Washington Irving to Gustav Meyrink

Read by Richard Mitchley, Christopher Ragland, David Shaw-Parker(Unabridged: 12:03mins)

Featuring stories by Washington Irving, W W Jacobs, M R James, Franz Kafka, W G Kelly, Rudyard Kipling & 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 4 - An Introduction

02 - The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving

03 - The Monkey's Paw by W W Jacobs

04 - Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad by M R James

05 - In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka

06 - A Smiling Ghost by W G Kelly

07 - The Phantom Rickshaw by Rudyard Kipling

08 - Thurnley Abbey by Perceval Landon

09 - Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter by Sheridan Le Fanu

10 - The Suicide of the Pupil Mueller by Alfred Lichtenstein

11 - A Thousand Deaths by Jack London

12 - The Tomb of Sarah by F G Loring

13 - The Spectral Hand by Jean Lorrain

14 - The Tomb by H P Lovecraft

15 - The Sentimental Mortgage by Arthur Lynch

16 - N by Arthur Machen

17 - Belphagor by Niccolo Machiavelli

18 - A Collector's Company by R H Malden

19 - A Psychological Experiment by Richard Marsh

20 - The Horla by Guy De Maupassant

21 - The Man on the Bottle by Gustav Meyrink