    1. OYSTERS (1884) An eight-year-old boy accompanying his unemployed father who has decided to go out to beg for alms notices the strange word “oysters” on a sign inside a restaurant. The story continues in ever-starker tones as the little fellow progressively discovers the (...)

  • "The Lady with The Dog" and other great stories by Anton Chekhov

    by Anton Chekhov

    TABLE OF CONTENTS
    1. A TRIVIAL INCIDENT (1886) The narrator recounts how he and his companion, a Prince, had been prevented from hunting in the forest of Madame Kandurin, with whom the prince had formerly been connected. The two go to the lady’s mansion, where the narrator realises the extent (...)

  • The complete (319) stories of Anton Chekhov: synopses, comments and ratings

    by Ray

    Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was probably the most prolific writer of short stories of all time, with 319 published stories to his credit before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 44, as well as 2 novels [1], 16 plays [2] and a number of newspaper articles and essays.
    Here you will find a (...)

  • "Boule de Suif" and other famous stories by Guy de Maupassant

    by Guy de Maupassant

    TABLE OF CONTENTS
    1. BOULE DE SUIF (1880) A group of civilians obtains permission from the Prussian forces that have just occupied Rouen during the War of 1870 to leave for the coast: several rich businessmen with their wives, a count and his countess, two nuns, a radical activist and Boule (...)