Publisher: Reading Essentials
11 short stories with entertaining and elaborate plots by the Danish writer. Almost all of Blixen's tales weave Gothic themes such as incest and murder with myth and bewitchment. Very frequently she portrays people with unusual mental states in great depth and with remarkable imaginative clarity.
Margaret Oliphant Wilson was born on 4th April 1828 in East Lothian in Scotland but spent her childhood in Midlothian, Glasgow and Liverpool. She wrote from a young age and in 1849 had her first novel about the Scottish Free Church movement, a cause her parents sympathized with, published. Her next, ‘Caleb Field’, a couple of years later, led to a lifelong association with Blackwood Magazine to which she contributed more than a 100 articles and reviews. In May 1852, she married her cousin, Frank Wilson Oliphant, an artist working in stained glass, and settled in Camden, London. Together they had six children but tragically three died in infancy. Unfortunately, Frank developed tuberculosis and so they moved in January 1859 to Florence, and then south to Rome, where he died. Margaret was devastated and was left with the burden of supporting herself and their three children. She returned to England and with her prolific literary work increased her commercial reputation and the size of her reading audience. Margaret worked tirelessly to sustain her popularity with her supernatural tales and historical fiction. Unfortunately, her family life continued to be fraught with tragedies due to the further death of her one remaining daughter, financial ruin for her alcoholic brother and unfulfilled ambitions for her two sons followed by their deaths in 1890 and 1894. She had settled in Windsor near Eton where her sons had been educated in 1866 and was buried there following her death on 25th June, 1897. Despite the short time she lived in Scotland, much of her writing displays strong connections in terms of settings, themes and its oral tradition. Margaret was admired for her range of supernatural tales, which resonated with her fascination for the afterlife and given her own experience, provided a sense of comfort to those grieving. In this story a family’s return from India to Scotland is soon brought to a state of tension when their fragile son experiences hallucinations. The pursuit of the truth brings many consequences.Show book
Mage private investigator Alice Worth and alpha werewolf Sean Maclin have finally moved in together. Their new domestic arrangement is strained by the presence of Alice's father, a longtime lone wolf struggling to fit into his daughter's dangerous and unpredictable life. To make matters worse, would-be assassins track Alice's every move and she's estranged from her ghost sidekick Malcolm.Restless at home surrounded by protective werewolves, Alice takes a new case with Malcolm reluctantly riding shotgun. What starts as a straightforward search for a missing artist quickly spirals into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with a seemingly invincible foe whose cruelties know no bounds. Already on edge after another attempt on Alice's life, Sean and Malcolm ask her to do the impossible: walk away from the case.When her grandfather, crime lord Moses Murphy, gives her a deadly ultimatum and her plan to resolve her case goes up in flames, Alice will need every power, alliance, and skill at her disposal to defeat her adversaries. The stakes are much more dire than simply life and death—and the very souls of Alice and everyone she loves hang in the balance.Contains mature themes.Show book
It was intended to eradicate the common cold; instead it eradicated most of the human race. A genetically modified virus killer mutates, transforming everyone it infects into zombies. As it rapidly spreads across the globe, small groups of survivors battle to stay alive and escape the growing hordes of flesh eaters. Tom, Becky and their two children are on a family holiday when the virus hits. Follow them as they try to fight their way to safety, gathering others along the way. They soon realise that their best chance of survival will be to reach an ancient symbol of power and strength. Their future and safety lie behind a castle’s walls. Together they must undertake a daunting 100-mile journey. Will they make it?Show book
A collection of haunting—and hilarious—ghost stories by the beloved Booker Prize finalist and New York Times-bestselling author. Robertson Davies first hit upon the notion of writing ghost stories when he joined the University of Toronto as the first Master of Massey College. Wishing to provide entertainment at the College’s Gaudy Night, the annual Christmas party, Professor Davies created a “spooky story,” which he read aloud to the gathering. That story, “Revelation from a Smoky Fire,” is the first in this wonderful, haunting collection. A tradition quickly became established and, for eighteen years, Davies delighted and amused the Gaudy Night guests with his tales of the supernatural. Here, gathered together in one volume, are those eighteen stories, just as Davies first read them.Show book
A classic short story. By turns scary and funny, it’s the greatest “severed hand” story ever written. After Eustace Borlsover’s blind uncle dies, the nephew receives in the mail the uncles’ severed hand as part of his inheritance. It soon emerges that the hand is alive in some sense, intelligent and very mobile. Eustace and his secretary immediately assume the hand is evil, but to be honest it seems more mischievous than malevolent, Until, of course, Eustace nails the hand to a board and sticks it in a safe for several months, whereupon the hand seeks vengeance and a final showdown between men and appendage ensues. “Beast” refreshingly avoids clichés while at the same time creating a wonderfully eerie sense of fear. The story was later turned into a horror movie starring Peter Lorre.Show book
Rosalie Parker runs the independent UK publishing house Tartarus Press with R. B. Russell. Her previous collections include The Old Knowledge (Swan River Press 2010) and Damage (PS Publishing 2016). "In the Garden" was selected for Best New Horror 21 (2010), and "Random Flight" for Best British Horror 2015. Rosalie lives in Coverdale, North Yorkshire, the magnificent landscape of which inspires and sometimes provides the settings for her writing.SIREN: It didn't take long for Hesta to get ready, which was just as well as there was less than half an hour to finish her makeup, slip on the dress and pin her hair in a complicated style.Show book
