CONTENTS: ALEXANDER PUSHKIN 1. The Queen of Spades ALGERNON BLACKWOOD: 2. Confession 3. S. O. S. 4. The Wings of Horus ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE 5. B. 24 ARTHUR O. FRIEL: 6. The Spider 7. The Vulture ARTHUR QUILLER-COUCH: 8. Statement of Gabriel Foot, Highwayman 9. The Affair of Bleakirk-on-Sands 10. The Countess of Bellarmine ARTHUR STRINGER: 11. The Adolescence of Number Eighty-Seven 12. The Button Thief 13. The Wire-Tappers ARTHUR TRAIN: 14. Extradition 15. The Baron de Ville 16. The Golden To...

Charlotte is a restless young socialite unhappily married to the brutish Stephen Cranfill. When she meets the charming yet intense pianist Jean Dorat, they feel an instant connection. As their friendship deepens, Charlotte finds herself increasingly drawn to Jean despite her marriage vows. Ultimately she must choose between duty and desire, and her decision will impact not only her own future but Jean's promising career.Can forbidden love overcome societal expectations? This poigna...

I opened my eyes and saw a pea-green world all around me. Then I heard the doctor say: “Give ’er another whiff or two.” His voice sounded far-away, as though he were speaking through the Simplon Tunnel, and not merely through his teeth, within twelve inches of my nose. I took my whiff or two. I gulped at that chloroform like a thirsty Bedouin at a wadi-spring. I went down into the pea-green emptiness again, and forgot about the Kelly pad and the recurring waves of pain that came bigger and...

"The Wire Tappers" is a suspenseful novel centered around the world of wiretapping and surveillance. The story follows characters involved in the practice of wiretapping, which involves secretly listening to and recording telephone conversations. This activity is often associated with espionage, crime, and intrigue.The plot typically revolves around a complex web of deceit, as the characters become entangled in a series of events driven by the information obtained through wiretapping. As t...

“Well, she doesn’t make love like a frog,” he retorted with his first betraying touch of anger. I turned to the window, to the end that my Eliza-Crossing-the-Ice look wouldn’t be entirely at his mercy. A belated March blizzard was slapping at the panes and cuffing the house-corners. At the end of a long winter, I knew, tempers were apt to be short. But this was much more than a matter of barometers. The man I’d wanted to live with like a second “Suzanne de Sirmont” in Daudet’s Happiness ha...

Our 90th issue is another great one—3 original short stories, 8 modern and classic short story reprints, a novella, and a pair of novels. That’s a lot of reading! Where to start with the highlights?On the mystery side, Acquiring Editor Barb Goffman is back from her hiatus with another mystery selection (“Bad Chemistry” by John G. Wimer), as is Michael Bracken (“The Garden” by Jeffrey James Higgins). And proving Hal Charles isn’t the only one who can write Solve-It-Yourself myseries...

Arthur Stringer (1874 – 1950) was a Canadian novelist, screenwriter, and poet who later moved to the United States.In Are All Men Alike? focuses on poor little rich girl Teddie. she is unhappy with the environment in which she was brought up but as soon as she get out of it discovers that all the men she meets have an incurable fondness for kissing her. Which is why she asks: “Are all men alike?”The second tale, The Lost Titian, is a love-at-first-sight tale, in parts well-...

Arthur Stringer (1874 – 1950) was a Canadian novelist, screenwriter, and poet who later moved to the United States.The Shadow (1913) follows detective “Never-Fail” Blake on a Moby Dick style quest to find a counterfeiter. Blake is an “old fashioned” detective in 1913, trusting the old tried-and-true methods over “modern” crime solving. It is as much a character study of an obsessed man as a mystery, and one of Stringer’s best. The New York Times called it “an excellent sto...

Jim Blake, Deputy Commissioner, leaves the comfort of his office and hits the street in search of the ultimate prey. His target, Connie Binhart, conman, counterfeiter and bank thief. The chase, breathtaking, extremely fast and spans four continents.When they finally meet face to face, each wears an air of careless listlessness, yet each watches the others' every move, every moment. It was not hate that existed between them. It was something more dormant, more innate. It was somethi...

In "The Man Who Couldn't Sleep," Arthur Stringer deftly weaves a psychological exploration of insomnia and its profound effects on the human psyche. This novel, characterized by its lyrical prose and introspective narrative style, delves deep into the complexities of the protagonist's mind. Set against a backdrop of early 20th-century America, the story examines themes of existential dread, societal pressure, and the search for identity, all while drawing on the influence of the era's burg...

In "The Shadow," Arthur Stringer weaves a complex narrative that explores the depths of human emotion against a backdrop of societal transformation in the early 20th century. The novel is characterized by its rich, lyrical prose and poignant character development, which vividly capture the psychological landscapes of its participants. Stringer crafts a story steeped in the themes of identity, morality, and the shadows of past decisions that stalk into the present, offering readers a grippi...

A fast-paced spy romance involving international intrigue and undercover intelligence operations.