Featured Ebooks
Welcome
It's time to settle in with a good book during these long summer days and embark on an exciting adventure. Select your adventure story and allow yourself to be transported into a world of excitement. Happy reading!
Contemporary Poetry Books
Great Pirate Stories
Ready for adventure? Gear up for an unforgettable ride on the high seas. This collection of swashbuckling tales and rip-roaring yarns will provide hours of entertainment. It's a must-read for any fan of classic pirate lore from the golden age of the genre.
King Solomon's Mines
Written in 1885 by Sir H Rider Haggard, it immediately became a best seller. The story is about a group of explorers who are searching in a remote part of Africa for the brother of one of the parties, led by Allan Quartermain. At the time of publication, exploration of remote parts of the world was in its prime and this book was the first to reflect this and therefore set the standard.
Cinco Becknell
Cinco Becknell is the story of a homeless man with no memory. Locked in the emptiness of his mind is a secret, a past, which will either keep him alive or get him killed. As Cinco staggers through a dangerous journey of rediscovery, he is hunted by psychopaths who want to kill him, and he has no idea why; he is shadowed by a woman who may keep him alive - or not; and he is finally helped by another woman who can bring back to him the light he looks for - if he can stay alive. But he is running out of time, and people around him are dying, always violently. Gradually, he begins to understand the true, brutal, nature of himself and the darkness of his past. But it is a past, and a present, that he may never fully understand. This novel, based on generations of violent, local family history, is set in the underbelly of the pseudo-glitzy streets of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Shipwrecked!
Shipwrecked! An Entertainment - The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougement (As Told by Himself) is a ripping yarn about a Victorian castaway, given a contemporary twist. A story about the nature of storytelling, based on a Victorian hoaxer's tale of being a castaway in the South Pacific - complete with buried treasure, a giant killer octopus, and much more.
The Tale of Cho Ung
The Tale of Cho Ung is one of the most widely read and beloved stories of Chos Korea. The anonymously written tale recounts the adventures of protagonist Cho Ung as he fearlessly confronts and overcomes obstacles and grows into a heroic young man. As a child, Ung flees a wicked tyrant who wrongfully killed his father and took advantage of the emperor's death to seize the throne from the young prince. Driven by his passion, righteousness, and sense of duty, he pursues retribution and restores justice. His journey, from its innocent beginnings to his final triumph, unfolds as a complex tapestry of loyalty, honor, retribution, and love interspersed with threads of romance and the supernatural. This first translation into English of The Tale of Cho Ung offers a glimpse into the vernacular and popular literature of the late Chos period, exemplifying the types of stories and heroes that were favored by its reading public. The tale emphasizes individual affections and ethics between child and parent, husband and wife, subject and ruler, pupil and teacher, yet explores human life in all its complexity, even subtly dissenting against traditional Korean social norms
The Sea-Wolf
Jack London's thrilling narrative of the seven seas remains just as gripping today as it was 100 years ago A classic tale of adventure at sea, this is the story of the naïve young Humphrey van Weyden, whose ship is wrecked in a terrible storm. He is rescued by the mysterious Captain Wolf Larsen of the ship Ghost. Humphrey's new life aboard Ghost will test him to the limits of his endurance but also bring him the greatest happiness he has ever known. Captain Wolf Larsen is a powerful, brutal man with razor-sharp intelligence. When there is an attempted mutiny on board he shows no mercy to the would-be mutineers, and when his brother Death Larsen attempts to take over the Ghost by force, there is no love lost between them in their vicious battle. Wolf's cruel manner is thrown into sharp relief by the gentle spirit of the beautiful poetess also rescued, Maud Brewster, who charms both Wolf and Humphrey. As Humphrey falls in love with Maud, he must contend not only with the dangers of being at sea but with competition from his cruel and scheming captain. This dramatic tale of mutiny and shipwreck is at its heart the story of a love that flourishes in the unlikeliest of places.
Meeting the Dead
Set on a plantation in northern Peru, against the backdrop of El Niño and the resulting storms and floods, Meeting the Dead tells the story of two young Americans who get caught up in a blood feud between two powerful Peruvian families. The plot revolves around John Hauser, a Texan who accompanies his friend David Leroy on a journey of discovery to South America. John must decide whether to sell the ranch his father has left him or to keep a deathbed promise to his father and return home to work the land. While in Peru, John forges a relationship with local landowner Heim Ulmson and gets involved in Heim's struggle to keep his plantation from being stolen by a prominent banker, Don Enrique de la Cruz. As John finds himself drawn into the fight between the Ulmson and de la Cruz families, he becomes romantically involved with Heim's beautiful neighbor, Linda de la Piedra. David also pursues Linda, causing a rift between the two best friends. As the storms worsen and the floodwaters rise, John discovers supernatural elements to the blood feud between Heim and Don Enrique and finds himself being forced to murder by a means he never imagined possible.
The Scarlet Pimpernel
A timeless novel of adventure, intrigue, and romance is sparked by one man's defiance in the face of authority...The year is 1792. The French Revolution, driven to excess by its triumph, has turned into a reign of terror. Daily, tumbrels bearing new victims to the guillotine roll over the cobbled streets of Paris... Thus the stage is set for one of the most enthralling novels of historical adventure ever written. The mysterious figure known as the Scarlet Pimpernel, sworn to rescue helpless men, women, and children from their doom; his implacable foe, the French agent Chauvelin, relentlessly hunting him down; and lovely Marguerite Blakeney, a beautiful French exile married to an English lord and caught in a terrible conflict of loyalties-all play their parts in a suspenseful tale that ranges from the squalid slums of Paris to the aristocratic salons of London, from intrigue on a great English country estate to the final denouement on the cliffs of the French coast.
