Cosmo Topper is an average American bank executive on holiday in the French Riveria. Feckless, fun-loving and totally uncontrollable ghosts, George and Marion Kerby and friends – the tortuously crooked Colonel Scott and his companion, the disreputable Mrs. Hart – return to bring chaos and merriment into the life of mild-mannered, stuffy, and somewhat plump, Topper. One of Thorne Smith’s best-loved comedies, it proves once again that he is the undisputed master of urbane wit...
A comic diary about entering life in the Navy. Published in 1918 and written for the Naval Reservist journal „The Broadside” while the author Thorne Smith was in the Navy, it is a series of short vignettes poking fun at the culture of the time in general and the military in particular. It’s the diary of Biltmore Oswald, a hapless naval recruit with no appreciable talents besides befriending animals and getting into trouble, and his day to day adventures during World War I. ...
James Thorne Smith, Jr. was an American writer of humorous supernatural fantasy fiction under the byline Thorne Smith. He is best known today for the two Topper novels, comic fantasy fiction involving sex, much drinking and supernatural transformations. Smith’s literary debut was „Biltmore Oswald” (1918), the comic fictional diary of a hapless naval recruit, drawing heavily on wartime experience with the Navy. Episodes had featured in Broadside. The book sold well enough to...
A New York advertising executive leaves his job in the city to write poetry in a hut by the sea. Once there he finds himself caught in the coils of his attraction to two women – a situation that so unsettles his wits that he falls prey to a heavily symbolic dream obsession. The story centers on a love triangle that develops between Landor, the niece of the man he’s staying with, Scarlet and the wife of the local land baron, Hilda. „Dream’s End” is a radical departure from T...
If you’re in the mood for a wildly hilarious comic romp, give Thorne Smith’s „The Bishop’s Jaegars” a read. Mad, hilarious, degenerate, or simply fun fantasy? Only the reader can decide. Adrift and listless, a wealthy coffee heir Peter Van Dyke is searching for meaning in life. His young secretary Jo decides to shake things up and help him get back on track. Although he is engaged to another, she has far from given up. Laughter ensues as they go from one mishap to another a...
Thorne Smith best-remembered for humorous novels, many turning on some fantastic plot device which thrusts the protagonist into grotesque predicaments, often via unwitting transformation. The 1926 publication of „Topper” brought the author immediate acclaim. Elegant, fun-loving George and Marion Kerby are the toast of the town, until they wreck their flashy car and discover they’ve become, well, ghosts. Making the best of a bad situation, they decide that being dead is the ...
The beauty of Ayesha was the only reason for the conflict in many countries. Her father was very jealous of his daughter for the pretenders for her heart. Ayesha helps the goddess Isis, and as a reward Isis leads her to the hidden kingdom of Kôr in Africa to usher in the new Golden Age. The kingdom of Kôr hides many secrets, including the Flame of Eternal Life, where in the end Ayesha’s obsession, obsession and desire lead to her fall.
She and Allan is a unique story written by Henry Rider Haggard. After all, he unites characters from three different series. Allan is looking for Ayesha in the hope of finding answers about his dead loved ones. He becomes involved in the rescue attempt of a young Portuguese-Scotch woman, and also fights with Ayesha’s enemies. This is truly one of the most exciting stories of a successful author.
Ayesha is an example of a strong and stately woman. It is a 2000-year-old woman who still looks amazing for her age, rules the tribes in Africa. Despite the unwelcome arrival of the British on her land. She extends a helping hand to them. Suddenly, she falls in love with one of the researchers of this group. But can such love be?
Sheldon, who was sentenced many times to imprisonment, has long been free. There were no rumors about him. However, his daughter is married and is going to the honeymoon, which paid for her father. The detective gets a phone call saying Sheldon has taken up the old business. And the detective goes to Sheldon’s daughter, whom he was in love with. The pursuit of Sheldon will never stop. However, maybe this time he is still not guilty?
The story begins at the Central Police Department. Where led Sheldon for the fourth time. The prisoner asked to speak with the detective, saying that he has a lead on the case, which the detective is so interested in. But is he not lying? And would a detective believe this? After all, what the prisoner will say will affect many of the detective’s decisions.
Abdul Omar was a psychologist, mystic and astrologer who worked as a private detective. He believed that astrology would help predict the exact actions of a person. Based on the time of birth, he can accurately predict what and when a person will do. He was devoted to protecting women and their honor. He fell in love with and married Lotis, a former assassin of the Black Brotherhood who was sent to kill him.
