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  Top 10 Short Stories The - The...

  James Joyce, Virginia Woolf,...

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  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 itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  In this volume our authors show that Modernism was once cutting edge.  A way to explore, create, show and share in new ways.   Decades may have passed but their words still seem fresh and new and cutting edge.  Genius in every name. 
   
  01 - The Top 10 - The Modernists - An Introduction 
  02 - The Dead - Part 1 by James Joyce 
  03 - The Dead - Part 2 by James Joyce 
  04 - The Legacy by Virginia Woolf 
  05 - The Defense of Strikerville by Damon Runyon 
  06 - Bliss by Katherine Mansfield 
  07 - The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman 
  08 - Youth - Part 1 by Joseph Conrad 
  09 - Youth - Part 2 by Joseph Conrad 
  10 - Rooms by Gertrude Stein 
  11 - Here We Are by Dorothy Parker 
  12 - Speed by Sinclair Lewis 
  13 - Ariel's Triumph by Booth Tarkington

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  Bobok - From their pens to your...

  Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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  Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky was born in Moscow on 11th November, 1821 to distinguished multi-ethnic parents from a Lithuanian background.  
  His childhood years were at the family home in hospital grounds which also contained an orphanage, an insane asylum and a cemetery for criminals.  The young Fyodor often disobeyed his father by talking to the ill in the hospital gardens.   
  His health was compromised at age 9 when he experienced his first epileptic fit. By the time he was a teenager both parents had died and he was now enrolled in a military academy where he graduated and eventually became a Lieutenant in 1842.  He left military service the next year. 
  In 1846 he published his first novel ‘Poor Cow’ to great literary acclaim.  His next was unable to emulate that success but his short stories helped provide an income.  Life as an author was definitely difficult. As he began his next work he was arrested and incarcerated for treason and participation in the political and literary Petrashevsky Circle. Although the case was weak and unjustified he was sentenced to 4 years of hard labour followed by 5 years of military service in a Siberian regiment.  
  Despite the undoubted hardships and setbacks in his life, and whether they helped or hindered his writing, his talents produced many exceptional works of literature including ‘Crime and Punishment’, ‘The Idiot’ and ‘The Brothers Karamazov’.   
  Dostoevsky’s ability to get under the skin of his characters and show the inner workings of their mind was hugely influential and ahead of its time.  Interwoven with this was the influence of the broader social, spiritual and political forces at work in a person's psyche.   
  Fyodor Dostoevsky struggled financially and remained in poor health for much of his adult life.  He died from a lung haemorrhage on 9th February, 1881.

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  Too Early

  Anton Chekhov

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  The story takes place in the village of Shalmovo, where two peasant sportsmen, Filimon Slyunka and Ignat Ryabov, are sitting in a pothouse turned restaurant. Slyunka is an old man who used to be a house-serf and now lives off his old wife's alms. Ryabov is a silent, sturdy peasant. Slyunka and Ryabov are trying to convince the innkeeper, Semyon Mitritch, to give them a gun that they had left as collateral. Semyon refuses, citing the Lenten season and the lack of game. Despite their pleas and promises to return the gun, Semyon remains firm in his decision. Slyunka and Ryabov leave the tavern and decide to go stand-shooting in the forest, hoping to find snipe. They walk to the forest, but find no snipe and decide to wait another five days before trying again. The story ends with the sportsmen walking home in silence. Overall, the story portrays a slice of rural life and explores themes of poverty, longing, and the connection between humans and nature.

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  The Striding Place

  Gertrude Atherton

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  More classic horror narrations on Jonathan's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JonathanDunneHorrorAudiobooks 
  Title: The Striding Place 
  Author: Gertrude Atherton 
  Narrator: Jonathan Dunne 
  Original Publication: 1896 
  Public Domain: Yes 
  Series Placement: Timeless Terrors No. 80 
  Description: 
  The Striding Place is one of Gertrude Atherton’s most unnerving and atmospheric tales — a precise exploration of obsession, fear, and the fragile line between rationality and superstition. The story follows two men traveling a lonely English road at night, where local legends and strange happenings test their beliefs and perceptions. When one dismisses superstition and the warnings of the landscape, a sudden, impossible event changes everything. 
  Central to the story is the eerie road itself, where Atherton’s attention to detail transforms the setting into a character — dark, menacing, and morally indifferent. The tension grows quietly, with dread arising from what is implied rather than shown, and the narrative moves toward a haunting, unforgettable climax. 
  Atherton’s restrained, elegant prose makes the horror subtle yet compelling, emphasizing psychological unease over overt spectacle. Narrated by Amazon-bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne, this performance captures the story’s suspense, uncanny atmosphere, and slow-burning terror. 
  The Striding Place remains a timeless reminder that even familiar landscapes can conceal forces capable of sudden, unsettling, and irrevocable consequences.

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  Edna Ferber: Personality Plus -...

  Edna Ferber

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  Personality Plus is an early novel by American author Edna Ferber. Originally published in 1914, Personality Plus is the second of three volumes chronicling the travels and events in the life of Emma McChesney. Ferber achieved her first successes with a series of stories centering around this character, a stylish and intelligent divorced mother who rises rapidly in business

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  Magic of Night Falls The:...

  Sleepiest Network

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  The Magic of Night Falls is a new collection of calming bedtime stories for adults, created to help quiet the mind, ease the body, and guide you gently toward sleep. 
  Narrated in Geoffrey Austin Newland's soft Scottish voice, each story unfolds slowly and peacefully — drifting from the warmth of the fireside into starry skies, old Scottish myths, moonlit rivers, distant coastlines, hidden worlds, and moments touched by time itself.  
  These are tales of friendship, wonder, and rest, woven with gentle fantasy and magical realism. Told as if by firelight, with enough magic to carry you away, and enough stillness to help you settle. 
  Whether you're returning to Night Falls or discovering it for the first time, this collection stands alone or pairs beautifully with the first audiobook, Discovering Night Falls. 
  Perfect for bedtime, insomnia, anxiety, or racing thoughts at night, The Magic of Night Falls is a peaceful sleep aid for anyone looking to relax, unwind, and fall asleep more easily. 
  Let the fire burn low, let the day fall away, and drift into a world where magic moves softly through the dark.

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