The Martyrdom of Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas

Tells the story of the arraignment, imprisonment and execution in the arena of a young Roman noblewoman and her friends from the church in Africa.

Contains one of the few autobiographical accounts from the ancient world written by a woman -- and an African woman at that! -- which have come down to us.

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The Tragedy at Brookbend Cottage - Ernest Bramah

Blind detective Max Carrados investigates a murder in the making.

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"What Happened to Alanna" - Kathleen Thompson Norris

A cute little story about a cute little girl and what happened when they put her in charge of a raffle at the parish fair.

Kathleen Thompson Norris, who wrote both as "Jane Ireland" and "Kathleen Norris" (no relation to today's writer of that name) was a prolific and popular writer of non-fiction, short stories and novels, as well as working as a reporter. Her half-Irish and Catholic heritage gave her a different viewpoint, and her experience with working for her living and with being a work-at-home mother kept her in touch with women in the same kinds of positions. She wrote the Alanna stories at the beginning of her career.

She was married to Charles Norris (the author of Salt), and her brother-in-law was Frank Norris, who wrote The Octopus and The Pit. Her sister married William Rose Benet, she was also related by marriage to Elinor Wylie, and she didn't die until the early sixties. IMDB lists 18 movies which were adapted from her work and/or gave her screenplay credit.

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"What Was It? A Mystery"

This 1859 short story probably influenced both Maupassant's "The Horla" and Bierce's "The Damned Thing". It's pretty spooky all by itself, though. The second phase of the story is a science fiction take -- a very odd one. See what you think.

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