Finn J. D. John

This volume contains the stories that nearly everyone agrees are the best work of H. P. Lovecraft's life. Chronologically, it is the second book in a three-volume omnibus set comprising the complete fictional works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Highlights of this volume include: Cool AirThe Call of CthulhuPickman's ModelThe Colour out of SpaceThe Dream-Quest of Unknown KadathThe Case of Charles Dexter WardThe Dunwich HorrorThe Whisperer in DarknessAt the Mountains of MadnessThe Shadow over InnsmouthThe Dreams in the Witch HouseThe Thing on the DoorstepThe Shadow out of TimeThe Haunter of the Dark

This is Volume Two of a two-volume omnibus set comprising the complete fictional works of Howard Phillips Lovcecraft. Every story written for publication under his own name is included in this set, from 1917 through 1935. (Poems, ghost-written material and stories written in collaboration with other writers are not included.)Highlights of this volume include: - The Color out of Space- The Case of Charles Dexter Ward- The Dunwitch Horror- The Whisperer in Darkness- At the Mountains of Madness- The Shadow over Innsmouth- The Dreams in the Witch House- The Thing on the Doorstep- The Shadow out of Time- The Haunter of the Dark

Shanghaiers ... weird cults ... dumb criminals and clumsy power grabbers ... Since 2008 the Offbeat Oregon History syndicated newspaper column has entertained and informed Oregonians with the weirdest, quirkiest, funniest, and most outrageous true stories in the surprisingly long history of their young state. Now, for the first time, those stories have been collected together, re-researched, augmented with freshly discovered information, and presented to readers in book form This is Volume 3, in which you'll find a collection of the worst ideas ever tried - ideas like ...... using dynamite to get rid of a beached whale ...... leaving a wife and family to start a "free love health cult" in Honduras ...... making a cable tram service out of logging parts and a couple of city buses ...... passing a law stripping brides of their citizenship at the altar ...... selling milk out of the same buckets you use to slop the hogs ...... try to take a skunk pelt using your bare hands ...... build a sternweel riverboat powered by cows ...... build a monument at the county courthouse honoring a mass murderer ...... and 37 more You'll also find some of the most certifiably horrible characters in any state, ranging from "lovably horrible" characters like Old Joe Huddlestun, the grumpy neighbor who blew up his local schoolhouse with dynamite because the kids were too loud at recess, to seriously awful characters like ex-Governor Charles Martin, who, as an Army general after World War I, supervised the deliberate and systematic breaking of the spirit of an entire divisional cohort of returning war heroes. Not to mention ...... Luther Powell, Oregon's top leader of the multi-level marketing version of the Ku Klux Klan ...... Greenberry Smith, the pioneer who stole his neighbor's land from his wife and kids after he died ...... the DeAutremont Brothers, history's most incompetent but deadly train robbers ...... "Bud" Thompson, prickly Southern newspaper editor, who escalated a feud with another paper to a gunfight ...... L. G. Carpenter, the shyster lawyer who tried to steal a neighbor's land by having him shanghaied ...... Larry Sullivan, godfather of Portland shanghaiers and later mining-stock swindler ...... "Ma Anand" Sheela Silverman, architect of the biggest domestic biological-warfare attack in U. S. history ... You'll find a total of 62 of them in this 468-page book, along with more than 100 vintage photographs, newspaper clippings, and other pieces of art.

Hercule Poirot made his first public appearance in 1920 at the age, one guesses, of about 60. He finally breathed his metaphorical last in 1975 at the age of maybe 75 or 80. And in that short span of time - either 55 years or about 20, depending on how you count it - Poirot became one of England's most profitable and ubiquitous export commodities. But it's very clear that his creator, Agatha Christie, did not at first intend for it to go that way. She made a very definite attempt to end the Hercule Poirot saga in the mid-1920s, when his story consisted simply of three novels and 25 short stories. It is that first Hercule Poirot bibliography, the one Christie clearly intended to leave for posterity when she typed up the last few words of "The Crag in the Dolomites" sometime in 1924, that is presented in this collection.

