Showing results by publisher "Red Door Audiobooks" in All Categories

Fedor Sologub (1863-1927) was a Russian mystic and realist and one of the great novelists and short story writers of the Dostoyevsky school. A favourite theme of his was reincarnation, which he uses very powerfully in his story "A Soothing Dream", which describes the last weeks of a dying boy's life.

Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) was a preeminent Ukrainian-born story writer. He is particularly famous for those stories which veer in the direction of surrealism and the grotesque. The Cloak is one such tale. Akaky Akakiyevich is a reclusive and widely ridiculed lower official whose job is to copy letters. He lives a hand-to-mouth existence with his elderly landlady and has little money. But the harsh weather in St. Petersburg necessitates the purchase of a new cloak.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867 – 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer, best known for his masterly and uncanny ghost stories. One of the most famous of these is The Bus Conductor. It is a deceptively simple tale of a mysterious apparition which comes into view on an ordinary London street under most peculiar circumstances. The chilling catchphrase spoken by the mysterious figure: "Just room for one inside, Sir" takes on an altogether sinister meaning.

At the deathbed of Ursula, the eldest of three sisters, the dying women declares that she will return from the dead when the time comes to accompany each of her younger siblings into the afterlife. The two survivors and their old housekeeper, now live on in fear of encountering Ursula's ghost, and strange happenings in the house bring this terror to an unholy climax.

Tolstoy's literal interpretation of the teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance are represented in his short story "A Candle", which tells the story of a group of peasants suffering under a tyrannical overseer.

Beatrice Harraden (1864–1936) was a British writer and suffragette. In An Idyll of London she describes the poignant friendship between two lonely individuals, both of them artists. One is an old man approaching the end of a miserable life, where he has nursed resentment and bitterness towards all around him. The other is a young woman who has already faced many hardships, but retains great optimism and shows kindness to all around them.

John Galsworthy (1867 – 1933) was an English playwright and novelist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932. Spindleberries is a haunting short story, describing the increasingly eccentric Alicia, a nature-loving artist, via four memories which are conjured up in her cousin's brain as he contemplates four spindleberries which she has dropped on the path.

Sidney Keyes' great allegorical tale of a race between a newfangled steamroller with a top speed of five miles per hour and a horse-drawn hearse, whose two old nags are accustomed to a stately pace appropriate to the transportation of the dead. The race takes on a wider significance as an allegory of progress and the advent of the age of the machine versus the old thoughtful way of life.

An impoverished French family awaits the prodigal return of their long vanished Uncle Jules from his travels in America. From his letters it would appear that he has made his fortune and when he returns the family hopes their fortunes will change too. A boat trip to Jersey provides the opporunity for a reunion...but nobody could anticipate the twist in events.

When Arthur Holliday arrives at Doncaster during race week, he is unable to find a hotel room free. His search for a bed for the night leads him to a dubious hostelry, The Two Robins, where he is offered a bed in a shared room at a handsome price of five shillings. The landlord assures Arthur that his room-mate is sleeping soundly and will in no way disturb him. A quick examination of the sleeping man confirms that he is indeed very quiet. Too quiet!

When Alfred Parrish meets the charismatic Major in Berlin, he finds himself whisked off on an adventure in St. Petersburg. Unfortunately for him, the Major arranged for his passport to remain with the Russian Embassy in Berlin and be sent on by post. Even more unfortunately, the penalty for travelling in Russia without a passport has recently been increased to ten years hard labour in Siberia. The story is a delightful romp through scrape after scrape as Alfred and the Major dodge arrest and charm the most entrenched of bureacrats.

Robert Browning's classic adventure ballad. Three riders set off from Ghent to bring urgent news to Aix. They ride furiously through the night and the next day. Only one completes the journey and saves the fate of the town.

Kipling’s classic tale taken from the Just So Stories. The stickly prickly hedgehog and the slow solid tortoise devise an exercise regime which will enable them to avoid becoming lunch for the painted jaguar. The effects surprise everyone, especially the painted jaguar.

A newly qualified doctor receives a call from his first patient - a mysterious woman who is deeply distressed and who is covered in a thick black veil. She tells him a confusing story about a dying man who she wishes the doctor to visit the following day, although she assures the doctor that the patient will certainly be dead by then. The young doctor agrees that he will make the visit at nine on the next morning...and finds himself on the strangest professional call of his entire life.

Seven famous and sensational true crime stories retold by classic crime writers.

'The Enchanted Knife' is the story of a young man who seeks to marry the princess. Her father sets him an impossible task to perform before he will grant the suit - but with the aid of the cunning princess and a magic knife, the youth is able to win his bride.

'The Two Frogs' is the story of two amphibians who live in different cities in Japan. Each desires to see the world, so each sets out on a journey towards the other's home city. When they meet at the top of a mountain, the two frogs make friends and devise a plan to work out whether their journey is worthwhile - with unintended consequences.

The Blind Man, the Deaf Man and the Donkey is a strange but compelling tale of two codependent friends who nonetheless mistrust each other. They find a donkey and a large container...and then when sheltering from a storm in what they mistake for a temple, they find a Rakshas' (terrifying monster with elephant tusks) treasure. While attempting to trick the Rakshas and steal the treasure, the two are still also intent on swindling each other...then karma deals a strange twist to the tale.

The Silver Mountain is a fairy story about a king who sends his three sons on a quest. They are to search for the silver mountain. Whichever one of them finds it will inherit the kingdom. But they soon discover that everyone out in the world seems to be looking for the silver mountain, and nobody knows where it is. 

Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812-1885) was a Norwegian writer, scholar and collector of traditional folktales. The Pancake is the tragic tale of one piece of fried batter's desperate escape attempt from the woman who cooked it, her seven ravenous children, her husband, a passer-by, assorted poultry and a greedy pig.