Wherein things that can’t happen and ought not to happen do happen...! DASHIELL HAMMETT, in The Glass Key, The Maltese Falcon, etc., set a new standard for mystery stories. In the present selection he sets up a standard of excellence in stories of the weird, the fantastic, the supernatural, the almost incredible. He has chosen from various writers an honor roll of tales that send thrills to your mind and chills to your spine — none of which has ever before appeared in book form. Mr. Hammett’s introduction presents interestingly the basis of his selections.

В книгу входят произведения поэтов США, начиная о XVII века, времени зарождения американской нации, и до настоящего времени.

A profound examination of the mysteries of memory and perception from one of the twentieth century’s most admired literary artists. The train races from New York to Boston. For Andrew Cather, it is much too fast. He will return home three days early, and he is both terrified and intrigued by what he may find there. He pictures himself unlocking the door to his quiet Cambridge house, padding silently through its darkened halls, and finally discovering the thing he both fears and yearns to see: his wife in the arms of another man. Cather knows that what he finds in Cambridge may destroy his life, yet finally set him free. A masterful portrait of an average man at the edge of a...

A painter torn between his domestic arrangements and his artistic pursuits makes a fateful choice in this brilliant and provocative novel from a winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Timothy Kane brought his wife and young daughter to Cape Cod in order to find the peace and quiet necessary to paint. But the mood inside their small cottage is far from tranquil — a past affair weighs on Timothy’s conscience, and the strain of running a household by herself is causing Enid to resent her husband. To make matters worse, Timothy’s friend Jim Connor has decided to move to the Cape and bring a gaggle of their Greenwich Village acquaintances with him. A committed...

This indispensable volume, which includes the classic stories “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” and “Mr. Arcularis,” is a testament to the dazzling artistry of one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers. A young woman passes through the countryside to visit her dying grandmother for a final time. A cabbie, exhausted from a long day’s work, fights to get an intoxicated woman out of his taxi. A man on his way to a bachelor party tries to come to grips with the brutishness that lies within every gentleman—and finds that Bacardi cocktails do nothing to help.  A master craftsman whose poetry and prose offer profound insight into the riddle of consciousness, Conrad Aiken thrills,...

This tale of an exotic adventure undertaken in the face of tragedy includes a revealing portrait of Conrad Aiken’s friend and protégé Malcolm Lowry. Blomberg has loved Noni for what seems like his whole life. He loves her like he loves the sunset, like he loves the air he breathes. But beautiful, strange, impulsive Noni — who has spent years in a passionless marriage to one of Boston’s most notorious swindlers — has only a few months to live; her heart is about to give out. Before she dies, Noni begs Blom to finance a trip to Mexico, where she can obtain a quick divorce and marry the man she loves. That man is not Blom, however, but Gil — an upstanding young gentleman who is to know...

Inspired by the infamous case of Leopold and Loeb, King Coffin is a chilling glimpse into the mind of a twisted genius. The sun is setting over Harvard, and Jasper Ammen is not impressed. A brilliant student who loathes all that the world has put before him, he gazes with contempt at the beauty of the campus, the intellectual pretensions of his fellow students, and the gaudiness of the sunset, for none of these approaches the majesty of Jasper’s mind. A reader of Nietzsche and Stirner, he is convinced of his own superiority, and has decided to prove it in the most irrefutable manner: with the perfect murder. Ammen will choose his victim at random and commit the unsolvable crime...

In this autobiographical debut novel from one of America’s most acclaimed poets, a writer’s sentimental journey across the Atlantic becomes a crucible of heartbreak and mental anguish.William Demarest settles into his room, checks his pockets for his seasickness pills, and wanders onto the deck of the ship that will be his home for the next few days. The lights of New York City are still faintly visible, but Demarest’s mind is on London, where he hopes to be reunited with the woman he adores. He has spent countless nights pining for her and is finally ready to declare his love. In a state of feverish anticipation, Demarest steals onto the first-class section of the ship. There, to his...