Embrace the darkness

Read by Ian Holm, Christopher Ragland, David Shaw-Parker(Unabridged: 04hrs 49mins)

Featuring stories by Charles Baudelaire, Sabine Baring-Gould, Louisa May Alcott, Mary Elizabeth Braddon & 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 - The 1860's - An Introduction

2 - The Generous Gambler by Charles Baudelaire

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

4 - Lost in a Pyramid (or the Mummy's Curse) by Louisa May Alcott writing as A M Bernard

5 - The Cold Embrace by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

6 - The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth by Rhoda Broughton

7 - The Signalman by Charles Dickens

8 - The Phantom Coach by Amelia Edwards

9 - The Botathen Ghost from Footprints of Former Men in Far Cornwall by the Reverend R S Hawker

10 - The Spectre Bridegroom by William Hunt

11 - Reality or Delusion by Mrs Ellen Wood