Wednesday, July 31, 2019

 The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy  The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
Out of all the flood of contemporary fiction, here is a volume which is sure to live. It is, in fact, one of the outstanding achievements in the history of English fiction, and would do great credit to the literature of any language. It presents, in the form of a single volume containing a continuous narrative of great dramatic interest, the three novels and two stories which carry the Forsyte family through three generations. A sprawling multigenerational epic of a wealthy (nouveau riche) London family, from the 1880s until the 1920s. The sins of the earlier generations are visited on the younger generation in a tragic and explosive way. If you enjoy huge family sagas (a la Susan Howatch) or if you loved the "Forsyte Saga" miniseries, you must read this book.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

1492 by Mary Johnston
A classic romance and historical tale.
Mary Johnston (November 21, 1870 - May 9, 1936) was an American novelist and women's rights advocate from Virginia. She was one of America's best selling authors during her writing career and had three silent films adapted from her novels.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

https://www.ronaldbooks.com/Adventure+Books-4/12+Chinamen+and+a+Woman+by+James+Hadley+Chase-2266
Lurid pulp fiction, thrilling and fun to read, with lurid hinted overtones of nasty sex and crime. A wild, fun book to read.  Apparently, a woman is kidnapped and put aboard a ship, wherein there are 12 Chinamen and her.  The sexual overtones are there, but this novel does not quite touch upon the fear of gang rape of the woman.  Rather, it allows the reader to imagine what might happen to the woman.  An interesting, very hard-to-put-down tale.  Recommended.
Only one woman could satisfy Glorie Leadler's craving for love and excitement.And though this golden-haired bit of feminine dynamite could have had a dozen men at her feet for the asking, it was a solitary Oriental who made her heart beat fast.   When jealous rivals tore that midnight lover from Glorie's arms, her overheated emotions burst forth in a volcano of love-stricken vengeance that rocked Florida and left a sizzling mark on many men's souls.
I you like a combination of the passionate writing of Donald Herderson Clarke and the violence and vogor of Dashiell Hammet you'll go for this great James Hadley Chase novel.Author of No Orchids for Miss Blandish, Chase is a master at mixing hard men, soft ladies, and the shocking impact of unexcpeted action.  Twelve Chinamen and a A Woman is a book we guarantee you won't lay down until the last thrill-packed page.
Available as epub

Thursday, July 25, 2019

https://www.ronaldbooks.com/Books+for+Young+Women-16/Alive+in+the+Jungle+by+Eleanor+Stredder-2334
Alive in the Jungle by Eleanor Stredder.  An adventure book written for young people about a lost person in the middle of a vast jungle with many dangers surrounding him.  He arrives in the jungle by begin stolen by a wolf in the night, who carries away the very young man.  This is a thrilling tale along the lines of Shasta of the Wolves, Captured by Apes, and the Jungle Book.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

https://www.ronaldbooks.com/Books+for+Young+Men-7/The+Mercer+Boys+Mystery+Case+by+Capwell+Wyckoff-3537
The Mercer Boys' Mystery Case by Capwell Wyckoff
Capwell Wyckoff once again portrays his Mercer Boys' series with this tale of a horrifying mystery written for young men, but suitable for all.
This is a part of the Mercer Boys Series which can be found HERE.

Monday, July 22, 2019

 Ken Ward in the Jungle by Zane Grey at Ronaldbooks.com
Ken Ward in the Jungle by Zane Grey
Ken Ward and his brotehr, Hal, are headed south of the border, into the steaming jungles of Mexico. Hal's job is together specimens for a museum; Ken's is to keep Hal out of trouble--and prove himself as a jungle explorer.
Then an unexpected challenge beckons--the boys have the chance to be the first to run the rapids of the Santa Rosa, an unexplored river complete with army ants, giant snakes, wild pigs, and man-eating crocodiles! If they make it through, Ken will win a trip to Africa. If they don't...
Ken Ward in the Jungle is a wild ride from the immortal pen for America's greatest storyteller of outdoor adventure.
Zane Grey's books can be found HERE,
A quality paperback of this book can be found HERE

Friday, July 19, 2019

Space Prison by Tom Godwin at Ronaldbooks.com
Space Prison by Tom Godwin
For seven weeks the Constellation had been plunging through hyperspace with her eight thousand colonists; fleeing like a hunted thing with her communicators silenced and her drives moaning and thundering. Up in the control room, Irene had been told, the needles of the dials danced against the red danger lines day and night.
Space Prison is a story of exile. A race of humans inadequate to be kept as slaves are left by their captors to perish on an barren and harsh planet. As they die from fever, animal attacks, starvation and sheer stress all that is left to keep the remnant going is the desire for an impossible revenge.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019


https://www.ronaldbooks.com/Short+Story+Collections-24/Marvels+and+Mysteries+by+Richard+Marsh-3483
Marvels and Mysteries by Richard Marsh
This is an interesting collection of unusual little stories. Murder, hypnotism, and other strange things are covered.  Richard Marsh has a very readable, enjoyable writing style.  This gem from the past is NOT to be missed!
Richard Marsh (October 12, 1857–August 9, 1915) was the pseudonym of the British author born Richard Bernard Heldmann. He is best known for his supernatural thriller The Beetle: A Mystery, which was published in the same year as Bram Stoker's Dracula and was initially even more popular. The Beetle remained in print until 1960, and was subsequently resurrected in 2004 and 2007. Heldman was educated at Eton and Oxford University. He began to publish short stories, mostly adventure tales, as "Bernard Heldmann," before adopting the name "Richard Marsh" in 1893. Several of the prolific Marsh's novels were published posthumously.

