Audiobooks narrated by Richard Mitchley

Born in November 1847 in Dublin, Ireland, Abraham Stoker was the third of seven children. Bed ridden with health issues until aged 7 he made a complete recovery on being sent to school. He was an excellent student excelling in maths and with a keen interest in Theatre. He began his career as a theatre critic and after a favourable review was invited to meet the most important actor of the day, Henry Irving. They became great friends. After marriage to Florence Balcombe in 1878 they moved to London where he worked for Irving at his Lyceum theatre. It was here he started to write and then to travel extensively with Irving as he toured. Many of his novels are set from the places he visited though he never did go to Eastern Europe. He wrote many novels during his career but of course Dracula rises above all else. In those last few moments drifting from wake to sleep we sometimes delve into thoughts of a very unpleasant kind. The hint of a shadow moving across the room can give rise to all sorts of troubling, unsettling ideas. Bram Stoker was a master of this effect. Who can forget the masterful creation of Dracula? Its realism built on diary entries, letters, newspapers clippings, ships log's was very clever and contributes to its lasting and pervading impact. Here, his sinister tales saturate your soul and hit your heart with untold fears that, layer by layer, reveal their true unutterable horror.

Bram Stoker (Author), Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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The Top 10 Short Stories - Suicide

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author's brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted 'Top Tens' across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions - Why that story? Why that author? The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme. Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature.Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made. If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something.Those taken away by their own hand leave many questions and many sorrows. In this volume ten of our vaunted authors share stories of tragedy and the early demise of characters who take a tortured path of no return.01 - The Top 10 - Suicide - An Introduction02 - In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka03 - Suicides by Guy de Maupassant04 - The Victory by Rabindranath Tagore05 - Paul's Case by Willa Cather06 - Claude Gueux by Victor Hugo07 - The Mourner by Mary Shelley08 - A Slav Soul by Alexander Kuprin09 - Cohen of Trinity by Amy Levy10 - A Passion in the Desert by Honoré de Balzac11 - The Quadroons by Lydia Maria Child

Alexander Kuprin, Amy Levy, Franz Kafka, Guy De Maupassant, Honoré De Balzac, Lydia Maria Child, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Rabindranath Tagore, Victor Hugo, Willa Cather (Author), Ghizela Rowe, Laurel Lefkow, Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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Lost Love - Short Stories

Love. Perhaps the one word solution for everything. An emotion, a state of mind that we strive for, search for. A wondrous force that binds, inspires, and a force that can spin out of control; unbalanced and fragile. Love reflects, changes and embraces us all. In this series we explore the many facets of love through literary talents that span both time and country. Having found Love what happens when we lose it. Of course this can be for many reasons but the results almost aways bring heartbreak and perhaps an unendurable loss. Pain, grief, loneliness, many emotions take root within our hearts. Our classic authors have stories that describe all these feelings and much more.1 - Lost Love - Short Stories - An Introduction2 - The Altar of the Dead - Part 1 by Henry James3 - The Altar of the Dead - Part 2 by Henry James4 - The Lagoon by Joseph Conrad5 - The Grave by Guy de Maupassant6 - About Love by Anton Chekhov7 - The Border Line by D H Lawrence8 - An Egyptian Cigarette by Kate Chopin9 - Uncle Abraham's Romance by Edith Nesbit10 - Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter by Sheridan Le Fanu11 - Since I Died by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps12 - The Mass of Shadows by Anatole France13 - The Cold Embrace by Mary Elizabeth Braddon14 - The Night Before Thanksgiving by Sarah Orne Jewett15 - The Haunted Orchard by Richard Le Gallienne16 - The Second Generation by Algernon Blackwood17 - Springtime a la Carte by O Henry

Anton Chekhov, Henry James (Author), Laurel Lefkow, Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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Classic Love - Short Stories

