The White Wolf and Other Fireside Tales

This lively collection of stories by Q, aka the imaginative and prolific man of letters Arthur Quiller-Couch, includes tales of mystery, horror, and adventure. Beware. There will be ghosts, pirates, scholars, death, taxes, at least one princess, and a ship named the White Wolf. - Summary by A. Gramour

27 episodes

Orpheus in Mayfair and Other Stories and Sketches

In this urbane collection of short stories by Maurice Baring, characters ranging from legendary figures to schoolboys find themselves in step or out of sorts, where they are meant to be or warned not to go, out of luck or, more often than not, in it. - Summary by A. Gramour

25 episodes

Revenge!

A collection of 20 short stories of the crime, detective, and thriller variety, sharing a common theme of .... you guessed it, revenge, and often with surprise conclusions. Elements of the style of Alfred Hitchcock may be found among many of the tales. Turn down the lights, let the imagination wander as it will, and perpare to expect the unexpected. (Roger Melin)

20 episodes

On the Iron at Big Cloud

Frank L. Packard worked as a civil engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway. He brings this experience to the fictional Hill Division -- those those twisting, climbing, dangerous and glorious miles of track that lead from the Division Point at Big Cloud over the magnificent but treacherous Rockies to the straight and level Pacific Division. Here are fifteen stories of exciting times on the Hill Division and of the remarkable men—Regan, Carlton, Spence and all the others—whose determination, ability, even heroism, tamed the fabulous Hill Division. (Summary by Delmar H Dolbier)

15 episodes

Stories from the Adirondacks

A collection of five stories all of which take place in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, and most which contain elements of some mystery hidden deep within the forests. - Summary by Roger Melin

5 episodes

The Bet and Other Stories

Thirteen short stories by the master. Summary by david wales

17 episodes

Tales of the Uneasy

Nine twisty-turny tales of tragic human drama, played out in Victorian parlors, death beds and lonely country roads. This collection of Violet Hunt writings has all the requirements for short story entertainment: flirtatious beauties, mismatched love, ''lung symptoms'', and cruel, cruel fate. Sometimes the horror has a ghostly source, but often the horror is rooted in our very human pathology. - Lisa Reichert

16 episodes

The Seen and the Unseen

Is it true that people can literally be scared to death ? Is it possible to photograph astral projections ? What happens if you play with a pack of cards which belonged to a dead card-trickster ? These and more questions are raised and answered in ''The Seen and the Unseen'' (first published in 1900), a collection of twelve short stories of a supernatural and uncanny nature by English author Richard Marsh (1857-1915), famous for such mystery/horror novels as ''The Beetle'' and ''The Goddess: A Demon''. So if you feel you are ready for some goosebumps before bedtime, snuggle up and have a listen. - Summary by Sonia

28 episodes

The Countess of Lowndes Square, and Other Stories

A collection of fourteen short stories, grouped under the headings of "Blackmailing Stories", "Spook Stories", "Cat Stories", "Crank Stories", and "General Stories". From the preface: "[S]uch readers as are in search merely of the lighter...aspects of life, will be able to avoid like poison so innocent-looking a title as "The Countess of Lowndes Square," for surely they would not find therein the fashionable descriptions of high life which they might reasonably anticipate, but would merely cast the book from them in disgust, when they discovered that one who had been the wife of an Earl, and ought therefore to have known ever so much better, belonged to the most contemptible of the criminal classes." - Summary by Devorah Allen

16 episodes

Lanagan Amateur Detective

This is a 1913 collection of ten short detective stories by a not well known writer. Jack Lanagan is a police reporter for a daily newspaper in San Francisco, who has the confidence of the chief of police and access to all sorts of levels of city life. - Summary by David Wales

10 episodes

Gulliver The Great And Other Dog Stories

This 1916 book is a collection of sixteen of the author's dog stories previously published in magazines. ( David Wales)

16 episodes

The Human Boy

This collection of eleven short stories, both humorous and touching, about English school boys was published in 1900. The book was quite popular in its time. The author wrote two follow-up books: The Human Boy Again (1908) and The Human Boy And The War (1916). Eden Phillpotts was popular with the reading public and wrote prolifically novels, short stories, poetry, plays, and nonfiction. Clarification of the term fag: In an English public school a junior boy who performs menial tasks for a senior. - Summary by David Wales

11 episodes

The Human Boy Again

Published in 1908, this is a further collection of twelve humorous short stories about English school boys. The author wrote two other books in this series: The Human Boy (1900) and The Human Boy And The War (1916). Eden Phillpotts was popular with the reading public and wrote prolifically novels, short stories, poetry, plays, and nonfiction. - Summary by David Wales

12 episodes

Stories Weird and Wonderful

A collection of tales written by J.E. Muddock. All these stories are dark in atmosphere and subject matter.

