Gothic Classics

The story begins with an investigation into some strange reports of an "opera ghost", legendary for making the great Paris opera performers ill-at-ease when they sit alone in their dressing rooms. Some allege to have seen the ghost in evening clothes moving about in the shadows. Nothing is done, however, until the disappearance of Christine during her triumphant performance.

H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, and M.R. James: The Ultimate Collection is a fully indexed collection containing over 75 stories and poems from the three most beloved horror and ghost writers in modern literature. Read by three Audie-winning narrators.

What is the terrible secret at the heart of The King in Yellow? The forbidden play’s second act is said to drive all those who read it mad. And the sinister text casts its shadow of dread over Robert W. Chambers’s collection of weird, supernatural stories of the same name. Threaded with elements of fantasy, science fiction, the supernatural, and gothic horror, this cult classic continues to inspire the imagination of artists - from H. P. Lovecraft to the writers of HBO’s True Detective - and delight connoisseurs of the macabre.

Ignite Your Imagination with 200 Days of Gothic: Writing Prompts for gothic, dark romance, cosmic horror and paranormal storytelling! Unleash your inner storyteller with 200 Days of Gothic: Writing Prompts! Perfectly crafted for writers, enthusiasts, and dark fiction lovers alike, this book is your ultimate guide to conjuring up tales that will haunt your readers after the sun comes up. Dive into a treasure trove of eerie, twisted, strange and enchanting prompts designed to spark creativity and bring your most spine-chilling ideas to life. Whether you're a seasoned writer or just starting ...

The Phantom of the Opera is Gaston Leroux's exquisite blend of Gothic horror and tragic romance that formed the basis for a world-renowned stage musical. This Penguin Classics edition is translated with notes by Mireille Ribiere and an introduction by Jann Matlock.

A collection of six new ghost stories woven from the fabric of England’s dark dreaming. The Orangery Wooed by a Georgian gentleman of taste, a young bride-to-be finds that all is not as it appears at her fiancé’s elegant Gaddesbury estate. There is a whiff of corruption at its heart which, for all his acid wit and fashionable acquaintance, grows ever stronger, until . . . Her Master’s Call Temesforde. Such a peaceful Shropshire parish. And yet, what a pity about the vicar. What did he know? How could he have known? The Reverend Ruth More knows nothing of it when she arrives to start ...

Written in 1786, this Asian fantasy tells the story of a dissolute and debauched Caliph, Vathek. Having become obsessed with power and immortality, Vathek embarks on a journey to obtain supernatural powers, in pursuit of which he proves willing to renounce his religion and sacrifice both his children and his soul. We follow Vathek’s remarkable travels to the subterranean palace of Eblis, where his ultimate fate awaits him. Among the themes explored in Vathek are ambition, desire and the consequence of unbridled power

"Love in Stitches:" "She gave him life. He taught her how to live." When a brilliant young doctor saves a comatose man through radical surgery, she finds herself falling for her own creation, challenging the boundaries of medicine, ethics, and love. Dr. Victoria Frankenstein, a prodigy in neurosurgery, takes an unprecedented risk to save John Doe, a man ravaged by a rare brain cancer. Her radical procedure is a success, but as she helps John rediscover life, she finds herself drawn to his innocent wonder and gentle spirit. Their growing love defies medical ethics and societal norms, forcing...

In an isolated castle deep in the Austrian forest, Laura leads a solitary life with only her ailing father for company. Until one moonlit night, a horse-drawn carriage crashes into view, carrying an unexpected guest—the beautiful Carmilla. So begins a feverish friendship between Laura and her mysterious, entrancing companion. But as Carmilla becomes increasingly strange and volatile, prone to eerie nocturnal wanderings, Laura finds herself tormented by nightmares and growing weaker by the day.

Wieland (1798) is an early American novel set in 1760s Pennsylvania. Based on a real case of a New York farmer who murdered his family, the story is imbued with suspense and intrigue, adopting Gothic devices such as ventriloquism and spontaneous combustion. The satanic interloper Carwin exercises his power over the narrator, Clara Wieland, wreaking havoc over the Wieland family with disastrous consequences. A central theme in the novel is the issue of the values that formed the basis of a new democratic and republican America.

