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Horror Short Stories
by H. P. LovecraftGhouls, ghosts, and macabre terrors stalk the night in this spine-tingling collection. With tales describing unnatural frights and haunting visions of cosmic terror, you will be taken on a journey into the disturbing imaginations of some of horror's greatest writers. The stories' heroes face incredible creatures, unknowable gods, and supernatural beings who have no regard for human life.Horror literature has its roots in the mists of time. In the 19th century, writers delved into ancient folk tales and local legends to inspire an entire genre. In the 20th century, the next generation of writers brought to life a brand new array of terrifying monsters.The authors in this volume range from Victorian pioneers, such as Bram Stoker and Edgar Allan Poe, to the pulp writers of the 20th century, such as William Hope Hodgson and H. P. Lovecraft. The tradition of horror writing that developed took very different turns on either side of the Atlantic - while American authors turned to unknowable horrors and cosmic terrors, British writers such as E. F. Benson and M. R. James mastered a more familiar form, the classic ghost story.It was not only English-speakers who sought to terrify their readers. The French writer Guy de Maupassant, a prolific short story writer and pupil of the acclaimed novelist Gustave Flaubert, found ways to make his protagonists doubt their own sanity as they faced terrors that would drive any ordinary man mad.This collection of bone-chilling tales comes from the pens of some of horror's most acclaimed writers. Authors include:E. F. BensonAmbrose BierceFrancis Marion CrawfordW. W. JacobsM. R. JamesWilliam Hope HodgsonH. P. LovecraftGuy de MaupassantEdgar Allan PoeBram Stoker
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories (Arcturus Classics)
by Washington IrvingSet in 1790, 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' tells the tale of superstitious schoolmaster Ichabod Crane who seeks the hand of Katrina, but finds he has a rival for her affections in the form of Brom Bones Van Brunt who likes to play tricks on him. Turned down by Katrina, 'heavy-hearted and crestfallen' he rides through the autumn night where he encounters a headless horseman in a classic American ghost story that is often referenced today.It's a companion piece to 'Rip Van Winkle', which you'll also find here among many other great short stories from Washington Irving, who was a good friend of Charles Dickens and perhaps the first America author to earn a living from writing. Interestingly, Irving was the man who first popularized the name 'Gotham' for New York City and he also invented the flying sequence for Santa Claus's sleigh.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Classics series brings together high-quality paperback editions of classics works, presented with contemporary graphic cover designs. Together they make a wonderful collection which is perfect for any home library.
Supernatural Short Stories
by Bram Stoker Arthur Machen Charlotte Perkins Gilman Guy de Maupassant Ambrose Bierce Edward Frederic Benson Montague Rhodes James Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu Francis Marion Crawford M. P. Shiel Clifford Ball William H. Kingston John William PolidoriLegends of vampires, werewolves, and unruly spirits have been a feature of European folklore for centuries. The authors whose work is collected together in this volume range from early Gothic writers to modern pulp enthusiasts.English writers like John William Polidori (1795-1821), the physician who wrote The Vampyre, and William H. G. Kingston (1814-1880), were pioneers of supernatural fiction, while others chose to master the ghost story. E. F. Benson was a part time archaeologist and M. R. James, a medieval historian at King's College, Cambridge. James would read his ghost stories aloud to his friends and students at Christmas-time. With good reason, he has been described as 'the best ghost-story writer England has ever produced.'Classic literary writers such as Ambrose Bierce and Guy de Maupassant found an outlet for their imagination in their terrifying tales, and later writers like Clifford Ball and M. P. Shiel established supernatural fiction in the pulp magazines of the early 20th century.Together, these stories demonstrate a stunning mastery of atmosphere and show an unmatched ability to terrify readers to this day.This collection features several of the leading purveyors of supernatural horror. Authors include:Clifford BallE. F. BensonAmbrose BierceFrancis Marion CrawfordCharlotte Perkins GilmanM. R. JamesWilliam H. G. KingstonArthur MachenGuy de MaupassantJohn William PolidoriM. P. ShielBram Stoker
Jizzle
by John WyndhamA collection of short stories from the master author of THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS and THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS.Giselle is a very talented monkey, although she goes by the name Jizzle. She can draw incredible portraits, as lifelike as can be. But Jizzle isn't just a camera. Jizzle has feelings. And Jizzle can take revenge, when she wants . . .This collection combines fantasy, science fiction, and horror to delight, astound and unsettle you.STORIES INCLUDED:"Jizzle""Technical Slip""A Present from Brunswick""Chinese Puzzle""Esmeralda""How Do I Do?""Una""Affair of the Heart""Confidence Trick""The Wheel""Look Natural, Please!""Perforce to Dream""Reservation Deferred""Heaven Scent""More Spinned Against"
The Haunter of the Dark and Other Tales (H. P. Lovecraft Omnibus #3)
by H. P. LovecraftA collection of some of the most famous stories from the master of tomb-dark fear…
Dark Carnival
by null Ray Bradbury'Let us now praise Ray Bradbury' THE TIMES Bradbury's first story collection is a must-read for any fan of the genre, spinning stardust and cobwebs in its wondrous wake. It contains twenty-seven stories, from science fiction’s master storyteller.
