Plutarchs's (46-120 A.D.) epic chronicle of the lives of great Grecians and Romans. Beginning with the founding of Rome and Athens, the lives of the men who created the ancient world are brought to life in this new, high quality recording. Greats such as Romulus, Pericles, Theseus, Lycurgus, and many others come alive as their politics, economy, and their individual stories play out in the time of the Ancients. This translation by John Dryden, which is considered by scholars to be the quin...

B.J. Harrison reads one of Edgar Allan Poe's classic short stories "The Masque of the Red Death". Prince Prospero and 1,000 other nobles have taken refuge at a castle-like abbey to escape the Red Death, a horrifying plague that has taken over the land at large. Yet horror finds them one night when Prospero holds a masquerade ball and a guest dressed up as the Red Death itself shows up. The chilling story by Edgar Allan Poe dating back to the 19th century is a Gothic horror tale to its very...

B.J. Harrison reads "The Purloined Letter" by Edgar Allan Poe, which is a story of an unusual mystery that needs to be solved. A sensitive letter has been stolen from the queen's boudoir, and the famous amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin has been called to the rescue. The guilty one is the lover himself, Minister D-. What ensues is a match between the detective and the thief, two equally brilliant minds. Who will win, and at what cost? The story is the third in a series of Edgar Allan Poe'...

A father and his son visit a magic shop. This is not just any magic shop, but the "genuine" one, as the shop owner points out to the father. The father is not impressed but the boy is mesmerized by what he sees and hears. Yet when one trick turns out to be too real and the father is gripped by something he will not easily forget.H. G. Wells' short story "The Magic Shop" from the early 20th century has been turned into a short fantasy fil, The Magic Shop (1982), and an alternative v...

Mr. Cave is an antique shop owner with some curious items in his collection. One of these if an extraordinary crystal egg, which he comes across one evening. Indeed, the egg seems to be a gateway to the planet Mars. This science fiction short story by H. G. Wells dating back to the late 19th century has inspired numerous other literary pieces, as well as radio and television adaptations. "The Crystal Egg" is considered to be a precursor to H. G. Wells' famous science fiction novel "The War...

Holroyd is an unpleasant man who is in charge of a power station supporting an underground electric railway. Azuma-zi is a stranger who arrives from the East and soon finds a job at this power station. Holroyd starts to pick on Azuma-zi, lecturing him against religion and describing the dynamo as the only god. Soon enough, Azuma-zi begins to worship the dynamo, with disastrous consequences. H. G. Wells' short story "The Lord of the Dynamos" describes a clash of cultures in a hard, industri...

Egaeus is a man who can get lost in matters with "nervous intensity of interest". He is about to marry his cousin Berenice, whose health is deteriorating until the only part the disease has not touched are her teeth. It is those teeth, which fill Egaeus' mind and continue to haunt him to a terrifying degree. "Berenice" by Edgar Allan Poe dates back to the 19th century and was considered shocking upon its publication. The horror short story has been adapted onto film, including the 1954 sho...

In "MS. Found in a Bottle", one harrowing event seems to take place after another. Our narrator is a man who has become alienated from others and his country. He steps aboard a cargo ship from Batavia, which crashes into stormy conditions that send most passengers into the water. Surprisingly, the narrator stays on board, only to find himself face to face with a new disaster. During his struggles, he logs his experiences into a journal, which he casts off to sea. Edgar Allan Poe's short st...

Adam had a fine life. He had all the food he wanted, a fine garden to live in, and miles and miles of peace and quiet.Until one day, a woman entered his life. And amongst her other garrulous qualities, she says that his beautiful garden doesn't really look like a garden at all. She thinks it looks more like a park.

Deathworld: a planet that has evolved to kill all humans. Jason dinAlt, a so-so psionic gambler, is made an offer he can’t refuse – go to Deathworld and tame it. So begins Harry Harrison’s classic science fiction tale of alien adventure; and Jason discovers that the reason behind Deathworld’s aggression is as shocking as the violence on the surface.

The first award-winning season of The Classic Tales Podcast, topping the iTunes charts as the #3 overall podcast. Here B.J. Harrison reintroduces the world to the greatest short fiction ever written, from Poe, Dickens, Hardy, Stevenson, Fitzgerald and many, many others.Titles include: "The Cask of Amontillado", by Edgar Allan Poe; "The Speckled Band", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; "Barbara of the House of Grebe", by Thomas Hardy; "Rappaccini's Daughter", by Nathaniel Hawthorn...

Who says that you can't have it all? Adventure, romance, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and fine literature? Infinite variety - that is what you find here. Classic Literature has never been presented so approachably. You will savor the chills from Edgar Allan Poe, then smilingly shake your head as a man dupes an entire town.You will hear how Sherlock Holmes solves a case for Bohemian nobility, then marvel as a man destroys his life over a piece of string. Whether it be witchdoct...