The Worst Journey in the World
The Worst Journey in the World is the autobiographical account of a disastrous Antarctic expedition by one of its survivors. Cherry-Garrard's account of the expedition is held in high regard, because of his frank, unflinching discussion of the horrors and trials he survived for such perhaps arbitrary goals.
South
In 1914 Sir Ernest Shackleton, aboard the Endurance, set off on an expedition to complete the first ever land-crossing of the Antarctic continent - coast to coast via the South Pole. This is the story of that fateful voyage, told by Shackleton himself.
The Sea Hawk
The Sea Hawk is a seafaring adventure set at the end of the sixteenth century. A retired Cornish gentleman is betrayed by his jealous half-brother and ends up a slave on a Spanish galley. He is freed by Barbary pirates and he joins their crew, swearing vengeance on his brother. The pirates name him "Sakr-el-Bahr": the hawk of the sea.
Apollo 13
"Houston, we've had a problem." On April 13, 1970, the three astronauts aboard the Apollo 13 spacecraft were headed to the moon when a sudden explosion rocked the ship. Oxygen levels began depleting rapidly. Electrical power began to fail. Astronauts James Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise were about to be stranded in the inky void of outer space. The mission to the moon was scrapped. Now, Apollo 13's only goal was to bring the crew home. With the damaged spacecraft hurtling towards the moon at roughly six thousand miles per hour, there was little hope of success. But the astronauts and mission control were fully prepared to do whatever it took to return the crew to Earth. This space disaster occurred at the peak of the United States' Space Race against the Soviet Union. But for four days in 1970, the two nations put aside their differences, and the entire world watched the skies, hoping and praying the astronauts would return safely.
The Moon Voyage
In The Moon Voyage, famed author Jules Verne, best known for works such as A Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days, sets his sights on the prospect of interstellar travel. Adeptly combining humor and science fiction, Verne's fictional account of the journey to the moon presciently presages many aspects of the trip that the Apollo astronauts took a century after the text's publication.
The Mysterious Island
Although The Mysterious Island is technically a sequel to Vernes' enormously popular Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, this novel offers a vastly different take on similar thematic motifs. As with all of Verne's best-known works, The Mysterious Island is a masterpiece of the action-adventure genre, with a heaping dash of science fiction influence thrown in for good measure.
One Man's Climb
A deeply moving story of the beauty and brutality of life, and death, on the world's most unpredictable and perilous mountain. Sitting just lower than Everest at 8,611 meters above sea level on the China-Pakistan border, the Savage Mountain claims the lives of even the most experienced climbers. Alongside severe altitude, the weather is notoriously volatile and the climb is relentlessly steep. A staggering one in four attempts result in death on the mountain. In One Man's Climb, Adrian Hayes details an intensely personal account of his attempts to climb K2 - first in 2013 and again in 2014. Absorbing and self-reflective, his journey is as much a story of climbing a mountain as it is a testament to the human spirit's ability to endure.
Odyssey
Widely regarded as one of the finest works of literature in the Western canon, Homer's Odyssey is a masterpiece of classical epic poetry. The tale follows the travels of the Greek hero Odysseus as he strives to return to his homeland after waging battle in the Trojan War. Long presumed dead after a 20-year absence, Odysseus finally returns to his native Ithaca and is forced to fight to resume his long-lost life and save his family from ruin. The Odyssey is a can't-miss experience for cultured readers.
Captain Blood
Captain Blood is an adventure story set during the end of the seventeenth century. Dr. Peter Blood is an ex-soldier and sailor whose work as a physician on the battlefield sees him convicted for treason and sent as a slave to the Caribbean. Blood's talents are soon recognized, though he doesn't remain on the plantation for long. When the Spanish attack, Blood is among a group of formerly enslaved persons who capture their ship and become some of the most feared buccaneers of the Caribbean.
A Journey to the Interior of the Earth
A Journey to the Center of the Earth, also translated as A Journey to the Interior of the Earth, follows a man, his nephew, and their guide down an Icelandic volcano into the center of the Earth. There they encounter an ancient landscape filled with prehistoric animals and natural dangers. There is some discussion as to whether Verne believed that such things might be found in the center, or whether he shared the alternate view, expressed by another character in the novel, that it was not so.
So Bright a Darkness
Okafor ran wildly through the jungle, the phantom captain and his ghoulish platoon in hot pursuit. The faster he ran the more they gained on him. The earth suddenly became marshy and slippery under his feet, impeding speed and balance. He came to an intersection where the jungle paths crossed and saw a mound of earth about four feet high. Just beyond the mound stood a giant Iroko tree. Intuitively, he knew that if he jumped over the mound and quickly climbed up the tree, the ghostly captain and his soldiers would lose him. Eons merge in interstellar whirls. Realism, science fiction, and fantasy fuse to drive this drama of transition, cross-civilization, and self-discovery.
The Black Arrow
Richard Shelton is a young knight during the Wars of the Roses. We see him ascend and rescue his lady love. He then seeks revenge against his father's murderer, but when the evidence points towards his guardian he is forced to go into hiding. He joins the band of outlaws known as the Black Arrow.