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

After London by Richard Jefferies
After some sudden and unspecified catastrophe has depopulated England, the countryside reverts to nature, and the few survivors to a quasi-medieval way of life. Beginning with a loving description of nature reclaiming England -- fields becoming overrun by forest, domesticated animals running wild, roads and towns becoming overgrown, the hated London reverting to lake and poisonous swampland -- the rest of the story is an adventure set many years later in the wild landscape.
The meadows were green, and so was the rising wheat which had been sown, but which neither had nor would receive any further care. Such arable fields as had not been sown, but where the last stubble had been ploughed up, were overrun with couch-grass, and where the short stubble had not been ploughed, the weeds hid it.

Jefferies’ novel can be seen as an early example of post-apocalyptic fiction. After some sudden and unspecified catastrophe has depopulated England, the countryside reverts to nature, and the few survivors to a quasi-medieval way of life.

The first part, The Relapse into Barbarism, is the account by some later historian of the fall of civilisation and its consequences, with a loving description of nature reclaiming England. The second part, Wild England, is an adventure set many years later in the wild landscape and society.

The book is not without its flaws but is redeemed by the quality of the writing, particularly the unnervingly prophetic descriptions of the post-apocalyptic city and countryside. 

Saturday, July 6, 2019

https://www.ronaldbooks.com/Horror-22/Dracula-978
Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. It introduced the character of Count Dracula, and established many conventions of subsequent vampire fantasy The novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so that he may find new blood and spread the undead curse, and of the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and a woman led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.
Dracula has been assigned to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel, and invasion literature. The novel has spawned numerous theatrical, film, and television interpretations.
The story is told in an epistolary format, as a series of letters, diary entries, newspaper articles, and ships' log entries, whose narrators are the novel's protagonists, and occasionally supplemented with newspaper clippings relating events not directly witnessed. The events portrayed in the novel take place chronologically and largely in England and Transylvania during the 1890s and all transpire within the same year between 3 May and 6 November. A short note is located at the end of the final chapter written 7 years after the events outlined in the novel.
The tale begins with Jonathan Harker, a newly qualified English solicitor, visiting Count Dracula at his castle in the Carpathian Mountains on the border of Transylvania, Bukovina, and Moldavia, to provide legal support for a real estate transaction overseen by Harker's employer, Mr Peter Hawkins of Exeter. At first enticed by Dracula's gracious manners, Harker soon realizes that he is Dracula's prisoner. Wandering the Count's castle against Dracula's admonition, Harker encounters three female vampires, called "the sisters", from whom he is rescued by Dracula. Harker soon realizes that Dracula himself is also a vampire. After the preparations are made, Dracula leaves Transylvania and abandons Harker to the sisters. Harker barely escapes from the castle with his life.
Dracula boards a Russian ship, the Demeter, taking along with him boxes of Transylvanian soil, which he required in order to regain his strength. Not long afterward, the ship having weighed anchor at Varna, runs aground on the shores of Whitby in the east coast of England. The captain's log narrates the gradual disappearance of the entire crew, until the captain alone remained, himself bound to the helm to maintain course. An animal resembling "a large dog" is seen leaping ashore. The ship's cargo is described as silver sand and 50 boxes of "mould", or earth, from Transylvania. It is later learned that Dracula successfully purchased multiple estates under the alias 'Count De Ville' throughout London and devised to distribute the 50 boxes to each of them utilizing transportation services as well as moving them himself. He does this to secure for himself "lairs" and the 50 boxes of earth would be used as his graves which would grant safety and rest during times of feeding and replenishing his strength.
Harker's fiancée, Mina Murray, is staying with her friend Lucy Westenra, who is holidaying in Whitby. Lucy receives three marriage proposals from Dr. John Seward, Quincey Morris, and Arthur Holmwood (the son of Lord Godalming who later obtains the title himself. Lucy accepts Holmwood's proposal while turning down Seward and Morris, but all remain friends. Dracula communicates with Seward's patient, Renfield, an insane man who wishes to consume insects, spiders, birds, and rats to absorb their "life force". Renfield is able to detect Dracula's presence and supplies clues accordingly.
