Gothic Classics

Elizabeth Gaskell's chilling Gothic Tales blends the real and the supernatural to eerie, compelling effect. 'Disappearances', inspired by local legends of mysterious vanishings, mixes gossip and fact; Lois the Witch, a novella based on an account of the Salem witch hunts, shows how sexual desire and jealousy lead to hysteria; while in 'The Old Nurse's Story' a mysterious child roams the freezing Northumberland moors.

Arthur Conan Doyle was the greatest genre writer Britain has ever produced. Throughout a long writing career, he drew on his own medical background, his travels, and his increasing interest in spiritualism and the occult to produce a spectacular array of Gothic tales. Many of Doyle's writings are recognized as the very greatest tales of terror. They range from hauntings in the polar wasteland to evil surgeons and malevolent jungle landscapes. This collection brings together over 30 of Conan Doyle's best Gothic tales

On his 59th birthday, Tyson Parks—a famous, but struggling, horror writer—receives an ornate antiquarian desk in the hopes it will rekindle his creative juices. Perhaps inspire him to write another best-selling book and prove his best years aren’t behind him… As Tyson begins to use the new desk, he finds himself writing copy at an unfathomable speed, becomes so focused on writing that he binges on all-night, all-day sessions that take a serious physical and psychological toll. Soon, Tyson begins acting strange. Violent.

When church restorers arrive in a forgotten English village, they discover more than crumbling stonework and damp mortar. Pressed against the east wall lies the Tomb of Sarah Kenyon: Countess, widow, and whispered monster of old. Local legend claims she kept a wolf as her familiar, fed on lambs and children alike, and could never truly die. But legends have roots. And when the marble slab is shifted, the village begins to feel the weight of every dark tale ever told.

It is December 1888. Jack the Ripper has not killed for over a month and London is beginning to relax as Christmas approaches. When Katherine Kramer cuts herself on a strange book at a dinner party, she quickly falls ill. Her husband Richard is a professor of medicine, but even his efforts are futile as the mysterious illness blazes through her. As Katherine dies, she gives birth to something nightmarish. Something which should not exist. Something which spurs Richard to embark on a terrifying journey of discovery as he chases the answer to one question: who or what killed his wife?

Here 19 classic tales from masters of the genre. The collection comprises 'Schalken the Painter' by J. S. Lefanu; 'Sredni Vashtar' by Saki (H. H. Munro); 'The Room in the Tower' by E. F. Benson; 'Charles Ashmore's Trail' by Ambrose Bierce; 'The Mark of the Beast' by Rudyard Kipling; 'The Castle of Ratcliffe Cross' by J. Wadham; 'The Bead Necklace' by Alice Perrin; 'The Oval Portrait' by Edgar Allan Poe; 'The Leather Funnel' by Arthur Conan Doyle; 'Berenice' by Edgar Allan Poe; and many more.

Featuring work by M. R. James, Edith Nesbit, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Atherton and many more, this enhanced audio collection of eight enduring stories - some well-known, others less familiar - transport you to a candlelit fireside to hear tales of lonely coastlines, deadly rivers, dark, creaking corridors, horrific, everlasting love and unknown entities lurking in black velvet shadows.

Critically acclaimed audiobook reader Barnaby Edwards (Doctor Who, The Voyage of the Beagle, Space Danger) performs 11 tales of ghostly gothic spookiness. From tales of vampyres and spirits to devil’s deals and ethereal coachmen. Short but oh so sweet, these 11 stories from some of the most lauded authors of the Gothic period prove that you need only a few pages to tell a truly terrifying tale.

In Frankenstein, a classic tale of bio-engineering gone horribly wrong, Victor Frankenstein uses body parts of the dead to bring a creature to life. When Frankenstein abandons his experiment in horror, the Monster embarks on a quest that results in the ultimate revenge. In Dracula, a timeless gothic vampire romance, young solicitor Jonathan Harker must shield his fiancé, Mina, from the predations of the insatiable Count Dracula. Mysteriously drawn to the Count, Mina, however, struggles to break free from the psychic grip of the mysterious dark stranger from Transylvania.

