Embrace the darkness

Read by Ghizela Rowe, Mark Rice-Oxley, Lisa Bowerman(Unabridged: 16hrs 52mins)

Featuring stories by Achmed Abdullah, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Leonid Andreyev, Gertrude Atherton & many more

An author’s talents may seem obvious and indisputable as they move words and ideas into gathered phrases and stories.

But where do these ideas and stories come from? A lonely thought that suddenly gathers form? An inspiration from a Muse? A suggestion from an everyday event?

Perhaps in the case of their darker, more malevolent stories, other forces are at work. They help to nourish single words into sentences and paragraphs that ease themselves from the shadows and are suddenly upon us in twisted revelation that may thrill, may disturb, but will always engage and help us explore the edge of darkness where some of the very best literature patiently lurks …. waiting …. for the likes of me and you.

1 - Stories from the Shadows - 1900 - 1949 - An Introduction

2 - Light by Achmed Abdullah

3 - In A Grove by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

4 - The Lie by Leonid Andreyev

5 - When the Devil Was Well by Gertrude Atherton.wav

6 - The Readjustment by Mary Austin

7 - A Dreamer by Barbara Baynton

8 - The Murder in an Omnibus by Harold Begbie

9 - The Closed Window by A C Benson

10 - Caterpillars by E F Benson

11 - The Kit Bag by Algernon Blackwood

12 - Revenge by Samuel Blas

13 - The Thing That Smelt by Christopher Blayre

14 - The Bishop of Hell by Marjorie Bowen

15 - Couching at the Door by D K Broster

16 - The Republic of the Southern Cross by Valery Bryusov

17 - Morphine by Mikhail Bulgakov

18 - Gentle Breathing by Ivan Bunin

19 - The Waxworks by A M Burrage

20 - With & Without Buttons by Mary Butts

21 - The Devil's Horse by Ion Luca Caragiale

22 - Paul's Case by Willa Cather

23 - The Tattooed Leg by John Chilton

24 - A Dark Brown Dog by Stephen Crane

25 - The Screaming Skull by F Marion Crawford

26 - The Moving Finger by Rose Champion de Crespigny

27 - The Testament of Magdalen Blair - Part 1 by Aleister Crowley

28 - The Testament of Magdalen Blair - Part 2 by Aleister Crowley

29 - The Sumach by Ulric Daubeny

30 - The Shipwrecked Crew by Rebecca Harding Davis

31 - The Dead Hand by L T Meade and Robert Eustace

32 - The Spider by Hanns Heinz Ewers

33 - Devereux's Last Smoke by Izola Forrester

34 - The Death Hound by Violet Mary Firth writng as Dion Fortune

35 - Strychnine for Village Dogs by Arthur Gask

36 - Guests Unexpected. A Thanksgiving Story by Maude K Griffin

37 - Miss Ogilivy Finds Herself by Radclyffe Hall

38 - August Heat by W F Harvey

39 - Carnacki, The Ghost Finder - No 1 - The Gateway of the Monster by William Hope Hodgson

40 - The Operation by Violet Hunt

41 - The Monkey's Paw by W W Jacobs

42 - Lost Hearts by M R James

43 - In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka

44 - The Strange Looking Man by Fanny Kemble Johnson

45 - Thurnley Abbey by Perceval Landon

46 - The Haunted Orchard by Richard Le Gallienne

47 - The Tomb of Sarah by F G Loring

48 - The Tomb by H P Lovecraft

49 - A Collector's Company by R H Malden

50 - The Coffin Merchant by Richard Middleton

51 - Hodge by Evelyn May Clowes writing as Elinor Mordaunt

52 - The Vampire Maid by Hume Nisbet

53 - The Late Mrs Fowke by Amyas Northcote

54 - The Diary of a God by Barry Pain

55 - The House of the Black Evil by Eric Purves

56 - The Three Kisses by Violet Quirk

57 - The Black Crusader by Alicia Ramsay

58 - Joseph by Katherine Rickford

59 - Spurs by Tod Robbins

60 - Lord of the Jackals by Sax Rohmer

61 - The Open Window by Saki

62 - The Bride by M P Shiel

63 - All Souls Eve by Dora Sigerson Shorter

64 - Young Magic by Helen Simpson

65 - Behind the Curtain by Gertrude Barrows Bennett writing as Francis Stevens

66 - The Burial of the Rats by Bram Stoker

67 - The Man With The Roller by E G Swain

68 - The Story of the Green House, Wallington by Allen Upward

69 - The Moaning Lily by Emma Vane

70 - The Death Room by Edgar Wallace

71 - Tarnhelm or The Death of My Uncle Robert by Hugh Walpole

72 - The Name Tree by Mary Webb

73 - Fear by Catherine Wells

74 - The Eyes by Edith Wharton

75 - Cheese - Bait For The Beast by Ethel Lina White