Z Day On Centauri by Henry T. Simmons

 

Z Day On Centauri by Henry T. Simmons

Very adept space opera with lots of action and mystery.  Not to be missed, this is pulp science fiction at its best.  Novella, about 40 pages in print.

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Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard

 Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard

The character Quatermain is an English-born professional big game hunter and occasional trader in southern Africa, who supports colonial efforts to 'spread civilization' in the 'dark continent', though he also favours native Africans having a say in their affairs. An outdoorsman who finds English cities and climate unbearable, he prefers to spend most of his life in Africa, where he grew up under the care of his widower father, a Christian missionary.

In the earliest-written novels, native Africans refer to Quatermain as Macumazahn, meaning "Watcher-by-Night," a reference to his nocturnal habits and keen instincts. In later-written novels, Macumazahn is said to be a short form of Macumazana, meaning "One who stands out." Quatermain is frequently accompanied by his native servant, the Hottentot Hans, a wise and caring family retainer from his youth. His sarcastic comments offer a sharp critique of European conventions. In his final adventures, Quatermain is joined by two British companions, Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good of the Royal Navy, and by his African friend Umslopogaas.

The series spans 50 years of Quatermain's life, from 18 to 68; at the start of the foundation novel King Solomon's Mines he has just turned 55, giving him a birthdate of 1830. Physically, he is small, wiry, and unattractive, with a beard and short hair that sticks up. His one skill is his marksmanship, where he has no equal. Quatermain is aware that as a professional hunter, he has helped to destroy his beloved wild free places of Africa. In old age he hunts without pleasure, having no other means of making a living.

About Quatermain's family, little is written. He lives at Durban, in Natal, South Africa. He marries twice, but is quickly widowed both times. He entrusts the printing of memoirs in the series to his son Harry, whose death he mourns in the opening of the novel Allan Quatermain. Harry Quatermain is a medical student who dies of smallpox while working in a hospital. Haggard did not write the Quatermain novels in chronological order, and made errors with some details. Quatermain's birth, age at the time of his marriages, and age at the time of his death cannot be reconciled to the apparent date of Harry's birth and age at death.

Although some of Haggard's Quatermain novels stand alone, there are two important series. In the Zulu trilogy, Marie (1912), Child of Storm (1913), and Finished (1917), Quatermain becomes ensnared in the vengeance of Zikali, the dwarf wizard known as "The-thing-that-should-never-have-been-born" and "Opener-of-Roads." Zikali plots and finally achieves the overthrow of the Zulu royal House of Senzangakona, founded by Shaka and ending under Cetewayo (Cetshwayo kaMpande) (Haggard's questionable spelling of Zulu names is used in the first instance).

These novels are prequels to the foundation pair, King Solomon's Mines (1885) and Allan Quatermain (1887), which describe Quatermain's discovery of vast wealth, his discontent with a life of ease, and his fatal return to Africa following the death of his son Harry.

With She and Allan (1920), Haggard engineered a crossover between his two most popular series, uniting Quatermain with Ayesha, the central character of his hugely successful "She" novels, and bringing in several other key characters from each series—Hans, Umslopogaas, and Zikali from the Quatermain series, and Bilali, Ayesha's faithful minister. This book formed the third part of the "She" trilogy, although in chronological terms, it necessarily served as a prequel to the first two "She" books, since Holly and Leo, the protagonists of the first two books, both die at the end of the second novel. 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, the novel depicts narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.

The novel was inspired by a youthful romance Fitzgerald had with a socialite, and by parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922. Following a move to the French Riviera, he completed a rough draft in 1924. After submitting the draft to editor Maxwell Perkins, the editor persuaded Fitzgerald to revise the work over the following winter. Despite being happy with the content of the text after revision, Fitzgerald was ambivalent about the book's title and considered a variety of alternatives. The final title that he was documented to have desired was Under the Red, White, and Blue. Fitzgerald was, however, happy with painter Francis Cugat's final cover design.

After its publication by Scribner's in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews from literary critics who believed that it did not hold up to Fitzgerald's previous writing and thus signaled the end of the author's literary achievements. As such, Gatsby sold poorly, and although Fitzgerald believed that negative criticisms of the novel did not interpret his work correctly, when the author died in 1940 he believed himself to be a failure and his work forgotten. However, during World War II the novel faced a critical and scholarly re-examination, and it soon became a core part of most American high school curricula and a focus of American popular culture. Numerous stage and film adaptations followed in the subsequent decades.

Gatsby continues to attract popular and scholarly attention. The novel was most recently adapted to film in 2013 by director Baz Luhrmann, while modern scholars emphasize the novel's treatment of social class, inherited wealth compared to those who are self-made, race, environmentalism, and its cynical attitude towards the American dream. As with other works by Fitzgerald, criticisms include allegations of antisemitism. The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary masterwork and a contender for the title of the Great American Novel. 

The Master of Greylands by Ellen Henry Wood

 The Master of Greylands by Ellen Henry Wood

Masterful tale of suspense, a family saga and romance that stays with you long after you've finished reading it.

Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Anne grows up and proves the promise of her youth by being a lovable, sunny young woman with an infinite capacity for enjoying "Patty's Place" at college and life in general, especially when it brings her own love story

The Salem Belle: A Tale of 1692 by Ebenezer Wheelwright

 The Salem Belle: A Tale of 1692 by Ebenezer Wheelwright

A historical record of several of the Salem witch trails, and how they were prosecuted.  This may be fictional, but it is based on some actual events.

Untamed Lust by Orrie Hitt

 Untamed Lust by Orrie Hitt

This is the story of a sadist, and his love-andsex-starved wife and daughter.  And, of his housemaid, and a man who works for him who satisfied the lust of all three.  The blurb on the books says:  "The story of a sadist --- of his twisted wife and daughter, and of a girl name Joan, whose only mania was love!