The story of an undercover detective who works to capture the thief of the Bank. It would seem that he had already caught him. After all, he pressed a button that signaled a patrol garage, and another one that called the inspector and several other officers from the next room. Before the side door of the bank there was a big car in a limousine, which had two entrances, facing two streets. It was clearly a personal car of a rich man, because he was the latest model and luxur...
The fascinating story about a young Swede Christine Daaé. Her father, a famous musician, dies, and she is brought up in the Paris Opera House. After a while in the opera house, she begins to hear a voice that, in the end, teaches her how to sing beautifully. The ghost is in love with the main character and is jealous of her friend, but it can only spell disaster.
The desert shimmered in the heat waves. Conan the Cimmerian stared out over the aching desolation and involuntarily drew the back of his powerful hand over his blackened lips. He stood like a bronze image in the sand, apparently impervious to the murderous sun, though his only garment was a silk loin-cloth, girdled by a wide gold-buckled belt from which hung a saber and a broad-bladed poniard. On his clean-cut limbs were evidences of scarcely healed wounds.
Wings in the Night collects Robert E. Howard’s fiction and prose published in Weird Tales Magazine from July 1932 to May 1933. These works represent literary stepping-stones to Howard’s infamous Cthulhu mythos stories and his most famous character of all -- Conan the Cimmerian -- and ably demonstrate that each of Howard’s stories improved and added to his formidable skills as a master of fantasy and adventure.
The speaker wrapped his purple cloak closer about his powerful frame and settled back into his official chair, much as he might have settled back in his seat at the Circus Maximus to enjoy the clash of gladiatorial swords. Realization of power colored his every move. Whetted pride was necessary to Roman satisfaction, and Titus Sulla was justly proud; for he was military governor of Eboracum and answerable only to the emperor of Rome.
Torches flared murkily on the revels in the Maul, where the thieves of the east held carnival by night. In the Maul they could carouse and roar as they liked, for honest people shunned the quarters, and watchmen, well paid with stained coins, did not interfere with their sport. Along the crooked, unpaved streets with their heaps of refuse and sloppy puddles, drunken roisterers staggered, roaring. Steel glinted in the shadows where wolf preyed on wolf, and from the darkness ...
Over shadowy spires and gleaming towers lay the ghostly darkness and silence that runs before dawn. Into a dim alley, one of a veritable labyrinth of mysterious winding ways, four masked figures came hurriedly from a door which a dusky hand furtively opened. They spoke not but went swiftly into the gloom, cloaks wrapped closely about them; as silently as the ghosts of murdered men they disappeared in the darkness.
The roar of battle had died away; the shout of victory mingled with the cries of the dying. Like gay-hued leaves after an autumn storm, the fallen littered the plain; the sinking sun shimmered on burnished helmets, gilt-worked mail, silver breastplates, broken swords and the heavy regal folds of silken standards, overthrown in pools of curdling crimson. In silent heaps lay war- horses and their steel-clad riders, flowing manes and blowing plumes stained alike in the red tid...
The king of vendhya was dying. Through the hot, stifling night the temple gongs boomed and the conchs roared. Their clamor was a faint echo in the gold- domed chamber where Bhunda Chand struggled on the velvet-cushioned dais. Beads of sweat glistened on his dark skin; his fingers twisted the gold-worked fabric beneath him. He was young; no spear had touched him, no poison lurked in his wine.
The blare of the trumpets grew louder, like a deep golden tide surge, like the soft booming of the evening tides against the silver beaches of Valusia. The throng shouted, women flung roses from the roofs as the rhythmic chiming of silver hosts came clearer and the first of the mighty array swung into view in the broad, white street that curved round the golden-spired Tower of Splendor.
Wśród czekających na Was na Woblink dzieł odkryjecie najlepsze książki fantasy dla dorosłych, młodzieży oraz dla dzieci - zarówno klasyczne książki fantasy, jak i nowe książki fantasy.
Fantastyka jest pojęciem nadrzędnym nad fantasy. Książki z działu fantastyki można podzielić na wiele podtypów. Do najbardziej znanych należą fantasy, science fiction (fantastyka naukowa) i horror. O ile wyróżnienie tego ostatniego spośród pozostałych nie powinno stanowić problemu, o tyle stwierdzenie czym charakteryzuje się literatura fantasy nie jest już takie proste. Podziały te nie są jednoznaczne, jednak można pokusić się o próbę ich wyznaczenia.