Love. Perhaps the one word solution for everything. An emotion, a state of mind that we strive for, search for. A wondrous force that binds, inspires, and a force that can spin out of control; unbalanced and fragile. Love reflects, changes and embraces us all. In this series we explore the many facets of love through literary talents that span both time and country. The Classic Love story is one that we all love to hear. But by classic do we mean the same story just retold again and again? In this volume our authors definitely take that on board but their narratives also bring different views, different understandings, greater depth, an emotional palette of hues and tints that fully colour this thing that we call love.1 - Classic Love - Short Stories - An Introduction2 - The Kiss by Anton Chekhov3 - A Modern Lover - Pt 1 by D H Lawrence4 - A Modern Lover - Pt 2 by D H Lawrence5 - The Gift of the Magi by O Henry6 - The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde7 - Love by Guy de Maupassant8 - The Blizzard by Alexander Pushkin9 - Bliss by Katherine Mansfield10 - On the Gull's Road by Willa Cather11 - Madame Rose Hanie by Khalil Gibran12 - About Love by Anton Chekhov13 - Mrs Pierrepoint by Amy Levy14 - The District Doctor by Ivan Turgenev15 - Speed by Sinclair Lewis16 - The New Paris by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe17 - The Dance by Zona Gale18 - Those Who Wait by Ethel Dell19 - The Golden Honeymoon by Ring Lardner20 - A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf21 - The Fullness of Life by Edith Wharton22 - The Kiss by Kate Chopin23 - Mr and Mrs Dove by Katherine Mansfield24 - The Other Woman by Sherwood Anderson25 - The Grave by Guy de Maupassant26 - The Muse's Tragedy by Edith Wharton27 - The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov

D.H. Lawrence, Khalil Gibran (Author), David Shaw-Parker, Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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Sad Ending - Love Short Stories

1 - Love Stories - Sad Ending - An Introduction2 - The Informer by Joseph Conrad3 - About Love by Anton Chekhov4 - The Legacy by Virginia Woolf5 - The Furnished Room by O Henry6 - The Victory by Rabindranath Tagore7 - Odour of Chrysanthemums by D H Lawrence8 - The District Doctor by Ivan Turgenev9 - Rappaccini's Daughter - Part 1 by Nathaniel Hawthorne10 - Rappaccini's Daughter - Part 2 by Nathaniel Hawthorne11 - The Lagoon by Joseph Conrad12 - The Dowry by Guy de Maupassant13 - An Awakening by Sherwood Anderson14 - Lost in a Pyramid (or, The Mummy's Curse) by Louisa May Alcott writing as A M Bernard15 - Mrs Pierrepoint by Amy Levy16 - Pyramus & Thisbe by Ovid17 - Spurs by Tod Robbins18 - The Testament of Magdalen Blair - Part 1 by Aleister Crowley19 - The Testament of Magdalen Blair - Part 2 by Aleister Crowley

Ivan Turgenev, Virginia Woolf (Author), Christopher Ragland, Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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Zee

The creation of a human hybrid with our closest living relative, the chimpanzee, has not been ruled out as an impossibility, but would any laboratory want to be involved? Why invite global condemnation and raise social, moral and legal storms? It was certainly not the intention of the Strickland family, who are innocently involved with research and a veterinary practice in rural England. By any measure, the Stricklands are decent, hard-working folk and are appalled and incredulous to find themselves responsible for a hybrid baby. The strain of maintaining secrecy takes a heavy toll on family life and the predicament is made worse by the emotional bonds that form as the baby becomes an endearing little infant. What hope can there be for a brighter future? Not surprisingly, from an author with a background in science, this extraordinary story is interwoven with much that is true.

Melvin Bolton (Author), Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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The Foundations of Fiction - Werewolves

