Edgar Poe was born in Boston Massachusetts on 19th January 1809. His father abandoned his family the following year and within a year his mother had died leaving him an orphan.He was taken in by the Allan family but never formally adopted although he now referred to himself as Edgar Allan Poe. His father alternatively spoiled or chastised him and tension was frequent over gambling debts and monies for his education. His university years to study ancient and modern languages was cut...

To have logic, to reason things out, to have a sense of what is and isn’t and what can and can’t is one of the traits we identify with being human.Sad to say that sometimes there are some amongst us who lose touch with this function, are unable to bring order and control to their world. That is not only a tragedy for themselves but can also have horrific consequences on those around them.Our wordsmiths in this volume, including Leo Tolstoy, Anatole France, Charlotte Perkins...

A glance at the roll-call of authors in this volume brings a chill to the blood. Their plentiful talents conjure up the most diabolical of plots, the most evil of characters and the dread knowing that it will unfold its horrors into our fearful souls.1 - The Top Ten - American Horror2 - The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe3 - The Boarded Window by Ambrose Bierce4 - The Color Out of Space by H P Lovecraft5 - The Repairer of Reputations by Robert...

Montague Rhodes James is cited as perhaps the greatest English writer of ghost stories, an opinion few would disagree with.James was born on 1st August 1862 at Goodnestone Parsonage in Kent, where his father was Curate but at age 3 the family went to live at Livermere, near Bury St Edmunds in East Anglia.From early childhood he had a passion for mediaeval books and antiques. He was educated initially as a boarder at Temple Grove School in East Sheen, west London, before gai...

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...

Paris, 1883. Oscar Wilde, aged twenty-seven, has come to the city of decadence to discover its charms, to rekindle his friendship with the divine Sarah Bernhardt, and to collaborate with France's most celebrated actor-manager, Edmond La Grange. Oscar discovers dark secrets lying at the heart of the La Grange company, and is confronted by murders both foul and bizarre. To solve the crimes, to unravel the mystery, Oscar risks his life—and his reputation—embarking on a dangerous adventure tha...

The famous Middle English poem by an anonymous English poet is beautifully translated by fellow poet Simon Armitage in this edition. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight narrates in crystalline verse the strange tale of a green knight who rudely interrupts the Round Table festivities one Yuletide, casting a pall of unease over the company and challenging one of their number to a wager. The virtuous Gawain accepts and decapitates the intruder with his own ax. Gushing blood, the knight r...

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...

What we have in front of us here in this volume is a simple premise but an author’s words may say one thing and mean another. With talents such as E T A Hoffman, Katherine Mansfield, Willa Cather, Mikhail Bulgakov and many others our minds are under almost permanent assault with words, characters and narratives that pursue us to the end.1 - Psychological Stories - An Introduction2 - The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Fyodor Dostovesky3 - Psychology by Katherine Mansfi...

G K Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was a poet, novelist, playwright, literary commentator, editor, biographer, journalist, orator and theologian. He was often dubbed as the “prince of paradox” for his light whimsical style that often addressed serious issues such as politics and religion. The latter was as a member and defender of the Christian faith and the former was shaped by a distrust of concentrated wealth and power. He advocated Distributionism and said that every man shoul...

Edgar Poe was born in Boston Massachusetts on 19th January 1809. His father abandoned his family the following year and within a year his mother had died leaving him an orphan.He was taken in by the Allan family but never formally adopted although he now referred to himself as Edgar Allan Poe. His father alternatively spoiled or chastised him and tension was frequent over gambling debts and monies for his education. His university years to study ancient and modern languages was cut...