Sign-In
Cart
Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking: And Other Collected Short Stories
Audio Book
Classic FictionGeneral Fiction
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
Publisher: John D. Rayburn
Published: Dec 14 2021
Language: English
William Sydney Porter had an unusual personal history. He got a job as a teller and bookkeeper at a Texas bank when he was twenty-nine. He did what could be called some careless bookkeeping, and it appeared he may have embezzled some funds. No charges were made until about four years later when an audit found the previous shortages, and he was arrested. Bail was posted by his father-in-law, and Porter headed out to unknown places, living in Honduras for a while. When he returned to the states, he was indicted and sent to prison. It was there his talents ripened for writing creative short stories that featured a lot of twists and turns with surprise endings and a lot of witty narration; he actually wrote more than a dozen tales while behind bars.
From that writing while incarcerated he decided this is what he would like to do, and the decision led to 381 short stories over the years. He saw the name Henry in a newspaper society column, and that was also the last name of one of the prison guards he'd had. One or the other, perhaps a combination, led to him using it as a pen name. He felt he had to have one because publishers would be leery of using his material due of his lurid background.
In spite of the checkered past, he wound up with a very respectable reputation, and there's a road in his birthplace, Greensboro, North Carolina, named O. Henry Boulevard, overlooking his misdeeds of the past. He was a heavy drinker, and the habit led to death at the early age of 47.
We begin with a story published in McClure's magazine, December 1899. This was the first story published under the pseudonym O. Henry. Let's listen.
Also from
Henry, O.
A Timeless Christmas: A Giftable Collection of Classic Christmas Stories and Seasonal Poetry
Alcott, Louisa May
Baum, L. Frank
Henry, O.
Hardcover
The Ransom of Red Chief: And Other O. Henry Stories for Boys (Hardcover)
Grant, Gordon
Henry, O.
Hardcover
The Ransom of Red Chief: A Hilarious Tale of Kidnapping Gone Wrong - Mischief, Irony & Unexpected Consequences (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)
Zengerink, Tim
Henry, O.
Hardcover
The Ransom of Red Chief: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Level 1, Traditional Character Edition
Henry, O.
Paperback
The Ransom of Red Chief: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Level 1, Simplified Character Edition
Henry, O.
Paperback
Cabbages and Kings by O. Henry, Fiction, Literary, Classics, Short Stories
Henry, O.
Porter, William Sydney
Hardcover
An American Christmas Treasury: A Collection of Classic Holiday Stories of Joy, Magic, and Tradition
Alcott, Louisa May
Henry, O.
Hardcover
The Most Dangerous Game and Other Stories of Adventure: Richard Connell, Jack London, O. Henry, Clark Ashton Smith, John Kruse & Rudyard Kipling
Henry, O.
London, Jack
Connell, Richard
Paperback
Learn German with Short Stories by O. Henry: Improve Your Vocabulary the Fun and Easy Way
Henry, O.
Paperback
Oxford Bookworms Playscripts: One Thousand Dollars and Other Plays: Level 2: 700-Word Vocabulary
Henry, O.
Escott, John
Paperback
The Gift of the Magi: A Heartwarming Christmas Classic of Love, Sacrifice & the True Spirit of Giving (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)
Henry, O.
Zengerink, Tim
Hardcover
The Best American Humorous Short Stories
Henry, O.
Johnston, Richard Malcolm
Holmes, Oliver Wendell
Paperback
The Best Short Stories Volume II: Chosen in 1914 by the Most Prominent Authors of the Day
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Kipling, Rudyard
Henry, O.
Paperback
Pharmacopée Francaise Ou Code Des Médicamens: Nouvelle Traductiod De Codex Medicamentarius, Sive Pharmacopoea Gallica...
Ratier, Félix-Séverin
Henry, O.
Hardcover
Verschenkbuch zum Jahreswechsel: 5 klassische Weihnachtsgeschichten
Maupassant, Guy De
Henry, O.
Baum, Lyman Frank
Paperback
O. Henry's New York: The Immortality Of A Great City Portrayed In Some Of The Best Short Stories Of All Time
Adams, J. Donald
Henry, O.
Paperback
O. Henry Papers: Some Sketches of His Life Together with an Alphabetical Index to His Complete Works
Henry, O.
Paperback
A Christmas Treasury -Classic Stories, Poems, and Holiday Favorites for the Whole Family
Henry, O.
Dickens, Charles
Baum, L. Frank
Paperback
The Best Short Stories Volume III: Chosen in 1914 by the Most Prominent Authors of the Day
James, Henry
Bulwer-Lytton, Edward
Henry, O.
Paperback
Also in
General Fiction
Elizabeth Spencer: Novels & Stories (Loa #344): The Voice at the Back Door / The Light in the Piazza / Knights and Dragons / Stories
Spencer, Elizabeth
Hardcover
Anniversaries, Volume 2: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl, April 1968-August 1968
Johnson, Uwe
Paperback
Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams: Short Stories, Prose, and Diary Excerpts
Plath, Sylvia
Paperback
Selected Writings: Robert Musil: Young Torless, Three Women, the Perfecting of a Love, and Other Writings
Musil, Robert
Agee, Joel
Paperback
Before Gatsby: The First Twenty-Six Stories
Baughman, Judith
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
Bruccoli, Matthew J.
Paperback