English Classic Short Stories

When your ears are itching to hear a great detective story, this boxed set, by some of the cleverest authors in history, can satisfy that itch. This boxed set includes all the stories from Volumes 1,2 and 3 of Classic Detective Stories.

In these eight intriguing tales, Holmes and Watson solve cases that range from the suspicious to the downright strange. They encounter mysteries as diverse as vanishing staff, secret plans and eccentric lodgers as Holmes is struck down by a rare tropical disease and, later, lured away from retirement to help his country on the eve of war.

Once, Hope Payne was a mermaid, performing at the local theme park and captivating audiences young and old. Today, she's married to a pragmatic marine biologist who has filled the pool in their backyard with flounder for a special study. Before he begins, the fish vanish - echoing a loss Hope alone can understand. She senses there's something underwater, something alive and hungry for more, but is she in too deep to ever resurface?

Vampires, ghosts, and other horrors abound in this collection of 19th-century fantastic literature, selected and edited by Italo Calvino, a 20th-century master of the speculative.

The Damned & Other Stories of the Macabre is Skyboat Media’s second original compilation of stories by Algernon Blackwood, featuring six of his most unique and macabre stories that contemplate the true meaning of reality and nature of the making of the world.

Bachelor John Marcher is haunted by the premonition that something terrible lies in store for him, like a "beast in the jungle" lying in wait. So he spends his life in idleness, unable to carry out his dreams or desires, while his friend May Bartram, curious to see how this spectacular fate will manifest, helps watch out for the arrival of the beast.

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, was an Irish writer known also by the Japanese name Koizumi Yakumo. His book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, comprises two parts, the first being the "Kwaidan Proper" and the second, "Insect-Studies", which consists of an essay each on ants, butterflies and mosquitos. According to the author, most of the folk tales and ghost stories in the first part were translated from old Japanese texts. The themes encompass resurrection, sacrifice, magic, and the realm of dreams.

A fourth floor room, a door locked with the key inside, no way in, no way out. Edgar Allan Poe is the true grandfather of the murder mystery. Decades before Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, Poe gave us C. Auguste Dupin, a man able to solve mysteries through observation and deduction.

William Shakespeare is arguably the most pivotal and widely read figure in the history of English literature. This comprehensive collection highlights some of the bard’s best works, adapted to be more easily digestible for children. Featured within are some of the bard’s most famous and compelling works, including: The Comedy of Errors, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, and many more.

One of Wodehouse's most entertaining raconteurs is sitting in the Angler's Rest, sipping hot whiskey and lemon. In particular, Wilfred, the creator of Raven Gypsy face cream and Snow of the Mountain lotion, lights on the formula for Buck-U-Uppo, a tonic given to elephants to enable them to face tigers with the necessary nonchalance.

Young, impressionable Aubrey is fascinated by the enigmatic Lord Ruthven, and accompanies him on a tour to Europe. But Aubrey develops a growing distaste for Lord Ruthven’s sinister and grotesque conduct - especially as it concerns human blood. This novella, penned during that tempestuous night in Switzerland amongst such notables as Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and Mary Shelley, served as the great inspiration for Bram Stoker to create Dracula.

Charles Dickens was an English writer and social critic who lived during the 19th century. He is considered one of the greatest novelists of the Victorian era and is known for his vivid portrayals of the social and economic conditions of the time. His works often addressed issues of poverty, social injustice, and class struggle, and he is credited with helping to raise public awareness of these issues. Some of his most famous works include "Oliver Twist," "A Tale of Two Cities," and "Great Expectations."

Written some 40 years after Moby Dick, Melville's Billy Budd is a moving tale of good versus evil. Set aboard a British navy ship at the end of the eighteenth century, a young, innocent sailor's charm and good nature put the men around him at ease. Ship life agreed with Billy. He made friends quickly and was well liked, which infuriated John Claggart, the ship's cold-blooded superior officer.

Between 1922 and 1923, Katherine Mansfield wrote four volumes of short stories. This recording includes all sixty-three stories from the four collections, including a number of incomplete stories collated after Mansfield’s death.

Montague Rhodes James is cited as perhaps the greatest English writer of ghost stories, an opinion few would disagree with. Many of his elegant yet terrifying tales were created by discarding the prevailing gothic clichés and placing his characters and narrative in a realistic setting. Thereby the stories gained atmosphere and menace on a grand scale and he was famed as the originator of the antiquarian ghost story. Although story-telling and writing these 30 or so tales was a hobby, when published their effect transformed the genre and still chill the bones in our more modern times.

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

As a legendary writer who has left a lasting and profound impact on Irish literature and culture at large, James Joyce pioneered a daring and influential transformation in writing, drawing on a unique style and new ways of writing which have cemented him as a world-famous author. Now, this brilliant collection compiles three of his most famous works for the modern listener, capturing all the wit and charm of Joyce’s original books all those years ago.

A pioneer in the realm of imaginative literature, Lord Dunsany has gained a cult following for his influence on modern fantasy literature, including such authors as J. R. R. Tolkien and H. P. Lovecraft. This unique collection of short stories ranges over five decades of work.

Edgar Allan Poe was a writer, poet, editor and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre, and is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and of American literature. Poe was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story and considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre, as well as a significant contributor to the emerging genre of science fiction.

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.