Mark Twain in an AI World
Twain’s stories, kept whole and carried forward. Each one as he wrote it, annotated and illustrated, with a modern retelling alongside.
Every story, three ways
Every story here is presented three ways:
- As Twain published it
- Retold in plain modern English
- Drawn as a graphic novel
The stories
Every Twain story as he wrote it, annotated, with a plain-English retelling beside it. Free to read, right here.
Browse the storiesThe books
The collected paperback, and each story on its own as a fully illustrated graphic novel on Kindle.
See the booksFeatured story
A True Story
by Mark Twain
Twain’s 1874 Atlantic piece, and his first serious writing about slavery. On a summer porch, Aunt Rachel answers a thoughtless question, and her own words carry the whole story. Annotated, and kept exactly as Twain set it down.
Latest edition
Political Economy
by Mark Twain
Twain’s 1870 sketch of a man who sits down to write a grand essay on political economy while a lightning-rod salesman quietly buries his house in iron. Annotated, with a modern retelling.
The Story of the Bad Little Boy
by Mark Twain
Twain’s 1865 send-up of the Sunday-school moral tale, in which the wicked boy steals, cheats, and breaks the Sabbath, and every promised punishment simply never arrives. Annotated, with a modern retelling.
The Story of the Good Little Boy
by Mark Twain
Twain’s 1870 companion piece, in which Jacob Blivens does every good deed by the book and is punished for all of it. Annotated, with a modern retelling.
How I Edited an Agricultural Paper Once
by Mark Twain
Twain’s 1870 sketch of a man who edits a farm paper without knowing the first thing about farming. He shakes turnips down from the tree and rears the guano bird, the town gathers to gape at him, and the paper has never sold better. Annotated, with a modern retelling.
In print
Volume Two: Five Stories, Three Ways
by Mark Twain, retold by R. M. Hume
Five more of Twain’s short pieces, from a matched pair of Sunday-school satires to A True Story, the serious closer. Each is printed as he published it and told again in pictures as a graphic novel; the four comedies also get a plain modern English retelling. The Story of the Bad Little Boy, The Story of the Good Little Boy, How I Edited an Agricultural Paper Once, Political Economy, and A True Story, together in one paperback.
Volume One: Five Stories, Three Ways
by Mark Twain, retold by R. M. Hume
Five of Twain’s funniest short pieces, each printed three ways: the story as he published it, the same story retold in plain modern English, and the story told again in pictures as a graphic novel. The Jumping Frog, Journalism in Tennessee, The Invalid’s Story, The Stolen White Elephant, and Baker’s Blue-Jay Yarn, together in one paperback.
The essays
Stay in the loop
Every edition keeps Twain’s words exactly as he wrote them. Everything around them, the notes, the retellings, and the illustrations, is new work by R. M. Hume, made with the help of AI.
More about the project