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First published in 1885, After London, or Wild England is considered to be one of the earliest instances of post-apocalyptic fiction, describing the effects of an unspecified catastrophe that dramatically changes the face of England and its population. Divided into two parts, the first depicts the fall of civilization, as society reverts to its more primitive roots, while the second part is set years after the apocalyptic event and examines the evident changes in both natural scenery and social structure. In addition, Jefferies offers a remarkable portrait of the natural world with his colorful imagery and evocative descriptions, which highlight his enthusiasm and devotion to nature. The first part of the novel begins with Jefferies’ description of a mysterious natural disaster that has taken its toll on England, and later goes on to provide a detailed account of the resurgence of nature in the aftermath of the dire calamity. Although the source of the disaster is not clearly distinguished, its effects on society and nature are immense, as the area has been substantially depopulated and engulfed by a newly formed lake. Slowly covering any traces of the industrial world, the land welcomes the return of wildlife to its unspoiled state, as trees, flowers, and plants begin to take over the area, while animals return to their feral states. Furthermore, the society that has remained reverts to its medieval roots, divided into tribal groups and a somewhat educated class. Subsequently, the novel shifts its focus to Felix Aquila, a dignified young man who sets out on a dangerous adventure, exploring the mystifying wilderness. In addition, Felix must face numerous predicaments along the way that test his durability and fortitude. Presenting a unique take on a post-apocalyptic world, with a generous supply of botanical detail, After London, or Wild England served as an inspiration for many writers to follow in Jefferies’ footsteps and make a contribution to the post-apocalyptic genre. Interestingly, Jefferies effectively employs nature as the dominant feature in the novel, emphasizing its presence and influence in an altered landscape. Painting a vivid illustration of unspoiled nature and illustrating the gripping notion of natural reversion and the downfall of civilization, the novel is a sure to enthrall nature enthusiasts.

Categories: Arts

Tags: Adventure, After London, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fantasy, fiction, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, or Wild England, Richard Jefferies, science, science-fiction

Nine original and, yes, unlikely fairy-tales, which include stories of the arithmetic fairy, the king who became a charming villa-residence and the dreadful automatic nagging machine. All are classic-Nesbit: charming, novel and not afraid to squeeze in a moral or two — told with proper fairy-tale style. Summary by Cori More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Edith Nesbit, Fairy tales, fiction, free audio books, Kids, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Nine Unlikely Tales for Children, Short stories

A children’s book detailing early American history from the Norsemen to the Revolution, meant for educational use. (Description by the reader) More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family, Society & Culture

Tags: American History Stories, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, free audio books, History, Kids, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Mara L. Pratt, Non-fiction

First published in 1863, Five Weeks in a Balloon depicts an insightful journey undertaken by a group of intrepid explorers into the partly uncharted African continent, as they aim to explore its exotic wonders. Apart from concentrating on themes including exploration, loyalty, friendship, determination, and honor, the novel also offers an endearing set of jovial characters and vivid imagery. Furthermore, the novel is the first book in Verne’s distinguished Voyages Extraordinaires series. The adventure begins when Dr. Samuel Fergusson attempts to devise a mechanism to allow him to travel across the unexplored regions of Africa, an objective that many before him have tried and failed. Dr. Fergusson continues to put forward his calculations on just how the trip is to be carried out, including details on the how the balloon filled with hydrogen would work. The journey across Africa in itself presents quite the challenge, let alone attempting the dangerous expedition on an ingenious invention never before tested. Subsequently, he sets out on the daring escapade together with his trusted servant Joe and his friend Richard Kennedy, as they aim to traverse the continent from the east to the west coast. Although much of their time is spent on observing the scenery, landscape, and general interior of Africa, the contrasting trio also falls subject to the many threats that can be expected on such a valiant trip. Consequently, the group must escape a variety of setbacks including rescuing a missionary from a sacrificial ritual, prevailing over an attack by vultures, and organizing a rescue mission for one of their own companions. In addition to offering a gripping tale of bold travel and innovative transportation, Verne also adds historical detail to the novel, as he gives detailed descriptions and references to various exploratory expeditions into Africa by notable explorers of the time including Sir Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, and Heinrich Barth. The novel also confirms Verne’s scientific aptitude and vast imagination, as he offers plausible and thorough calculations, which set the premise for the author’s other scientifically formulated works. A piece rich in description, Five Weeks in a Balloon is a definite must-read for those who wish to experience Verne’s early contribution to the world of fiction.

