検索キーワード： ナレーター "Cathy Dobson" すべてのカテゴリー

Neil Munro (1863-1930) was a Scottish journalist, newspaper editor, author and literary critic - a serious writer but now known mainly for his humorous short stories. 'Treasure Trove' is an amusing tale of a time when a whale was beached on a Scottish island just off the coast by Tobermory. The crew of a passing ship, led by the enterprising Sunny Jim, came up with a cunning plan to charge visitors to see the whale. The plan worked brilliantly - until the whale began to decay....

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole (1884-1941) was a New Zealand-born English novelist, famous for his skill at scene setting and vivid plots. He was a best-selling author in the 1920s and 1930s and remains popular to this day. 'The Beard' is the touching and insightful tale of a narcissistic and pompous father who is struggling to raise his pubescent son, who is enraged at and embarrassed by his father, yet the codependency between the two still exercises a magnetic pull.

Richard Barham Middleton (1882-1911) was an English poet and author who is remembered mostly for his short ghost stories, of which 'The Ghost Ship' is the most famous. It is one of the few stories in literature which combines a ghostly theme with lightening humour. Middleton suffered from severe depression for much of his life (then known as melancholia) and committed suicide by poisoning himself with chloroform at the age of 29.

Guy Boothby (1867 - 1905) was an Australian by birth, who came to England in 1894 and was quickly acknowledged as a masterly writer of thrillers and crime stories. His best work includes a series of stories which appeared in Pearson's Magazine in 1897 under the title "The Prince of Swindlers". These stories describe the exploits of Simon Carne, one of the earliest society criminals whose cunning robberies were executed with outstanding imagination and ingenuity.

William Fryer Harvey (1885-1937) was an English writer of short stories, most notably in the mystery and horror genres. His most famous work is The Beast with Five Fingers, which is universally recognised as a masterpiece and one of the most iconic horror stories ever written. Born into a wealthy Quaker family in Yorkshire, he went to Balliol College, Oxford, and took a degree in medicine at Leeds. Ill health dogged him, however, and he devoted much of his recuperation to writing short stories.

Edmund Gill Swain (1861-1938) was an English cleric and author. He was a longtime friend of M. R. James, and his ghost stories show James' influence. 'The Man with the Roller' is a strange tale about a photograph in which a strange figure of a man with a roller appears and drags the roller from one part of the lawn to another. But how can this happen? Who is the man? Why is he constantly rolling the lawn?

Seven short story masterpieces by the acknowledged master of the short story, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: 'The Parasite', 'The Mystery of Sasassa Valley', 'The Man with the Watches', 'A Pastoral Horror', 'The Slapping Sal', 'Lot No. 249','The Ring of Thoth'.

The narrator receives a mysterious envelope in the post containing a single theatre ticket for that evening. There is no note or return address, and he has no idea who could have sent it. When he attends the performance, in the third act a mysterious lady takes the seat next to him and asks him to come with her to see her brother George after the performance. They are whisked away by car to a sinister upper floor apartment in Jermyn Street, where the affair becomes more and more enigmatic.

Herbert George Wells (1866 - 1946) was a prolific English writer of science fiction stories and novels, and is credited as being the father of science fiction. 'In the Avu Observatory' is a story about a scientist working at a remote observatory in a remote forest in Borneo. One night, the astronomer's assistant, Woodhouse, is attacked by a huge bat-like creature in the middle of the night. In the pitch black of the observatory, he suddenly finds himself fighting for his life against...what?

May Sinclair was the nom de plume of Mary Amelia St. Clair (1863-1946), a British writer of novels, short stories and poetry and an active suffragette and spiritualist. 'The Mahatma's Story' is a strange supernatural story about an oriental magician who switches the memories of two couples, with bizarre results.

'Sparkling Biacrene' is a humorous story about a young chemist who invents a marvellous new type of nonalcoholic drink based on a marvellous Amazonian herb with astounding properties. He names his invention 'Sparkling Biacrene' and excitedly invites his uncle to dinner with his employer and a manufacturer of soda waters to discuss the commercial potential of the drink.

Winifred Holtby (1898-1935) was an English novelist, short story writer and journalist. 'Why Herbert Killed His Mother' is the story of a perfect baby who wins a beautiful baby contest and becomes a tiny celebrity, bringing fame and fortune to his family. When Herbert grows up, he spends most of his life trying to leave 'Baby Herbert' behind him...but his mother cannot quite relinquish the glory days when she was hailed as the perfect mother.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937), who wrote as H. P. Lovecraft, was an American writer who achieved posthumous fame through his brilliant and highly influential works of horror fiction. 'The White Ship' is an eerie tale told by a lighthouse keeper of an uncanny voyage to the ends of the earth....

A group of travellers are telling increasingly tall tales about horse thieves and robbers...but one traveller's story trumps the lot. It is the story of a miserly farmer who steals a meeting house and carries it off. But his plans do not go at all as he expects...

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his evocative and beautifully narrated ghost stories. 'Royal Visitors' is a humorous story set at Trinity College, Cambridge, and tells the story of a revenge prank by the undergraduate nicknamed 'The Babe' on his tutor, Mr. Stewart, who at short notice had withdrawn a lunch invitation to dine with visiting foreign royals.

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) is generally considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. The Bet is the story of a banker and a lawyer who embark on an insane bet. The banker bets the lawyer two million roubles that he cannot endure 15 years of incarceration. The lawyer agrees and the terms of the imprisonment are set. But during the 15 years each of the characters undergoes various changes and the outcome of the bet is an extraordinary twist in the tale.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was the preeminent figure in late 19th-century detective fiction. A physician by profession, he soon found such popularity as a writer of detective stories that his writing was far more profitable than his medical practice. 'The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire' is a Sherlock Holmes mystery. Holmes and Watson are contacted by a country gentleman whose Peruvian wife has been caught red-handed sucking the blood from her baby's neck. Can there be any explanation other than that the woman is a vampire?

Edmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture (1890-1943), was a prolific English author who wrote under the pseudonym E. M. Delafield. She is best known for her largely autobiographical Diary of a Provincial Lady, which took the form of a journal of the life of an upper-middle class Englishwoman living mostly in a Devon village of the 1930s. In 'Squirrel in a Cage', she tells the story of the ending of a relationship between two lovers.

A. J. Alan was the pseudonym of Leslie Harrison Lambert (1883-1941), an English magician, intelligence officer, short story writer, and radio broadcaster. He was hugely popular in the '20s and '30s for his radio broadcasts, when he performed his own humorous and often macabre short stories, which he always delivered wearing full evening dress. A Joy Ride is one of A. J. Alan's most amusing stories and has a classic twist at the end.

Leslie Harrison Lambert, who wrote under the name of A. J. Alan (1883 - 1941), was an English magician, intelligence officer, short story writer and radio broadcaster. He kept the secret of his identity secret, while as a spinner of yarns, humorous, fantastic or mysterious, he became ever more popular, especially via his regular radio broadcasts. The Cabmen's Shelter is the humorous tale of a doomed amateur dramatics performance which aims to raise money for a cabmen's shelter at the local station.