22 episodes

A Slav Soul and Other Stories

Novelist and short story writer Alexandr Ivanovich Kuprin (1870-1938) was one of the most widely read authors of his time. Nabokov called him the Russian Kipling for his stories about people who are often "neurotic and vulnerable". Many films and radio programs based on his works have been produced. These 15 short stories, typically “artful studies of abnormal states of mind”, were selected from various sources. The collection includes “Easter Day” (a chance meeting); “The Picture” (intense envy); “Hamlet” (a fading actor); “The Last Word” (a psychotic confession); “Dogs' Happiness” (strays in jeopardy); “A Clump of Lilacs” (a wife’s ingenuity); “Anathema” (a curse); and “Tempting Providence” (homeward bound). “The White Poodle" and "The Elephant”, appropriate for all readers, were intended by the author to be read aloud to children. ( Lee Smalley)

17 episodes

Dreams

Olive Schreiner was a South African writer and intellectual born in 1855 to missionary parents in the Eastern Cape. She was one of the earliest campaigners for women's rights. She was also very critical of British Imperialism in her homeland and particularly of their racist policies against the Boers, Jews, Indians and the Black races of South Africa. As a result of her public support for the Boers, all her manuscripts and her house were burned during the Anglo-Boer War and she was interned in a concentration camp for several years. Her first novel "The Story of an African Farm" published in 1883 became a best seller, and is considered to be one of the first ever "feminist" novels. The success of the book also made her the first internationally successful South African novelist. "Dreams", her second book was published in 1891. It is a collection of eleven allegorical stories. Many of them read very like prose poems. The book was very well received at the time of publication and went through many editions by the time she died in 1920. Like her first book it was viewed as a feminist work and became especially treasured by those Suffragettes who spent time in prison. A subsequent book of hers, "Woman and Labour" published in 1911 was one of the most important and influential feminist works of the time, so much so that it is often cited as the "Bible" of the Women's Movement. - Summary by Noel Badrian

9 episodes

Earth's Enigmas

Most of the stories in this collection attempt to present one or another of those problems of life or nature to which, as it appears to many of us, there is no adequate solution within sight. Others are the almost literal transcript of dreams which seemed to me to have a coherency, completeness, and symbolic significance sufficiently marked to justify me in setting them down. The rest are scenes from that simple life of Canadian backwoods and tide-country with which my earlier years made me familiar. - Summary by CHARLES G D ROBERTS

15 episodes

Contos do Norte

Contos do Norte é uma coleção de contos ambientados na região norte do Brasil. Seu autor, Marques de Carvalho, diz que seu livro se pretende "uma homenagem ao povo paraense". As histórias são, em geral, curtas e melancólicas, com os elementos da floresta, dos rios amazônicos e das populações ribeirinhas em destaque. (Summary by Leni)

9 episodes

The Human Boy And The War

Published in 1916, this is the third collection of thirteen humorous short stories about English school boys in a boarding school in the fictitious village Merivale. This book, of course, has World War I as a backdrop. Each story is told in the voice of a different boy at the school. The author wrote two other books in this series: The Human Boy (1900) and The Human Boy Again (1908). Eden Phillpotts was popular with the reading public and wrote prolifically novels, short stories, poetry, plays, and nonfiction. (David Wales)

