Audiobooks by Lord Dunsany

"Brought to you by Altrusian Grace Media and narrated by Matthew Schmitz. There are books that awaken the intellect, books that stir the heart—and then, rarest of all, there are books that shift the fabric of reality, that open quiet doors in the mind through which something older, stranger, and more beautiful begins to seep in. A Dreamer’s Tales is such a book. In these pages, Lord Dunsany does not merely tell stories. He conjures realms beneath reason, cities where time is a superstition, and gods born from silence. His prose drifts like a high wind across ancient deserts and forgotten shores, guided less by plot than by intuition and symbol, as if each tale were a parable from some lost scripture of the stars. Published in 1910, these stories were not written for a world of algorithms and deadlines—but perhaps that is precisely why they matter more now than ever. In their refusal to explain or obey, they invite the reader to remember something primal: that the imagination is not just escapism, but a dimension unto itself, with its own landscapes, dangers, and truths. To read Dunsany is to remember how to dream on purpose."

Lord Dunsany (Author), Matthew Schmitz (Narrator)

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Selections from the Writing of Lord Dunsany

"Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett was born into a very unusual situation in 1878. He was the eldest scion of a family that had lived in the oldest castle in Ireland since its construction in 1180 CE, and became the 18th Baron Dunsany in 1899 at the age of 21, when his father passed away. He was a soldier, lord, military trainer, propaganda writer, activist, and invented Dunsany’s Chess, in which one player has four ranks of pawns and no other pieces. He published mostly first drafts, writing short stories, fantasy novels, plays, and poems, with over 90 publications in his lifetime. A horseman, hunter and pistol champion whose family and friends were deeply involved in what came to be known as The Troubles. A man court martialled for supporting the Irish War of Independence, who raised toasts to the King in years to come, and worked with W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory. The list of those luminaries who acknowledge a debt to Dunsany is absurdly long. Lovecraft saw him on a speaking tour and wrote “There are my 'Poe' pieces and my 'Dunsany' pieces – but alas – where are my Lovecraft pieces?”. Tolkien gave a friend The Book of Wonder in order to help prepare for working on the Silmarillion together. Neil Gaiman, Arthur C Clarke, Ursula Le Guin, Guillermo del Toro, CL Moore, Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock and David Eddings were all influenced by Dunsany’s writings, making him much like the Velvet Underground (“Not that many people listened to them, but everyone that did started a band” – paraphrase from David Bowie)"

Lord Dunsany (Author), Charles Featherstone (Narrator)

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Reports From The First World War: Articles written while crossing the wastelands of 1919 (Nowadays,

"Includes the collections Nowadays, Tales of War, & Unhappy Far-Off Things The great fantasy writer Lord Dunsany wrote very little in the way of fantasy after the onset of the First World War. This was partly because he was busy, having volunteered in 1915 and becoming a Captain in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in Derry. However, the reality of the world bore in on our hero at this time, and it is not difficult to imagine that his heart moved to more serious concerns. Dunsany’s days of high fantasy, it seems, ended with the emergence of civil unrest in his nation. This is why the non-fiction section is included at the end of this collection; while he wrote the odd fantasy work in later years, they were written by a distinctly different man, with a very different life. For a week, he lay in a hospital bed, listening to the sounds of the riots as the British forces became increasingly violent and shelled the centre of Dublin with artillery. His military belt was left in the hospital, and eventually buried with the Nationalist leader Michael Collins. This, it seems, was the trigger for his change of heart, as expressed in ‘Nowadays’, towards poetry as the essence of writing. “In January 1917, under the stimulant of shellfire, I turned to poetry and wrote two poems in Plug-Street Wood”. After initially being refused forward positioning, he eventually served in the trenches. In this time, his literary output was focused on writing propaganda material for the War Office, some of which is collected in the non-fiction section of this volume."

Lord Dunsany (Author), Charles Featherstone (Narrator)

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The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories: Strange Tales and Dark Wonders from the Man who Created Mod

"This was the book that launched a genre. Modern fantasy collections trace their lineage back to Lord Dunsany, and this was his first work that today's readers would recognise in tone and settings.This was the book that launched a genre. Modern fantasy collections trace their lineage back to Lord Dunsany, and this was his first work that today's readers would recognise in tone and settings."