Soon Dracula is indirectly shown to be stalking Lucy. As time passes she begins to suffer from episodes of sleepwalking and dementia, as witnessed by Mina. When Lucy begins to waste away suspiciously, Seward invites his old teacher, Abraham Van Helsing, who immediately determines the true cause of Lucy's condition. He refuses to disclose it but diagnoses her with acute blood-loss. Van Helsing prescribes numerous blood transfusions to which he, Seward, Quincey, and Arthur all contribute over time. Van Helsing also prescribes garlic flowers to be placed throughout her room and weaves a necklace of withered garlic blossoms for her to wear. However she continues to waste away – appearing to lose blood every night. While both doctors are absent, Lucy and her mother are attacked by a wolf and Mrs. Westenra, who has a heart condition, dies of fright. Van Helsing attempts to protect her with garlic but fate thwarts him each night, whether Lucy's mother removes the garlic from her room, or Lucy herself does so in her restless sleep. The doctors have found two small puncture marks about her neck, which Dr. Seward is at a loss to understand. After Lucy dies, Van Helsing places a golden crucifix over her mouth, ostensibly to delay or prevent Lucy's vampiric conversion. Fate conspires against him again when Van Helsing finds the crucifix in the possession of one of the servants who stole it off Lucy's corpse.
Following Lucy's death and burial, the newspapers report children being stalked in the night by a "bloofer lady" (i.e., "beautiful lady"). Van Helsing, knowing Lucy has become a vampire, confides in Seward, Lord Godalming, and Morris. The suitors and Van Helsing track her down and, after a confrontation with her, stake her heart, behead her, and fill her mouth with garlic. Around the same time, Jonathan Harker arrives from Budapest, where Mina marries him after his escape, and he and Mina join the campaign against Dracula.
The vampire hunters stay at Dr. Seward's residence, holding nightly meetings and providing reports based on each of their various tasks. Mina discovers that each of their journals and letters collectively contain clues to which they can track him down. She tasks herself with collecting them, researching newspaper clippings, fitting the most relevant entries into chronological order and typing out copies to distribute to each of the party which they are to study. Jonathan Harker tracks down the shipments of boxed graves and the estates which Dracula has purchased in order to store them. Van Helsing conducts research along with Dr. Seward to analyze the behaviour of their patient Renfield who they learn is directly influenced by Dracula. They also research historical events, folklore, and superstitions from various cultures to understand Dracula's powers and weaknesses. Van Helsing also establishes a criminal profile on Dracula in order to better understand his actions and predict his movements. Arthur Holmwood's fortune assists in funding the entire operation and expenses. As they discover the various properties Dracula had purchased, the male protagonists team up to raid each property and are several times confronted by Dracula. As they discover each of the boxed graves scattered throughout London, they pry them open to place and seal wafers of sacramental bread within. This act renders the boxes of earth completely useless to Dracula as he is unable to open, enter or further transport them.
After Dracula learns of the group's plot against him, he attacks Mina on three occasions, and feeds Mina his own blood to control her. This curses Mina with vampirism and changes her but does not completely turn her into a vampire. Van Helsing attempts to bless Mina through prayer and by placing a wafer of sacrament against her forehead, but it burns her upon contact leaving a wretched scar. Under this curse, Mina oscillates from consciousness to a semi-trance during which she perceives Dracula's surroundings and actions. Van Helsing is able to use hypnotism twice a day, at dawn and at sunset, to put her into this trance to further track Dracula's movements. Mina, afraid of Dracula's link with her, urges the team not to tell her their plans out of fear that Dracula will be listening. After the protagonists discover and sterilize 49 boxes found throughout his lairs in London, they learn that Dracula has fled with the missing 50th box back to his castle in Transylvania. They pursue him under the guidance of Mina. They split up into teams once they reach Europe; Van Helsing and Mina team up to locate the castle of Dracula while the others attempt to ambush the boat Dracula is using to reach his home. Van Helsing raids the castle and destroys the vampire "sisters". Upon discovering Dracula being transported by Gypsies, the three teams converge and attack the caravan carrying Dracula in the 50th box of Earth. After dispatching many Gypsies who were sworn to protect the Count, Harker shears Dracula through the throat with a kukri knife, while the mortally wounded Quincey stabs the Count in the heart with a Bowie knife. Dracula crumbles to dust, and Mina is freed from her curse of vampirism, as the scar on her forehead disappears. Soon after, Quincey dies from his wounds.
The book closes with a note left by Jonathan Harker seven years after the events of the novel, detailing his married life with Mina and the birth of their son, whom they name after all four members of the party, but address as "Quincey". Quincey is depicted sitting on the knee of Van Helsing as they recount their adventure. Seward and Arthur have each gotten married. 

Thursday, July 4, 2019

https://www.ronaldbooks.com/Adventure+Books-4/The+Romance+Of+Golden+Star+by+George+Chetwynd+Griffith-3455
The Romance Of Golden Star by George Chetwynd Griffith
An adventure and romance set in South America, where explorers discover the lost civilization of the Inca Empire.
George Griffith (1857 – 1906), full name George Chetwynd Griffith-Jones, was a prolific British science fiction writer and noted explorer who wrote during the late Victorian and Edwardian age. Many of his visionary tales appeared in magazines such as Pearson's Magazine and Pearson's Weekly before being published as novels. Griffith was extremely popular in the United Kingdom, though he failed to find similar acclaim in the United States, in part due to his revolutionary and socialist views. A journalist, rather than scientist, by background, what his stories lack in scientific rigour and literary grace they make up for in sheer exuberance of execution.