13 episodes

Contos phantasticos

Coletânea de contos com temas de paixões frenéticas, conducentes a suicídios, mortes, traições, renúncias extremas. Uma das primeiras incursões, feitas por um autor português, no universo da literatura fantástico-gótico, muito pouco comum em Portugal na época. Anteriormente publicados no Jornal do Comércio e na Revista Contemporânea de Portugal e Brasil, estes ditos contos góticos de Teófilo Braga, refletem no autor uma direta influência de literaturas de Hoffman e de Edgar Allan Poe, tal como seu conhecimento da filosofia esotérica de Swedenborg. Estes contos trouxeram, entre nós, muitos aspectos inovadores, pela introdução na narrativa, dos finais de 1800, de elementos como o estranho, o misterioso, o sinistro e o macabro. (Summary by Brianna)

19 episodes

The Light Invisible

Fifteen short ghost stories by the Anglican then Roman Catholic priest, Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914). The form of the book is of an old English Roman Catholic priest telling stories to his young friend. Benson wrote prolifically in many genres. His horror and ghost fiction are collected in The Light Invisible (1903) and A Mirror of Shalott (1907) - David Wales

8 episodes

A Mirror Of Shalott

Fourteen stories of the strange by the Anglican then Roman Catholic priest, Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914). The form of the book is of stories told by a gathering of Roman Catholic clergy. Benson wrote prolifically in many genres. His horror and ghost fiction are collected in The Light Invisible (1903) and A Mirror of Shalott (1907) - Summary by David Wales

16 episodes

The Doves' Nest and Other Stories

The Doves' Nest and Other Stories is a collection of complete stories and fragments by the writer Katherine Mansfield. The book was published several months after the Kiwi author's death. - Summary by Rob Marland

22 episodes

Loup-garou!

A book of short stories by Eden Phillpotts, all involving something of the supernatural. - Summary by Ann Boulais

29 episodes

The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol

This 1912 collection of short stories is of lighthearted adventures of an irresponsible -- and irrepressible -- Frenchman in England and Paris. The author (1863-1930) was a popular British novelist, dramatist, and playwright, known especially for his short stories. Several of his works were made into London and Broadway stage plays as well as motion pictures (starring Mary Pickford, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and more). - Summary by Wikipedia and David Wales

9 episodes

Judith Lee - Pages From Her Life

Judith Lee is a young woman with an unusual gift, she can read lips at a distance as well as she can hear the person next to her. Her skill leads her into a number of adventures. Written by Richard Marsh (The Beetle, Joss: the Reversion) and published in the Strand Magazine in 1911, Marsh creates a strong independent female detective.

5 episodes

Laura. Voyages et impressions

Un jeune étudiant allemand en minéralogie, du nom d'Alexis, tombe amoureux de sa cousine Laura. Cette dernière lui préfère son ami Walter. Dédaigné par sa cousine, il entrevoit un pays merveilleux où il la retrouve pour un voyage dans le cristal, fait de cristaux géants colorés. Compris dans cette compilation charmante de la plume de George Sand sont les quatre histoires courtes "Laura", "Les charmettes", "Lettre d'un voyageur" et "Ce que dit le ruisseau". - Summary by Laurette & Sonia

9 episodes

The Red Inn

Staying at the red inn. Two army surgeons get caught up in a murder, intrigue and execution. - Summary by pmstrahm

3 episodes

Plow Stories

This book tells of the important role of the plow, starting from its humble beginnings and how the plow has changed over time. This is achieved through a series of small stories set during different time periods in history. The introduction of the book encourages us to, "learn all you can about plows, even if you live in a great city. City people would soon starve if there were no plows and plowmen at work to raise food for them. Not even the strongest locomotives or the most wonderful printing-presses are so necessary to us as plows. Learn all you can about them!" - Summary by SweetHome

10 episodes

The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories

An anthology of short, chilling stories from Algernon Blackwood. They will make you start at noises in the night and wonder about your neighbors. These stories likely stem from Blackwood's investigations into haunted houses for the Psychical Research Society and reflect his fascination with the weird, occult and supernatural. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

13 episodes

Stories and Pictures

A collection of short stories written originally in Yiddish and later translated into English. These stories were published under censorship in Russia from 1875 to 1900 provide an illuminating portrayal of the harsh life conditions for Russian Jews. Summary by Elsie Selwyn