Lord Dunsany (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Don Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley: Fantastical and romantic tales of a Spain That Never Was

"Lord Dunsany was the progenitor of modern fantasy fiction. From Tolkein to Gaiman, from Le Guin to Moorcock, his words inspired an entire genre of modern dark fantasy. A fun adventure in a Spain that never was, in the vein of Dumas and Stevenson, with more than a taste of Cervantes. Don Rodriguez is a young nobleman who is banished from the family castle, and must set out with his rapier and mandolin to win his own estate, and perhaps even a bride. Along with his trusty servant Morano, he journeys far into the heart of the mythical Shadow Valley. Echoes of The Princess Bride resonate throughout. “How to describe this book? It's a pretty problem. As might a child, after dashing off to play on a bright summer morning—hours splashing in the river, exploring the forests, duelling with sticks against the Infidel (or the child next door if the Infidel be not available), winning a week's pocket-money at marbles and losing it again—as such a child, when asked 'what did you do today?' simply shrugs and replies 'oh, nothing much'; just so should I feel, dear Reader, were I to attempt to pin down the precise qualities of this book for you. It doesn't wash. And yet I must make the attempt. I can say this much: this is a book to be approached lightly. The magic Lord Dunsany weaves is delicate, and you may raise an eyebrow and start to protest that you know the history of Spain, and the events he relates cannot possibly have taken place in the manner he describes. Moreover the characters in his story are surely stereotypes, mere caricatures, and no such people can possibly have walked those dusty roads, and even if they did they cannot have subsisted merely on bacon. Not possible, you say. But when you read of Morano's noble frying pan, of bacon cooked beneath the stars and eaten at the wayfarer's green table, you might find that you believe in Bacon after all.” [Iain, Goodreads]"

Lord Dunsany (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Tales of Three Hemispheres: A collection of classic fantasy stories by Edward Plunkett

"In the dark days that followed the first world war, it seemed to many that all dreams had died, that wonder and fantasy could not survive in a world that knew trenches and poppies blooming where the blood fell. Come now as we travel through strange adventures and wonderful magics. Learn of the whimsies of gods, and the terrible fates that await those that cross them. See how the office of postman fell vacant in Otford-under-the-wold, and how a sack of emeralds brought only disaster to it's holder. Explore the strange mysteries of the old brown coat, the deep inland of China with a confused shepherd, the lands where the dwarves fought the demigods, and a city of wonder perhaps less unreal than it first appears. Includes Idle Days On The Yann from A Dreamer's Tales as the first part of three stories, collectively titled 'Beyond The Fields We Know'. Come along with the poet as he searches to once again pass beyond the realities mundane and into the Lands of Dream, along the fabled river Yann, to find the fate of the Avenger of Perdondaris. Edward Plunkett, the Baron Dunsany, was just gaining his stride as the world's first modern fantasy author, and wrote this book of tales to help show that dreams still came, dark and fantastical as they may be."

Lord Dunsany (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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A Dreamer's Tales: A collection from the world’s first modern fantasy writer, written in 1905 and an

"Lord Dunsany was the most influential writer in the genre that came to be known as fantasy, which his stories set trends for that continue to this day. Before him, the closest thing to fantasy that existed was folktales; after him, people built worlds beyond imagining and epic stories in the lands he first explored. He was an influence on Tolkien, Lovecraft, Gaiman, Borges, Clarke, Moorcock, Yeats, Le Guin and many more besides. Worlds of monsters and magic, of strange names and stranger tales, were all born in Dunsany’s work. Contained herein are tales of mysteries and monsters, deserted cities and dangerous dreams, of war between the gods and men who are not all they seem. In this collection you’ll find sixteen stories from the first and greatest master of the fantasy genre."