A dog may be man's best friend. It is also one of his worst nightmares. The idea that humans could suddenly present themselves as demonic werewolves can only have come from the deepest, darkest and most diabolical recesses of an author's mind.In this volume we present a roll-call of classic authors including Rudyard Kipling, Saki, Arthur Conan Doyle, Catherine Crowe and many others who short story by short story establish the building blocks of this horrific yet thrilling genre. Here all manner of characters and narratives weave together to bring a unique yet intricate account of the beginnings of this most troubling of literary genres.1 - Foundations of Fiction - Werewolves - An Introduction2 - Mark of the Beast by Rudyard Kipling3 - A Pastoral Horror by Arthur Conan Doyle4 - Tarnhelm or The Death of My Uncle Robert by Hugh Walpole5 - Gabriel-Ernest by Saki6 - The She-Wolf by Saki7 - The Lame Priest by Susan Morrow writing as S Carleton8 - The Thing in the Forest by Bernard Capes9 - Vampirismus or Aurelia by E T A Hoffman10 - A Story of a Weir-Wolf by Catherine Crowe

Bernard Capes, Catherine Crowe, E T A Hoffman, Hugh Walpole, Rudyard Kipling, Saki, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Author), Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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Short Stories About Suicide

Life has the capacity of great moments and attainment, of lives well lived, fulfilling for ourselves and for those we touch.But for others life is arduous. There is no spark to ignite the curiosity, to explore and achieve a stability and a growth to their lives. Indeed their lives, in their own eyes, become almost meaningless, their sense of themselves subsumed under a myriad of problems, whether real or imagined. Seismic events in a life might crush them; the loss of a loved one for instance. Coping is difficult, support hard to find and isolation abounds. We never really know the reason or motivation but sometimes one final, dreadful way out is the solution. In this volume our authors including, Amy Levy, Willa Cather, Honore de Balzac, O Henry, Franz Kafka and a wealth or others explore stories that help us to understand and recognise a tragic circumstance.1 - Short Stories About Suicide - An Introduction2 - Suicides by Guy de Maupassant3 - The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Fyodor Dostovesky4 - A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka5 - The Legacy by Virginia Woolf6 - The Informer by Joseph Conrad7 - Claude Gueux by Victor Hugo8 - The Furnished Room by O Henry9 - The Mourner by Mary Shelley10 - The Victory by Rabindranath Tagore11 - A Passion in the Desert by Honore De Balzac12 - An Imaginative Woman by Thomas Hardy13 - An Egyptian Cigarette by Kate Chopin14 - Volodya by Anton Chekhov15 - Paul's Case by Willa Cather16 - A Slav Soul by Alexander Kuprin17 - Cohen of Trinity by Amy Levy18 - The Story of A Conscience by Ambrose Bierce19 - The Cold Embrace by Mary Elizabeth Braddon20 - Blessed Are the Meek by Mary Webb21 - The Crystal Man by Edward Page Mitchell22 - The End of a Show by Barry Pain23 - An Outcast of the People by Bithia Mary Croker24 - A Responsibility by Henry Harland25 - When Spirits Steal by Philippa Forest26 - The Spider by Hanns Heinz Ewers27 - The Quadroons by Lydia Maria Child28 - Sokratics in the Strand by Amy Levy29 - In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka

Ambrose Bierce, Amy Levy, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostovesky, Guy De Maupassant, Honore de Balzac, Joseph Conrad, Kate Chopin, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, O Henry, Rabindranath Tagore, Thomas Hardy, Victor Hugo, Virginia Woolf (Author), Laurel Lefkow, Mark Rice-Oxley, Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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St David's Day - A Holiday in Verse

It comes as no surprise to the average Welsh person that their culture continues to thrive despite centuries of seeming servitude to the English. Wales, exemplified by the symbol of the Welsh dragon, is a small proud nation of many talents, large imaginations and even bigger hearts.Saint David's Day, or the Feast of Saint David falls on the 1st March each year on the anniversary of his death in 589 AD. The feast has been regularly celebrated since his canonisation in the 12th century.Traditional festivities include wearing the symbols of Wales and St David; daffodils and leeks, eating the National dish of cawl, a thick heartwarming soup, as well as the classic Welsh rarebit, and parades throughout the day featuring the traditional dress.The pride in its culture and history is keenly felt and in this volume the poets of Wales through the ages bring verse that fortifies and uplifts the soul of a nation and its much admired literary merits.

