"We all do not know how often we have been driven into that strange state, and perhaps it is really an everlasting trick of scared, weak souls to escape responsibility by such a confusion of their inner existence." Four short stories mainly set in late nineteenth century Silesia. The Shimmer of the Assistant: a surreal story about a clerk who fails to get a pay-rise. The Last Act: a banker's past deeds come back to haunt him over an evening in a tavern. The Grandmother: a grandmother with a reputation for saving dying people tries to save her grandson in the face of her son-in-law's obstruction. The Spirit of the Father: an explorer in the Orient receives a visitation from his dying father. Hermann Stehr (1864-1940) was a Silesian author of over thirty novels and novellas. He was awarded the Bauernfeld Prize (1910), the Fastenrath Prize (1919), the Schiller Prize (1919), the Rathenau Prize (1930), the Wartburg Rose (1932), the Goethe Medal for Art and Science (1932) and the Goethe Prize of Frankfurt-am-Main (1933), and appointed as a founding member of the Prussian Literary Academy (1926). "His people talk with their hearts and breathe with their souls; whoever listens to them, hears sounds meant for the ears of God." - Walther Rathenau

Four novellas/short stories translated from German into English for the first time. "The Twilight" An old woman decides to end it all, but not before telling a few home-truths to her husband. "The Last Child" Dead souls become angels that do the work of taking souls to and from the earth. But what happens when an angel is sent to retrieve the soul of his infant brother? Will he be able to do it? Will his mother stop him carrying off her last child like all the others? "The Tale of the Rustling" A fable of how the sounds of nature came into the world. "The Shadow" A man's matter-of-fact reaction to his wife's death triggers a series of rumours amongst his fellow villagers. Hermann Stehr (1864-1940) was a Silesian author of over thirty novels and novellas. He was awarded the Bauernfeld Prize (1910), the Fastenrath Prize (1919), the Schiller Prize (1919), the Rathenau Prize (1930), the Wartburg Rose (1932), the Goethe Medal for Art and Science (1932) and the Goethe Prize of Frankfurt-am-Main (1933), and appointed as a founding member of the Prussian Literary Academy (1926).

Set in medieval Venice, this captivating fairy tale retelling by award-winning author Donna Jo Napoli explores belonging, beauty, and the transformative power of love through the eyes of a teenage girl. Dolce has grown up hidden away on an island in a lagoon. She is a giant, a freak, tormented by everyone but her loving mother. She spends her time learning the valuable secret of making mirrors. Following a tragedy, Dolce swims away and lands on an island where people see her as normal, even beautiful. Marin, a kind widower, and his little daughter bring Dolce to live with them in their grand palazzo. Eventually, Dolce and Marin marry. She secretly continues to make mirrors, not realizing that quicksilver endangers her . . . and so evil begins in innocence.

TALES FOR THE NEW AEON Mother Nature Strikes Back - This time they pusehed her a little too far. Forum of the Earth - The Four Elemental Forces do a group project on the human race. The God Makers -The Bureau of Diety Fabrication is working overtime. Demon Therapy - She evoked a spirit to make rain, little did she know she would have to exorcise it before it kills her. Paradox -They went back in time to stop a terrorist and ended up altering the destiny of mankind. Venus and the Preacher - The Goddess of Love intervenes in the love life of a young preacher before he is swallowed by fundamentalist nonsense. Star Cops - An entity seeks revenge on a planet that destroyed his kind far in the past, and he's not a happy camper. Saga of the Stargun - Millennia ago they visited earth and created us; then they lost our file. Now they're back to repair their mess. Powered by Coitus - Sex can be used for more than just making love and babies, it can also power a UFO. Domingo's Dream - He came to America from deep in Mexico to save his family, following his Dream and His Holy Guardian Angel. The Great Thing of Slime - A parody of the Quest. A Relic for the Reich -The SS sought to find a relic of power for Hitler, instead they found a horror beyond their wildest nightmares. Rend...-A tear in space-time begins in a mouse's gut, and becomes an insatiable monster devouring and altering all that it touches. No Longer Let the Gods Be Mocked- The Devil's Daughter wants to rule America and the Earth, and she has what it takes to pull it off.

Originally published in 1904, this is a combination of Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary based on the following principles: First - A brief biographical notice of every important author known in literary history; Second - A bibliographical notice of his principal or best-known works.