Lord Dunsany (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Time And The Gods: The Book That Influenced Millions of Fantasy Writers

"Lord Dunsany was the most influential writer in the genre that came to be known as fantasy, of which his stories set trends for that continue to this day. He was an influence on Tolkien, Lovecraft, Gaiman, Borges, Clarke, Moorcock, Yeats, Le Guin and many more besides. Worlds of monsters and magic, of strange names and stranger tales, were all born in Dunsany’s work. Before him, the closest thing to fantasy that existed was folktales; after him, people built worlds beyond imagining and epic stories in the lands he first explored."

Lord Dunsany (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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The Gods Of Pegana: The First Ever Modern Fantasy Collection

"In today's world, mythical bestiaries are fairly common. In the middle ages, they told of fantastic monsters and beasts that roamed the edge of the world, and today they are creations of whole other worlds, peopled by strange gods and stranger people. The Gods of Pegana was the book that marked the transition from imaginary creatures in the real world to the gods of imaginary world. Lord Dunsany was the most influential writer in the genre that came to be known as fantasy, of which his stories set trends for that continue to this day. He was an influence on Tolkien, Lovecraft, Gaiman, Borges, Clarke, Moorcock, Yeats, Le Guin and many more besides. Worlds of monsters and magic, of strange names and stranger tales, were all born in Dunsany’s work. Before him, the closest thing to fantasy that existed was folktales; after him, people built worlds beyond imagining and epic stories in the lands he first explored"

Lord Dunsany (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Tales of Wonder: Twenty dark and magical tales from the world's first fantasy writer

"Written in the dark days of World War I, join Lord Dunsany as he spreads the dreams that we cannot leave to die. Dunsany was the most influential writer in the genre that came to be known as fantasy, which his stories set trends for that continue to this day. Come along, for a dream of a mystical London, bawdy jokes that offend ghosts, swapping sins in Paris, and the strange tale of Why The Milkman Shudders As He Perceives The Dawn. In this collection of twenty stories, you’ll find adventures at sea and the edge of the world, of Ali Baba come to the industrial hills of the Black Country, and take flight with strange run and gnome-brewed wines. Dunsany was an influence on Tolkien, Lovecraft, Gaiman, Borges, Clarke, Moorcock, Yeats, Le Guin and many more besides. Worlds of monsters and magic, of strange names and stranger tales, were all born in Dunsany’s work."

Lord Dunsany (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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The Book Of Wonder: A collection of creative and inspirational tales from the Father of Fantasy

"Lord Dunsany was the fantasy writer's fantasy writer. From Tolkien to Gaiman, from Le Guin to Moorcock, his heroes and strange situations inspired an entire genre of modern dark fantasy. Come now to discover the secrets of strange islands, the fate of thieves who dare to steal from gods, encounters with the Sphinx and the Dragon of Romance in suburbia, and the desperate quest to make a Queen cry. Along the way, you'll meet characters like the centaur that travelled from one edge of the world to another, and monsters that sit on their hoard of rubies, or giant diamonds, or even on treasures beyond value, waiting for daring and foolish adventurers. Also includes the first adventure of the magnificent Captain Shard. The Book of Wonder is one of the most important books in the lineage of fantasy fiction. It introduced themes that Lord Dunsany worked with for the rest of his career, which created tropes that you'll recognise as if you've read and loved this book many times before."

Lord Dunsany (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Fifty One Tales: A collection of short, strange, and often dark stories from the world’s first and g

"Fifty-One Tales is a collection of fantasy short stories by Irish writer Lord Dunsany, a major influence on J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin and others. Each story is a short vignette, a single moment of strangeness or horror in the face of death. 11. DEATH AND THE ORANGE Two dark young men in a foreign southern land sat at a restaurant table with one woman. And on the woman's plate was a small orange which had an evil laughter in its heart. And both of the men would be looking at the woman all the time, and they ate little and they drank much. And the woman was smiling equally at each. Then the small orange that had the laughter in its heart rolled slowly off the plate on to the floor. And the dark young men both sought for it at once, and they met suddenly beneath the table, and soon they were speaking swift words to one another, and a horror and an impotence came over the Reason of each as she sat helpless at the back of the mind, and the heart of the orange laughed and the woman went on smiling; and Death, who was sitting at another table, tete-a-tete with an old man, rose and came over to listen to the quarrel."

Lord Dunsany (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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