63 episodes

Uncollected Short Stories of L.M. Montgomery

A compilation of 80 short stories by the author of "Anne of Green Gables" that were not previously published in a book or in one of Project Gutenberg's short stories collections for this author. The subjects range from children's stories, to romance, humor, and ghost stories. These short stories were published in various magazines from the years 1896 to 1924. Some of these stories were adapted by L.M. Montgomery into chapters of her later novels. The story "Una of the Garden" was transformed into the novel "Kilmeny of the Orchard". (Summary by Maria Therese)

90 episodes

The Thirteen Travelers

The year is 1919 and peace has sprung upon the world after the unspeakable carnage of World War I. The place is Hortons, a building of expensive flats on Duke Street just off Piccadilly, London. Social structures are disintegrating, expectations are not being met, people are confused, life is different. Each story is about a person who lives or works at Hortons, all struggling to adjust to life as it has radically changed. Twelve short stories, published in 1921, by the early twentieth century very popular English writer, Hugh Walpole. - Summary by david wales

12 episodes

The Heir

This collection’s title is taken from its first story, a novella, which is followed by four shorter tales, all expertly and sensitively drawn. Story 1, “The Heir,” concerns an inheritance as told from the point of view of the heir, an unmarried middle-aged man. Its subtitle, “A Love Story,” is not a reference to another person but to the inheritance. Story 2, “The Christmas Party,” tells of a longtime family alienation and separation followed by a shocking reunion. Story 3, “Patience,” is a touching tale of an apparently “comfortable” marriage, but where the husband tends to lapse into his secret memories of a long-past love. The title is the name both of a version of Solitaire that his wife often plays and of her coping with her husband’s curious mental absences. Story 4, “Her Son,” is the poignant story of an aging mother eagerly planning for the future with her long-absent son, now returning but with his own private ideas. Story 5, “The Parrot,” is a short allegory about the unremitting need for freedom. ( Lee Smalley)

21 episodes

The Loot Of Cities

Published in 1917, this is a collection of a novella and seven short stories by one of the cleverest authors of the early twentieth century. ‘In Queen's Quorum (1951), a survey of crime fiction, Ellery Queen listed Bennett's The Loot of Cities among the 100 most important works in the genre. This collection of stories recounts the adventures of a millionaire who commits crimes to achieve his idealistic ends. Although it was "one of his least known works," it was nevertheless "of unusual interest, both as an example of Arnold Bennett's early work and as an early example of dilettante detectivism".’ - Summary by David Wales

13 episodes

Martin Hewitt, Investigator

Here are seven mystery stories featuring Martin Hewitt, Detective, and narrated (of course) by his (nameless) sidekick. Arthur Morrison certainly has imagination, as shown by the very wide range of situations, motivations, crimes and characters he presents in these stories. Hewitt may be after a Russian spy or a domestic animal; he investigates the burglary of documents vital to national security, but also the destruction of a work of art -- which is counterfeit. (summary by Kirsten Wever)

7 episodes

The Black Dog and Other Stories

Coppard was renowned for his influence on the English short story and here we present a collection, first published in 1923, featuring 18 of his best known works, including Simple Simon, the Wife of Ted Wickham and The Devil in the Churchyard.

21 episodes

Our Village, Volume 1

This book is a compilation of short stories originally published in several series in The Lady's Magazine. Volume 1 covers a period of about 18 months, then later, Volume 2 chronicles the changes when Miss Mitford returns to the village some 2 years later. The book's subtitle is “sketches of rural character and scenery”... and this perfectly describes its contents. People and nature are minutely observed and the language reflects Miss Mitford's exquisite eye for detail and love of the changing seasons and the impact they have on the flora and fauna around her. The village characters are described mainly fondly, but not without the occasional wry reference to their faults! In her introduction to a later edition, Anne Thackeray Ritchie quotes from Miss Mitford's reply to William Elford when asked if her characters and descriptions are true......."Yes, as true as is well possible....you, as a great landscape painter know that in painting a favourite scene you do a little embellish and can't help it; you avail yourself of happy accidents of atmosphere; if anything be ugly you strike it out, or if anything be wanting, you put it in. But still the picture is a likeness.” But even if seen through rose-coloured lenses, these gentle little sketches conjure up a time and place long gone and transport us for a while to another, simpler world. ( Anne Fletcher)

