The city of Paris has captured the imagination of many writers over the years, so it was perhaps inevitable that we would end up journeying back there for another of our adaptations. This one is The Adventure of Prince Florizel and a Detective by Robert Louis Stevenson, originally published in London Magazine in October 1878.

The story is part of The Rajah's Diamond cycle and is about a mysterious diamond which was stolen from an Indian ruler and is thought to bring misfortune to people who come in contact with it. The eponymous Prince Florizel of Bohemia was given the diamond in another story in the cycle, but its previous owner wants it back and sends a detective to challenge him about it. Join us for the episode to found out how he reacts. The incarnation of London Magazine which the story appeared in had a small circulation, but it reached a wider audience in 1882 when it was republished in Stevenson's New Arabian Nights collection, along with the other three stories in The Rajah's Diamond cycle, a second cycle called The Suicide Club (which also features Prince Florizel), and four standalone stories. Stevenson named his book after the folktale collection The Arabian Nights (aka The One Thousand and One Nights), which he was greatly enamoured of, as there are common themes and it has a similar nested structure.

The Adventure of Prince Florizel and a Detective was written relatively early in Stevenson's career, but it was an important milestone. He is mostly remembered now for his novel Treasure Island and his novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, but works like this one show that it's well worth seeking out the rest of his canon. Our version of the story is narrated by C.J. Carter-Stephenson as usual with music by Kevin MacLeod (music licenced under Creative Commons: by attribution 3.0 licence). Stay tuned for more classic literature.

It's time to fire up the Back of the Bookshelf time machine for another trip back into the literary past. Our story this time is an Edgar Wallace mystery called Circumstantial Evidence, which was originally published in 1929 along with seven of his other works in a collection called Circumstantial Evidence and Other Stories.

The story is set in England in the 1920s and is about a young woman who is accused of murder when her wealthy uncle dies in mysterious circumstances. The evidence against her is all circumstantial, but as the lawyer characters are quick to point out, that kind of evidence is often the hardest to refute. Is she guilty or innocent and what will happen when her case goes to trial? Listen to the episode to find out. Edgar Wallace's writing has very much fallen out of fashion now, but stories like this one are a reminder of why he was so popular in his day. It's a gripping tale which showcases his narrative skill and knowledge of the law.

Wallace was born in 1875, the product of a liaison between two actors at an after-show party. He left school at the age of twelve, but went on to became a prolific writer, whose output included 170 novels, 18 plays and 957 short stories. He died suddenly in 1932 while working on the screenplay for the original King Kong movie. More than 160 films have been made of his work, so this Back of the Bookshelf offering is part of a long tradition. It's narrated by C.J. Carter-Stephenson with music by Kevin MacLeod as usual (music licenced under Creative Commons: by attribution 3.0 licence). We hope you enjoy it.  

Over the years, we at Back of the Bookshelf have carried our listeners to countries far and wide, to dizzying heights in the sky and deep underground, but we have never taken them beyond the bounds of the planet… until now. That’s right, in this seventh episode of our second season, we’ll be journeying to the stars courtesy of illustrious science fiction writer Philip K. Dick and his story, Beyond Lies the Wub.

It’s an engaging tale about a spaceship crew who purchase a strange creature on a trading trip to Mars. The creature looks like a pig, but looks can be deceiving. On the surface, the story seems simple, but there are hidden depths to it and the twist at the end is second to none. It was Dick’s first published story, but foreshadows his work to come with its biting satirical wit and exploration of important ethical issues. Not surprisingly, it has been reprinted many times since it made its first appearance in Volume 5, Issue 7 of Planet Stories in July 1952. Dick might arguably be more famous for the many movie adaptations of his work (e.g. Blade Runner and Total Recall) than the work itself, but as this story shows, he was a master of his craft.

As always, this Back of the Bookshelf performance features an immersive soundscape to help bring the story to life. It is narrated by C.J. Carter-Stephenson with music by Kevin MacLeod. With that all said, strap yourselves in and hold on to your stomachs as we fire up our engines and blast off into the great beyond for another thrilling adventure.

It’s becoming a Back of the Bookshelf tradition that we release a horror themed episode on Halloween and 2022 is no exception. This time we’ve gone with a little known French story called La Torture Par L’Espérance (The Torture by Hope) by Villiers de L’Isle Adam.

The story was originally published in issue 3191 of the newspaper Gil Blas on 13th August 1888 and was printed again later in the year in the author’s short fiction collection, Nouveaux Contes Cruels (New Cruel Tales). An English language version followed in June 1891 in Issue 6 of The Strand. From its first appearance, it was compared to the work of Edgar Allan Poe and it’s easy to see why.  It has an ambiguous ending and shares many of the same themes, such as cruelty, torture, religion and death. Set in a prison belonging to the Spanish Inquisition, it is particularly reminiscent of The Pit and the Pendulum, and the two stories were actually combined into a single narrative in Jan Švankmajer’s short animated film The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope. The portrayal of the main character, a Jewish Rabbi named Aser Abarbanel, is stereotypical, but the writing is of such a high standard in other ways, that it’s worth overlooking this flaw.        

