Books with author RICHARD CONNELL

Rainsford sprang up and moved quickly to the rail, mystified. He strained his eyes in the direction from which the reports had come, but it was like trying to see through a blanket. He leaped upon the rail and balanced himself there, to get greater elevation; his pipe, striking a rope, was knocked from his mouth. He lunged for it; a short, hoarse cry came from his lips as he realized he had reached too far and had lost his balance. The cry was pinched off short as the blood-warm waters of the Caribbean Sea closed over his head.He struggled up to the surface and tried to cry out, but the wash from the speeding yacht slapped him in the face and the salt water in his open mouth made him gag and strangle. Desperately he struck out with strong strokes after the receding lights of the yacht, but he stopped before he had swum fifty feet. A certain cool-headedness had come to him; it was not the first time he had been in a tight place. There was a chance that his cries could be heard by someone aboard the yacht, but that chance was slender, and grew more slender as the yacht raced on. He wrestled himself out of his clothes, and shouted with all his power. The lights of the yacht became faint and ever-vanishing fireflies; then they were blotted out entirely by the night.Rainsford remembered the shots. They had come from the right, and doggedly he swam in that direction, swimming with slow, deliberate strokes, conserving his strength. For a seemingly endless time he fought the sea. He began to count his strokes; he could do possibly a hundred more and then——Rainsford heard a sound. It came out of the darkness, a high, screaming sound, the sound of an animal in an extremity of anguish and terror. - Taken from "The Most Dangerous Game" written by Richard Connell

Short and sweet, Richard Connell's 'The Most Dangerous Game' reads as well as it did when it was written nearly a century years ago. A model in lean prose that sticks to the story without unnecessary embellishment, Connell's masterpiece manages to expose weighty issues of war, ecology, and human nature that remain relevant today. There is no preaching here - simply a well-told tale. This little gem set the foundation for decades of authors and screenwriters who've picked up on the basic man-hunter theme. At half the price of a movie, "The Most Dangerous Game" is worth a detour back to one of the key building blocks of modern pop fiction.

Winner of the 2018 IRDA for fantasy / 2018 Reader's Favorite Gold Medalist#1 Best Seller in Canadian Dark Fantasy99% liked it (Goodreads)A deformed genius plots vengeance while struggling to survive. A wastrel prince comes of age, finding a power he never imagined. Two worlds will collide. Only one can be king.★★★★★ "This dark fantasy epic will be held up against George R.R. Martin's masterwork, A Song of Ice and Fire. Read this book now so you can act pompous around your friends when HBO turns it into a television series." - Goodreads★★★★★ "Kings of Paradise presents a brutal world of complex yet simple politics, reminiscent of Game of Thrones. An intriguing low-magic world packed with interesting cultures to be further delved. Nell shows considerable skill in displaying his world distinctly through the eyes of his different characters." - Fantasybookreview.co.uk-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ruka, called a demon at birth, is a genius. Born malformed and ugly into the snow-covered wasteland of the Ascom, he was spared from death by his mother's love. Now he is an outcast, consumed with hate for those who've wronged him. But to take his vengeance, he must first survive.Across a vast sea in the white-sand island paradise of Sri Kon, Kale is fourth and youngest son of the Sorcerer King. At sixteen, Kale is a disappointment. As the first prince ever forced to serve with low-born marines, Kale must prove himself and become a man, or else lose all chance of a worthy future, and any hope to win the love of his life.Though they do not know it, both boys are on the cusp of discovery. Their worlds and lives are destined for greatness, or ruin. But in a changing world where ash meets paradise, only one man can be king...-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The first installment of an epic, low- fantasy trilogy. Kings of Paradise is a dark, bloody, coming-of-age story shaped by culture, politics, and magic.★★★★★ "The novel’s brilliant world works on so many levels; it has a rich political landscape, moral complexity, and immense environmental challenges, all told in beautiful, thoughtful prose." - Indiereader★★★★★ "A must for lovers of fantasy, especially those who enjoy losing themselves in a epic tale." - Reader's Favorite★★★★★ "The world that Mr. Nell has created is pretty incredible. But the thing that really made me love this story was the characters he filled that world with." - Goodreads ★★★★★ "If Kale changes, Ruka grows and festers like a storm. Without a doubt, the darker of the two characters, I feel Richard Nell has created a compelling and classic character here." Goodreads

The Most Dangerous Game is the popular short story originally published in 1924 which was written by Richard Connell. This is the story of a big game hunter who is trapped on an island with a fellow hunter, who is uninterested in hunting stereotypical prey, and instead decides that the only prey worthy of his skills is other humans. This title is often required reading in middle schools, and has been since adapted into movies and extended versions. This title is the original version by the author, and is considered one of the greatest short stories ever written.

“The Most Dangerous Game”, also published as “The Hounds of Zaroff”, is a story by Richard Connell, first published in Collier’s on January 19, 1924. The story features a big-game hunter from New York City who falls off a yacht and swims to what seems to be an abandoned and isolated island in the Caribbean, where he is hunted by a Russian aristocrat. The story is inspired by the big-game hunting safaris in Africa and South America that were particularly fashionable among wealthy Americans in the 1920s. The story has been adapted numerous times, most notably as the 1932 RKO Pictures film The Most Dangerous Game, starring Joel McCrea and Leslie Banks, and for a 1943 episode of the CBS Radio series Suspense, starring Orson Welles. It has been called the “most popular short story ever written in English.” Upon its publication, it won the O. Henry Award.