Categories: Arts, Society & Culture

Tags: Adventure, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fiction, Five Weeks in a Balloon, free audio books, Jules Verne, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, science, travel

In “The Colors of Space,” Marion Zimmer Bradley tells the story of Bart Steele, a human being who is disguised as a member of an alien species in order to discover the secrets of their space travel. This book is a science fiction novel set in the future, a time when humans can already travel faster than the speed of light and can reach the remote corners of the universe with the help of another type of beings called the Lhari. In the book, the Lhari help the humans to travel faster than light and go to the far corners of different galaxies but are unwilling to give their secrets to them. They constantly tell humans that they need to sleep in order to survive a faster-than-light space travel, but many people like Bart think otherwise. Bart joined a small band of people who want to learn the secrets of Lhari. He disguised himself as a Lhari and boarded a ship that was bound for the Lhari homeland. This was something that no human had ever attempted to do before and Bart had to survive it in order to prove that the Lhari are lying to human beings. Written in the early 1960s-this book has strong messages that were very controversial at the time. The Lhari represented a group of people who possess highly-advanced technology and came from a progressive land. They let human beings use some of their technology but made sure that the humans would not learn any of their secrets to space travel. This also assured their continued domination. Marion Zimmer Bradley narrates the story of “The Colors of Space” in a fast and engaging way. Readers will surely not be bored reading the adventures of Bart Steele and the things that he’ll discover about the Lhari while he was travelling with them. For those who are looking for a good science fiction novel, this book is definitely worth reading. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Marion Zimmer Bradley, science, science-fiction, Teen/Young adult, The Colors of Space

A treasure trove of wise and pithy sayings, reflections on education, family values, the ideal human being, life and living, politics, art, culture and timeless wisdom, The Sayings of Confucius is indeed an invaluable addition to your bookshelf. Ever since Chinese literary works first began to be translated into European languages, the works of the legendary Chinese philosopher and teacher Confucius, who lived in present day Qufu in the Shandong province of China, more than two thousand years ago, have held universal appeal. He was a teacher, philosopher, editor, mentor and politician who lived at some period during 776-476 BC and is credited with editing and writing many texts and treatises. However, he is best known for his Aphorisms or Sayings. These are compact, perceptive and often witty sayings, which were compiled in a volume of Analects long after his death. Confucius, or Kong Fuzi, to give the Chinese rendering of his name, was brought up by his mother in great deprivation and poverty after the early death of his father, a valiant and victorious army general. Though they were aristocrats descended from the royal Song dynasty, circumstances forced their ancestors to flee from violence in their native state and settle down in the walled city of Zhou. As a young man, Confucius endured humiliation and hardship, having worked as a menial laborer and shepherd to make ends meet. However, he managed to educate himself and in his later years, gathered a large and dedicated group of students round him. He also held high positions in the government in the kingdom of Lu where he reached the peak of his political career and became the confidant of the Duke. His works became the foundation for centuries of Chinese intellectual thought and are revered even today. His philosophy is based on the concept of “ren” or compassion, and his famous Golden Rule, “What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others,” remains immortal. “He who learns but does not think is lost, he who thinks but does not learn is in great danger” is another example. The genealogical descendants of Confucius still exist in China, where the Kong family has the oldest recorded ancestry in the world, but his spiritual family is scattered all over the world and across generations. Confucius’ teachings continue to delight, enlighten and educate us and his Sayings remain relevant and fresh even in this modern Age of Information.

