Moonlit Tales of the Macabre - Small Bites

Dostoyevsky was never shy to play with the issues of human mind in his work. A Funny Man's Dream is one of his shorter pieces that, nevertheless, lacks none of the profundity or the mind-bending power of his larger works.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is considered a very "real life" writer, his feet solidly on the ground at all times. The Black Monk is his foray into madness and mysticism to rival the likes of Dostoyevsky, Saltykov-Shchedrin, and Kuprin.

It is difficult to combine mysticism with humor, but Alexander Grin takes on the challenge and comes out with flying colors. For all its mystical and mythical references, An Incident at the Apartment of Madam Cerize, is quite a heartwarming story, giving all of us some hope that, sometimes, powers that be do care.

A brilliant and acerbic piece of satire by journalist, writer, and human rights activist Vladimir Korolenko, in the unusual form of a spooky story.

A reminder from the master storyteller Alexander Kuprin—sometimes, there are but a few steps between your own front door and unimaginable horror.

Prince Vladimir Odoyevsky's beautifully written and powerful take on the age-old question: "What would happen if you received exactly what you wanted?"

While making rounds in an old palace, a devout, dyed-in-the-wool supporter of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution meets an unexpected visitor and gets to hear his thoughts on the latest events and allocation of power.

A prominent scholar and narrator of Russian history, Count Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy was also heavily influenced by German Romanticism and old Gothic tales. Here is his own foray into the macabre story genre—a novel as complex and tangled as any palace intrigue.

Best known for his poetry and historic novels in the style of Sir Walter Scott, Alexender Bestuzhev-Marlinsky takes a turn down a different path with A Terrible Prophecy and delivers classic spooky tale on the dangers of having one's wishes fulfilled to the letter.