Harper Collins is proud to present its new range of best-loved essential classics. ' Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart
- one of the indivisible primary faculties or sentiments which gives direction to the character of Man.' Including Poe's most terrifying grotesque & haunting short stories Tales of Mystery & Imagination is the ultimate collection of the infamous author's macabre works. Considered to be one of the earliest American writers to encapsulate the genre of detective-fiction the collection features some of his most popular tales.' The Gold-Bug' is the only tale that was popular in his lifetime whereas ' The Black Cat' ' The Pit & the Pendulum' & ' The Murders in the Rue Morgue' became more widely read after his death. Focussing on the internal conflict of individuals the power of the dead over the living & psychological explorations of darker human emotion that appear to anticipate Sigmund Freud's later theories on the psyche Poe's Gothic terror stories are considered masterpieces the world over.
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Olga da Polga is a guinea-pig with a wild imagination & from the minute she arrives at her new home she begins entertaining all the other animals in the garden with her outrageous stories. As well as telling all her tall tales she also has time to get up to all kinds of mischief & have lots of wonderful adventures too. ...

Olga da Polga has left the pet shop to start a new life with her owners. Her home is now a large & airy hutch & its not long before she meets Noel the cat Fangio the hedgehog & Graham the tortoise. Her garden companions soon discover that Olga loves an audience & from the moment she arrives she tells them stories about her wild & exciting adventures. Although they are not always sure whether to believe everything Olga says one thing is certain
- since Olga moved in life is never dull! Whether shes Olga the explorer Olga the prizewinner or Olga the storyteller she is always Olga da Polga! Written by the beloved Michael Bond with wonderful illustrations by Catherine Rayner this is a gift edition for young readers to treasure.
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Inspired by DH Lawrence Chekhov & Hemingway Bukowskis writing is passionate extreme & has attracted a cult following while his life was as weird & wild as the tales he wrote. This collection of short stories gives an insight into the dark dangerous lowlife of Los Angeles that Bukowski inhabited. From prostitutes to classical music Bukowski ingeniously mixes high & low culture in his tales of ordinary madness. These are angry yet tender humorous & haunting portrayals of life in the underbelly of Los Angeles. ...

At the Old Inn which clings precariously to a cliff top above a storm-lashed ocean two sick children are left alone while their father fetches the doctor. Then a visitor comes begging for shelter & so begins a long night of storytelling in which young Ethan & Cathy who have an unnatural appetite for stories of a macabre persuasion sit out the last throes of the storm in the company of a sailor with more than enough grisly tales to satisfy them. But something about this sailor puts Ethan on edge & he becomes increasingly agitated for his fathers return. Only when the storm blows itself out can Ethan relax
- but not for long for the new dawn opens the childrens eyes to a truth more shocking more distressing than anything they heard the night before.
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San Francisco 1976. A naive young secretary fresh out of Cleveland tumbles headlong into a brave new world of laundromat Lotharios pot-growing landladies cut throat debutantes & Jockey Shorts dance contests. The saga that ensues is manic romantic tawdry touching & outrageous
- unmistakably the handwork of Armistead Maupin.
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The fourth in the Fantasy Masterworks series the Dying Earth saga inspired writers like Michael Moorcock & Gene Wolfe who freely acknowledges his debt to Vance in his own Book of the New Sun. Here in one volume is Hugo Nebula & World Fantasy Award-winning author Jack Vances classic Dying Earth saga comprising The Dying Earth The Eyes of the Overworld Cugels Saga & Rhialto the Marvellous. Travel to a far distant future when the sun bleeds red in a dark sky where magic & science is one & the Earth has but a few short decades to live.. . ...

Princess Emerelda is not exactly an ideal princess. Her laugh is like a foghorn she's always tripping over the royal furniture & she HATES Prince Jorge whom her mother would one day like to see her marry. But things are about to change as she finds the frog of her dreams
- but when she kisses him SHE turns into a frog! Just one kiss & her whole life turns upside down in these deliciously original hilarious & fast-paced fairy-tale adventures. Dragon's Breath & Once Upon a Curse continue Princess Emma's adventures with a wonderful cast of characters & new challenges such as the Dragon Olympics & trying to stop a terrible curse.
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It was a very momentous day the day on which I was to be slaughtered. Bringing together tales of melancholy & madness nightmare & fantasy this is a new collection of the most haunting German stories from the past 200 years. Ranging from the Romantics of the early nineteenth century to works of contemporary fiction it

Includes:: Hoffmanns hallucinatory portrait of terror & insanity The Sandman"; Chamissos influential black masterpiece " Peter Schlemiel" where a man barters his own shadow; Kafkas chilling disturbing satire " In the Penal Colony"; the Dadaist surrealism of Kurt Schwitters " The Onion"; & Bachmanns modern fairy tale " The Secrets of the Princess of Kagran". Macabre dreamlike & expressing deep unconscious fears these stories are also spiked with unsettling humour showing stylistic daring as well as giving insight into the darkest recesses of the human condition. Peter Wortsmans powerful translations are accompanied by brief overviews of the lives of each author & an introduction discussing the notion of angst & the stories place in the context of German history. Translated selected & edited with an introduction by Peter Wortsman"

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This title features the mysterious & exciting legends of the gods & heroes in Ancient Greece from the adventures of Perseus the labours of Heracles the voyage of Jason & the Argonauts to Odysseus & the Trojan wars. This title is introduced with wit & humour by Rick Riordan creator of the highly successful Percy Jackson" series." ...