Categories: Arts, Education, Society & Culture

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Confucius, ebooks, free audio books, Languages, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, Philosophy, The Sayings of Confucius

If you’ve never heard the term “Mathematical Fiction” before, Edwin Abbott Abbott’s 1884 novella, Flatland can certainly enlighten you! Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions was published in 1884 and since then, it has been discovered and re-discovered by succeeding generations who have been delighted by its unique view of society and people. The plot opens with a description of the fictional Flatland. The narrator calls himself “Square” and asks readers to “Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Squares, Triangles, Pentagons, Hexagons and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about… but without the power of rising above the surface or sinking below it, very much like shadows…” This is a country where the “solid” or the three dimensional do not exist. The women are Straight Lines, while the men, depending on their status, are figures with three or more sides. The lowest class are the Triangles, while the highest class of all are the Circles. One night the Square has a dream about a world with two dimensions, but it turns out to be a nightmare, and Square is glad to return to the “reality” of Flatland. He has another strange experience, when he has a visitation. A strange presence enters his room. It is a Sphere. Square and his wife are shocked to see such a weird creature. But it begins talking to them and informs them that it belongs to a world called Spaceland. Square visits Spaceland with his new friend and once he realizes that more dimensions are possible, he undergoes a huge spiritual metamorphosis. However the rulers of Flatland are not about to accept such subversive views… Flatland is essentially a novel that uses satire to portray the rigid, unfair and oppressive social class system that pervaded Victorian England. Birth and status determined everything in a person’s life and it was almost impossible for people to move into the upper echelons of society. Flatland is also a virulent attack on the prevailing ideas about women, their role and status. Abbott portrays the unrelenting hierarchies that prevented people from achieving their personal goals. Readers may be reminded of other allegories and satires, notably Plato’s Cave and Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. For modern day readers, Flatland is indeed an eye opener into concepts that seemed fixed and certain a century ago, but have been proven otherwise through scientific research. Knowledge is seen as a continuum and not a fixed goal; this is what books like Flatland teach us.

Categories: Arts, Comedy

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Edwin Abbott Abbott, fantasy, fiction, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, free audio books, humor, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, satire, science, science-fiction

Weather Explained: Fog, clouds, rain, haze, thunder, cyclones, dew point and how to count dust motes are just a few of the 35 topics covered in short, easy to read and understand chapters in this book published in 1905.

Categories: Arts, Education

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, free audio books, instruction, J.G. M'Pherson, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Meteorology; or Weather Explained, Non-fiction, science

The Last Man is an early post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Mary Shelley, which was first published in 1826. The book tells of a future world that has been ravaged by a plague. The plague gradually kills off all people. Lionel Verney, central character, son of a nobleman who gambled himself into poverty, finds himself immune after being attacked by an infected “negro,” and copes with a civilization that is gradually dying out around him.

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, science, science-fiction, Teen/Young adult, The Last Man

A shy, introverted young poet. A weekend in a magnificent English country house. A beautiful young lady whom the poet is secretly in love with. An assorted group of guests with varied interests, motives, ambitions and aspirations, and the complex web of history and events that connect all of them. Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley was his first book, published in 1921, when he was just 27 years old. It is typical of many books written during this period by writers like Thomas Love Peacock and Somerset Maugham, centered round a country mansion and the quaint, British tradition of being invited to spend a weekend with a group of people whom one may or may not know. Crome Yellow is a novel of manners rather than plot and depends more on its style and characterization for its appeal. It is a precursor to Huxley’s brilliant novel Brave New World and indeed some of the characters in this book appear in his other books too, albeit in different avatars. The young poet, Denis Stone, is invited by Henry Wimbush, the owner of Crome, the lovely country house in rural England. He accepts the invitation mainly because he knows that Anne Wimbush, Henry’s niece, will also be there. She is four years older than Denis and sees him as a bit of a wimp, but knows that he is in love with her. She has almost made up her mind to accept him if she proposes. The other guests include an artist, Gombauld, a hearing-impaired young lady who buries herself in books to avoid interacting with people, a pompous journalist, a cynic, a philanderer and a vicar and his wife. Henry Wimbush is engaged in writing a history of his home, while his wife is addicted to gambling. This bunch of characters thrown together and the events that follow their intermingling with each other, form the plot of the book. Aldous Huxley’s sparkling and witty style is evident in his debut novel. Crome is supposedly a portrayal of Garsington Manor, the home of Lady Ottoline Morrell, a famous beauty and renowned hostess to such greats as TS Eliot, Yeats, Bertrand Russell and others. Huxley’s satirical depiction of the typical country house weekend is indeed amusing and thought-provoking. Modern-day readers may find the customs and traditions of pre-War England quaint. Many of the people in the book are “stock” characters found in many English novels of the time making Crome Yellow a delightful parody of the life and times of the 1920s. An interesting read! More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Comedy

