Classic Literature Dark

Whether serving as cautionary tales or stories that appease the listener’s thirst of the unknown, the macabre, and even the grotesque, horror fiction has been around for a long time. From stories concocted around mythical figures and legends, to those about imagined monsters under the bed and in the dark, here is a must-have edition to make your nights a little scarier.

The Resistance is fractured. The remaining survivors are buckling under the might of the malicious Tyrant King. Enter Roark von Graf, hedge mage, lesser noble of Traisbin, and one of the last freedom fighters. Desperate and unhinged, Roark crafts one final attempt to overthrow the king. The plan goes awry, and Roark finds himself tumbling headfirst into an interdimensional portal. On the other side, he finds himself stranded in an unexpected place - an ultra-immersive fantasy video game called Hearthworld.

Reading built the modern world. It helped create democracy, science and reason. Now, books are dying, and people everywhere are losing the ability to read deeply or think rationally. The golden chain of knowledge linking reader to reader through history is breaking. The screen has replaced the...

Benedict Cumberbatch reads Franz Kafka's famous story of man-turned-insect, Metamorphosis Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award AudioFile 2018 After a night of troubled dreams, Gregor Samsa wakes to discover that he has turned into a huge, monstrous, cockroach-like creature, with an...

Jule Ann pounds on the bottom of a cookie jar and a small, dark lump bounces out. The Dark quickly eats up Jule Ann’s shadow, and then her mother and father’s shadows, growing bigger and bigger with each swallow. When the Dark grows as big as her house, Jule Ann comes up with an ingenious plan to get it back where it belongs.

Ann and John Hayward's honeymoon at Collinwood slowly turns into a series of nightmares. Soon after their arrival, John, who is recovering from a war injury, falls victim to strange, violent spells. In a fit of irrational jealousy, he accuses his wife of falling in love with Barnabas Collins. Meanwhile, a series of attacks on her life frighten Ann into believing John is trying to kill her.

The lifestyles, careers, romances, and peccadillos of various British intellectuals, scientists, and artists are dealt with - often with hilarity and sometimes with dark comedy and sophisticated banter. All of this is set off by the ingenious idea of self-inflating pants!

January 1937. Clouds of war are gathering over a fogbound London. Twenty-eight year old Jack is poor, lonely and desperate to change his life. So when he's offered the chance to join an Arctic expedition, he jumps at it. Spirits are high as the ship leaves Norway: five men and eight huskies...

Despite warnings from the townspeople, Victoria Winters accepts the offer to come to the strange Collinwood as Governess. From the moment she arrives, Victoria becomes the target of someone in the house determined to destroy her. As the wind moans and the rain lashes around the isolated Collinwood, Victoria, without friends in the manor, feels death close in on her, a choking, frightening death.

H.H. Munro (Saki) is one of the undisputed masters of the short story. In this complete compendium, the full gamut of his subjects and themes is experienced. His stories are imbued with humorous satire, biting irony, and often the macabre, all of which have one target: the stupidities and hypocrisies of Edwardian upper-class society.

A gothic tale in two timelines in which the lives of two women intersect through a series of mysterious, eerily beautiful photographs of the dead London, 1865. Minnie has been sent to Culpepper House to work as a maid. She’s been told that the Culpepper twins are odd, and odd they are. Edmund...

Maggie Evans visits the Collins family graveyard and is transported back in time to the year 1880. There she awakes, an amnesia victim, at a Collinwood she barely recognizes. She has fallen into the hands of Dr. Giles Collins, whose mysterious experiments with human blood have already taken several lives. Though Maggie is warned by the others that he is a vampire, she turns to Barnabas for help.

Here is another never-before-told story of the handsome, mysterious 175-year-old vampire. While searching for the woman who will replace his long-lost Josette, and thus end the terrible curse upon him, Barnabas meets lovely Clare Duncan. The story, set in 1870, of their romance—and of the terror it brings to the beautiful young noblewoman—is a tale of gothic suspense which will chill and delight the legions of Barnabas Collins fans.

Heiress Betty Ward is worried about her twin sister, who has eloped with Jeremy Frene. Her twin is dead, victim of a mysterious illness. Her body has been sealed in a crystal coffin and kept in a darkened room. Betty is convinced her sister's death was not a natural one. Betty turns to Barnabas Collins for help, despite the rumors that he is a vampire.

Barnabas Collins, the 175-year-old vampire, is introduced in this story of gothic suspense. Your blood will grow cold as you read the never-before-told story of the foggy night in 1899 when Barnabas Collins first arrived in Collinwood. You'll chill to the full horror of the real truth about Barnabas—a secret so terrible that it could not be revealed until now.

Collinwood is plagued with a series of menacing events when a ballet troupe arrives there to perform for the summer tourists. One girl in particular, the beautiful Diana Samson, whom Barnabas has come to love, is repeatedly attacked by a mysterious, invisible presence. When the star of the ballet is murdered, everyone is suspect—including Diana and Barnabas.

This story marks a sudden shift in the characterization of Quentin Collins, who up to this point in the range had been portrayed as an enemy of Barnabas. Barnabas predicts trouble for Collinwood when Nicholas Freeze discovers a centuries-old potion that promises eternal youth. Soon after, Mr. Freeze's daughter, Hazel, tricked into taking a serum, dies. Carolyn is grief-stricken over her friend's death.

When Professor Anthony Collins decides to catalog his Egyptian relics at Collinwood, he brings with him the mummy of King Rehotip, who "died" over two thousand years ago. Only the professor knows that Rehotip is really in a state of suspended animation. One night, the professor brings the mummy to life. Suddenly a young girl is killed.

"You see, Paula, how well it will work out. Lily will drink the blood of the village maidens—and Barnabas will be blamed." "Whatever happens to Barnabas, you'll still have Quentin to reckon with!" "The werewolf? If Quentin tries to interfere with me, I'll find a way to deal with him." "I'd rather die," Paula said firmly. "An interesting suggestion," Bentley remarked pleasantly. "Dying could be your first step in joining my company of friends—zombies, if you will.

Ellen awoke to see a ghostly figure moving through the shadows to her bedside. "Danger… vampire." Ellen found matches and lit the candle on her bedside table. While on a ski vacation in Switzerland, beautiful model Adele Marriot meets Dr. Stefan Soivak. He tells her of his discovery of an operating technique that will keep her forever thin. To cure one of his wealthy vampire patients, the evil doctor has turned Adele herself into one of the living dead. Adele manages to escape and flees to Collinwood to gain the help of Barnabas and Quentin Collins.