Embrace the darkness

Read by Richard Mitchley, David Shaw-Parker, Michael Lyons(Unabridged: 06hrs 46mins)

Featuring stories by Nikolai Gogol, Anatole France, Valery Bryusov, H P Lovecraft, Barry Pain, Leo Tolstoy & 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.

01 - Stories From the Shadows - Madness - An Introduction

02 - Diary of a Madman by Nikolai Gogol

03 - Amour Dure - Part 1 by Violet Paget writing as Vernon Lee

04 - Amour Dure - Part 2 by Violet Paget writing as Vernon Lee

05 - The Mass of Shadows by Anatole France

06 - The Republic of the Southern Cross by Valery Bryusov

07 - The Tomb by H P Lovecraft

08 - The Diary of a God by Barry Pain

09 - Diary of a Lunatic by Leo Tolstoy

10 - The Horla by Guy de Maupassant

11 - A Pastoral Horror by Arthur Conan Doyle