Tags: Aldous Huxley, audio books, audiobook, Crome Yellow, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, humor, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, satire

The Last Days of Pompeii, a novel by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton tells the love story of the Greeks Glaucus and Ione who were living in Pompeii when Mt. Vesuvius erupted and destroyed the city. But aside from telling their romance, the book is also full of insights about the decadent lifestyle of the Romans during the later part of their empire’s history. The different characters in the story represent the different civilizations which they come from. Glaucus, the main protagonist in the novel was portrayed as a handsome Greek nobleman. His main love interest, Ione was a very beautiful Greek who ended up in Pompeii after being orphaned while she was still a child. Then, there’s also Arbaces, an Egyptian who was the guardian of Ione. He’s the villain in the novel and repeatedly attempted to seduce Ione but failed. Edward George Bulwer-Lytton interestingly set the story in Pompeii during the time when Roman society was already decaying. In the novel, Glaucus and Ione met and fall in love with each other. When Arbaces learned about this he cleverly devised a plan so that Glaucus will be convicted of a murder that he never committed. But as Glaucus was about to be fed to the lions in the amphitheatre as his punishment, the truth is revealed as to who really committed the murder. Don’t miss the end of this story to find how who the real culprit was and what the final fate of Pompeii would be. This book is definitely a good read for those who are looking for an interesting love story and at the same time to learn more about ancient Roman civilization. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Society & Culture

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, fiction, free audio books, Historical Fiction, Last Days of Pompeii, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com

The Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe, is an English Protestant account of the persecutions of Protestants, many of whom had died for their beliefs within the decade immediately preceding its first publication. It was first published by John Day, in 1563. Lavishly illustrated with many woodcuts, it was the largest publishing project undertaken in Britain up to that time. Commonly known as, “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs”, the work’s full title begins with “Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, Touching Matters of the Church.” There were many subsequent editions, by Day, and by other editors down through the years. Foxe’s original work was enormous (the second edition filling two heavy folio volumes with a total of 2,300 pages, estimated to be twice as long as Edward Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” This edition is much abridged from Foxe’s original. Proofed by Heart of Texas, coordinated and produced by Karen Merline.

Categories: Arts, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture

Tags: A History of the Lives, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, free audio books, History, John Foxe, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, religion

Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White tells the story of two half-sisters, Laura Fairlie and Marian Halcombe who were embroiled in the sinister plot of Sir Percival Glyde and Count Fosco to take over their family’s wealth. It’s considered to be one of the first “sensation novels” to be published. Like most novels that fall into this category, the protagonists here are pushed to their limits by the villains before they finally got the justice they deserved. The story begins with Walter Hartright helping a woman dressed in white who turned out to have escaped from a mental asylum. A day later, he travelled to Cumberland to be a drawing master to the half-sisters Laura Fairlie and Marian Halcombe. While he was in their house he discovered that the woman dressed in white whom he helped was also Laura’s sister. Walter and Laura eventually became very close to each other and had a relationship, but Laura was already set to marry Sir Percival Glyde. Marian advised Walter to forget his love for Laura and live their place, a painful advice which he followed. Laura eventually married Glyde and this is when things started to turn for the worse for the main characters in the novel. Glyde and his friend Count Fosco were masters of deception and they’d do everything they can to get the things they want. In the story, Glyde was already in financial difficulties when he married Laura who was from a rich family. In order to get her family’s riches he’s willing to resort to desperate means. Glyde is portrayed here as an archetypical villain which every reader of this book will surely hate. When it was first published in 1859, The Woman in White quickly became a best-seller because of its theme and storyline. More than a hundred years since its first publication, readers can still relate to its characters and empathize with the protagonists in the story. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts

Tags: art, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Epistolary fiction, fiction, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, MYSTERY, romance, The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins

The Gift of the Magi is an O. Henry short story in which a young couple are very much in love with each other but can barely afford their one-room apartment. For Christmas, they each make a sacrifice to purchase a gift for the other, with ironic results. The moral of the story is that physical possessions, however valuable they may be, are of little value in the grand scheme of things. The true unselfish love that the characters, Jim and Della, share is greater than their possessions. O. Henry ends the story by clarifying the metaphor between the characters in the story, Della and James (or Jim), and the Biblical Magi. The Gift of the Magi features O. Henry’s characteristic twist ending and use of flowery diction.

