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

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific English writer, now best remembered for his science fiction novels and often credited as being the father of science fiction. 'The Pearl of Love' is a pecular allegorical tale taken from ancient persian literature, telling the story of a bereaved Indian prince whose beloved wife dies young. The prince devotes the rest of his life to creating the perfect memorial for his love - but there is a cruel twist at the end.

Clemens Brentano (1778-1842) was one of the giants of German Literary Romanticism. The Story of Brave Kasper and Fair Annie (published in 1817) is a novella outlining the sad tale of two star-crossed lovers, whose fates are determined by their determination to retain their own honour against all odds. Their story is mainly recounted by Kasper's 88-year-old grandmother, who is also Annie's guardian. As each episode of the tale unfolds, a new twist casts a different light on the previous episodes.

When local musical prodigy, Gilbert Swann, is selected to play the violoncello with the visiting London orchestra during the musical festival in the five towns, his mother is convinced that he will be the cornerstone of the entire event. When local dignitary Mrs. Clayton-Vernon invites Gilbert to dinner before the concert with her cousin, the famous conductor from London, she sees this as recognition of his musical genius. A sudden cold snap on the day, however, makes Mrs. Swann fearful that Gilbert's hands will get cold on the journey from Mrs. Clayton-Vernon's house to the concert.

Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), a French author, was one of the most influential short story writers of the 19th century. 'Le Horla' is a truly terrifying story of a man, told through the pages of his diary, who is under the malign influence of some strange, invisible, parasitic being which saps his life energy. De Maupassant's clear, pragmatic language contrasts eerily with the ghastly and macabre narrative and draws the listener into the sheer terror of the situation.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937), who wrote as H. P. Lovecraft, was an American author who achieved posthumous acclaim for his outstanding and influential works of horror fiction. Dagon is the story of a shipwrecked sailor who comes face to face with an ancient and terrible sea-god, Dagon. So horrifying is his ordeal that he spends the rest of his life trying to escape the awful clutches of Dagon. In the end there is only one way out.

O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), an American writer of outstanding short stories, known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and surprise endings. 'The Robe of Peace' is a story which explains the mysterious disappearance of New York's leading swell, the fashion king Johnny Bellchambers.

The boundaries which divide life from death are at best shadowy and vague. Never more so than in this collection of 30 weird and macabre tales.

A spine-tingling collection of the greatest short stories by the father of science fiction, H. G. Wells. 'The Time Machine', 'The Empire of the Ants', 'The Crystal Egg', 'The Sea-Raiders', 'The Door in the Wall', 'A Dream of Armageddon', 'The Country of the Blind', 'Under the Knife', 'The Stolen Body', 'The Plattner Story', 'The Stolen Bacillus', 'The Magic Shop', 'The Inexperienced Ghost', and many more short fiction masterpieces.

Aylward Edward 'A.E.' Dingle (1874-1947) was a sailor and writer. His own maritime adventures were as fascinating as the sea stories he wrote. He was shipwrecked five times, including being stranded on a desert island for several weeks. 'Bound for Rio Grande' is a classic swashbuckling tale about an old sailor who is shanghaied onto a ship heading round the Cape...but on his return he determines to get his revenge....

Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction and a close associate of D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. 'The Black Cap' is a sketch about a woman leaving her husband and eloping with her lover. But then her lover turns up at the station wearing a piece of totally inexplicable and unacceptable headgear....

Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction and a close associate of D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. Set in 1915 in France, 'An Indiscreet Journey' is a tale of travelling behind the lines in war-torn Europe, where soldiers and civilians are living a strange precarious existence.

A fascinating collection of classic short stories featuring unusual ways of making a living, including 'The Umbrella-Mender' by Beatrice Harraden, 'The Triumphs of a Taxidermist' by H. G. Wells, 'A Pair of Silk Stockings' by Kate Chopin, 'A Skinful of Trouble' by Arthur Morrison, 'White Magic' by Ella d'Arcy, 'A Deal in Ostriches' by H. G. Wells, and many more.

Edgar Alfred Jepson (1863-1938) was an English author best known for his adventure and detective fiction. He also wrote supernatural and fantasy stories . Robert Eustace was the pen name of Eustace Robert Barton (1854-1943), an English doctor and author of mystery and crime fiction with a theme of scientific innovation. The Tea-Leaf is the most famous short story of these authors and was a forerunner of the locked-room mystery.

A Skinful of Trouble is the humorous tale of Mr. Dowdall, a gentleman who has invested as shareholder in a circus of dubious repute. All attempts to pursue the circus and recoup his investment are frustrated, until the circus manager agrees to send property of the circus to the value of the sum demanded. A circus tiger is then deposited on the street outside the Dowdall house in London.

'This Flower' is the story, written in 1919, of a woman in an illicit affair having an illegal abortion....

Charles Allston Collins (1828-1873) was the younger brother of the novelist Wilkie Collins, and was married to Charles Dickens's daughter Kate. He is well known both as a painter and a novelist. In The Tête Noire, he describes a racy tale of a commercial traveler and his dog who stayed at a most disreputable French coaching inn, whose landlord would appear to be a cunning criminal, and his young daughter just as wicked.

'The Red Mark' tells the tale of Bloomah Beckenstein, whose family's many demands on her continually prevent her from getting to school on time. Week after week her lateness prevents her class from winning the attendance prize. But Bloomah is determined that her class should win the prize and have the honour of displaying the school banner on the classroom wall for a week. By Thursday it seems as if nothing can go wrong...but then a postcard arrives....

William Wymark Jacobs (1863-1943) was an English author of short stories and novels. His most popular works in the early part of the last century were his humorous tales set around the docks of Wapping and in the taproom of the infamous Cauliflower tavern. 'The Rival Beauties' is one of the night watchman's most unlikely tales. He narrates the time when his ship came across a giant sea-serpent and they attempted to lure it with them to New York.

A ghoulish collection of loathsome and macabre tales full of astounding skill and diabolical cleverness. 'The Coffin Merchant' by Richard Middleton, 'The Everlasting Club' by Arthur Gray, 'The Vampire' by Jan Neruda, 'The Lighthouse on Shivering Sand' by J. S. Fletcher, 'The Story of the Spaniards' by E. & H. Heron, 'Over an Absinthe Bottle' by W. C. Morrow, 'The Anticipator' by Morley Roberts, 'The Snow' by Hugh Walpole, 'The Conjurer' by Richard Middleton....

William James Wintle (1861-1920) was a Welsh writer who established himself as an author before becoming an Oblate for the Abbey of Caldey Island in Wales. It was there that he wrote a series of horror stories for the enjoyment of eight boys who attended the abbey. Wintle noted that the stories were originally told on Sunday nights while "crouching over a wood fire on a wind-swept island off the Western shore".