Classics Literature Horror

Actor David Ian Davies' telling of Poe's Gothic horror tale "The Tell-Tale Heart" captures this classic narrative of the unnamed murderer in all its exquisite vileness, its self-effacing insanity that poses rationality where none exists.

A dark, allegorical, Gothic horror fable in verse telling of seduction, enthrallment, and deep sisterly love by the British Victorian poet, Christina Rossetti. The goblin market men, selling sweet and delicious fruits, inveigle Laura, a young girl, to partake of their tempting wares. Soon, she is lost to the world and her life begins slowly to fade away. Only the courage of her sister, Lizzie, can possibly save her from her fate. Will it be enough?

Romantics everywhere have been enthralled by Emily Bronte's classic novel of the tragic love between beautiful, spirited Catherine Earnshaw and dark, brooding Heathcliff. The restrained desire between these two star-crossed lovers has always smoldered on the page. And now it ignites into an uncontrollable blaze. In Wuthering Nights, writer I.J. Miller reimagines this timeless story to reveal the passion between Catherine and Heathcliff - in all its forbidden glory.

In the land of moss, magnolias, and bayous, ghost stories suffuse the landscape like mist on a moonlit swamp. Swamp ghosts, hot-tempered villains and tricksters once lived there, and live on today in such blood-chilling stories as the six in this collection.

The powerful sense of evil – darkness, creepy hairy presences, cloaks, hoods, talons and tentacles – pervades these classic ghost stories by M.R. James. A Cambridge scholar himself, James explored what happens when academics dabble in things they don’t understand and unleash forces of which they know nothing.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"In the Penal Colony" ("In der Strafkolonie") (also translated as "In the Penal Settlement") is a short story by Franz Kafka written in German in October 1914, revised in November 1918, and first published in October 1919. The story is set in an unnamed penal colony. Internal clues and the setting on an island suggest Octave Mirbeau's "The Torture Garden" as an influence

In the shadowed streets and decaying buildings of Red Hook, New York, Detective Thomas Malone encounters horrors beyond human comprehension. Sent to investigate a series of strange events in this sinister neighborhood, he discovers a dark world of ancient rituals, occult practices, and hidden mysteries lurking beneath the city’s surface. As Malone delves deeper, he finds himself facing powers that defy all rational thought, leading him into a nightmare he may never escape.

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.

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

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.

Le narrateur (dont l'identité ne nous est pas connue) arrive à la maison de son ami Roderick Usher, ayant reçu de lui une lettre dans laquelle il se plaignait de maladie et réclamait sa présence. Cette maladie se manifeste par une hyperacuité des sens et une grande anxiété. La sœur jumelle de Roderick, Madeline, est elle aussi malade, tombant dans des états de transes cataleptiques.

Told in journal fragments that cannot provide any single perspective, Bram Stoker's masterpiece is at the same time intensely romantic and very modern. It unfolds the story of a Transylvanian Don Juan, the aristocratic vampire Count Dracula who preys on damsels, and the mission launched from a lunatic asylum to destroy him.

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.

At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering "the cause of generation and life" and "bestowing animation upon lifeless matter", Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts. However, upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness.

On a trip to Transylvania, Jonathan Harker stays at an eerie castle owned by Count Dracula. When strange things start to happen, and the count escapes to London, Harker realizes that he and his friends are in grave danger.

In 1897, at the age of 50, Bram Stoker was touring manager to the actor Henry Irving and was enjoying a modest success as a journalist and writer. Publication in that year of Dracula was to bring him international and lasting fame.