Read by David Shaw-Parker, Richard Mitchley & Laurel Lefkow (Unabridged: 6hrs 12mins)

Featuring stories by Mark Twain, Anton Chekhov, MR James & others.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.

In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?

The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature.

Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something.

This decade also heralds the debut of a new century but humanity has not lost its thirst for power, for glory either individually or collectively as nations.  Our wordsmiths also write this new century into history with stories of great beauty and narrative thrust, carving out characters to play roles in a rapidly evolving world that brings change to everyone.

In this compilation -