While on routine patrol in the tinder-dry Topanga Canyon, environmental scientist Rafael Salazar expects to find animal poachers, not a dilapidated antique steamer trunk. Inside the peculiar case, he discovers a journal, written by the renowned Robert Louis Stevenson, which divulges ominous particulars about his creation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It also promises to reveal a terrible secret - the identity of Jack the Ripper.

Deep in the labyrinthine corridors of Gormenghast Castle, a child is born. Titus, 77th Earl of Groan, is heir to arcane and all-embracing rituals that determine the activities of everyone from Lord Sepulchrave, his father, to the vast cook, Swelter, and the irrepressible Dr Prunesquallor. But not the steely and devious Steerpike, who will lie, cheat and even murder to get on. One of the greatest feats of sustained imaginative writing, the world of Gormenghast Castle is brilliantly realised in this darkly fantastic novel.

In a forgotten corner of western Kentucky lies a haunted forest referred to locally as "The Deadening", where vampire cults roam wild and time is immaterial. Our protagonist and his accomplice - the one and only Carver Canute - set out down the Old Spur Line in search of the legendary Kudzu House, where an old couple is purported to have been swallowed whole by a hungry vine.

What if Edgar Allan Poe's masterpieces happened in our world? Step into five chilling retellings that transport Poe's most terrifying tales into the 21st century, where ancient horrors take on frightening new forms. From sterile hospital corridors to corporate boardrooms, from contaminated mansions to digital graveyards, these stories prove that the human capacity for guilt, obsession, and revenge transcends any era. "The Monitor" - A night-shift nurse's paranoia spirals into murder, where the tell-tale heart becomes the relentless beeping of medical equipment, and guilt echoes through ...

Vincentio di Vivaldi has fallen in love with Ellena Rosalba. However, his proud and noble family vehemently oppose the match: they cannot allow him to wed someone with no money or social standing. Thus, his mother, the mean-spirited Marchesa, and her minion, the evil monk Father Schedoni, set in motion a malign plot that has Ellena kidnapped and imprisoned in a convent, to prevent a hasty marriage.

Intruder in the Dust is at once an engrossing murder mystery and an unflinching portrait of racial injustice. Set in Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County, it is the story of Lucas Beauchamp, a black man wrongly arrested for the murder of Vinson Gowrie, a white man. Confronted by the threat of lynching, Lucas sets out to prove his innocence, aided by a white lawyer, Gavin Stephens, and his young nephew, Chick Mallison.

Step into a haunting tale where legends awaken, and courage is reborn. In this electrifying sequel to “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Ichabod Crane, once a timid schoolmaster, is hurled into Hollow’s Veil—a spectral realm of glowing forests and lost souls—after a terrifying clash with the Headless Horseman. Decades later, a desperate plea from Eliza Van Tassel, a fearless historian and descendant of Sleepy Hollow’s famed family, summons him back from the Veil to the world of the living to face the nightmare he fled. The Horseman’s curse has tightened its grip, claiming lives ...

The house called Sunset has been Marcia's summer home for her entire life. Both of her parents died there, and she and her brother spent their youth exploring its rambling hallways and seaside grounds. They love the old house, but Marcia's sister-in-law has never taken to it. Juliette loathes the sea, and soon comes to loathe her husband as well. After they divorce, Juliette pays a final visit to Sunset, demanding alimony. She is there for a few tense days before she disappears. It takes them a week to find her body.

From the first moment Vincentio di Vivaldi, a young nobleman, sets eyes on the veiled figure of Ellena, he is captivated by her enigmatic beauty and grace. But his haughty and manipulative mother is against the match and enlists the help of her confessor to come between them. Schedoni, previously a leading figure of the Inquisition, is a demonic, scheming monk with no qualms about the task, whether it entails abduction, torture - or even murder.

A portrait of Colonel Pyncheon looms over his family in the house of the seven gables - an ominous reminder of the curse he left behind over a century ago. The shadow still falls over the New England mansion's current residents, siblings Clifford and Hepzibah - unless they can expose the one secret that offers an escape from the hex. Set in seventeenth- and nineteenth-century Massachusetts, Nathaniel Hawthorne's gothic tale was inspired by the Salem Witch Trials and by a family home that still stands today.