Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), a French author, was one of the most influential short story writers of the 19th century. 'Le Horla' is a truly terrifying story of a man, told through the pages of his diary, who is under the malign influence of some strange, invisible, parasitic being which saps his life energy. De Maupassant's clear, pragmatic language contrasts eerily with the ghastly and macabre narrative and draws the listener into the sheer terror of the situation.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his evocative and beautifully narrated ghost and horror stories. 'Mrs. Amworth' is arguably Benson's most famous story...and certainly one of the most terrifying. It tells the story of a mysterious outbreak of vampirism in the heart of a quiet English village.

Stoker became famous as a writer of horror and supernatural fiction, including his 1897 best seller Dracula. 'Dracula's Guest' was written as an action-packed chapter in Dracula, but it was never included in the final manuscript. It was published in 1914 as a standalone tale after Stoker's death.

'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' is a haunting ballad describing a young knight whose very lifeblood and vitality have been drained by a beautiful but parasitic, fairylike vampire. This knight has now been left as an undead shell of his former self, alone on a barren hillside.

Vincent O'Sullivan (1868-1940), born in New York to an Irish American family, moved as a child to London. As a young man, he soon became well recognised as the master of decadent and macabre fiction. 'Will' is the macabre tale of a man who is in the process of poisoning his wife using the most deadly, untraceable and secret poison ever discovered. His wife has realized what he is doing but is powerless to prevent her own death...but she vows to exact a ghastly and morbid revenge from beyond the grave.

'My Enemy and Myself' is a superbly sinister and gory tale of insanity, a love triangle, revenge, murder and supernatural retribution.

'The Piano Next Door' is an eerie tale about a man who hears beautiful and inspirational music emanating from the house next door. But when he goes to find out who played it, he finds something very strange....

'Ken's Mystery' is a wonderful story blending Gaelic folklore with Gothic mystery. Kenningale - or Ken, as his friends call him - has been on an educational trip to Europe from which he has returned with a mysteriously aged and rotting banjo. While in Ireland, walking home late on Halloween, he had met a mysterious and beautiful woman in a graveyard who asked him to play his banjo for her. Later the same night, he met her again...or was it her? And again she asked him to play. But why was she so cold and pale?

A gripping collection of outstanding American classic short stories by some of America's greatest writers: 'A Ghost Story' by Mark Twain; 'Pomegranate Seed' by Edith Wharton; 'Pigeons from Hell' by Robert E. Howard; 'Pickman's Model' by H. P. Lovecraft; 'The Adventure of the German Student' by Nathaniel Hawthorne; 'Absolute Zero' by Morgan Robertson; and many more.

John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922) was an American author, editor and satirist. 'The Ghost Club' is a lighthearted ghost story told by a prisoner who has been found guilty of burglary and the theft of a set of ornate silver teaspoons. His improbable story of how he came to be in possession of the spoons is extraordinary and charmingly engaging.

One of the most enduring themes in great literature is the eternal struggle between good and evil - often embodied in such devices as the werewolf, the doppelganger and the evil twin. This anthology presents a selection of the greatest short stories whose tension and drama revolves around the conflict of good and evil.

'The Grinding of the Mills' is the bizarre tale of two men born at the same moment in the same hospital but from very different backgrounds. It appears that key future events in their lives are predetermined by the timing and location of their birth...although given their different characters and circumstances, they respond in very different ways to similar challenges. When the men meet, their relationship takes a dramatic turn. At their first meeting, one saves the life of the other. Later on, events cause one to resolve to murder the other.

Stephen Crane (1871-1900) was a prolific American poet, novelist, and short story writer. He is recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation. 'The Black Dog' is a supernatural tale of a group of travellers who seek shelter in a remote cabin where an old man lies dying. They hear from the man's nephew of a local tale that when death arrives, it is preceded by the appearance of a ghostly black dog which howls outside the house.

A spine-chilling collection of fantastical and enchanting classic short stories. 'The Wolf Book' by Henry Chapman Mercer; 'Absolute Zero' by Morgan Robertson; 'An Uncommon View of It' by W. C. Morrow; 'The Baumoff Explosive' by William Hope Hodgson; 'Absolute Evil' by Julian Hawthorne; 'The Dolls' Castle' by Henry Chapman Mercer; 'The Legend' by Edith Wharton; 'A Tropical Horror' by William Hope Hodgson; 'Castle Valley' by Henry Chapman Mercer; 'Passing of a God' by Henry S. Whitehead.

John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922) was a popular American author, editor and satirist. 'The Speck on the Lens' is the story of an oculist who is approached by an unusual character holding a strange tin box. He introduces himself as the inventor of a special telescopic device with very unusual properties...but it is accessible only to someone with a very unique type of eye. The oculist, he says, has this kind of eye. The doctor puts the device to his eye and is astounded by what he sees. But then he perceives a strange speck on the lens...and things take a weird turn....

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole (1884-1941) was a New Zealand-born English novelist famous for his skill at scene setting and vivid plots. He was a best-selling author in the 1920s and 1930s and remains popular to this day. 'The Last Trump' is an engaging and tense story about a man who believes he has calculated the exact date and time of the end of the world. It will occur at 11:45 pm on January 20, 1929.

Morgan Andrew Robertson (1861-1915) was a popular American author of short stories and novels who claimed to have been the inventor of the periscope. 'The Trade Wind' is the strange and unsettling story of a ship where all the crew are mysteriously struck blind after a night of drinking rum in the tropics...a condition called moon blindness, for which there is no available cure.

Lady Bessie Kyffin-Taylor was an English writer famous for her outstanding supernatural stories, which were published in a single volume in 1920, just two years before her death. The Twins is one of Kyffin-Taylor's most famous novelettes. It tells the bizarre tale of identical twin brothers. One brother is hell-bent on evil and constantly contrives to ensure his twin is blamed for his ill-doing.

Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930) was an American short story writer, archeologist, artifact collector, tile maker, and designer of an extraordinary castle in Pennsylvania called Fonthill. 'Castle Valley' tells the strange supernatural tale of an artist who gazes into an old crystal and sees a vision of a beautiful Gothic castle, with which he gradually becomes obsessed.

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, 1928 and 1930. 'The Legend' is the story of a mysterious stranger who has been brought into hospital after being found collapsed in a park. As the man is destitute and in need of recuperation, Dr. Bob Wade takes an interest in the man and offers to take him home until he is well again.