What would you do if your conscience no longer nagged you?

Thankfully, I can now read Hemingway to you. This story is a powerful way to start. It’s a tale of duty, pain, suffering, racism and so much more. It has myriad twists and turns and all manner of fascinating subplots for such a short story. You may need to listen more than once.

Hemingway penned this early work at the age of 24, shortly after the birth of his first child (which may explain the subject matter) by his first wife. It wasn’t published until 1925 and later became part of his first short story collection.

Since we just shared a cat story, how about another one from our story archive?

Here is a biting satire of Victorian Era British upper class from the perspective of the family cat who gains a startling new skill.

Saki was the pen name of British author, H.H. Munro who was one of true masters of the short story.

Being a dog person, some of my favorite stories feature dogs. It only seems fair to feature a feline character. And you couldn’t ask for a story than one from a two time Pulitzer Prize winner.

This story was part of Booth Tarkington’s extremely popular Penrod stories, that, during their day rivaled the popularity of Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Tarkington is only one of three authors to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction. The other two: Faulkner and Updike.

While forward to the future we often forget the darkness that is part of life.

A young man's longing for love is briefly fulfilled on one moonlight evening on the sea off the coast of Cannes.

Welcome aboard an early 20th Century trans-pacific ocean liner where one is likely to be stuck for weeks with any number of unusual characters. Of course, we are likely to put a great deal of stock in first impressions when it often pays to wait to get to know someone.

Never a darling of the critics, W. Someset Maugham (the W is for William) was a prolific author and playwright. He was best known for his short stories many of which were fictional global travelogues. Because so many of his works were turned into early motion pictures, Maugham was the world’s best paid writer in the 1930s.

A rural mountain couple struggle with their differences, anger, and overpowering love for each other.

So far, all of our public domain stories were created prior to 1925. However, there are a few newer tales that are no longer copyright protected. From one of the world’s best science fiction writer’s comes a tale of idioms and aliens.

Essentially, this story is a long dad joke. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I, a dad, did.

Even if you don’t know his name, you know the work of Philip K. Dick. Several of his books and stories have been adapted into movies and Tv shows like: Total Recall, Minority Report and Man in the High Castle. He died in 1982 of a stroke just four months before his blockbuster movie, Blade Runner opened.

"The Willow Walk" is a dark, thriller by one of American’s greatest writers featuring some fascinating characters, shocking twists and powerful imagery. It is also one of our longest stories at over one hour.

In addition to winning a Pulitzer Prize, Sinclair Lewis was the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1930. Like many great artists he had a brief, truly brilliant period after which the quality of his work declined markedly.