Showing results by narrator "Mike Vendetti" in All Categories

Sit back, turn the lights down low, and get ready for the scare of your life. This audiobook contains four short stories from Drac Von Stoller's 31 Horrifying Tales from the Dead, read by Michael Vendetti. Immerse yourself into some of the best horrifying short stories ever told, including "Cemetery of the Living Dead", "Deathmas Day", "Grim Reaper", and "Tunnel of Death".

A gentleman enjoying the morning over the River Seine waves to a steamer, and the nightmare begins. He believes he may be going insane, but then he begins to feel there is an entity that he cannot see invading his mind and his home. The entity is perhaps an invader from another world. Guy de Maupassant's tale of classic horror will enthrall you.

We meet Evelyn as she is dumping a "male" friend who, in today's world, would be considered her lover. He probably was, but in 1920, they just did not say that in polite literature. Meet the bowl. It was a wedding gift to Evelyn from another suitor she dumped when she married Mr. Porter. As you might guess Evelyn is a beautiful yet rather shallow person. The male friend was about to leave but, unfortunately, Mr. Porter is walking up the drive. Evelyn hides her friend in the closet, but when he decides to leave he bumps into the bowl and it gives off a resounding alarm.

Most Americans celebrate Halloween as entertainment. They go to haunted houses, put on by mortals to scare them, and trick or treat in their neighborhoods. They even have Halloween parties in their homes, but Count Drac Von Stoller's family celebrates Halloween like mortals do on Christmas day.

This short story remains an enigma, as F. Scott Fitzgerald once again takes on the aristocracy. The heroine, Ardita, beautiful, rich, and spoiled rotten lounges on her uncle's yacht until she is carried away by an offshore pirate, Curtis Carlyle. Carlyle tells her of his upbringing as poor white trash in a Tennessee town, and his rise to become a successful musician - but one who has never been able to dance with the aristocracy. Until that is, the beautiful, spoiled-rotten Ardita falls in love with him, as much as she is capable of falling in love with anyone other than herself, on the deserted tropical island.

In the streets of Harrisburg, a man is killed in what appears to be a straightforward hit-and-run - until the victim turns out to have no identity whatsoever. Obituary writer Lenny Holcomb's ability to glimpse the secrets of his column's subjects leads him to suspect that his old friend, ex-congressman George Packard, may have had a hand in the "accident.” But if so, why do all the clues point to Packard's slick political rival?

Lois, a beautiful 19-year-old young woman travels to Baltimore to meet Harold, her love interest, as they consider a breakup. We never meet Harold; instead, the short story becomes more about Catholicism and the priesthood, as Lois first spends an afternoon with Keith, her 36-year-old brother, a seminarian in a Jesuit monastery. Lois and Keith have not seen one another for 16 years, so it is an extremely interesting reunion.

Bill Driscoll and Sam (we never learn his last name), a pair of turn-of-the-20th-century con men embark on quite an adventure. The pair need $2,000.00 to pull off a fraudulent town-lot scam in Western Illinois. They decide to kidnap the only son of a prominent Alabama citizen in the small town of Summit. They should've known when they grabbed their target, who was at the time throwing stones at a kitten, that it would be best to leave him alone. Particularly after he beans Bill with a brick. The situation does not improve with time. O Henry, famous for his humor, plays on words, and plot twists makes this a highly amusing short story.

Known as the "Prince of Preachers", Charles H. Spurgeon, although he preached in the mid-19th century, is still revered by Christians today. From his missive Morning by Morning, Mike Vendetti narrates Spurgeon's morning readings for the month of October.

This short story by O. Henry depicts the plight of a homeless person, Soapy, living in New York at the turn of the last century. A park bench is fine during the summer, but winter comes and Soapy needs a winter home. God willing to pay the price of philanthropy, Soapy determines to spend the winter months in jail. Now the problem is how to be arrested.

Linc Jackson and his buddy Rick Weaver thought they'd seen it all on the brutal battlefields of Desert Storm, but found themselves displaced and forgotten men when they came back to the States. Now, a year later, the opportunity of a lifetime suddenly drops in their laps.... That is, if they don't mind tiptoeing on the dark side to make the score. During a freak flood that causes havoc in the downtown business hub of Chicago, Linc and Rick put everything on the line as they execute a heist that they hope will put them on Easy Street for the rest of their lives.

The title of this short story by F Scott Fitzgerald is a bit deceptive and doesn't do this story justice. The four fists are actually four very valuable life lessons delivered with a fist.

When Stacey arrived at Bill Bateman's for her five year class reunion, she had no idea how a memory from her past would alter her future. In one innocent moment, a simple cordial act leads one on a path of jealous rage and another fighting for their life. Tempers flare, threats are exchanged, blood is shed, and the services of the homicide detectives are soon requested. In his second release, former homicide detective and award-winning author, Ken Lang, unveils the inner workings of a chaotic homicide unit.

This short story became possibly H.P. Lovecraft's favorite. Lots of things and possibilities going on here. A meteorite has crashed near a small farm west of Arkham, Massachusetts and strange things begin to happen. The life force seems to be being drained from living organisms near the well. The story is being told by a surveyor who is surveying the area prior to a damn being built that will flood the area with a lake. The potential problem is, the "thing" lives in the water of the well.

This is a simple story of a battle; such a tale as may be told by a soldier who is no writer to a reader who is no soldier. Ambrose Bierce wrote many fictional short stories about the Civil War. This is his experience at Shiloh.

It’s a dark and stormy night, and “The Raven”, read by award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti, transports us to a lonely chamber illuminated by firelight. The inhabitant who becomes the narrator hears a gentle tapping at the chamber door. The tapping is a raven who speaks one word, “Nevermore."

A Christmas Carol in Prose: Being a Ghost Story of Christmas by Charles Dickens. From the author's preface: "I have endeavored in this ghostly little book to raise the ghost of an idea, which shall not put any readers out of humor with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly." First published in December 1843, the story has been in continuous print ever since. A true treasure that never grows old.

Charles Boswell's short story "Monsters of Monarchy", Terror Tales, May 1940 features Roman emperor Caligula (12 BCE-24 CE), one of the most notorious Roman emperors. Known for his incestuous relationship with his sisters, and for his cruelty and madness, which culminated in Caligula naming his horse Roman consul and declaring himself a god. Caligula's brief reign and life turn into a complex and fascinating story of a boy-emperor thoroughly unprepared for the throne, who, in the early years of the Roman Empire, tried to make Rome an absolute monarchy but failed.

Playboy Wesley Harrison finds himself embroiled in a "Juke Joint" romance with Leona, the daughter of hillman Jubel Tandy, resulting in a very short-lived marriage. Leona is killed in a car wreck four weeks after their marriage. Leona's words, "Nothin's ever goin' to part us darlin' never. Your mine as long as we live an' after that we'll sleep together up there on the ridge." Comes back to haunt Harrison when Jubal advises him, "We mate only once here in the hills, Harrison! She is gone from you for little while, but you belong to her for all eternity and I will know if you fail her"

"Mistress of the Dark Pool" by Russell Gray is a captivating short story with elements of horror, sex, and suspense. First published in 1940 in the magazine Terror Tales. The story follows a young couple seeking solitude in the mountains, only to encounter a peculiar dog with human-like eyes. As the plot unfolds, they discover a local woman rumored to be a witch, and their encounter with her takes a dark turn.