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic fiction read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly abridged and remastered stories are now available to download for the first...

In this original collection from Skyboat Media and Blackstone Publishing, Elizabeth Gaskell showcases the height of gothic fiction's ability to delight in the otherworldly and to dig deep into what truly haunts us. Set against the backdrop of the Salem witch trials, "Lois the Witch" reveals much about the complicity of mankind. Recently orphaned, Lois is forced to leave the English parsonage that had been her home and sail to America.

A ghostly presence in “The Lady’s Maid’s Bell” desires revenge against a tyrannical husband. In “Mr. Jones”, Lady Jane Lynke inherits an estate unexpectedly, and can’t make sense of how to manage the servants - especially since the caretaker has been dead for decades, but keeps giving orders. Meanwhile, in “Afterward”, a newly wealthy American couple moves into a large, isolated house in southern England complete with a ghost...and the mysteries surrounding the husband’s business are slowly uncovered.

Beneath the brilliance that was behind The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome was a dark side. A dark side which produced magnificent tales of the unseen influences in our lives, such as "Mr. Jones", "The Eyes", "Kerfol", "The Ladie's Maid's Bell", and "The Looking Glass".

This collection of short stories contains several gothic tales of the macabre and chilling, by writers as diverse as Robert Louis Stevenson, Mary Shelley, H. P. Lovecraft and A. M. Burrage. These tales are designed to unsettle you, just a little, as you sit back and take in their words as they lead you on a walk to places you’d perhaps rather not visit on your own. Our stories are: "The Body Snatcher", by Robert Louis Stevenson; "The Mortal Immortal", by Mary Shelley; "The Thing on the Doorstep", by HP Lovecraft; and "Waxworks", by AM Burrage.

Ghost stories became hugely popular during the 19th century, and the Victorians became the masters of the genre. This deliciously chilling collection of Classic Hallowe'en Stories includes authors such as Charles Dickens, Edith Wharton, Edgar Allen Poe, Elizabeth Gaskell, Henry James, Bram Stoker, H. P. Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen, M. R. James and Vernon Lee.

This collection of short stories contains several gothic tales featuring the macabre and chilling voices of writers as diverse as Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, Edith Nesbit, and MR James. These tales are designed to unsettle you, just a little, as you sit back and take in their words as they lead you on a walk to places you’d perhaps rather not visit on your own.

Washington Irving was an 18th century American short story writer, historian, and diplomat. He was born into a merchant family of Scottish/English descent and was the youngest of 11 children. Irving was one of the first American writers to become popular in Europe. He was admired by some of the best-known British writers, including Charles Dickens, Lord Byron, and Walter Scott.

This isn’t just Washington Irving’s classic tale—it’s a spine-tingling plunge into a world of restless spirits, haunted woods, and one of the most unforgettable legends of all time! Feel your pulse pound as you walk alongside Ichabod Crane through misty roads where every shadow hides a secret and every whisper might belong to the Headless Horseman himself. With every chilling moment, you’ll be swept into the eerie charm of early America, where folklore comes alive and fear takes the reins.

The Victorians were obsessed with Egyptology and mummies. It was during the second half of the 19th century that many of the most significant archeological finds were made in Egypt, and stories of the revenge of the mummies on anyone raiding their tombs, stealing their treasures or unwrapping their corpses abounded. This collection brings together the best and scariest short stories of the period, featuring vengeance-seeking mummies, bandaged zombies, pharaonic ghosts and ancient curses.

The Glamour of the Snow is one of Algernon Blackwood’s most haunting supernatural tales—a hypnotic blend of winter wilderness, psychological tension, and eerie elemental forces. When an English traveler becomes captivated by a mysterious woman who appears only in the snow-covered Swiss Alps, he is drawn into a chilling dance between beauty and danger. As fascination deepens into obsession, the seductive pull of the mountains reveals its true, otherworldly power.