Nightmare Alley: The rediscovered American noir classic, soon to be a major motion picture
by William Lindsay GreshamA cool, cruel, rediscovered classic of American noir, soon to be a major motion picture directed by Guillermo del Toro.'Read and shudder. And relish' Guardian'A creepy, all-too-harrowing masterpiece' Washington PostStanton Carlisle, employed as a carny at a travelling circus watches their freak-show geek - an abject alcoholic, the object of the voyeuristic crowd's gleeful disgust and derision - and wonders how a man could fall so low. There's no way in hell, he vows, that anything like that will ever happen to him.Unlike the tragic figure he sees before him, Stan is young, clever and ambitious and quick to learn from the other carnival acts. Initially teaming up with a beautiful but vulnerable woman as part of a double act in which he mesmerises her, Stan soon leaves his circus days behind him, becoming a successful spiritualist who exploits the weak and the wealthy.But even the very best con men can meet their match....With a new introduction from James Smythe, Nightmare Alley is a forgotten classic of Depression-era America; a brilliant, horrifying, compulsive journey into the true darkness of the human mind.
The Red Right Hand
by Joel Townsley RogersA deranged killer sends a doctor on a quest for the truth - deep into the recesses of his own mind.'Deserves its reputation as one of the greatest mysteries of all time' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred reviewWhat really happened to Inis St. Erme? What was his fatal mistake? Was it when he and his bride-to-be first set out to elope in Vermont? Or did his deadly error occur later, when they picked up a terrifying hitch-hiker, or when the three stopped at 'Dead Bridegroom's Pond' for a picnic? Dr Riddle is determined to find out, but he soon uncovers a series of bizarre coincidences that leave him questioning his sanity and his innocence. After all, he too walked those wild, deserted roads the night of the murder, stranded and struggling to get home to New York City. The more he reflects, the more his own memories become increasingly uncertain, as he veers into the irrational territory of pure terror...
Death from a Top Hat
by Clayton RawsonA magician turned detective is caught up in the most baffling locked-room murder mystery...'One of the all-time greatest impossible murder mysteries' Publishers Weekly starred review'Dazzling' Saturday Review'A cornerstone of detective fiction' New York TimesMaster magician The Great Merlini has hung up his top hat and white gloves, and now spends his days running a magic shop in New York and his nights moonlighting as a consultant for the NYPD. When the crimes seem impossible, it is his magician's mind they need. So when two occultists are discovered dead in locked rooms, one spread out on a pentagram, both appearing to have been murdered under similar circumstances, Merlini is immediately called in. The list of suspects includes an escape artist, a professional medium, and a ventriloquist - and it is only too clear that this is a world Merlini knows rather too well...
The Hound of Death
by Agatha ChristieA collection of macabre mysteries, including the superlative short story Witness for the Prosecution…
Appius and Virginia
by G.E. TrevelyanA REDISCOVERED WORK BY ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING NOVELISTS OF THE 1930S‘One of the most important novelists of our day’ TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT (1938)Virginia Hutton embarks upon an experiment. She will take an ape and raise it as a human child.She purchases an infant orangutan and names him Appius. She clothes him, feeds him, and puts him to bed in a cot every night. As Appius grows older, she teaches him to dress himself, to speak, to read, to stand and walk up straight, to eat his meals at the dining table with a knife and fork. She teaches him how to be human.The young orangutan is not always a willing student. His relationship with Virginia becomes fraught and flits between that of mother and child, teacher and student, scientist and experiment. But as Appius gains knowledge he moves ever closer to the one discovery Virginia does not want him to make: that of his true origins.Appius and Virginia explores the ongoing conflict between nature and nurture. It is also a chilling and unforgettable portrait of loneliness.G.E. Trevelyan wrote eight groundbreaking novels between 1932 and 1941 but her writing career was tragically cut short when her flat was hit by a German bomb during the Blitz. She died shortly afterwards and her books have subsequently been largely forgotten. This publication, the first reissue of any of her books since her death, seeks to restore the author to her rightful place in British literature.
