Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC (25 May 1803 – 18 January 1873), was an English politician, poet, playwright, and novelist.
The Incantation
Read by Julie V. W.
Running Time:01:26:49 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Genre(s): Detective Fiction, Horror, Short Stories
"The Incantation" by Edward Bulwer-Lytton is a gripping tale of suspense, horror, and romance that explores the themes of family, tradition, and the supernatural. The story follows Lilian, who, with the help of a young nobleman named Don Felix, sets out to unravel the mystery and put an end to the curse that has plagued her family for centuries. The novel, also published as "A Strange Story," features encounters with clairvoyance, ghosts, and hypnotism.
The Best Ghost Stories
Various, Ellis Parker Butler (1869 - 1937) et al.
Read by Ben Tucker, Kyle Donelan, M. Lolly, Ny Swanson,
Winnifred Assmann, Anooshka Bajaj,T. Echo, Chris Pyle and Marina
Running Time:08:04:17 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Genre(s): Horror & Supernatural Fiction
Collected together here by master anthologist Joseph Lewis French are some of the finest ghost stories ever to be put to paper. From the early influential tales of Daniel Defoe and Edward Bulwer-Lytton to more contemporary masters of the terror tale such as M. R. James, Algernon Blackwood and E. F. Benson, this collection brings together a bounty of riches sure to keep you awake into the dark, dreadful night!
Introduction.
The Fascination of the Ghost Story, by Arthur B. Reeve
The Apparition of Mrs. Veal by Daniel Defoe
Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book by M. R. James
The Haunted and the Haunters by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
The Silent Woman by Leopold Kompert
Banshees - Anonymous
The Man Who Went Too Far by E. F. Benson
The Woman's Ghost Story by Algernon Blackwood
The Phantom Rickshaw by Rudyard Kipling
The Rival Ghosts by Brander Matthews
The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce
The Interval by Vincent O'Sullivan
Dey Ain't No Ghosts by Ellis Parker Butler
Some Real American Ghosts - Anonymous
The Caxtons: A Family Picture
Read by Michele Eaton, Peter Dann, Charlotte Rose, Cleon Cumberbatch, Tricia G., John Brandon, Ryan Wong, C.Gilson, Michael Cocciolillo,Tad Davis, Kayla Why, Richard Storer and Kevin S.
Running Time:22:53:21 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Genre(s): Published 1800 -1900
The quiet country life of the Caxton family is interrupted by a visit to London. There the son, Pisistratus, is offered the position of secretary to a leader in Parliament. That parliamentarian's wife was loved as a girl by both Pisistratus' father and uncle; but she had passed them both by to make a marriage better suited to an ambitious woman. By a freak of fate, Pisistratus now falls in love with her daughter Fannie.
Meanwhile, Pisistratus' uncle is estranged from his own son. Between each person's pride, the rift doesn't seem possible to settle. Pisistratus does what he can to heal the wounds and reunite the family.
A further outline of this story would give no idea of its charm. The mutual affection of the Caxtons is finely indicated, and the gradations of light and shade make a beautiful picture. Never before had Bulwer written with so light a touch and so gentle a humor, and this novel has been called the most brilliant and attractive of productions. His gentle satire of certain phrases of political life was founded, doubtless, on actual experience.
The Coming Race
Read by Maire Rhode
Running Time:6:55:49 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Genre(s): Science Fiction
The Coming Race drew heavily on his interest in the occult and contributed to the birth of the science fiction genre. Unquestionably, its story of a subterranean race of men waiting to reclaim the surface is one of the first science fiction novels. The novel centres on a young, independently wealthy traveler (the narrator), who accidentally finds his way into a subterranean world occupied by beings who seem to resemble angels, who call themselves Vril-ya. The hero soon discovers that they are descendants of an antediluvian civilisation who live in networks of subterranean caverns linked by tunnels. The narrator suggests that in time, the Vril-ya will run out of habitable spaces underground and will start claiming the surface of the earth, destroying mankind in the process, if necessary.
Great Ghost Stories
Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), Frederick Marryat (1792 - 1848) et al.
Read by Phyllis Vincelli
Running Time:13:11:05 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Genre(s): Horror & Supernatural Fiction, Anthologies
A great collection of 12 classic stories about ghosts and the supernatural. Included are stories by Thomas Hardy, Fitz-James O'Brien, and Margaret Oliphant. Recommended for fans of classic ghost stories of yesteryear.
