Classic Literature Short Stories

This audiobook contains four short stories by O. Henry, including "A Retrieved Reformation", "The Cop and the Anthem", "The Gift of the Magi" and "The Ransom of Red Chief".

Under the Sunset is a fairy tale written by the famous Bram Stoker, writer of Dracula. This little tale is about a land described as 'under the sunset' and the story of what happens when hearts grow cold.

In these selections, an animal plays an important role in the action or plot of the story. The animals in these stories are real or are stand-ins for humans: Sredni Vashtar by Saki (H. H. Munro) Kholstomer, The Story of a Horse by Leo Tolstoy A Dark-Brown Dog by Stephen Crane Kashtanka by Anton Chekhov The Cat That Walked By Himself by Rudyard Kipling The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe The Fly by Katherine Mansfield The Boar-Pig by Saki (H. H. Munro) The Tiger Guest by Pu Songlbying Jackals and Arabs by Franz Kafka

In 1904 the Scottish town of Selkirk held a three-day event to raise funds to replace a wooden bridge destroyed in a flood two years earlier. As part of the event, the organizers sold a story collection called The Book o' the Brig. Most of the stories were written by locals - but one stood out because it starred Holmes and Watson.

"Chekhov is probably better known in Britain for his plays than for his prose. For many, however, it is his short stories that mark the high water of his genius. It might at first glance be hard for those not used to his style of narrative to see what the fuss is about - and fuss there is: for most authors and lovers of literature Chekhov is incomparably the greatest short story writer there ever was."

Throughout Proust's life, nine of his short stories remained unseen - the writer never spoke of them. Why did he choose not to publish them along with the others? One possible answer is that he was developing his themes in preparation for his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time; another is that the stories were too audacious - too near to life - for the censorious society of the time. In these stories, published here for the first time, we find an intimate picture of a young author full of darkness and melancholy, longing to reveal his true self to the world.

A young boy, Tineboy, is having trouble with his multiplication tables and the number seven. Bored in class one day, he falls asleep and dreams of a story told by his teacher about the number seven going mad. This leads to a world without the number seven and the confusion that comes from getting rid of a number. The schoolhouse bully and Tineboy’s own pet crow play important roles in his vivid daydream, full of intelligent wit and humor.

Theirs was a story of two people from different stations of life - he, poor and she, rich. He worked hard to make a name for himself, and having done so, he returns to her to find out that she had loved him all these years and was waiting for him as well. The poet is so distraught that with it having taken so long for them to be together, it seems even more unfair for them to be separated at the end. Finding out that his love has passed away, he immediately decides to follow after her to the Castle of the King of Death.

Bawdy and exotic, Tales from the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night features the wily, seductive Scheherazade, who saves her own life by telling tales of magical transformation, genies and wishes, flying carpets and fantastical journeys, terror and passion to entertain and appease the brutal King Shahryar.

"The Nose" is the second best known story of Gogol, after "The Overcoat". A military major discovers his nose is missing and works to recover it. He finds the nose but it pretends to have a life of its own, as a fellow human. It in fact has a higher rank than the Major himself. The Major is perplexed, goes back to his apartment, and has the nose returned to him. With great joy he recovers his nose, only to find it won't reattach to his face. After much going on, he finds the nose reattached to his face.

The first American book on personal finance, "The Way to Wealth" by Benjamin Franklin is still the best and wisest money book ever written. Originally published in 1758 as the preface to "Poor Richard's Almanack", this little gem has been through innumerable printings and sold millions of copies to those in search of smart but entertaining advice about hard work, earning and saving money and debt.

Have you ever seen a Shakespeare play and come away without fully understanding it? Or wished you had known the basis of the plot before seeing a play by Shakespeare? Are you studying Shakespeare? Would you like to increase your knowledge of the plays without reading the originals? Then these are the recordings for you!

From best-selling authors Ilona Andrews, Yasmine Galenorn, Allyson James, and Jeanne C. Stein comes an anthology of four all-new novellas featuring powerful women who know how to handle a hex or two. In "Double Hexed" from Allyson James, a novella of the Stormwalker series, Janet and her friends find themselves locked in her hotel, victims of a hex cast by a very powerful sorcerer.

“I was sick, sick unto death with that long agony,” begins one of the most famous tales from the master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. Through the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition, we follow the straying mind of the unnamed prisoner in his quest for hope in a world of darkness and despair. This episode skyrocketed The Classic Tales Podcast to number 3 on iTunes’ Top 100 Podcasts chart.

Three short stories by Anton Chekhov including "The First-Class Passenger", "The Harmfulness of Tobacco", and "A Transgression".

When Sherlock Holmes met his demise in "The Adventure of the Final Problem," published in 1893, the distress of the unsuspecting reading public was profound. For years fans showed no signs of letting Sherlock Holmes lie down and die. Eventually, Doyle saw fit to continue his Holmes' canon and wrote a series of 13 short stories, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, published in 1905.

British author Algernon Blackwood was a prolific writer who is usually remembered for his numerous ghost stories; however, he also wrote on many other supernatural themes. This collection of 13 stories includes: "The Wendigo", "The Olive", "The Goblin's Collection", "The Sea Fit", "Ancient Lights", "The Prayer", "The Wood of the Dead", "An Egyptian Hornet", "The Other Wing", "The Singular Death of Morton", "Entrance and Exit", "The Kit Bag", "The Damned".

This audiobook contains 17 short stories inspired from famous classic fairy tales. In addition to 17 classic tales, you’ll get another three bonus stories from Aesop’s Fables book.

First published in an 1843 edition of the Saturday Evening Post, "The Black Cat" tells the story of a man and his increasingly antagonistic relationship with his cat. Akin to "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Black Cat" investigates the psychological effects of guilt as well as the potentially destructive and violent consequences of alcoholism.

Charles Dickens was a master of the macabre. His stories of madness, murder and revenge, often imbued with a sympathetic moral undertone, have continued to thrill and chill fans ever since they were written. Here then are 15 tales that display the full range of Dickens' Gothic talents. "The Signalman," perhaps the most well-known, is a chilling story about a mysterious figure and its deathly omen. "The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain" shows the consequences for those who make deals with the dead. Listen for more.