Empires have been a fact of life for many thousands of years in all corners of the globe. Some have lasted a mere generation, others for a millennia. Some have defenders that cite advancements and security but detractors rail at the imposition of one culture upon defeated societies for no greater reason than conquest.

In this volume we put together stories from a wide range of classic authors, including Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Conrad, Talbot Mundy, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, H Rider Haggard and many others to view the British Empire both from the inside as subjects and from the outside as writers through engrossing narratives. These literary leviathans could observe, sample, question and report as part of an Empire upon which the sun never set and who's morals were sometimes good, but often bad, as it bestrode the world as Imperial policeman and bully-in-chief grabbing the profits of others as it imposed a Pax Britannica that was in reality only of real benefit to the elite at home.

Times may have changed yet these stores offer a fascinating insight into the world as it was.

1 - Tales of Empire - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction

2 - The Man Who Would Be King - Part 1 by Rudyard Kipling

3 - The Man Who Would Be King - Part 2 by Rudyard Kipling

4 - Long Odds by H Rider Haggard

5 - The Indian Orphan. A Tale by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

6 - The Lagoon by Joseph Conrad

7 - Those Who Wait by Ethel Dell

8 - The Metropolitian Emigrant by John Galt

9 - His Unconquerable Enemy by W C Morrow

10 - The Soul of a Regiment by Talbot Mundy

11 - An Outcast of the People by Bithia Mary Croker

12 - The Spectre Bridegroom by William Hunt

13 - The Maltese Cat by Rudyard Kipling