A somewhat puerile satire with the same attitude as Candide, but not a lot of humor and no plot. It concerns the notes of several lectures to students on the topic of conning and bilking people for your own advantage.

A story really only marred by the technology of the time--tape recorders. In a society broken into castes, each caste is broadcast music each night that will soothe and reassure it. A newspaper reporter interviews Mr. Pettigill, the man who has been in charge of the tapes and broadcasts for 20 years. The reporter's idle question sets a chain of events going.
It's a two-character story, and the characters have little back-story, but the plot was entertaining.

A very well-translated story of an officer of the Tsar's navy who is betrayed by his younger brother and branded a traitor. He flees Russia and is shipwrecked on an island between the Baltic and Sea of Finland. He builds a tower there and passes himself off as a Satanic Alchemist.
Years pass, and he gradually trains his son to be the instrument of his revenge.
The story moves along quite well, and the main characters are well-drawn.

An odd ghost story without a ghost. Set in Switzerland, it is the overheard story of another place. Why Switzerland? why not just tell the story? Beats me.
The story itself is thin and unfrightening.
Not one of Chuck's better efforts.

The Liverpool to New York undersea tube is basically a large pneumatic tube. Built at the end of the 20th century, it has been up and running for three years when one of the tube's engineers confides to a friend that it is not safe. The friend is leaving for Europe in the tube the next day. When disaster strikes, there is only one survivor to tell the story.
No women were harmed in the making of the story, as the only woman in it is already dead and crumbles to dust.
An account of the rescue of the survivor would have been interesting, but it just happens with no details.
The story is so old and quaint that it creaks.

A new pastor and his wife are coming to a (very) small Norwegian fishing village. They upend the community, and petty scandals run rampant.
The story is charming, full of guilt, pride, and tenderness. The characters are well-drawn.
The transcription is full of errors that make the book confusing at times. Things like, "telegraph operator, hep own betrothed," "his hat a thought on one side going," "with red dish whiskers," "the fisherf oik," ""Ho 1" said Rolandson," "smiling all the tirrxe as he talked," "get that sister of yours married to the aan?\" "-she s. Ao-t quite suvc. which one it is." "brewing thrpygh his nostrils"
It's hard to become engrossed in a story that's so badly done.

A middle-school girl born with a boy's body has to make a choice: either surgically change her body to female and be terribly scarred, or undergo brain surgery to make her feel male.
She only wants to be comfortable with her body, so she makes a choice, and her world changes.
Good characterizations and nice anguish; it's a lesson on what we do to fit in.

One of the earliest, therefore simplest, tellings of the Robin Hood story. The raids on the Sheriff of Nottingham, the archery contest trap, etc., were all fabricated later, or much later.
This is the story of the outlawing of the Earl of Locksley, and the kidnapping of the woman who would become Maid Marian. They are chastely married, and pursued all over England by the horrid Sheriff.
Peacock was a poet, and the writing is quite good, especially the descriptions and characterizations.
Disguises figure prominently, and are remarkably effective, even on close friends.
All in all, a nice little adventure story without too much slaughter.

A book whose writing can only be described as Art Deco--ornate and detailed. The story has odd twists and lush descriptions.
The fault with the e-book is the numerous transcription errors, hun for him, aback for a back, etc. The errors drop puzzles in the middle of a nicely flowing story.
A despot rules the city a thousand years in the future, controlling the machines and peons that operate the city for the benefit of the ruling rich (it's fiction--pretend such a thing could happen.) The despot's son rebels against his father and disappears among the workers, finding love.
The characterizations are very good, and the plotting circuitous. It is quite sympathetic to the common man, but recognizes his ability to riot. Oddly, she admired the Nazis.
I was disappointed to see characters die, then turn out to be okay after all. It happened four or five times.
A very different sci-fi novel, still a good commentary today.

A ripping yarn of a rich woman who is being blackmailed putting her affairs in the hands of her doctor.
Actually, a fairly mundane story with a contrived twist ending.