Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

A collection of strange and often grisly tales by some of the world's greatest writers, ranging from mildly unsettling to hair-raising.

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific English writer of stories and novels and is frequently credited as being the father of science fiction. The Time Machine, first published in 1895, is possibly Wells' most famous work. It tells the story of the inventor of a vehicle which allows him to travel in time and his firsthand account of his adventures as he travels millions of years into the future, where mankind has evolved into something very different from the humans of the 19th century.

Andrew Lang (1844-1912) was a Scottish poet and novelist, best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. 'The Three Dogs' tells the story of a shepherd who trades his three sheep with a stranger for three dogs with magical powers. The dogs are able to help him slay a dragon and win a princess.

A spine-chilling collection of tales of uncanny happenings, ghostly apparitions, unexplained mysteries, evil deeds and tragic events.

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific English writer of science fiction stories and novels and is frequently credited as being the father of science fiction. 'The Lost Inheritance' is the story of a young man whose sole purpose in life is to persuade his wealthy and eccentric uncle to leave him his fortune. He is delighted when the old man declares that he has written a will leaving him everything...but when the old man passes away, the will is nowhere to be found. What follows next is comic tragedy.

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole (1884-1941) was a New Zealand-born English novelist, famous for his skill at scene setting and vivid plots. He was a best-selling author in the 1920s and 1930s and remains popular to this day. 'The Beard' is the touching and insightful tale of a narcissistic and pompous father who is struggling to raise his pubescent son, who is enraged at and embarrassed by his father, yet the codependency between the two still exercises a magnetic pull.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his evocative and beautifully narrated ghost stories. This collection brings together twenty of his most brilliant works.

Fedor Sologub (1863-1927) was the greatest of the Russian symbolists. Alongside his great novel The Little Demon, he wrote a number of masterful and haunting short stories, among which "The White Dog" is a superb example of his beautiful, poetic, and mystic prose.

Annette von Droste-Hülshoff's dark tale of an unsolved murder, revenge and the supernatural. When the young Friedrich Mergel goes to work for his uncle, he is quickly drawn into a world of shady business dealings and a ruthless band of wood-thieves. But on the night when Friedrich quarrels with Aaron the Jew, he subsequently disappears, together with his illegitimate cousin John Nobody. Shortly afterwards, Aaron is found murdered. Friedrich's disappearance is considered suspicious

Seven contrasting short stories, all set at Christmastime: 'Mr. Huffam' by Hugh Walpole, 'A Strange Christmas Game' by J. H. Riddell, 'The Christmas Tree and the Wedding' by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 'The Snow' by Hugh Walpole, 'The Gift of the Magi' by O. Henry, 'The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 'The Cop and the Anthem' by O. Henry.

A superb collection of classic ghost stories from the world's great storytellers. 1. "Lot No. 249" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 2. "The Phantom Rickshaw" by Rudyard Kipling. 3. "The Haunted Dolls’ House" by M. R James. 4. "Ligeia" by Edgar Allan Poe. 5. "The Monkey’s Paw" by W. W. Jacobs. 6. "The Finest Story in the World" by Rudyard Kipling. 7. "The Apparition of Mrs. Veal" by Daniel Defoe. 8. "Metzengerstein" by Edgar Allan Poe. 9. "They" by Rudyard Kipling. 10. "Labadoyere’s Doom" by Lord Halifax. 11. "Lost in a Pyramid" by Louisa May Alcott. And more...

The Frog is a variant on the Frog Princess. Three brothers are told by their mother to set specific tasks for their sweethearts to complete, to see whether they will make suitable brides. The youngest lad does not know any girls, but a mystery frog proves amazingly adept at all the trials set her by her future mother-in-law.

O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), an American writer of outstanding short stories, known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and surprise endings. 'The Robe of Peace' is a story which explains the mysterious disappearance of New York's leading swell, the fashion king Johnny Bellchambers.

A rich and varied anthology of inventive classic tales by some of the world's top storytellers. 'A Deal in Ostriches' by H. G. Wells, 'The Scarecrow' by G. Ranger Wormser, 'Only a Dream' by H. Rider Haggard, 'The Magic Shop' by H. G. Wells, 'The Business of Madame Jahn' by Vincent O'Sullivan, 'The Old Portrait' by Hume Nisbet, 'The Yellow Globe' by Alexander W. Drake, 'The Last Trump' by Hugh Walpole, 'The White Cat' by W. W. Jacobs.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his evocative and beautifully narrated ghost and horror stories. 'The Bed by the Window' is the story of a man who takes himself off to a remote guest house so as to be free of distractions while he finishes a project. While he is there, he begins to have odd dreams and visions...and the calendar on the desk seems to keep showing him the wrong date...always May 8th.

William Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) is one of the greatest of the Victorian mystery writers. For several years he was on the editorial staff of Dickens' magazine All Year Round and became Dickens' close friend and collaborator. Alongside his great novels, Collins was the author of a great many superb short stories, mostly concerned with either the supernatural or crime.

'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' is a haunting ballad describing a young knight whose very lifeblood and vitality have been drained by a beautiful but parasitic, fairylike vampire. This knight has now been left as an undead shell of his former self, alone on a barren hillside.

>A true classic tale from the genre of weird Victorian tales based on a fascination with Ancient Egypt. A student of Egyptology gets shut into the Louvre at night by accident. Suddenly he sees a light approaching. Fearing that it is burglars, he hides and watches. The museum attendant, to whom he had spoken earlier, and who bears an uncanny physical similarity to images of ancient Egyptians, proceeds to open a mummy case and then unwrap the mummy. What he does next shocks the student of Egyptology to the core....

The Magic Casket describes a classic case for Dr. Thorndyke. It tells the story of an ordinary and apparently quite worthless metal casket, which conceals a mysterious secret which nearly costs a young woman her life.

J. Meade Falkener's timeless classic adventure story of smugglers, hidden treasure, mysterious ghosts and daring escapes. Written in 1898, the story has remained a much loved classic among children and adults alike, owing to its gripping storyline, sympathetic characters and swift narrative pace. The village of Moonfleet has been dominated by the Mohune dynasty for centuries.