Alun Lewis, Dafydd Ap Gwilym, W H Davis (Author), Angharad Rees, Richard Mitchley, Sian Phillips (Narrator)

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The Death of the Lion

Henry James was born 15th April 1843 in New York City.His youth was spent travelling with his family receiving what was an "extraordinarily haphazard and promiscuous" education as they journeyed through London, Paris, Geneva, Boulogne-sur-Mer and Newport, Rhode Island, according to the father's current interests and publishing ventures. James studied primarily with tutors and only briefly attended schools. Undoubtedly the quality of his writing has ensured his name is enshrined in the American literary tradition. James was a committed Anglophile and spent most of his adult life as an expatriate in Europe. Many of his novels juxtapose the Old World with the New World. Classics such as 'The Portrait of a Lady', 'Daisy Miller' and 'The Ambassadors', display the entanglement between American and European cultures and mentalities. They highlight the differences between the two worlds through following the experiences of American expatriates in Europe. A prolific author he was able to easily move across genres to create vivid and totally real worlds and situations and to offer sophisticated observations of human relations as well as realistic, social criticism.As a critic James was unafraid to venture into reviews and essays of those other literary giants around him. These together with his short stories and, of course, classic novels, make Henry James an author to be not only admired but read, and read often. In 1915 Henry James became a British citizen.On 28th February 1916, at the age of 72, Henry James died in Chelsea, London.He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912 and 1916. He never won.The Death of the Lion is a formidable short story with a sharply comic view of the literary "lionization" of an author by many who know little of his work. It is a situation Henry James himself was often in.

Henry James (Author), Ghizela Rowe, Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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The Screaming Skull

Francis Marion Crawford, an only child, was born on 2nd August 1854 at Bagni di Lucca, Italy. He was a nephew to Julia Ward Howe, the American poet and writer of 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic'. Crawford was educated at St Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire and then on to Cambridge University, the University of Heidelberg and the University of Rome. In 1879 he went to India, to study Sanskrit and then to edit The Indian Herald. In 1881 he returned to America to continue his Sanskrit studies at Harvard University.His family became increasingly concerned about his employment prospects. After an attempt at a singing career as a baritone was ruled out, he was encouraged to write. In December 1882 his first novel, 'Mr Isaacs', was published and was an immediate hit as was his second novel 'Dr Claudius' in 1883. In October 1884 he married Elizabeth Berdan and encouraged by his excellent start to a literary career they returned to Sant Agnello, Italy to make a permanent home, buying the Villa Renzi that then became Villa Crawford. In the late 1890s, Crawford began work on his historical works which would later include 'Corleone', in 1897, the first major treatment of the Mafia in literature. Crawford is also exceedingly popular and anthologized as a short story writer of bizarre and creepy tales. In 1908 came his classic 'The Screaming Skull'. Without doubt its unsettling nature is heightened as the reader/listener is drawn into to the story by its narrator. Everything is explained and plausible until, of course, it isn't.Francis Marion Crawford died at Sorrento on Good Friday 1909 at Villa Crawford of a heart attack.

F Marion Crawford (Author), Ghizela Rowe, Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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The Poetry of Dogs

Man's best friend. An always faithful ally.Whether the dog is domesticated as a pet and there to enjoy life with a family or as a work-dog herding sheep, helping to hunt, police or guard, the dog has proved time and time again to have many invaluable uses. They come in all shapes and sizes from sought after breeds to lowly mongrels each with an array of qualities that give them distinct personalities. From earliest times dogs have been able to find a unique place fulfilling the needs of their keepers and often there is equal devotion from master to servant. A dog's life no longer has to have negative connotations as so many pooches are loved, extravagantly fed, groomed, petted and pawed over, all perhaps more than our fellow man. Dogs were even worshipped as deities in Mesopotamian times and across several cultures and civilisations including Hindu, Chinese and Greek, they are the helpers, the watchers or guardians of sacred or sensitive sites. Between then and now poets have written verse, both serious and humorous, in attempts to keep a poetic track both of feelings and as a tribute to our four-legged friends and their adventures.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Dickinson, Thomas Hardy (Author), Laurel Lefkow, Nigel Planer, Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Richard Mitchley