The Red Lamp
by Mary Roberts RinehartA haunted seaside mansion - a series of suspicious deaths...Perfect gothic crime fiction for fans of Shirley Jackson 'Showcases her extraordinary gift for sustaining high levels of tension ... reminiscent of Shirley Jackson ... and she excels at the tantalising tease' Publishers Weekly William Porter has just inherited a seaside manor. As an academic, he doesn't believe the rumours that it is haunted - nor is he suspicious of the circumstances behind the inheritance - after all, lots of people die suddenly from heart attacks, and his uncle Horace was just unlucky. His wife, however, refuses to live in the main house and will only move into the lodge elsewhere on the grounds. And she may be right: soon after they arrive, Porter sees a shadowy figure illuminated by the red glow of Horace's writing lamp, the very light that shone on the scene of his death. Even Porter's scepticism is tested to the limit when a rash of murders occurs across the countryside. And if Porter isn't very careful, he risks implicating himself in the crimes he hopes to solve.
The Butterfly Picnic
by Joan Aiken'For sheer enjoyability this tops almost anything' The TimesIntelligent and spirited Georgia March flies to the beautiful Greek island of Dendros to meet her cousin Sweden, but upon arrival finds her cousin Sweden’s body lying in a pool blood . . .Georgia has come to the paradise island of Dendros in search of a new life, a new job, and a way to forget about her lost lover. Instead, her adventure begins with tragedy and takes her to a mountain-top fortress – home to a powerful multi-millionaire, his jet set friends and a school for unusual children. In this stunning Greek hideaway Georgia is hired as a teacher, but as she gets to know the children and their unconventional parents she becomes ensnared in a deadly international mystery. Our not-so hapless heroine must survive a series of bizarre brushes with death, but also deal with the attentions of a strangely charming man – is he really the wickedest man on the island? Somebody certainly wants her gone as she inches closer and closer to uncovering the truth about Sweden’s death . . . Joan Aiken reveals a strong heroine, a breathtaking backdrop and shocking plot twists – The Butterfly Picnic has all the elements of a holiday romance with a dark underside of suspense.
Castle Barebane
by Joan Aiken'Joan Aiken writes superbly, with a force, a colour and strength of imagination that one encounters all too rarely today. I loved every moment of it.' London Daily TelegraphStrong and independent Vahalla Montgomery, a heroine straight out of a Henry James novel, abandons her New York career as a journalist to search for her half-brother in Joan Aiken’s gothic novel, Castle Barebane.Wishing to escape from her pretentious New York fiancé, Valla is happy to have an excuse to travel to England, only to discover that her half-brother and his wife have disappeared from their London home – leaving their young two children all alone. Finding Victorian London a gloomy and sinister place, haunted by a series of Ripper style murders, Valla takes the children up to Scotland to a bleak family property known as Castle Barebane. In this Gothic ruin, perched on the edge of a cliff, the mystery surrounding her missing brother only gets darker, and more terrifying . . . This unforgettable tale of love, loss, and human nature is brought to life by Joan Aiken’s vivid story-telling and gripping plot. If you love Virginia Andrews or Nicola Cornick, Joan Aiken should certainly be your next read.
The Embroidered Sunset
by Joan Aiken'Miss Aiken’s book is immensely enjoyable – her gift for gothic romantic charm is as effectively deployed as ever' TLSLucy Culpepper doesn’t take no for an answer. An aspiring pianist she dreams of being taught by the renowned Max Benovek and will defy all odds – life threatening illness, a missing great aunt, and a disgruntled uncle – to achieve it.After finding out her Uncle Wilbie has used up her college fund, Lucy discovers a selection of enchantingly beautiful paintings in the attic. Being the miserly man he is, Wilbie wants to keep any possible profits for these paintings and bargains on sending Lucy to England to find the artist – Great-aunt Fennel. Knowing Benovek lives in London she snaps up the opportunity and undertakes the adventure of a lifetime. But though Benovek proves easy to find and immediately takes Lucy to heart, she sets off to Yorkshire only to find that her old aunt Fennel has vanished. Lucy’s search entangles her in a mystery of murder and deceit . . . can they discover who is the real aunt Fennel?Awardwinning author Joan Aiken brings a shocking finale to a witty and entertaining plot full of unexpected twists and turns in modern suspense novel, The Embroidered Sunset.
Hercule Poirot 3-Book Collection 1: Two Bestselling Mysteries
by Agatha ChristieThe first three Hercule Poirot books see the former Belgian policeman tempted out of retirement to solve a series of outlandish murders in Britain and France, assisted by the redoubtable Captain Hastings, setting him on the path to becoming the World's Greatest Detective!
