Michael Ward
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Soon after the American Civil War, Confederate soldier John Carter joins the gold rush in Arizona. After striking a vein of gold, Carter runs into trouble with the natives of the area. In attempts to evade their pursuit, Carter hides in a cave, unaware of its magical properties. Mysteriously, Carter is transported to Mars, which the planet inhabitants call "Barsoom". When Carter discovers that the gravity difference between Mars and Earth has granted...
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The Prisoner of Zenda - Anthony Hope - The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), by Anthony Hope, is an adventure novel in which the King of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus is unable to attend the ceremony. Political forces within the realm are such that, in order for the king to retain the crown, his coronation must proceed. Fortuitously, an English gentleman on holiday in Ruritania who resembles the monarch is persuaded to act as...
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While they are discussing the possible illnesses they may have, Jerome, Harris, and George all realize they suffer from the same thing-working too much. Upon the realization, the three best friends decide that they must go on a vacation. After rejecting the ideas of a sea trip or country stay, because Jerome doesn't like the sea, and Harris finds the country to be dull, the men decide on a boat trip. With their bags packed and with the company of...
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In the degenerate, unliked backwater of Dunwich, Wilbur Whately, a most unusual child, is born. Of unnatural parentage, he grows at an uncanny pace to an unsettling height, but the boy's arrival simply precedes that of a true horror: one of the Old Ones, which forces the people of the town to hole up by night.
25) The Dead Alive
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The Dead Alive, also called John Jago's Ghost, is a novella written in 1874 by the author of The Moonstone and The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins, and is based on the Boorn Brothers murder case.
When invalid barrister Phillip LeFrank visits his cousin's farm in America, he's hoping for a quiet convalescence. He is to be seriously disappointed, finding the farm to be a hotbed of jealousy, spite, hidden passions...and apparently; murder.
Is his cousin,...
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Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four is the second novel in the Sherlock Holmes series, following the enormously successful novel A Study In Scarlet. With the mysterious disappearance of a British Indian army officer, a one-legged hooligan, a stolen treasure, and a nefarious pact between four con-men, this novel of revenge and love is an exquisite classic of crime fiction.
In the infamous opening of the novel, Dr. Watson finds Sherlock Holmes in...
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Stories of adventures and derring-do featuring the man who is "after Holmes and Watson, Arthur Conan Doyle's most successful literary creation" (Julian Symons, Edgar Award–winning British crime writer).
Originally published in The Strand magazine in the 1890s, the tales of Etienne Gerard, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, shows Arthur Conan Doyle at his satiric best. In his own words, Gerard takes readers through his illustrious career, his...
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In "The Railway Children", a young family must leave their comfortable London life for a house in the country when their father is taken away unexpectedly. Roberta, Peter and Phyllis spend their days at the nearby train station, befriending the station master and porter and many of the passengers. Waving goodbye to the departing London train each day and sending their love to their father who is detained there, they strike up a friendship with a kindly...
30) The Wendigo
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The Wendigo is a novella by Algernon Blackwood, first published in The Lost Valley and Other Stories (Eveleigh Nash, 1910). In the wilderness north of Rat Portage in Northwestern Ontario, two Scotsmen - divinity student Simpson and his uncle, Dr. Cathcart, an author of a book on collective hallucination - are on a moose-hunting trip with guides Hank Davis and the wilderness-loving French "Canuck", Joseph Défago. While their Indian cook, Punk, stays...
31) Pygmalion
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One of George Bernard Shaw's best-known plays, Pygmalion is based on ancient Greek mythology. Pygmalion fell in love with one of his sculptures, which then came to life. The general idea of that myth was a popular subject for Victorian era British playwrights.
Shaw's updated and revised version of this ancient Greek legend was first presented in England in 1914. Poking fun of the antiquated British class system, it introduces Henry Higgins, a professor...
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The intrepid Professor Lindenbrock embarks upon the strangest expedition of the nineteenth century: a journey down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the Earth's very core. In his quest to penetrate the planet's primordial secrets, the geologist, together with his quaking nephew Axel and their devoted guide, discovers an astonishing subterranean menagerie of prehistoric proportions.
33) Carmilla
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First published in 1872, Carmilla is a classic gothic novella and one of the earliest examples of vampire fiction.
Fast-paced and gripping, the story follows the protagonist Laura, who lives in a secluded castle in the woods with her father. One day, a carriage accident brings a young woman named Carmilla into their lives, and she is taken in as a guest. As time goes on, Laura becomes increasingly drawn to Carmilla, despite her strange behavior and...
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A volume of selected stories from Washington Irving's The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Praised by Walter Scott and Lord Byron for its prose, this collection consists of his most famous works, "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", as well as the praised short stories "The Broken Heart" and "The Widow and her Son".
Narrated by Michael Ward
35) Midwinter
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Alistair Maclean is a soldier in the employ of Lee's Regiment and an agent of Bonnie Prince Charlie at the height of the Jacobite rising of 1745. Amidst seeking support from the English Grandees for his masters cause, he finds himself embroiled in twisted web of deceit and betrayal that lies in the very heart of the Jacobite cause. He finds help coming from the unlikely source of the mysterious "Midwinter" and his all seeing army of Spoonbills. Men...
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Sometimes the greatest horrors lurk in the most mundane places This collection features some of M. R. James's greatest tales of the supernatural world crossing over into our own. In "Number 13," an inn that previously belonged to an alchemist changes dimensions in the night. "The Mezzotint" features a painting of a house reenacting a gruesome scene from the house's history. In "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas," an antiquary who has discovered the location...
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Written as a bedtime story for her niece and part of Louisa May Alcott's Lulu Library. A Christmas Dream is the tale of a privileged little girl and a fantastic dream of Christmas teaching the value of giving to those in need. Written by Louisa May Alcott, famous for the "Little Women" Trilogy.
Narrated by Michael Ward
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Opening with the poem that made Poe a household name overnight, this collection of his short works includes the narrative poem "The Raven", the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher", and the first of Poe's "ratiocination" tales: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", featuring the first of the fictional detectives: C. Auguste Dupin. From there we encounter the horror classics: The Pit & the Pendulum, the Cask of Amontillado and the Masque of the...
40) Kidnapped
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Kidnapped was published in 1886 amid one of the most productive periods of Robert Louis Stevenson's career. Although it was immediately met with popular success and critical acclaim, the novel was derided for decades as a story for children before being recognized as a major work of English literature.
Set in the aftermath of the Jacobite uprising of 1745, and full of a rich blend of English and Scots, Kidnapped is a powerful work with strong Scottish...