Classic Horror Fiction

Madness and incantations in the nightmares of poets. Vicious ancient cults in the mountains and swamps. A corpse city rising in the sea. After Professor Angell meets a sudden and mysterious end, Francis Thurston, while sorting through his uncle's papers, makes a fateful discovery that ties these malignant manifestations together.

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?

Strangling vines and meat-hungry flora fill this unruly garden of strange stories, selected for their significance as the seeds of the villainous (or perhaps just misunderstood) 'killer plant' in fiction, film and video games. Step within to marvel at Charlotte Perkins Gilman's giant wisteria and H.G. Wells' hungry orchid; hear the calls of the ethereal women of the wood and the frightful drone of the moaning lily; and do tread carefully around E. Nesbit's wandering creepers. Every strain of vegetable threat can be found within this new collection.

The Dualitists recounts the tale of the Bubb family, childless for very long but finally blessed with twins. Two friends lived in the houses surrounding the Bubbs, Harry and Tommy, but they were forbidden to see each other because of the trouble they caused. Harry and Tommy began to secretly meet in the Bubb's garden, bringing with them their knives and items to destroy with the knives. Soon, items are not enough for the boys and they begin dueling, then killing animals. But their thirst could not be quenched.

Charles Dexter Ward is a young man from a prominent Rhode Island family who has disappeared from a mental asylum. He had been incarcerated during a prolonged period of insanity, during which he exhibited minor and inexplicable physiological changes. His empty cell is found to be very dusty. The bulk of the story concerns the investigation conducted by the Wards' family doctor, Marinus Bicknell Willett, in an attempt to discover the reason for Ward's madness and physiological changes.

Sir Charles Ravenstreet, in his mid-50s, is unmarried, childless, and lives only for his work in the fast-paced world of business. When he is forced out of his job to make room for someone younger, Sir Charles finds himself at a loose end and facing the dismal prospect of an empty future.

Stephen Norman is to inherit her father’s vast fortune and estate. She seeks to ask Leonard Everard (a wastrel) to marry her, but only to prove that she can ask a man to marry her and defy 19th-century convention which says a man can only ask a woman to marry. This sets into motion a showdown between two old rivals for her hand in marriage, as Harold An Wolf (a gentleman) is in love with her.

It was the eye. The dull, sightless, vulture's eye that shredded his final nerve. But the murder was done so carefully, so perfectly, that only one thing could reveal the whereabouts of the body. B. J. Harrison gives a masterful reading of the famous murder that wouldn't keep quiet. This audiobook was the #3 best-selling audiobook in 2008 at the iTunes Music Store!

In una sera di tempesta del 1816, Lord Byron propone quasi per gioco agli amici riuniti nella sua villa in Svizzera di scrivere un racconto dell'orrore. Folgorata da una spaventosa visione notturna, Mary Shelley, allora diciannovenne, scrive "Frankenstein". Il romanzo, che narra la storia agghiacciante di uno scienziato dall'ambizione prometeica e della sua mostruosa e straziata creatura, ottiene un immediato successo. Per la sua forza di mito universale, è da allora uno dei grandi classici della letteratura.

The Jewel of the Seven Stars is the frightening tale of an archeologist determined to bring the ancient Egyptian Queen Tera back from the dead. Abel Trelawny sets out to fulfill his dark agenda, but he needs the help of the young lawyer Malcolm Ross. Convinced that Malcolm's interest in his daughter will help persuade him to go along with the evil plot, Trelawny sets his plan in motion. None of them could anticipate the horrifying consequences of his diabolic actions. Will Malcolm go along with Trelawny's evil plan?

An eclectic collection of many of the spookiest classic tales of horror, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The New Catacomb"; Edgar Allan Poe's "Masque of the Red Death", "Hop-Frog", and "The Cask of Amontillado"; W. W. Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw"; Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"; and Algernon Backwood's "The Willows".

The Castle of Otranto is regarded as the first Gothic novel. The son of Manfred, Prince of Otranto, is mysteriously killed on his wedding day by a huge helmet. The event leads to a fast-paced story of jealous passion, intrigue, murder and supernatural phenomena unfolding in an atmosphere of thunderclaps, moonlight, and dark castle walls mirroring the inner turmoil of the characters themselves.

Orphans Clara and Jacob Marley live by their wits, scavenging for scraps in the poorest alleyways of London, in the shadow of the workhouse. Every night, Jake promises his little sister ‘tomorrow will be better’, and when the chance to escape poverty comes their way, he seizes it despite the terrible price. And so Jacob Marley is set on a path that leads to his infamous partnership with Ebenezer Scrooge. As Jacob builds a fortress of wealth to keep the world out, only Clara can warn him of the hideous fate that awaits him if he refuses to let love and kindness into his heart....

In best-selling author Katie MacAlister’s Love in the Time of Dragons, suburban mom Tully Sullivan wakes up in a far-off place surrounded by strangers—many of them muscular, sexy ones—claiming to be dragons. They insist Tully is a dragon, too, and that she’s committed crimes deserving of death. Now Tully must disprove the allegations before time runs out.

No time like the present to figure out one's future. That's a nice platitude, but what if you are a demon? And the former Queen of Hell? Pandora saved an angel, Katie, when she could have stayed in hell and all but assured Earth would fall to Moloch. But now, she has a conundrum. Further complicating things, Katie is acting very out of character, and Pandora needs to help her friend find her bearings once more.

A female killer stalks the streets of London, sleeping with young men before slashing their throats and mutilating their bodies. The crimes have baffled the police and enraged Londoners, who demand the murderer's arrest. Mary, Duchess of Dove, a gentle young widow who is beloved by all who know her, seems an unlikely suspect, but the clues all point to her. The police have a variety of theories - perhaps the Duchess has been hypnotized or drugged, maybe she has an evil double, or could it be a Communist plot to discredit the peerage?

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story of Quasimodo, the Romani street dancer Esmeralda and Quasimodo's guardian, the Archdeacon Claude Frollo in 15th-century Paris.

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.

The King in Yellow is a book of 10 classic short stories about the supernatural. The first four mention "The King in Yellow", a forbidden play which induces despair or madness in those exposed to it. The tales have a macabre undertone, focusing on characters that are inhabitants of the demi-monde.

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?