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  His Wife's Deceased Sister -...

  Frank R. Stockton

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  Frank Richard Stockton was born in Philadelphia on 5th April 1834.  
  His father, a Methodist minister, discouraged Stockton’s literary career from an early age.  Feeling unable to go against those wishes it was for many years that Stockton’s income was maintained as a wood engraver.   
  His first work was published in 1867 and his first collection only appeared in 1870.  Despite this late arrival Stockton’s innovative and often far-fetched stories, with a gentle ‘poking fun’ humour were very popular.  Like his contemporary Mark Twain he avoided the scolding, hectoring and moral tones of many other authors and instead gently teased and cajoled his reader to open their eyes to the ills, the greed and the ambitions of the world around them.  His sci-fi stories in particular were far-seeing and inventive including a tale of negative gravity and a bloodless Anglo-US war won by technological feats.  
  Perhaps his most enduring tale though is ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’ from 1882.  A condemned man is given a choice of being eaten alive or marrying his princess lover.  But he has to choose which door each is behind. 
  Frank R Stockton died in Washington, DC, on 20th April 1902, of a cerebral haemorrhage.  He is buried at The Woodlands in Philadelphia.

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  The Facts in the Case of...

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  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 short by lack of money and he enlisted as a private in the army claiming he was 22, it is more probable he was 18. After 2 years he obtained a discharge in order to take up an appointment at the military academy, West Point, where he failed to become an officer. 
  Poe had released his 1st poetry volume in 1827 and after his 3rd turned to prose and placing short stories in several magazines and journals.  At age 26 he obtained a licence to marry his cousin.  She was a mere 13 but they stayed together until her death from tuberculosis 11 years after. 
  In January 1845 ‘The Raven’ was published and became an instant classic.  Thereafter followed the prose works for which he is now so rightly famed as a master of the mysterious and the macabre. 
  Edgar Allan Poe died at the tragically early age of 40 on 7th October 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland. Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as ‘congestion of the brain’ or ‘cerebral inflammation’, common euphemisms for death from disreputable causes such as alcoholism but the actual cause of death remains a mystery.

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  The Fortune of the Rougons

  Emile Zola

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  We enter the world of a fictional town of Plassans in Zola's native region of Provence and we are introduced to the eccentric heroine Adelaide Fouque, later known as Tante Dide, who becomes the common ancestor for both the Rougon and Macquart families. Her legitimate son from her short marriage to her late husband, a labourer named Rougon who worked on Dide's land, is forced to grow up alongside two illegitimate children.

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  The Death of Ivan Ilyich

  Leo Tolstoy

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  "In the end, it is love alone that matters, the love that we give and receive."
  
  Considered one of the masterpieces of Tolstoy's later fiction, The Death of Ivan Ilyich tells the story of Ivan Ilyich Golovin, a high-ranking judge in the Russian judicial system. His life appears successful by societal standards: he has a respectable job, a family, and a comfortable lifestyle until he is diagnosed with a terminal condition which eventually confines him to his bed. Here, he reflects on his life and the relationships around him and comes to realise that he has not truly lived and has instead followed a path dictated by society that has not brought him happiness or contentment. Brought face to face with his mortality, he experiences a revelation about the importance of authentic love and human connection.
  Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was a Russian novelist, philosopher, and social reformer, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of all time. He is best known for his epic novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, both celebrated for their intricate character development and profound exploration of moral dilemmas and human nature. In his later years, Tolstoy experienced a spiritual awakening which led him to reject materialism and embrace a life of simplicity, seeking to align his life with his beliefs about non-violence and compassion. Tolstoy's legacy endures not only through his literary masterpieces but also through his profound impact on literature and philosophy.

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  The Masque of the Red Death

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  Title: The Masque of the Red Death 
  Author: Edgar Allan Poe 
  Narrator: Jonathan Dunne 
  Original Publication: 1842 
  Public Domain: Yes 
  Series Placement: Number 24 in the Timeless Terrors series 
  Description: 
  The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe is a chilling, gothic tale of inevitability, mortality, and the inescapable reach of death. Set within the opulent yet isolated halls of Prince Prospero’s abbey, the story follows a decadent masquerade intended to shut out the horrors of a deadly plague. Poe’s vivid imagery and symbolic architecture of the castle build a suffocating atmosphere of dread, culminating in an unforgettable confrontation with the ultimate horror. 
  Narrated by Amazon bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne, this performance captures the story’s tense rhythm, eerie symbolism, and grim inevitability, blending gothic atmosphere with psychological terror. While the text is in the public domain, this narration is an original work and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne. 
  This audiobook is part of Timeless Terrors, a series dedicated to resurrecting classic horror — works from masters of the macabre, retold in haunting new performances for a modern audience. 
  Listeners should be prepared to confront the haunting specter of death itself, the oppressive splendor of the masked court, and the stark reminder that no walls, wealth, or revelry can hold back the end.

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  War and Peace (Book Fifteen:...

  Leo Tolstoy

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  War and Peace is a literary work mixed with chapters on history and philosophy by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. It was first published serially, then published in its entirety in 1869. It is regarded as one of Tolstoy's finest literary achievements and remains an internationally praised classic of world literature.
  Book 15: 1812-13: When seeing a dying animal a man feels a sense of horror: substance similar to his own is perishing before his eyes. But when it is a beloved and intimate human being that is dying, besides this horror at the extinction of life there is a severance, a spiritual wound, which like a physical wound is sometimes fatal and sometimes heals, but always aches and shrinks at any external irritating touch.

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