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  The Island of Dr Moreau - A...

  H. G. Wells

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  Englishman Edward Prendick finds himself shipwrecked on the open ocean. When a passing ship takes him aboard and revives him, things are starting to look less gloomy for the young scientist. Yet little does he know things about to get much worse. He is taken to an abandoned island occupied only by Dr. Moreau, a disgraced English scientist for his unethical treatment of live creatures. Prendick finds that the Doctor has been up to old habits, using the island's animals to create animal-human hybrids. Prendick must learn to survive among these creatures, while uncovering even more deadly mysteries about Doctor and the strange inhabitants of the island in this classic sci-fi tale.

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  Hard Times

  Charles Dickens

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  Hard Times: For These Times (commonly known as Hard Times) is the tenth novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book surveys English society and satirises the social and economic conditions of the era.Hard Times is unusual in several ways. It is by far the shortest of Dickens's novels, barely a quarter of the length of those written immediately before and after it. Also, unlike all but one of his other novels, Hard Times has neither a preface nor illustrations. Moreover, it is his only novel not to have scenes set in London. Instead the story is set in the fictitious Victorian industrial Coketown, a generic Northern English mill-town, in some ways similar to Manchester, though smaller. Coketown may be partially based on 19th-century Preston.One of Dickens's reasons for writing Hard Times was that sales of his weekly periodical Household Words were low, and it was hoped the novel's publication in instalments would boost circulation - as indeed proved to be the case. Since publication it has received a mixed response from critics. Critics such as George Bernard Shaw and Thomas Macaulay have mainly focused on Dickens's treatment of trade unions and his post-Industrial Revolution pessimism regarding the divide between capitalist mill owners and undervalued workers during the Victorian era. F. R. Leavis, a great admirer of the book, included it - but not Dickens's work as a whole - as part of his Great Tradition of English novels.

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  Tolstoy: Father Sergius & Other...

  Leo Tolstoy

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  Tolstoy is perhaps best recognized as the author of the classic novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina. While he was able to sustain complex and moving plots through large novels, his ability as a writer is also demonstrated in his many short stories.
  Tolstoy brings to these brief tales the same psychological depth and spiritual insight found in his larger works. In fact, his short stories are an excellent place to begin reading this great author. In them, you will find the same challenging themes of morality, forgiveness, redemption, and more.An EChristian, Inc production.

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  The Pickwick Papers

  Charles Dickens

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  The Pickwick Papers was Charles Dickens' first novel. Because of his success with Sketches by Boz published in 1836 Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to supply descriptions to explain a series of comic "cockney sporting plates" by illustrator Robert Seymour,[and to connect them into a novel. The book became Britain's first real publishing phenomenon, with bootleg copies, theatrical performances, Sam Weller joke books, and other merchandise. On its cultural impact, Nicholas Dames in The Atlantic writes, “Literature” is not a big enough category for Pickwick. It defined its own, a new one that we have learned to call “entertainment.” Published in 19 issues over 20 months, the success of The Pickwick Papers popularized serialised fiction and cliffhanger endings.Seymour's widow claimed the idea for the novel was originally her husband's, but Dickens strenuously denied any specific input in his preface to the 1867 edition: "Mr. Seymour never originated or suggested an incident, a phrase, or a word, to be found in the book."Charles Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognized him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today.

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  Doug Bradley's Spinechillers...

  Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft,...

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  Welcome to Doug Bradley's Spinechillers Volume Four, what is on the way of becoming the world's largest collection of high quality, classic horror short story audiobooks.We start with Doug Bradley's well researched introduction to the authors and stories featured in this volume. Launching us into 'Lost Hearts', M.R. James' creepy tale of ghostly children seeking  revenge and peace from the man who caused their untimely demise.Next up is 'The Damned Thing' by Ambrose Bierce, a dark tale of men attempting to uncover the truth about the grisly death of a woodsmen and the unnatural events the witness claims to have watched unfold.Now best to catch your breath before we launch into Charles Dickens' classic ghost story 'The Trial For Murder', featuring a ghost's quest to make sure his killer is brought to justice in the courtroom. Ambrose Bierce brings us a delightfully short and sharp tale with 'John Mortonson's Funeral', before we join HP Lovecraft's 'In The Vault', as a bitter old man seeks to cause misery from beyond the grave.Our last story is one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous tale 'The Black Cat', featuring a man's descent into depraved madness and the feline that exposes him.Calming us down nicely, we finish with one of Poe's classic poems, the beautifully written 'A Dream Within a Dream'.So stoke up the fire, turn off the lights and settle in, to hear some of the worlds best short horror stories read by one of the worlds best narrators.

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  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

  Mark Twain

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  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is an1876 novel by Mark Twain about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1840s in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, inspired by Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy. In the novel Sawyer has several adventures, often with his friend Huckleberry Finn. Originally a commercial failure, the book ended up being the best selling of any of Twain's works during his lifetime. Edited by Macc Kay Production executive Avalon Giuliano ICON Intern Eden Giuliano Music By AudioNautix With Their Kind Permission ©2020 Eden Garret Giuliano (P) Eden Garret Giuliano Geoffrey Giuliano is the author of over thirty internationally bestselling biographies, including the London Sunday Times bestseller Blackbird: The Life and Times of Paul McCartney and Dark Horse: The Private Life of George Harrison. He can be heard on the Westwood One Radio Network and has written and produced over seven hundred original spoken-word albums and video documentaries on various aspects of popular culture. He is also a well known movie actor.

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