Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Anthologies & Short Stories

Ambrose Bierce's classic weird tale, first published in 1886, brings us the eerie visons of a feverish man, and introduces to the world the strange realm of Carcosa. Following this telling is a commentary tracing the origins, influence and importance of this Bierce story.

If, after a great struggle, the East were to prevail over the world, what sort of civilization would be imposed by the victors? Would it be an oriental version of the societies we know - or might the great old culture be superimposed upon what was left of Western technology? The story is set in a post-apocalyptic future where global civilization is governed by a hierarchical, religious society centered around belief in karmic-based reincarnation metaphorically viewed as moving forward or backward on a turning wheel.

For Eveline, it was a nearly transforming experience to be in love. Frank had booked passage for the two to leave Ireland for Buenos Aires as husband and wife. As Eveline looks forward to the day of her leaving, she begins to think of her dead mother and the family she would be leaving behind. This short story allows us to consider the thoughts that are in conflict for the young lady. How will she respond and what will she decide? A classic story narrated by Glenn Hascall.

An intriguing short story by acclaimed writer Bram Stoker focusing on what a patient might experience in the midst of an intense illness. For both the patient and the caregiver the result bears a remarkable look at something that may seem familiar, disturbing, and sometimes humorous. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

Denton Cassal is a sales engineer on a sales trip to Tunney 21. His mission is to recruit an engineer for his company, Neuronics Inc., with the aid of an electronic implant called Dimanche. On the way, Cassal has a transfer point on the planet of Godolph. Unfortunately, his transfer doesn't go as smoothly as he wants, and he now seems stranded on Godolph. There is something strange about travelers on Godolph, as Cassal quickly learns.

The scene is a rundown boardwalk with carnival attractions. Ralph Banghart manages a house of mirrors where the "Dwarf", Mr. Bigelow, comes to view himself as large, normal. Ralph Banghart is a bully, and when his friend, Aimee, takes pity on Mr. Bigelow, Ralph becomes jealous. Although his bullying had been behind Mr. Bigelow's back, Ralph decides to switch the mirror in the house of mirrors to one that makes Bigelow appear tiny instead of large.

As curator of the Twentieth Century Exhibit, George Miller felt that to do a good job, he had to live his work. Then, one day, somebody got into his exhibit, and he went to investigate.

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?

Clarence Rimbro owns the entire planet Earth. This is no great accomplishment as, thousands of years in our future, anyone can do it. There are an infinite number of possible Earths, each existing in its own parallel universe. If the chance of life arising on any one of them is about 50 percent, then half the time a random choice of a parallel universe will lead to a dead Earth.

W. F. Harvey (1885-1937) was a prolific writer of short tales of the macabre and the strange, best known for the classic horror tale "The Beast With Five Fingers". "The Clock" also sees Harvey exploring the supernatural, with an eerie tale of an unexpected and unwelcome tenant in a deserted house.

A terrifying short from the Hugo-winning author of The Man in the High Castle, narrated by award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti, in which paranoid Verne Haskel suddenly gains almost godlike power over two towns named Woodland - one of them just outside of San Francisco, the other lovingly constructed in the basement of his home.

In this comedy by the legendary Piers Anthony, the six-year-old son of a wealthy man wants a pet for his birthday. So, he promises his son to get him whatever he wants. Well - the boy wants a Pegasus! The father, knowing such an animal does not exist, proves it to the boy by grabbing the encyclopedic edition for that very entry. Not only do they find the Pegasus doesn't exist, but the animals they know exist in fact - do not!

Eerie old houses, wretched smiles, mausoleums, and banshees. Stories from masters of the horror genre, M.R. James, F. Marion Craword, Edgar Allan Poe, W.W. Jacobs, Amelia Edwards, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, and H.P. Loveraft, stories to make your body tingle and your mind play tricks.

How many dimensions are there? In The Other Now, Murray Leinster takes us to a place where more than one Now may exist. At least that is what Jimmy and Jane believe. Haynes, Jimmy's lawyer friend, believes Jimmy suffers from post-traumatic shock after a tragic auto accident. That is, before a revelation.

The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed (metamorphosed) into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. The cause of Gregor's transformation is never revealed, and Kafka himself never gave an explanation. The rest of Kafka's novella deals with Gregor's attempts to adjust to his new condition as he deals with being burdensome to his parents and sister, who are repulsed by the horrible, verminous creature Gregor has become.

An errant encounter with a passing star has flung Earth away from its old Solar System into the dark and cold of deep space. With the entire atmosphere frozen as chemical snow dozens of feet deep, one last family struggles to survive. But what are they to think when they see figures moving in the city ruins? Are Earth's dead coming back to life?

In this P. K. Dick short story read by award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti almost everyone had a bomb shelter, but if they didn't have the latest model, chances where they wouldn't survive a nuclear attack. Mike Foster's dad wouldn't be bullied into buying a shelter until finally one Christmas he signed up for the easy payment plan and....

When a group of men crash on the surface of an alien planet, they are hemmed in on every side by a deadly, impenetrable bog and attacked by an unknown, unseen enemy.

Rena Arblest was, perhaps, no better than she should be. But she was no worse, either. And therefore deserved less than she received.

She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen...so pliant...so yeilding..so all-enfolding....