検索キーワード： ナレーター "Mark Rice Oxley" すべてのカテゴリー

Whilst writer Charles Dickens needs no introduction, his Haunted House anthology might, not least because in his role as editor he introduces a formidable array of known and lesser-known literary talents.

The tantalising brief of a secret government project from the Cold War era. But, it can’t be real, can it? Toby Steele is a typical night shift tech support guy, working alone, mostly in peace, until something strange happens on the night of the 22nd of February, 2022. At 22:22:22—One moment that changes his life, forever. How will he deal with the new skills he’s acquired, and what do they mean for his future? What secrets has a one-hundred-year-old lady in a care home kept from the world for more than half a century?

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.

Sigmund Freud travels to the USA with his young protégé and “crown prince” Carl Jung to explain the subconscious secrets of sex to intrigued American audiences. The pivotal journey will completely redefine twentieth century thought–and the relationship between Freud and Jung will never be the same again.

In 1890 W. B. Yeats and Ernest Rhys founded a poetry club. Based mainly at Fleet Street’s immortal ‘Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese’ pub, with occasional appearances at the Domino room in the Café Royal, poets gathered together to dine and drink. Whilst it was based on a core of poets, many others attended on an ad hoc basis including Oscar Wilde, Francis Thompson & Lord Alfred Douglas. The camaraderie, banter and poetry that played out in their dreams, ambitions and for many, their difficult lives led Yeats to call them ‘the tragic generation’.

Richard Thomas Gallienne was born in Liverpool on 20th January, 1866. His first job was in an accountant's office, but this was quickly abandoned to pursue his first love as a professional writer. His first work, My Ladies’ Sonnets, was published in 1887. In 1889 he became, for a brief time, literary secretary to Wilson Barrett the manager, actor, and playwright. Barrett enjoyed immense success with the staging of melodramas, which would later reach a peak with the historical tragedy The Sign of the Cross (1895).

Montague Rhodes James is cited as perhaps the greatest English writer of ghost stories, an opinion few would disagree with. Many of his elegant yet terrifying tales were created by discarding the prevailing gothic clichés and placing his characters and narrative in a realistic setting. Thereby the stories gained atmosphere and menace on a grand scale and he was famed as the originator of the antiquarian ghost story. Although story-telling and writing these 30 or so tales was a hobby, when published their effect transformed the genre and still chill the bones in our more modern times.

William Hope Hodgson was born in Essex, England, on November 15th, 1877. Over his short career he produced a large body of work which explored and covered many genres. From horror, to science fiction, to stories on the sea, where he had spent much of his early life. One of his most memorable creations was his Carnacki, Supernatural Detective creation. This fused together his passion for sleuthing and interest in the Occult. It was a memorable success.

Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins was born on 9th February 1863 in Clapton, London. He was educated at St John's School, Leatherhead, Marlborough College and Balliol College, Oxford. Hope trained as a lawyer and barrister and was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1887. Despite what was thought to be a promising legal career, he had literary ambitions and wrote in his spare time. His early works appeared in various periodicals of the day but for his first book, ‘A Man of Mark’ (1890), with no publisher interested, he published with his own resources.

Witness the birth and twilight of an age where the clatter of the blacksmith's hammer, the clash of sword against shield, and the solemn vows sworn in the chapel echoed through stone halls. This book is not just a tale of castles and knights; it's a vivid recounting of a society pivoting on the axis of war and chivalry. Stone and Sword is more than just a conventional narrative of historical accounts.

The year is 1187 and European crusaders still control Jerusalem. The Sultan Saladin has unleashed war on the Crusader Kingdoms and the Christian armies have suffered a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of the Horns of Hattin. In the aftermath of the sultan's victory, Sir Byron Fitzwalter finds himself wounded and alone. Desperate to survive, Fitzwalter flees to the Sea of Galilee where destiny intervenes.

Our ‘fight of flight’ response is something hardwired into the primitive part of our brain. Our need to survive, to outlive whatever danger poses, that immediate threat to our lives is little short of a marvel. Everything else is abandoned in order to survive. Whilst in modern times that ability has been somewhat modified and ‘reasoned’ away to an extent, in past years it’s what usually kept you alive. In this volume people struggle valiantly to survive and to exist no matter the extent of the threat they face.

Since first contact with the Vehni, an alien race, the human colonists of New London, Mars, have been enjoying the benefits of shared Vehni technology. But when ambassadors from Earth attempt to hijack the Vehni ship in orbit, everything the colonists thought they knew about their alien allies is thrown into question.