Embrace the darkness

Read by David Shaw-Parker, Mark Rice-Oxley, Richard Mitchley(Unabridged: 11hrs 10mins)

Featuring stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Christopher Blayre, Mikhail Bulgakov, Marjorie Bowen, Izola Forrester, Radclyffe Hall, H P Lovecraft & 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 - The 1920's - An Introduction

02 - In A Grove by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

03 - The Thing That Smelt by Christopher Blayre

04 - Morphine by Mikhail Bulgakov

05 - Decay by Marjorie Bowen

06 - Hodge by Evelyn May Clowes writing as Elinor Mordaunt

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

08 - Devereux's Last Smoke by Izola Forrester

09 - Miss Ogilivy Finds Herself by Radclyffe Hall

10 - The Tomb by H P Lovecraft

11 - The Late Mrs Fowke by Amyas Northcote

12 - The House of the Black Evil by Eric Purves

13 - The Three Kisses by Violet Quirk

14 - The Black Crusader by Alicia Ramsay

15 - Spurs by Tod Robbins

16 - Young Magic by Helen Simpson

17 - The Death Room by Edgar Wallace

18 - The Name Tree by Mary Webb

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