As for the author, he was born to a distinguished aristocratic family in 1838. He wrote in a romantic style, usually in the horror and mystery genres, and became fairly well-known in his day, but struggled financially in his later years. He died of stomach cancer in 1889. The Torture by Hope is an excellent example of his writing prowess, and our adaptation features music by Kevin MacLeod and our usual immersive soundscape. Now, screw your courage to the sticking place and journey back with us to a time of torture, terror and religious intolerance.

It's taken a lot longer than we intended - for which we humbly apologise - but episode 5 of our second season is finally ready. It's another aeronautical adventure, this time from the pen of the great Jules Verne. It was first published in August 1851 under the title La Science En Famille. Un Voyage En Balloon, but is better known as A Drama in the Air.

The author needs no introduction, of course. A prolific novelist, poet and playwright, he is one the true pioneers of the science fiction genre.  He is the second most translated author in the world, beaten only by Agatha Christie, and his work has been adapted countless times for film, television and pretty much anything else you can think of. In this particular story, he interweaves a gripping narrative with fascinating snippets of ballooning history, vividly conveying how completely the exploration of the previously out of reach sky had captured the public imagination. It was the first piece of his writing to be translated into English, and although it's not as famous as some of his other works, it still clearly exhibits his skill as a storyteller. 

Our version uses the original English translation with our usual immersive soundscape and music by Kevin MacLeod. Join us now as we leave the present behind and soar up into the clouds in the month of September 1850.

Festive Greetings, You are cordially invited to join us for a sleigh ride back into the past courtesy of the Christmas episode of our second season. It’s our version of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Fir Tree, which was originally published in 1844 in New Fairy Tales, Volume One, Collection Two (or to give it its Danish title, Nye Eventyr. Første Bind, Anden Samling).

Hans Christian Andersen only had a basic education in a school for poor children, but became a true giant in the world of children’s literature, writing his name indelibly into the history books with his vivid imagination. The Fir Tree isn’t as well-known as some of his other stories, but has a bittersweet quality which makes it hard to forget. It tells of a fir tree who yearns to leave his forest home, only to find that life in the outside world does not live up to his expectations. It is allegorical of the experience of growing old, and as such has a strong resonance with readers of all ages.

Our adaptation uses an early English translation with music by Kevin McLeod and our usual immersive soundscape. We hope you enjoy it.

Halloween is here – that wonderful time of year when trick-or-treaters in colourful costumes roam the streets… along with other less wholesome things. In honour of the occasion, the third episode of our second season is a horror story by Robert W. Chambers. It’s called In the Court of the Dragon and was originally published in Chambers’ 1895 collection of short stories, The King in Yellow.

The story is one a group of four, which all involve a fictional play called The King in Yellow. It takes place in 19th century Paris and tells of a man being stalked by a sinister being after daring to read some of the play, which is infamous for its tendency to drive people insane. Chambers does an excellent job of building tension and the locations are vividly described, including the eponymous Court of the Dragon, where a terrifying confrontation takes place. Chambers moved away from horror in his later years with varying degrees of success, but his King in Yellow tales were enough to secure his place among the genre’s greatest luminaries. H.P. Lovecraft was an admirer of them, citing them in his Supernatural Horror in Literature essay and even incorporating parts of them in his own Cthulhu mythos, and they continue to inspire writers to this day.

As always we’ve put together an immersive soundscape to bring the story to life, so step into the Back of the Bookshelf carriage and grab hold of something as you hurtle back through the years for another thrilling adventure.

Sword and sorcery fans should enjoy this second episode of our second season, Gods of the North (also known as The Frost Giant’s Daughter and other similar titles). It’s a tale of savage warriors and mystical beings by Robert E. Howard, a true pioneer of the genre, in whose fertile imagination the iconic character of Conan the Cimmerian was famously forged.

Interestingly, Conan was the main protagonist when the story was originally written, but Howard decided to replace him with the character of Amra of Akbitana after it was rejected for publication by the editor of Weird Tales. Few people familiar with Conan would be fooled by the change, however, and he was reinserted in a later version of the piece by L. Sprague de Camp. Since then, the Amra version of the story has been largely forgotten, so in the spirit of our podcast, it this one that we have chosen to present. It was originally published in The Fantasy Fan in March 1934 and was heavily inspired by Viking culture and two stories from Greek mythology.

Now it’s high time we began, by Crom, so take up your favourite sword or axe and prepare to journey to the frozen wastes of Nordheim.