Deadly lovers ... outlaw couples ... serial killers and deadly strangers ... Since 2008 the Offbeat Oregon History syndicated newspaper column has entertained and informed Oregonians with the weirdest, quirkiest, funniest, and most outrageous true stories in the surprisingly long history of their young state. Now, for the first time, those stories have been collected together, re-researched, augmented with freshly discovered information, and presented to readers in book form This is Volume 2, in which you'll find the Beaver State's most seamy, salacious, and lethal stories: Love affairs turned unexpectedly deadly, vigilantes with drawn guns and ready ropes, mother-son murder teams, brothers avenging their sisters' seduction, husbands gunning for suspected homewreckers, and cold cases whose perpetrators are lost in the mists of time. You'll find a total of 59 of them in this 384-page book, along with more than 100 vintage photographs, newspaper clippings, and other pieces of art. Here's a selection of our favorite stories from this book ... The Dynamite Vamp: Someone killed Oliver Kermit Smith with a massive dynamite bomb planted under his car seat ... and police soon figured out who. But did Smith's wife really put the killer up to the job, like a real-life version of Nicole Kidman's character in "To Die For"? The Ex-Police Chief: At the pay the city of Sandy was offering, Otto Austin Loel was the only man willing to take the job. He didn't turn out to be much of a bargain ... but it wouldn't be until several years later that the townsfolk learned about a blood-spattered hotel room, and how much worse their former top cop could have been. The Conjugal Jailbreak: By far the most embarrassing jailbreak in state history happened when a murderer simply walked out the back door of a Motel 6 during an unsupervised "conjugal visit" with a woman officials thought was his fianc e ... The Filial Bomber: Surreptitiously, Jack Graham had taken out big insurance policies on his mother before her flight to Portland. On the big day, he figured the airliner would be way out over the Wyoming mountains before the bomb he'd planted in her suitcase went off; but the plane got out late .... The Unwritten Law: For a couple decades around the turn of the last century, if a murderer could convince a jury that his victim had been a "home-wrecker," he could expect to be not only acquitted, but lionized as a brave and noble domestic hero. Central Oregon's Angel of Death: "Professor" Ray V. B. Jackson just happened to be on hand, playing the role of helpful witness, at almost every high-profile murder scene in Lake and Harney counties, for decades. What were the odds? The Alibi Wanderers: Claude Branton and Courtland Green had left Condon with a wealthy rancher and murdered him on the way. Only then did they realize how bad it would look to show up at their destination without him ... so they began a desperate quest for an alibi." Diamond Bill" Barrett earned his nickname by sweet-talking a jewelry store into letting him borrow a $55,000 diamond, which he promptly hocked. Later, he deployed that charm to sweet-talk two heiresses into marrying him, then disappeared with showgirl Sidi Wirt Spreckels' $100,000 string of pearls. But the mystery remains: Did he really steal Sidi's pearls ... or did he fence them for her?

Heroes and Rascals ... Shipwrecks and Lost Gold ... Since 2008 the Offbeat Oregon History syndicated newspaper column has entertained and informed Oregonians with the weirdest, quirkiest, funniest, and most outrageous true stories in the surprisingly long history of their young state. Now, for the first time, those stories have been collected together, re-researched, augmented with freshly discovered information, and presented to readers in book form -- starting with this volume, in which we've selected the most inspirational heroes, the most scurrilous rascals, and the most hilariously quirky mavericks of our state. Here's a selection of our favorite stories from this book ... Heroes: Joel Munson, lighthouse keeper: When a deadly shipwreck threw a battered lifeboat up on the beach, he restored it and used it to start Oregon's first surf-rescue service. Mary G. Leonard, attorney: After being accused and acquitted of murdering her husband, this erstwhile housewife became the first female attorney in Oregon - and, effectively, its first law clinic for the poor. Capt. Robert Pamphlet, rumrunner: With a hold full of Scotch, at the height of Prohibition, he took the risk of sailing into American waters to rescue a lifeboat full of shipwrecked sailors ... and paid for his heroism with a prison sentence. Mavericks: "Uncle Joab" Powell, circuit preacher: He was the most famous preacher on the West Coast, so when Oregon's first Legislature convened and started looking for a chaplain, they naturally thought of him. They soon wished they hadn't. Joe Knowles, wilderness-survival guru: Joe was the Bear Grylls of the 1910s, but was dogged by rumors that he'd cheated on the "naked in the woods" stunt that made him famous. So he came to Oregon for a rematch with Mother Nature ... Art Lacey, gas-station owner: Art heard the government was selling war surplus B-17s for super cheap, so he went to Arkansas and bought one. But getting the big bird home to Milwaukie would be the adventure of a lifetime. Rascals: James Lappeus, gambler, liquor peddler and police chief: Portland's first (and, arguably, most colorful) chief of police was the owner of a fine saloon, theater and gambling palace that was rumored to also employ prostitutes. Maud Myrtle Johnson, actress and insurance fraudster: She made so much money faking injuries on passenger railroads that the claims agents formed a professional association just to catch her ... which they finally did. Harry Virtue, doctor impersonator: He was getting by as an itinerant fake veterinarian when Harry heard an acquaintance, Dr. Richard Barber, had died heroically while racing to save a patient. So he moved far away, assumed his identity, and went into the doctoring business. Paul Remaley & al., bootleggers: Their boat had hit a rock, the feds had seized their liquor, and their friends were locked in the county jail awaiting trial. Paul's mission: Break them out -- and save the booze, too. And there are tons more