The Mysterious Affair at Styles: The First Hercule Poirot Mystery (Poirot)
by Agatha ChristieAgatha Christie’s first ever murder mystery.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles: The First Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mystery Ser.)
by Agatha ChristieAgatha Christie’s first ever murder mystery. Includes an introduction by Christie archivist John Curran, and the original unpublished courtroom chapter as an alternate ending to the novel.
Short Stories: A Volume Of Nature Stories (Classics To Go)
by Algernon BlackwoodThis collection includes eight of the best stories from Algernon Blackwood. The Wendigo, The Damned, The Man, Schooldays, Julius LeVallon, Edinburgh, The Châlet in the Jura Mountains, The Attempted Restitution. S. T. Joshi has stated that "his work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's" and that his short story collection Incredible Adventures "may be the premier weird collection of this or any other century".
The Ghost Pirates: Large Print
by William Hope HodgsonThe captivating tale of the ship "Mortzestus," an unlucky vessel haunted by "too many shadows." The unifying theme seems to be the dreadful forces that lurk just beneath the veneer of what we, in immense folly, believe to be "reality." Malign forces may surface at any moment to drag us to destruction or worse.
The Boats of the Glen Carrig: Large Print
by William Hope HodgsonBeing an account of their Adventures in the Strange places of the Earth, after the foundering of the good ship Glen Carrig through striking upon a hidden rock in the unknown seas to the Southward. As told by John Winterstraw, Gent., to his Son James Winterstraw, in the year 1757, and by him committed very properly and legibly to manuscript.
The Jewel of Seven Stars (Collected Works Of Bram Stoker)
by Bram StokerAn Egyptologist, attempting to raise from the dead the mummy of Tera, an ancient Egyptian queen, finds a fabulous gem and is stricken senseless by an unknown force. Amid bloody and eerie scenes, his daughter is possessed by Tera's soul, and her fate depends upon bringing Tera's mummified body to life.
The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage
by S. L. MathersAround the turn of the century, when Aleister Crowley was working out his system of Magick, the source that he turned to for basics was the system of Abramelin of Egypt. From Abramelin he took his concepts of protections, purifications, evocations, vestments, and dromena down to specific details.This system of Abramelin the Mage is known from a unique fifteenth century manuscript preserved in the Bibliothèque de L'Arsenal in Paris. In it, Abraham of Würzburg, a cabalist and connoisseur of magics, describes a tour that he made of the then civilized world, visiting sorcerers, magicians, and cabalists, estimating their powers and virtues. This quest is in itself as fascinating as the similar tours of Gurdjieff.The high point of Abraham's travels was found in a small town on the banks of the Nile, where he encountered the great magician Abramelin, whose complete system Abraham thereupon sets out in detail. This amounts to a complete course in ceremonial magic (both white and black), which the student can pursue by himself.Abramelin, whose system is based mostly on Hellenistic theurgy of the Iamblichan sort, but with Jewish increments from the Cabala, explains the qualifications needed to become a magician, purifications, and asceticisms to be practiced month by month, studies and activities permitted during this period, selection of place and time for working magic, equipment needed, prayers and formulas, evocation of good and evil spirits, commanding spirits to do one's will, overcoming rebellious spirits, and similar material. Specific instructions are offered to develop such powers as clairvoyance, divining metals and treasures, warding off evil magic, healing illness, levitation, transportation, rendering oneself invisible, creating illusions and glamour, reading minds, placing compulsions, working black magic, and a host of other abilities.We do not guarantee that Abramelin's techniques work, nor that the results are desirable, but we offer this as a genuine medieval course in magic, one of the most important books in the history of occultism. It is of paramount importance to both the historian and the practitioner.
Forbidden
by Denise RobinsTwo young lovers seeking the atmosphere of peace and tranquillity they were never able to find in London emerge from a car in a sunlit Provençal town square. It is an idyllic setting for a passionately romantic interlude, but the dazzling light and contrasting deep shadows echoed the patter of their own life, for Nat is a brilliant young surgeon with a professional reputation to uphold and Toni is married to a vindictive business tycoon.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Scholastic Classics (PDF)
by Robert Louis Stevenson"Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil. " The mysterious association between respectable Dr Henry Jekyll and despicable lowlife Edward Hyde is a puzzle to Dr Jekyll's friends, including his lawyer Gabriel Utterson. Where Jekyll is sociable, hardworking and pious, Hyde is a violent criminal, a wild hedonist. When Hyde beats a member of Parliament to death, Utterson is determined to discover the ties that bind the two men together. . . Robert Louis Stevenson's account of man's capacity for evil is as powerful today as it was on first publication in 1886. 1407164260 | 9781407164267