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, O. Henry, Short stories, The Gift of the Magi

The Quilting Life on the Written Page, as read to you by award-winning author Frances O’Roark Dowell (Birds in the Air, Margaret Goes Modern, Dovey Coe, Shooting the Moon). In Season One, Friendship Album, 1933, tells a heart-warming story of strangers brought together by quilting and made into family. In Season Two, Dowell reads Aunt Jane of Kentucky by Eliza Calvert Hall. First published in 1907 and set in rural western Kentucky in the late nineteenth century, the book recounts an elderly quilt-maker Aunt Jane’s memories of life in the rural south as told to an unnamed younger woman visitor. The book was hugely popular in its time, reaching over a million readers, and President Theodore Roosevelt was one of Aunt Jane’s biggest fans.

Categories: Fiction

Tags: audiobook, fiction, friendship, historical, quilting, story, women

The Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus is considered the first work of history in Western literature. Written about 440 BC, the Histories tell the story of the war between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. Herodotus traveled extensively around the ancient world, conducting interviews and collecting stories for his book. The rise of the Persian Empire is chronicled, and the causes for the conflict with Greece. Herodotus treats the conflict as an ideological one, frequently contrasting the absolute power of the Persian king with the democratic government of the Greeks.

Categories: Arts, Society & Culture

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, free audio books, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, Herodotus' Histories, History, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction

A precursor to gothic literature and science fiction genres, Frankenstein is a novel fuming with imagination as it depicts a well known horror story. Shelly’s gothic fiction is written in epistolary form as a means of correspondence between the failed writer Robert Walton and his sister, while he is away on a dangerous expedition in search of fame. Some major themes explored in the gothic classic are the fallibility of ambition and knowledge, revenge, prejudice, isolation, and the imperfections of society. The novel begins with the introduction of Captain Robert Walton, who is on a ship bound for the North Pole in search of scientific progress and knowledge. During his voyage, he and his crew come across a man nearly frozen and in frail condition. Taking the man onboard and nurturing him back to health, Walton is finally acquainted with Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein sees the same ambition within Walton that he too possessed and which is the reason for his current troubled state. Hence he decides to recount his life and share the miserable events leading him to his present isolated circumstance. Walton listens and records Frankenstein’s account which begins with his childhood in his family home in Geneva. Even as a young child, Frankenstein was encouraged by his parents to seek out the truth about the world, and use science as his instrument. It is this passion for knowledge that prompts him to conduct experiments in order to recreate life from lifeless matter. However, the result is not the ideal being the scientist had initially expected, and instead produces an eight foot tall creature with yellow eyes and visible muscle tissue. Repulsed by his creation, Frankenstein tries to steer clear of the monster, but only ignites the monster’s anger as it goes into a revenge spree taunting his creator. A chilling tale of murderous mayhem follows which is guaranteed to give goose bumps. Though many are familiar with Frankenstein through countless adaptations, most are unaware of the original depiction which can only be witnessed in the classic novel. Far from a simple horror story meant to scare and entertain, Frankenstein is a timeless classic which evokes vital questions about human nature and centers on important issues targeting human curiosity and the dangers of science. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Dramatic Works, ebooks, fantasy, fiction, Frankenstein, free audio books, Horror/Ghost stories, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, science, science-fiction, Teen/Young adult, tragedy

Childhood, published in 1852, is the first novel in Leo Tolstoy’s autobiographical trilogy, which also includes Boyhood, and Youth. Published when Tolstoy was twenty-three, the book gained immediate notice among Russian writers including Ivan Turgenev, and heralded the young Tolstoy as a major figure in Russian letters. Childhood is an expressionist exploration of the internal life of a young boy, Nikolenka, and was a new form in Russian writing, mixing fact, fiction and emotions to render the moods and reactions of the narrator. Childhood is Tolstoy’s first published work. Translated into English by C. J. Hogarth.

Categories: Arts, Education, Society & Culture

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Biography, Childhood (English trans.), ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Languages, Leo Tolstoy, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Memoirs