Foreword
The House and the Brain, by Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton
The Roll-Call of the Reef, by A.T. Quiller-Couch -
The Open Door, by Margaret Oliphant
The Deserted House, by Ernest Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann,
The Mysterious Sketch, by Erckmann-Chatrian
Green Branches, by Fiona Macleod
The Four-Fifteen Express, by Amelia B. Edwards
The Were-Wolf, by H. B. Marryatt
The Withered Arm, by Thomas Hardy
Clarimonde, by Theophile Gautier
The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral, by Montague Rhodes James
What Was It?, by Fitz-James O'Brien
The Lady of Lyons | Dramatic
Running Time:01:59:38 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Genre(s): Romance
Although the author of this play is now famous for writing the most cliché opening line in literature – “It was a dark and stormy night…” (from his 1830 novel, "Paul Clifford" ), this melodrama by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton was at one time one of the most popular dramas of its day. This story of romance and deception thrilled Victorian audiences. In the 1840’s, the show served as a starring vehicle for the great William Macready and the incomparable Helene Faucit. The plot of “Lady of Lyons’” centers around the proud and beautiful Pauline Deschapelles. She finds herself tricked into a marriage with Claude Melnotte, son of a gardener, by her former suitor, the Marquis Beauséant.
Cast List:
BEAUSEANT Wayne Cooke
GLAVIS Greg Giordano
COLONEL DAMAS Mike Manolakes
MONSIEUR DESCHAPPELLES Alan Mapstone
GASPAR Tchaikovsky
CLAUDE MELNOTTE A. D. Latheron
FIRST OFFICER Tchaikovsky
SECOND OFFICER Wayne Cooke
THIRD OFFICER Andrew Gaunce
LANDLORD ToddHW
Servant Jenn Broda
MADAME DESCHAPPELLES Wendy Katz Hiller
PAULINE Matea Bracic
THE WIDOW MELNOTTE Annie Mars
JANET Sonia
Last Days of Pompeii
Read by Ric F, Becky Cook, Rachel Triska, Ann Boulais, Christine Blachford, Ruth Golding, Tricia G., Ben W., Amy Benton, Iskander Shafikov, Kristine Bekere and Philippa
Running Time:16:44:36 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Genre(s): Historical Fiction
Last Days of Pompeii is a novel written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. Once a very widely read book and now relatively neglected, it culminates in the cataclysmic destruction of the city of Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
The novel uses its characters to contrast the decadent culture of first-century Rome with both older cultures and coming trends. The protagonist, Glaucus, represents the Greeks who have been subordinated by Rome, and his nemesis Arbaces the still older culture of Egypt. Olinthus is the chief representative of the nascent Christian religion, which is presented favorably but not uncritically.
Paul Clifford
Read by Jim Locke
Running Time:18:49:12 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Genre(s): Published 1800 -1900
Most men who with some earnestness of mind examine into the mysteries of our social state will perhaps pass through that stage of self-education in which this Novel was composed. The contrast between conventional frauds, received as component parts of the great system of civilization, and the less deceptive invasions of the laws which discriminate the meum from the tuum, is tempting to a satire that is not without its justice. The tragic truths which lie hid in what I may call the Philosophy of Circumstance strike through our philanthropy upon our imagination. We see masses of our fellow-creatures the victims of circumstances over which they had no control,—contaminated in infancy by the example of parents, their intelligence either extinguished or turned against them, according as the conscience is stifled in ignorance or perverted to apologies for vice. A child who is cradled in ignominy, whose schoolmaster is the felon, whose academy is the House of Correction,—who breathes an atmosphere in which virtue is poisoned, to which religion does not pierce,—becomes less a responsible and reasoning human being than a wild beast which we suffer to range in the wilderness, till it prowls near our homes, and we kill it in self-defense.
In this respect the Novel of “Paul Clifford” is a loud cry to society to amend the circumstance,—to redeem the victim. It is an appeal from Humanity to Law. And in this, if it could not pretend to influence or guide the temper of the times, it was at least a foresign of a coming change. Between the literature of imagination, and the practical interests of a people, there is a harmony as complete as it is mysterious. The heart of an author is the mirror of his age. The shadow of the sun is cast on the still surface of literature long before the light penetrates to law; but it is ever from the sun that the shadow falls, and the moment we see the shadow we may be certain of the light.
Zanoni
Read by Kirk Ziggler
Running Time:15:24:05 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Genre(s): Fantastic Fiction
Zanoni, a timeless Rosicrucian brother, cannot fall in love without losing his power of immortality; but he does fall in love with Viola Pisani, a promising young opera singer from Naples, the daughter of Pisani, a misunderstood Italian violinist. An English gentleman named Glyndon loves Viola as well, but is indecisive about proposing marriage, and then renounces his love in order to pursue occult study. The story develops in the days of the French Revolution in 1789. Zanoni has lived since the Chaldean civilization. His master Mejnor warns him against a love affair but Zanoni does not heed. He finally marries Viola and they have a child. As Zanoni experiences an increase in humanity, he begins to lose his gift of immortality.