Gothic Classics

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.

This omnibus brings together seven of H.E. Bulstrode’s ghost stories originally published between 2016 and 2018. These are: The Ghost of Scarside Beck A newly-wed Cumbrian vicar and his wife experience a night like none they could ever have foreseen. He may have answered his calling, but who, or what, is calling her? Old Crotchet The year is 1920, and it's Twelfth Night by the old reckoning. Festivities are about to commence at Hinton St Cuthbert Manor when something sinister stirs from its protracted dormancy, awakened, it would seem, by the arrival of two young guests. The old ways, ...

Mina Louvet is a fighter, a human with a powerful will to survive in a world dominated by warlocks, soul-eaters, and shifters. Identified by the king's witch as one of the rare, invaluable females in Dragons Realm who can give birth to a dragon's son, she was stolen from her parents as a child and taken to the Keep to be reared in the ways of the Ahavi. As one of the few, the elect - the Sklavos Ahavi - Mina is expected to feed her master's fire, reanimate his blood, and above all else, give him strong dragon offspring: children who will one day rise to power.

Our story begins in 1785 when a young seafarer, Captain Thornhill, disappears while visiting the shop of a barber in London, a certain Sweeney Todd whose shop in Fleet Street is situated by St. Dunstan's church, just round the corner from the famous and popular meat pie shop run by Mrs. Lovett. Thornhill was carrying a string of pearls as a gift for Johanna Oakley, the sweetheart of his friend Mark Ingestrie who is missing, presumed lost at sea.

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.

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.

Satan’s final judgement on Victoria sums up a shocking novel, set in Venice at the end of the 15th century, that tracks the path of its heroine from abused victim to fully fledged criminal. Her conscious embodiment of vice seems to know no limits. Depicting unfettered desire and gratuitous cruelty, and challenging taboos of race and class, this tale of lust, betrayal, and multiple murder has Dacre moving beyond the limits of contemporaneous gothic heroes into a truly hellish zone of her own.

Wieland (1798) is an early American novel set in 1760s Pennsylvania. Based on a real case of a New York farmer who murdered his family, the story is imbued with suspense and intrigue, adopting Gothic devices such as ventriloquism and spontaneous combustion. The satanic interloper Carwin exercises his power over the narrator, Clara Wieland, wreaking havoc over the Wieland family with disastrous consequences. A central theme in the novel is the issue of the values that formed the basis of a new democratic and republican America.

In this original collection from Skyboat Media and Blackstone Publishing, Elizabeth Gaskell showcases the height of gothic fiction's ability to delight in the otherworldly and to dig deep into what truly haunts us. Set against the backdrop of the Salem witch trials, "Lois the Witch" reveals much about the complicity of mankind. Recently orphaned, Lois is forced to leave the English parsonage that had been her home and sail to America.

Young Giovanni arrives in Padua to discover a lush and mysterious garden on the estate of the mysterious Doctor Rappaccini. Amidst the verdant and exotic foliage, Giovanni finds love in the form of Beatrice - the Doctor's daughter. What deadly secret does the young girl and her father keep hidden?

For more than 50 years, William Gaddis collected notes for a book about the mechanization of the arts, told by way of a social history of the player piano in America. In the years before his death in 1998, he distilled the whole mass into a fiction, a dramatic monologue by an elderly man with a terminal illness. Continuing Gaddis's career - long reflection on those aspects of corporate technological culture that are uniquely destructive of the arts - Agape Agape is a stunning achievement from one of the indisputable masters of postwar American fiction.

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

Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in making Philip his heir, knowing he will treasure his beautiful Cornish estate. But Philip's world is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence. There he falls in love and marries. Then he suddenly dies in suspicious circumstances.

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.

This second volume deepens the Devil's sardonic observations of early 19th-century European society through three interconnected narratives. Opening with a playful legal satire where Satan's publisher faces charges of literary fraud, the volume cleverly mocks the bureaucratic and legal systems of the German states. The narrative then moves to Frankfurt during Pentecost, where Satan observes the emerging world of international finance and speculation. Through the story of a lovesick merchant, Hauff provides fascinating insights into Jewish-Christian relations of the period, the rise of ...

A young governess arrives at Bly, a country home in Essex, England, to care for Miles and Flora, two precocious and pure children. But as ghostly visions take shape, the obsessively protective governess soon fears for the safety of her wards - only to wonder if these hauntings are a conjuring of her own imagination.

A creepy collection of the very best Gothic tales from the masters of suspense, horror, supernatural and occult fiction. 1.The Room in the Tower by E. F. Benson 2. Afterward by Edith Wharton 3.The Green Light by Barry Pain 4. Fingers of a Hand by H. D. Everett 5. The Squaw by Bram Stoker 6. The Dancing Partner by Jerome K. Jerome 7. Lost in a Pyramid by Louisa M. Alcott 8. The Girl who was Tired of Love by Leonard Merrick 9. The Parasite by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 10. The House with the Brick Kiln by E. F.

Winner of the 2014 Richard & Judy Search for a Bestseller competition. Abandoned on a bank of snow as a baby, Amy is taken in at nearby Hatville Court. But the masters and servants of the grand estate prove cold and unwelcoming. Amy's only friend and ally is the sparkling young heiress Aurelia Vennaway. So when Aurelia tragically dies young, Amy is devastated. But Aurelia leaves Amy one last gift. A bundle of letters with a coded key. A treasure hunt that only Amy can follow. A life-changing discovery awaits ... if only she can unlock the secret.

Heathcliff, an orphan boy, and Catherine are raised together at Wuthering Heights. Despite the difference in their social position, they eventually fall in love. Though she loves Heathcliff, Catherine chooses to marry Edgar Linton, a wealthy neighbour. Bitter over her rejection, Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights. Years later, he returns and marries Edgar's sister for her money. Catherine dies after giving birth to a daughter. Devastated by Catherine's death, Heathcliff is determined to enact his revenge on Edgar and the next generation.

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.