Classic Horror Fiction

A cosmic collection of bone-chilling and terrifying short horror stories by Laurie Blake.

Victoria Winters at last feels she has a clue to her own identity when she meets elderly Henry Collins. He secretly gives her the jewels which once belonged to his lost love - a woman Victoria strangely resembles. After receiving the gift, Victoria is suddenly terrified by attacks on her life which are masked as accidents. Surrounded by danger, Victoria wonders if she is to be the victim of ruthless thieves - or a hidden murderer desperate enough to keep her from learning about her past.

Volume ten launches with Doug Bradley's well-researched insight into the stories and their authors. This is followed by HP Lovecraft's evocative tale of exploration, "The Strange High House in the Mist". Next we hear Ambrose Bierce's truly chilling "A Diagnosis of Death", and Jeffery Combs reads Edgar Allan Poe's classic revenge tale, "The Cask of Amontillado".

"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a narrative short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839 in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine before being included in the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque in 1840. The short story is a work of detective fiction and includes themes of madness, family, isolation, and metaphysical identities.

Dracula is the seminal gothic horror novel of its time as Bram Stoker introduced the world to the legendary vampire Count Dracula. Published in 1897 and told through a series of diary entries and letters, the story journeys into the dark world of Count Dracula through the eyes of several different narrators. The novel explores many themes, the role of women in Victorian culture, conventional and conservative sexuality, immigration, colonialism, post colonialism and folklore.

"The Cask of Amontillado" (sometimes spelled "The Casque of Amontillado") is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. The story, set in an unnamed Italian city at carnival time in an unspecified year, is about a man taking fatal revenge on a friend who, he believes, has insulted him. Like several of Poe's stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, the narrative revolves around a person being buried alive – in this case, by immurement.

Hours before his wedding, fifteen-year-old Conrad, heir to the house of Otranto, is crushed to death. His father, Manfred, Lord of Otranto, sees only one recourse to protect the family lineage. He will divorce his wife and marry the boy’s bride-to-be. Her wishes be damned. When the fearful and resistant Isabella takes flight, Manfred follows in mad pursuit. But it is he who must outrun a greater fear: a curse cast on his family generations ago.

Before H.P. Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, Stephen King and Anne Rice, Henry James wrote hair-raising stories that made horror a popular, sometimes controversial, widely-read literary form, and set the bar for all who followed. Stephen King considers James’ The Turn of The Screw one of the best horror novels ever penned.

London, 1885. Gabriel Utterson, a 17-year-old law clerk, has returned to London for the first time since his life—and that of his dearest friend, Henry Jekyll—was derailed by a scandal that led to his and Henry's expulsion from the London Medical School. Whispers about the true nature of Gabriel and Henry's relationship have followed the boys for two years, and now Gabriel has a chance to start again. But Gabriel doesn't want to move on, not without Henry. His friend has become distant and cold since the disastrous events of the prior spring, and now his letters have stopped altogether.

Swimming, basketball, archery. King Jellyjam's sports camp has it all. Too bad Wendy isn't a total sports freak like her brother, Elliot. But how excited can you get over a game of softball. It's just a game, right? WRONG. Camp Jellyjam is no ordinary sports camp. And Wendy's about to find out why. Why the counselors seem a little TOO happy. And why they are so obsessed with winning. It might have something to do with the hideous, slimy discovery lurking in the darkness....

Con Poe nacería el terror como género, fruto de sus obsesiones y de su corta vida errante. Transmutó el gótico alemán utilizando las claves del Romanticismo, anticipándose un siglo a los miedos y a los deseos más íntimos del hombre moderno. Las maldiciones ancestrales, las fuerzas ingentes y desatadas de la naturaleza, son elementos con los que el autor tratará de contagiar al lector para enfrentarlo al pavor de sus miedos más profundos.

Edgar Allan Poe est considéré comme l'inventeur du conte moderne. Les deux textes qui suivent, "Le Corbeau" et "Double Assassinat dans la rue Morgue", en sont la parfaite illustration. Dans un style inimitable, l'auteur arrive à créer des atmosphères dont lui seul a le secret. Sans nul doute, il s'agit ici de deux chefs-d'oeuvres de la littérature, histoires à la fois captivantes et universelles que la traduction de Charles Baudelaire vient sublimer.

In the pulse pounding continuation of the V Plague series, John, Rachel and Dog have escaped from Atlanta, finding refuge at an Air Force Base in Tennessee. After being recalled to active duty, John strikes a deal with the Army that will help him rescue his wife in Arizona, but all of his plans are quickly put in jeopardy as a second wave of infection rips through the surviving population.

When modern-day occultist Aaron Pace discovers the secrets of inter-dimensional travel via a mystical pathway called The Labyrinth, he wastes no time in exploring a multitude of strange new worlds and alternate realities. But then, Aaron finds himself trapped in the most bizarre dimension of all - a place where dinosaurs coexist with giant robots, where cowboys fight reptilian lizard people, and where even the grass can kill you. This is a world populated by the missing and the disappeared, a world where myth is reality and where the extinct is reborn.

Voici 7 nouvelles fantastiques courtes de H.P. Lovecraft : "Dagon", "Celephaïs", "La musique d'Eric Zann", "Mémoire", "Azatoth", "Les chats d'Ulthar", "Nyarlathotep". Stephen King a dit de Lovecraft qu'il était "le plus grand artisan du récit classique d'horreur du vingtième siècle." Ses sources d'inspiration, tout comme ses créations, se réfèrent à la notion d'horreur cosmique, selon laquelle l'être humain est insignifiant à l'échelle du cosmos qui lui est profondément étranger.

Laura and her father live a quiet life in their remote castle in the dense forests Styria. It is a solitary existence for young Laura, who has no companionship except for her governess and the occasional visits of neighbouring gentry. Into this lonely life comes the mysterious house guest, Carmilla. Slowly Laura falls under Carmilla's spell. Whilst she is both attracted and repulsed by Carmilla, she seems unable to find the energy to resist her.

H. P. Lovecraft is arguably the most important horror writer of the 20th century. Culled from his 1927 essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature”, Lovecraft acknowledges those authors and stories that he feels are the very finest the horror field has to offer, including Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, Guy de Maupassant, Ambrose Bierce, and Arthur Conan Doyle. This chilling collection includes 20 works, each prefaced by Lovecraft's own opinions and insights in each author’s work.

Written in 1786, this Asian fantasy tells the story of a dissolute and debauched Caliph, Vathek. Having become obsessed with power and immortality, Vathek embarks on a journey to obtain supernatural powers, in pursuit of which he proves willing to renounce his religion and sacrifice both his children and his soul. We follow Vathek’s remarkable travels to the subterranean palace of Eblis, where his ultimate fate awaits him. Among the themes explored in Vathek are ambition, desire and the consequence of unbridled power

A young musician in England who has been suffering from depression and a nervous ailment goes on holiday in order to recuperate. While abroad, she meets an Italian artist, Cellini, who gives her a special draught for relaxation. The young woman has divine visions under the influence of the strange potion which she longs to have again. Cellini takes her to a doctor who describes himself as an “electric physician,” and with his help she is able to experience more visions. With each vision she learns more about religion and the destiny of mankind, but it is not enough.

In a desolate orphanage in what remains of post-Communist Romania, a desperately ill infant is given the wrong blood transfusion - and flourishes when he's supposed to die. The discovery of his unique immune system may hold the key to the long-awaited cure for cancer and AIDS - and a link to a clan of vampires.