32 episodes

Something Childish and Other Stories

This posthumous collection of stories and sketches by the New Zealand modernist author was published the year after her death from tuberculosis in 1923. It appeared in the US under the title The Little Girl. Most of the stories were written between the publication of her first and second collections, Bliss and Other Stories (1920) and The Garden Party and Other Stories (1922). - Summary by Rob Marland

26 episodes

Violets And Other Tales

This is a collection of the author's short stories and poems where she writes about the collective experience of African American women, and African Americans in general. But she is sharpest when she pushes back against the notion that women must accept and endure a subservient role to men. - Summary by James K. White

23 episodes

Nouvelles histoires extraordinaires

Voici le second volume des Histoires extraordinaires d'Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), traduites par Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867). Cette compilation contient 30 nouvelles, entre autres des grands classiques de l'horreur, notamment "La chute de la maison Usher", "Le masque de la mort rouge" ou encore "Le puits et le pendule", mais aussi des histoires moins connues. - Summary by Sonia

30 episodes

The Cloak (Version 2)

The Cloak or the Overcoat as in some translations, is a story by Ukrainian-born Russian author Nikolai Gogol, published in 1842. The story and its author have had great influence on Russian literature, as expressed in a quote attributed to Fyodor Dostoyevsky: "We all come out from Gogol's 'Overcoat'." It is pointed to as the start of the realistic style of writing. Summary by phil c

2 episodes

Un scrupule et Dualité

Un scrupule, 1893, suivi de Dualité, 1900. L’histoire de Blanche, la « petite » sœur d’Aline, dans le Paris mondain et demi_mondain du 19 ème siècle. Société, moeurs et sentiments… Beaucoup de charme et de délicatesse, et le talent très fluide de l’auteur. - Summary by Christiane Jehanne

7 episodes

Bola de sebo

Cuento largo o novela breve, que supuso el primer texto con cierto éxito del maestro Guy de Maupassant. Durante la guerra franco-prusiana, una diligencia, con una variopinta composición, que huye de la línea del frente es detenida en una posada. Allí un oficial prusiano les plantea una cuestión peliaguda: a no ser que una de las viajeras (conocida como "Bola de sebo") pase una noche junto a él, no les permitirá proseguir su viaje. Petición que ella no tiene intención de satisfacer... - Summary by Epachuko

4 episodes

Uncanny Stories

May Sinclair’s Uncanny Stories is a collection of short stories filled with macabre, romantic, and Gothic themes. Enjoy tales of love and loss, murder, philosophy, and supernatural happenings. Summary by RhiannonD.

9 episodes

Historia de una anguila y otras historias

Recopilación de cuentos de uno de los grandes maestros del género: Antón Chéjov. Summary by Epachuko

24 episodes

Europe and Elsewhere

This collection of articles came from Mark Twain's travels and experiences abroad. While many had been previously published, there also were many that had never before seen the light of day...which one reviewer said had never been Twain's intent for them, having consigned them to obscurity. With introductory essays by Brander Matthews and Albert Bigelow Paine, the book paints a clear picture of the complexity and wide variety of Samuel L. Clemens' thinking, where it originated and how it developed.

38 episodes

Italian Life and Legends

A mix of short works written by Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie during her residence in Florence from 1864-65, this collection was edited and prepared for publication by her sister, Mary Thompson, wife of artist, Cephas Giovanni Thompson, after her death. It contains short stories, legends, historical sketches, profiles of noted Italian performers and foreign literati, and even an account of a devastating flood of the Arno that the author witnessed. - Summary by Kelly S. Taylor

19 episodes

The Grim Smile Of The Five Towns

The Grim Smile of the Five Towns (1907) is the second major collection of stories written by Arnold Bennett. (The first is Tales Of The Five Towns, 1905, available at Librivox.).The five towns of the title are the conurbation of Stoke-on-Trent in which much of the writer's best work is set. Later [than initial] critics have been kinder to the collection's key story, with Margaret Drabble calling "Simon Fuge"... one of the greatest short stories in the English language", and John Wain remarking that... "it says as much as a novel, it says easily as much as a novel of a hundred thousand words could say on this theme" and naming it... "the best thing that Arnold Bennett ever did." The stories exhibit Bennett's usual dry wit and belie the word "grim" in the title. - Summary by David Wales

15 episodes