Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Anthologies

Glenn Hascell narrates this charming Hans Christian Andersen tale of a little girl forced to try to sell matches on the street by her father on Christmas Eve.

Ellis Parker Butler is known for his humor and he doesn’t disappoint in this tale. Imagine a cat who intentionally snuffs out each of his nine lives. Imagine the trauma and “paroxysms” endured by the family that watches the cat with such personal disrespect for limited second chances. While Butler tries to present this as a factual account there are many word pictures that will amuse, entertain, and allow you to relate to a melancholy cat.

A deserted cabin deep in the woods. One door, one window. The window is boarded up. The former resident - a recluse - is deceased. Is there a story here? Estate liquidators make a living disposing of the personal effects of deceased persons. Typically these are elderly people who may have lived alone, and were considered a bit strange because of their aloofness. But as the liquidator goes through the effects of the deceased, they occasionally find a story. Here, Ambrose Bierce explorers some possibilities.

Perhaps there is a knack to being able to talk coherently to a two year-old, but this skill is lost on the storyteller in this highly relatable and humorous short story from the creator of Winnie the Pooh. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

Jack London draws upon his own experiences of a long Klondike winter to tell the story of two men, complete opposites in almost every way, who break off from their gold-searching party to spend a long winter together in a remote cabin. Thinking it will be easier than pushing on further north with the rest of the party, they fight against the cold, dwindling supplies, endless days of complete darkness, encroaching madness, the ubiquitous "Fear of the North", and ultimately, each other.

An opportunity to right a wrong that had been done, but at what cost.

A true story? Embellished? Total fiction? We may not know, but Mark Twain shares a story from the perspective of a man who has had too few friends, and too much time on his hands. Humor throughout. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

When you have a past filled with regret it may not be a good idea to find someone to help you dwell on the pain you've caused others. Hawthorne places this scenario in an out-of-the-way location where a woman is allowed to see the painful result of her actions. This journey comes with an awful price - and awful company. A classic story narrated by Glenn Hascall.

On the banks of a Nebraska river several boys hear a story that causes them to plan a great adventure for their future. They could never quite get past a plan to find the Enchanted Bluff, but life has a way of stealing dreams from childish minds. A beautiful story of the hope of childhood in a time a few shades less complicated. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

A classic short story from beloved author Charles Dickens. As was common among many of Dickens' stories, this tale deals with death and human connection. It is a story of hope and compassion. It is a story of love.

"Afterward" is a psychological ghost story of the Victorian era. This is no modern horror tale, but one that was very popular at a time when a shiver and some things to think about were what was expected of the horror genre. Wharton's beautiful prose, as read by professional actor Sara Morsey, will delight and thrill. Sit back and enjoy!

You never know the impact of a single good deed. The Tailor of Gloucester cared for even the smallest of creatures, and discovered a miracle based on that singular choice. A classic story for all ages performed by Glenn Hascall.

What if...a machine could murder one person while implicating another for the crime? An alien being looked like livestock but spoke like a philosopher? Earth was ruined by war, and Mars was humanity's only hope? Robots were created to wage an unending war on the ravaged surface of Earth while man hid underground? Peeking into the future showed a worse result with each look?

Ambrose Bierce is a wordsmith who paints with a marvelous portrait with words. This short story with its surprise ending draws you in like a month to the flame. The story itself is entertaining, but with a surprise ending one is drawn to rethinking the story, and re-reading again. The American Civil War where brother fought brother father fought son is well represented in this story. After the Civil War Pierce became a journalist in San Francisco, and was a prolific producer of short stories.

The dark strains of madness that permeate many of the works of Edgar Allan Poe make their way through this macabre story. This memorable short story bears a resemblance to Poe's Tell Tale Heart. In both stories guilt leaves a murderer with a singular choice.

A comedy of misunderstandings and idealism. Mr. Moorehouse arrived at the train station to claim his baggage and other items. He believed he was being overcharged, but Mr. Flannery wouldn't budge. In time Mr. Flannery wished he had. A fun listen from start to finish. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

Why do you suppose some combat veterans give up the sport of hunting? Is it because they gain empathy with the hunted, or hunting a prey less cunning than they has lost its allure. Richard Connell, in this short story “The Most Dangerous Game” takes us where the hunter becomes the hunted. This hunter is not being hunted by a beast less cunning or calculating than he is, like a lion or a tiger. No, this hunter is a master at his craft, crueler and only slightly better armed than he is.

The Ballad of Tommy Atkins was first published as “Tommy” in Kipling’s timeless Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses, in the 1890s. ‘Tommy Atkins’, or simply Tommy was a generic name applied to British soldiers from as early as the 18th century, but came into popular parlance during the First World War when troops were simply referred to as “Tommies”. The ballad exposes the bitterness felt by the British soldier to the public’s treatment of their forces in times of peace, and how that alters in wartime.

One of Kipling’s Just So stories that might have been named “How the Elephant Got His Trunk” takes us to the banks of the "Great Grey-Green, Greasy Limpopo" river. A timeless classic, masterfully narrated by Phillip J. Mather.

This is a story for any man that has ever visited a barber. For all the good they do, there has likely been at least one misguided barber who resembles the man who gives Mark Twain's head a workout. From the descriptions of the shop to the tactics of those who use a barber, this story will be something you can relate to, smile at, and reintroduces memories of a barber shop that never changes.