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  A Legend - From their pens to...

  Alexander Kuprin

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  Alexander Kuprin was born in Narovchat, Penza in Russia on 7th September 1870. 
  At 3 his Father died and he and mother moved to Moscow. By 10 he was enrolled at the Second Moscow Military High School and there his interest in literature began. The Alexander Military Academy followed and two years later he was a sub-lieutenant and posted to an Infantry Regiment for a further four years. 
  Despite his duties he was a now a keen writer and published his first short story at this time. His military duties also garnered him experiences for his breakthrough work ‘The Duel’.  Leaving the military he left for Kiev to work for local newspapers.  He continued to publish both stories and novels and by 1901 he was in St Petersburg becoming part of a group that included Chekhov, Ivan Bunin, Maxim Gorky and Leonid Andreyev.  
  In the years that followed further controversial works and acclaim followed.  His comments on the regime meant he was also put under secret police surveillance.   
  As World War I erupted, Kuprin opened a military hospital but was then given command of an infantry company in Finland. He was soon discharged on grounds of ill health.  
  The October Revolution saw him praise Lenin, but he warned that the Bolsheviks threatened Russian culture and might cause further widespread suffering to the peasants.  As Civil War raged he took his family to Helsinki and then on to Paris. 
  Exile saw his talents decline further and his succumbing to alcoholism. He became lonely and withdrawn. The family's poverty increased his malaise.   
  In May 1937, the Kuprin’s returned to Moscow.  He now saw his work published but wrote almost nothing new.  In 1938 his health rapidly deteriorated.  Already suffering from a kidney problems and sclerosis, he had now developed cancer of the oesophagus.  
  Alexander Kuprin died on 25th August 1938.

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  The Zahir - A Novel of Obsession

  Anonymous

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  The narrator of The Zahir is a bestselling novelist who lives in Paris and enjoys all the privileges money and celebrity bring. His wife of ten years, Esther, is a war correspondent who has disappeared along with a friend, Mikhail, who may or may not be her lover. 
  Was Esther kidnapped, murdered, or did she simply escape a marriage that left her unfulfilled? The narrator doesn’t have any answers, but he has plenty of questions of his own. Then one day Mikhail finds the narrator and promises to reunite him with his wife. In his attempt to recapture a lost love, the narrator discovers something unexpected about himself.

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  Delilah - An Under Your Scars...

  Ariel N. Anderson

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  Seventeen years after the events in Under Your Scars, Caroline makes her yearly visit to Meridian City and is taken on a heartbreaking and bittersweet journey that gives her something she's been searching for her entire life: closure.  
  This is a sequel novella to Under Your Scars: A Dark Romance Novel, and the series must be read in order.

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  The Goophered Grapevine

  Charles W. Chesnutt

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  The Goophered Grapevine is the first short story from The Conjure Woman, published in The Atlantic in August 1887, told to the narrator by Julius McAdoo, a former enslaved man who lives on the plantation that the narrator, John, and his wife, Annie, visit one day. Set in Patesville, North Carolina, John and Annie moved there for an improvement in his wife's health and to seek other business opportunities. Knowing that the couple wanted to purchase the property, McAdoo advises them not to do so, informing them that when Dugal McAdoo, the previous master, purchased the property, it was very rich in wine production because of its vineyards. To protect his grapes from being stolen, Master McAdoo consulted with a conjure woman, Aunt Peggy, who placed a curse on the vineyard and warned the slaves that whoever stole them, would die within a year. Henry, a new slave, did not know of the curse, and when he ate the grapes, he was cursed to age when the leaves of the vines withered and once the vines died, so did Henry. Suffering the loss of his slaves and his vineyard, Master McAdoo left the vineyard abandoned after the war to the current state in which the couple found it. McAdoo warns the couple against purchasing the property due to it still being cursed, but the narrator buys the vineyard regardless.

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  The Voice in the Night

  William Hope Hodgson

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  Title: The Voice in the Night 
  Author: William Hope Hodgson 
  Narrator: Jonathan Dunne 
  Original Publication: 1907 
  Public Domain: Yes 
  Series Placement: Number 17 in the Timeless Terrors series 
  Description: 
  The Voice in the Night by William Hope Hodgson is a chilling maritime horror first published in 1907. The story follows two sailors who encounter a mysterious castaway on a fog-drenched sea. His tale of isolation, disease, and transformation reveals a creeping terror that lingers far beyond the narrative. 
  Narrated by horror author Jonathan Dunne, this recording captures Hodgson’s eerie atmosphere, blending suspense, dread, and the uncanny beauty of the open, menacing sea. While the text is in the public domain, this performance is an original work and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne. 
  This audiobook is part of Timeless Terrors, a dedicated series bringing classic horror back to life — stories from the great masters of the macabre, narrated afresh to haunt a new generation. 
  Listeners should be prepared for an unsettling voyage into isolation, the unknown, and the subtle horrors that dwell in both nature and humanity.

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  Dark to Light and Other Stories

  Stephen Filbey

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  Life thwarts Floyd’s goals sooner or later. A rival challenges his new invention. His buried gold is confiscated by HM Treasury. He is wrongly charged with arson. He is unfairly dismissed. He campaigns to change part of English punctuation, yet inadvertently continues to use it afterwards. Helping a friend lands him in hospital. What has he done to deserve all this? 
  Yet he is resourceful in dealing with his adverse situations, whether personal or confronting the might of the state. Other characters must eat humble pie to stay afloat. College lecturer Ed Beck forsakes his principles. And Matt abandons his business dreams to preserve an old friendship.

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