Książki fantasy opierają się przede wszystkim na magicznych i nadprzyrodzonych motywach i formach, które stanowią główną oś fabuły i świata przedstawionego. Czasem utrzymywane są w nieco bardziej baśniowej scenerii niż dzieła sci-fi czy horrory. Do książek fantasy zaliczane są na przykład “Koralina” Neila Gaimana, “Silmarillion” oraz “Hobbit, czyli tam i z powrotem” J. R. R. Tolkiena, “Cykl demoniczny” Petera V. Bretta (dziesięć powieści zawartych w pięciu tomach: „Malowany człowiek”, „Pustynna Włócznia”, „Wojna w blasku dnia”, „Tron z Czaszek” i „Otchłań”) czy “Niekończąca się historia” Michaela Ende.
Fantasy to także rozległy gatunek literacki, który ma swoje podtypy. Na co dzieli się fantasy? Tzw. high fantasy zazwyczaj rozgrywa się w świecie przypominającym nasze średniowiecze. Należą do nich na przykład takie epickie cykle fantasy jak “Władca Pierścieni” J. R. R. Tolkiena czy “Opowieści z Narnii” C. S. Lewisa. Ich swoistym przeciwieństwem jest tzw. low fantasy, czyli historie, w których magia nie odgrywa zbyt dużej roli lub jest w ogóle nieobecna. Wciąż jest to jednak alternatywna rzeczywistość. Za prekursora tego podgatunku uznaje się Roberta E. Howarda i jego cykl o Conanie. Dobrym polskim przykładem jest “Trylogia husycka”, której autorem jest Andrzej Sapkowski (“Lux perpetua”, “Boży bojownicy” i “Narrenturm”). Z kolei akcja tzw. urban fantasy rozgrywa się w mieście, gdzie istnieje pozorna sprzeczność współistniejących obok siebie magii i techniki. Należą do nich na przykład “Nigdziebądź” Neila Gaimana, cykl “Dary anioła” Cassandry Clare, czy cykl o Percym Jacksonie Ricka Riordana.
Wśród dzieł tworzących czołówkę książek fantasy, warto wyróżnić tak cenione serie fantasy jak “Archiwum Burzowego Światła” Brandona Sandersona, serię “Malazańska księga poległych” Stevena Eriksona, czy “Opowieści z meekhańskiego pogranicza” Roberta M. Wegnera. Znajdziecie tam również klasykę fantasy, do ktorej należą na przykład "Mroczna wieża" Stephena Kinga oraz “Pieśń lodu i ognia” George’a R. R. Martina.
Szukacie dobrego cyklu fantasy? Miłośnikom tego gatunku polecamy także “Kroniki Amberu” Rogera Zelaznego, serię “Czarna Kompania “Glena Cooka, “Z mgły zrodzony" Brandona Sandersona, “Trylogię Czarnego Maga” Trudi Canavan, “Wojnę makową” Rebecci F. Kuang która odbiła się głośnym echem w świecie literackim, czy trylogię “Mroczne materie” Philipa Pullmana, która stałą się podstawą filmu i serialu.
Polska również ma szczęście być miejscem, w którym powstają kultowe serie fantasy. Wystarczy wspomnieć o sadze Wiedźmińskiej Andrzeja Sapkowskiego, o serii “Pan Lodowego Ogrodu” Jarosława Grzędowicza, “Cyklu Inkwizytorskim” Jacka Piekary, czy “Zastępach anielskich” Mai Lidii Kossakowskiej. Wśród polskich książek fantasy dużą popularnością cieszą się także humorystyczne książki fantasy, których bohaterami są takie postaci jak Jakub Wędrowycz, postać stworzona przez Andrzeja Pilipiuka.
W gronie dobrych książek fantasy dla młodzieży z kolei czekają na Was na przykład, seria “Okrutny książę” Holly Black, trylogia “Dziedzictwo” Christophera Paoliniego czy "Szklany Tron" Sarah J. Maas.
Te i wiele innych zachwycających książek fantasy znajdziecie na Woblink jako książki papierowe, audiobooki lub ebooki. Nie czekajcie, wybierzcie się w nieznane światy książek pełnych magii już dziś!