Classic Horror Fiction

Vril, the Power of the Coming Race (1870) by Edward Bulwer-Lytton is an early science fiction novel. The setting is a strange subterranean world inhabited by beautiful entities that resemble the angels described in scripture. The advanced beings known as Vril-ya live underground - using the mysterious "Vril" as an energy source - but intend to reclaim the surface of the earth as their own. The narrator ends up deep inside the Earth via a natural chasm in a mine shaft.

At first blush, Widdershins is a conventional haunted house story involving an unsuccessful writer who moves into an empty house in hope that isolation will help his failing creativity. His sensitivity and imagination are enhanced by his seclusion, but his art, his only friend, and his sanity are all destroyed in the process. It can be interpreted as narrating the gradual possession of the protagonist by a mysterious, possessive feminine spirit, or as a realistic description of a psychotic outbreak culminating in catatonia and murder, told from the psychotic subject’s view.

The bloody-minded Montresor leads the pompous Fortunato deep into the catacombs, seeking the famed Amontillado wine. Here we have one of Poe’s most terrifying, and most “beloved” tales. Revenge and pomposity commingle beneath the river’s bed, leading to a delightfully sinister conclusion.

Ambrosio, the worthy superior of the Capuchins of Madrid, falls to the temptations of Matilda, a fiend-inspired wanton who, disguised as a boy, has entered his monastery as a novice. Ambrosio then falls in love with one of his penitents and finally kills her in order to escape detection. However, he is discovered, tortured by the Inquisition and sentenced to death.

This volume starts with the famous M. R. James story of occult revenge, "Casting the Runes", about a slighted occultist out for murderous revenge using his diabolical black arts to achieve it. It was adapted into the equally chilling movie Night of the Demon in 1957. Next up is another famous classic, W. W. Jacobs' "The Monkeys Paw", a brilliantly written tale of greed and getting what you wish for. The third story is "Hop-Frog" by Edgar Allan Poe - a classic yarn about the grisly revenge conjured up by a mistreated court jester.

With its irrepressible heroine and playful literary games, Northanger Abbey is the most youthful and optimistic of Jane Austen's novels. It tells the story of young, impressionable Catherine Morland, whose first experience of fashionable society introduces her to the thrills of gothic romances, and to the sophisticated Tilneys, who invite her to their family home, Northanger Abbey. But there, influenced by novels of horror and intrigue, Catherine begins to think that terrible crimes are being committed, and her imagination threatens to run away with her.

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, Poe's only full novel, is one of his most unusual works. A riveting story, toldl in the first person, it tells of a disastrous sea voyage involving storms, mutiny, starvation, thirst - and a mysterious conclusion. Jorge Luis Borges and Baudelaire were among those who rated it highly. This recording was timed to mark the 200th anniversary of Poe's birth.

When Philo Drax receives a letter from her wealthy grandfather saying he fears for his life at the hands of the vicious Slape family, she rushes to the rescue. But too late! Katie Slape, a monstrous girl with psychic powers and a penchant for smashing skulls with her hammer, has already finished him off and gotten hold of his cash.

Kat Dubois has been sidelined. With a single word from Heru - no - her plans to save humanity from the Cascade Virus one mortal at a time are put on hold indefinitely. But Kat's not willing to sit by, watching the world as she knows it crumble around her. While Heru awaits a miracle discovery that may never come, Kat shuns his orders and takes rogue action. Thanks to her trusty deck of tarot cards, she knows that at least the universe is on her side. Probably.

Since the first appearance of a vampire in Robert Southey’s Thalaba the Destroyer, we mortals have endured a morbid fascination with these peculiar creatures of the night. They come in many forms: charming and seductive; ghastly and terrible. Join us as we explore a number of classic yarns concerning the various guises of the vampire, from Aleksey Tolstoy’s horrifying description of a vampiric family to Robert E. Howard’s tale of a creature loosed from bondage after having been buried for over three centuries. Thank the gods these creatures are fictitious…aren’t they?

Esta apasionante obra de 1897, escrita en forma de novela epistolar, plasma de modo artístico las investigaciones de Bram Stoker acerca de los vampiros en el folclore europeo. Así vemos como el letrado británico Jonathan Harker emprende una fatigosa jornada hacia la región de Transilvania, en los montes Cárpatos, para dar consejo legal al tenebroso conde Drácula, quien pretende comprar tierras en Gran Bretania como paso inicial de un malévolo plan de dominación del mundo.

The unifying factor of this collection is that, without exception, every author included here was in some way or another involved with or interested in the occult. In some cases, they were members of an occult organization, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Theosophical Society, or similar such groups. Others simply had a strong personal interest in the subject matter or practiced some form of the esoteric sciences in private.

Heathcliff was to serve as the name for the ragged orphan whom Mr. Earnshaw found abandoned in the streets of Liverpool and took home to live with his own children, Cathy and Hindley, at Wuthering Heights. The stormy life of the mysterious Heathcliff, his love for Cathy and his relationships with the people who lived at Wuthering Heights and at nearby Thrushcross Grange make up Emily Bronte's classic novel.

A young man who was exiled from his love for one year due to the wishes of her parents, finds himself in Paris. With not much else to do to pass his time, having seen most of the city and its suburbs, he begins exploring further away from Paris itself. His wanderings lead him to a strange, dusty village and into the dangerous house of an even stranger couple. At first he is thoroughly entertained by the conversation the odd old woman has to offer him, and even more engrossed once her strange husband joins the conversation as well.

In The Dunwich Horror, Lovecraft lays further ground in the Cthulu mythos. Alongside The Dunwich Horror are the stories "Dagon", "The Call of Cthulhu", "The Lurking Fear", "Imprisoned with the Pharoahs", "The Music of Erich Zann", "Randolph Carter", "In the Walls of Eryx", and "The Transition of Juan Romero".

In this gripping work of historical fiction, Endore's werewolf, an outcast named Bertrand Caillet, travels across pre-Revolutionary France seeking to calm the beast within. Stunning in its sexual frankness and eerie, fog-enshrouded visions, this audiobook was decidedly influential for the generations of horror and science fiction authors who came afterward.

When we left Sophie Edwards at the end of Savy Wisdom 2, Sophie had earned her joy: loving husband, beautiful baby, successful career. The only gray cloud in Sophie’s life was the death of her dear friend and mentor, Savy, also known to the world as billionaire Stephen Alexander Vaughan.

Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist Edith Wharton was most well known for her novels that illuminated privileged life in the 19th century, such as The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth. In addition to her award-winning novels, she also wrote poetry and short stories. Collected here are some of her best works of short fiction, including: "The Eyes", a famous ghost story; "The Daunt Diana", which tells about the love of art; "The Moving Finger", an eerie story about a man clinging to his wife's memory; and "The Debt", a story of loyalty.

The four original stories on this highly praised recording were inspired by an October moon in New England.

Join Dale on his greatest journey yet. The world has grown so much bigger than he had ever realized, and he is doing everything he can to stay one step ahead of the rest of the game. But no matter what he does, can he truly get ahead of the curve, and earn the strength to govern his worlds?