Achmed Abdullah to John Buchan

Read by David Shaw-Parker, Richard Mitchley, Elliot Fitzpatrick(Unabridged: 11:40mins)

Featuring stories by A C Benson, Achmed Abdullah, Algernon Blackwood, Ambrose Bierce, Arnold Bennett, Charles Baudelaire & many more

Life is to be lived. Experiences gained, pleasures sampled. But, troublingly, when you are a classic author your thoughts sometimes lean towards darker thoughts. Within the space of a few paragraphs these literary masters shape a new world; more difficult experiences, darker pleasures. Life becomes uneasy, a queasy feeling, perhaps a repulsion here, a disgust there and very soon what was cosy, warm and comfortable becomes cold, painful, even horrific.

The talents of their pens now fall unsettlingly on your ears as one by one stories unfold, characters take hold and you, dear listener, are merely dragged along for a very malevolent ride.

01 - The Dark Masters - Volume 1 - An Introduction

02 - Light by Achmed Abdullah

03 - The Miniature by J Y Ackerman

04 - In A Grove by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

05 - The Lie by Leonid Andreyev

62 - Shut Out by F Anstey

07 - La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac

12 - The Spectre of Tappington by Richard Harris Barham

09 - The Spectre of Tappington - Part 2 by Richard Harris Barham

10 - The 9.30 Up-Train by Sabine Baring-Gould

11 - An Alpine Divorce by Robert Barr

12 - The Generous Gambler by Charles Baudelaire

13 - The Murder in an Omnibus by Harold Begbie

14 - Phantom by Arnold Bennett

15 - The Closed Window by A C Benson

16 - Mrs Amworth by E F Benson

17 - The Blood Eagle by R H Benson

18 - The Boarded Window by Ambrose Bierce

19 - The Kit Bag by Algernon Blackwood

20 - Revenge by Samuel Blas

21 - The Thing That Smelt by Christopher Blayre

22 - Nightmare in Yellow by Fredric Brown

23 - The Republic of the Southern Cross by Valery Bryusov

24 - No Man's Land - Part 1 by John Buchan

25 - No Man's Land - Part 2 by John Buchan