Robert E. Howard is best known today for his "sword-and-sorcery" stories. But in the early 1930s, he was a legend in boxing circles for his humorously over-the-top adventure stories starring the sailor Steve Costigan, champ of the Sea Girl -- the toughest trading vessel on the Seven Seas. Steve is an A. B. mariner and amateur boxer, with a heart of gold -- and a head of solid wood. In these 21 tales, he blows around the waterfronts of various Far East ports with his white bulldog Mike, getting swindled by clever dames, pummeling the occasional underworld criminal, and getting into epic fistic battles with anyone who can take a good punch -- in or out of the ring. Here's a taste -- the first four paragraphs of "Circus Fists" ME AND THE Old Man had a most violent row whilst the Sea Girl was tied up at the docks of a small seaport on the West Coast. Somebody put a pole-cat in the Old Man's bunk, and he accused me of doing it. I denied it indignantly, and asked him where he reckoned I would get a pole-cat, and he said well, it was a cinch somebody had got a pole-cat, because there it was, and it was his opinion that I was the only man of the crew which was low-down enough to do a trick like that. This irritated me, and I told him he oughta know it wasn't me, because I had the reputation of being kind to animals, and I wouldn't put a decent skunk where it would have to associate with a critter like the Old Man. This made him so mad that he busted a bottle of good rye whiskey over my head. Annoyed at such wanton waste of good licker, I grabbed the old walrus and soused him in a horse-trough-us being on the docks at the time. The Old Man ariz like Neptune from the deep, and, with whiskers dripping, he shook his fists at me and yelled, "Don't never darken my decks again, Steve Costigan. If you ever try to come aboard the Sea Girl, I'll fill you fulla buckshot, you mutineerin' pirate ""Go set on a marlin-spike," I sneered. "I wouldn't sail with you again for ten bucks a watch and plum duff every mess. I'm through with the sea, anyhow. You gimme a bad taste for the whole business. A landman's life is the life for me, by golly. Me and Mike is goin' to fare forth and win fame and fortune ashore."

Heroes and Rascals ... Shipwrecks and Lost Gold ... since 2008 the Offbeat Oregon History syndicated newspaper column has entertained and informed Oregonians with the weirdest, quirkiest, funniest, and most outrageous true stories in the surprisingly long history of their young state. Now, for the first time, those stories have been collected together, re-researched, augmented with freshly discovered information, and presented to readers in book form -- starting with this volume, in which we've selected the most inspirational heroes, the most scurrilous rascals, and the most hilariously quirky mavericks of our state. Highlights of this volume include ... And over 50 others.

This volume contains the stories that nearly everyone agrees are the best work of H. P. Lovecraft's life. Chronologically, it is the second book in a three-volume omnibus set comprising the complete fictional works of Howard Phillips Lovcecraft. Highlights of this volume include: Cool Air The Call of Cthulhu Pickman's Model The Colour out of Space The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath The Case of Charles Dexter Ward The Dunwich Horror The Whisperer in Darkness At the Mountains of Madness The Shadow over Innsmouth The Dreams in the Witch House The Thing on the Doorstep The Shadow out of Time The Haunter of the Dark

This volume covers H. P. Lovecraft's "apprentice years" roughly the first half of his literary career, the half written before his return to Providence in 1926. Every story written for publication under his own name is included in this volume, from 1917 through 1925. Highlights of this volume include: The Tomb Dagon The Doom that Came to Sarnath The Temple The Picture in the House The Nameless City The Outsider The Other Gods The Music of Erich Zann Herbert West, Reanimator The Hound The Lurking Fear The Rats in the Walls The Shunned House The Festival The Horror at Red Hook In the Vault Supernatural Horror in Literature

This volume is part of the three-book Pulp-Lit Omnibus Collection of all the fiction writing of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. It presents the works of weird fiction which he ghostwrote or on which he collaborated with another author. Highlights of this volume include: Under the Pyramids, with Harry Houdini; The Mound, with Zealia Bishop; Two Black Bottles, with Wilfred Blanch Talman; The Horror in the Burying- Ground, with Hazel Heald; The Disinterment, with Duane W. Rimel; The Night Ocean, with Robert Barlow; In the Walls of Eryx, with Kenneth J. Sterling; The Electric Executioner, with Adolphe de Castro; The Diary of Alonzo Typer, with William Lumley; . . . and over 20 more.

This volume covers H. P. Lovecraft's "apprentice years" roughly the first half of his literary career, the half written before his return to Providence in 1926. Every story written for publication under his own name is included in this volume, from 1917 through 1925. Highlights of this volume include: The TombDagonThe Doom that Came to SarnathThe TempleThe Picture in the HouseThe Nameless CityThe OutsiderThe Other GodsThe Music of Erich ZannHerbert West, ReanimatorThe HoundThe Lurking FearThe Rats in the WallsThe Shunned HouseThe FestivalThe Horror at Red HookIn the VaultSupernatural Horror in Literature

This volume is part of the three-book Pulp-Lit Omnibus Collection of all the fiction writing of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. It presents the works of weird fiction which he ghostwrote or on which he collaborated with another author. Highlights of this volume include: -Under the Pyramids, with Harry Houdini; -The Mound, with Zealia Bishop; -Two Black Bottles, with Wilfred Blanch Talman; -The Horror in the Burying- Ground, with Hazel Heald; -The Disinterment, with Duane W. Rimel; -The Night Ocean, with Robert Barlow; -In the Walls of Eryx, with Kenneth J. Sterling; -The Electric Executioner, with Adolphe de Castro; -The Diary of Alonzo Typer, with William Lumley; . . . and over 20 more.