Tag Archives: audio short stories

December 19, 2024 · 8:50 am

Pop-up Short Story, December, Dancers, A Ghost Story by William Meikle

Pop-up Short Story for December 19, 2024

Dancers, A Ghost Story by William Meikle

Are you into listening to audio short stories? Here is my newest addition to my Reading Fiction Blog. Pop-up audios of short fiction by famous authors. Today is William Meikle. Willie has a YouTube channel with many of his stories. Today I offer you Dancers, A Ghost Story.

Dancers is the 2nd story Willie wrote and been published all over the world and made into a short film. It appears in his collection of Samurai and Other Stories from Crystal Lake Publishing. (10-minute audio)

Lots more readings at Willie’s YouTube channel. Browse his readings and subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@WilliamMeikle

Willie is a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with over thirty novels published in the horror and supernatural genre press and over 300 short story credits in thirteen countries. His publishers are Crystal Lake Publisher, Dark Regions Press, DarkFuse, and Severed Press.

“I live in Newfoundland with whales, bald eagles and icebergs for company and when I’m not writing I drink beer, play guitar and dream of fortune and glory.” —William Meikle

You can find another of Willie’s story here at Reading Fiction Blog:

Meikle, William The Tenants of Ladywell Manor, July 24, 2024

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I invite you to browse the INDEX OF AUTHORS’ TALES above for free short stories. This is a compendium of nearly 400 short stories by some 170 famous contemporary and classic storytellers of mystery, Gothic, suspense, supernatural, ghost stories, crime, sci-fi, romance, horror and quiet-horror, fantasy, and mainstream fiction.

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Dabbled in Blood, the Masked Figure

Tuesday’s Short Story, January 25, 2022

The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe (1842)

This month of January is the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe (birth January 19, 1809). What better time to mark our appreciation of this great writer than to read one of his stories?

The Masque of the Red Death is fast 20-minute read for readers who love supernatural and mystery. I think this story has a timeliness during this Covid pandemic when we are all wearing masks and where many of us wish we could run away to our private abbeys to stay safe.

“The “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous.”

Prince Prospero summons his dominions to his castle, an abbey in the far hills. Here the ‘gay society’ is safe to enjoy themselves in the seven rooms of different colors—which have its own mystery. We are at a masked ball with music and dancing, but who arrives? An uninvited mysterious figure. In the seventh room that is draped in black velvet with blood red window panes, our tale goes deep with supernatural, psychological, and horrific elements in grand Poe style. This is soooooo Gothic!

Read the short story at Gutenberg.org

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1064/1064-h/1064-h.htm

Listen to the audio read by Sir Christopher Lee:

Watch the film created at the University of Technology, Sydney for Media Arts and Production (15 minutes). Sweeping, baroque, and spooky.

Poe wrote in many genres. He was the first to include deep psychological and intuitive horror in his stories. His tales often reflect that the true monster of evil is within each person and what happens when that evil is acted upon. His most famous work is The Raven.

Don’t forget to view the INDEX OF AUTHORS’ TALES above of more free reading at Reading Fiction Blog. This is a compendium of over 200 short stories (some with audio), by more than 100 famous storytellers of mystery, suspense, supernatural, ghost stories, crime, sci-fi, romance, ‘quiet horror,’ and mainstream fiction.

Follow or sign up to join me in reading one short story every month.

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Tagged as audio short stories, covid, covid masks, Covid-19, edgar allan poe, Free audio short stories, Jack London The Scarlet Plague, literature and covid-19, literature and pandemics, Masque of Red Death, Murders in the Rue Morgue, pandemic fear and literature, The Haunted Palace, The Last Man Mary Shelley, The Oval Portrait, The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart

July 14, 2020 · 8:48 am

An Inky Unfathomable Space

Her Letters by Kate Chopin (1895)

Tuesday’s Tale of Drama July 14, 2020

Her Letters is a mysterious little drama and one of Kate Chopin’s most powerful fiction. The story opens with a woman sitting before a generous fire that illuminates her apartment while a steady rain falls from a leaden sky. A thick bundle of letters is on a table.

A ponderous scene for sure. Are the envelopes love letters? A confession maybe?

Have you ever in your lifetime left something to chance? Taking risks is the theme here in this story of love, marriage, and passion. When death is eminent, letting go of the past and the secrets it holds become an issue of trust vs. desire vs. opportunity.

The ending here carries a shadowy flavor that surprised me. Sometimes to solve the mystery, one must listen to the beyond. A fascinating read!

Read Her Letters here at KateChopin.org

https://www.katechopin.org/pdfs/Kate%20Chopin%2C%20Her%20Letters.pdf

Listen to the audio here at You Tube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InPV7eFQJhY

Kate Chopin (1850–1904) was an American author who is considered a pioneer of early feminist literature. She is best known for her novel The Awakening, a depiction of a woman’s struggle for selfhood that was immensely controversial during Chopin’s lifetime. Chopin wrote in a naturalistic style and cited the influence of French writer Guy de Maupassant. She died at the age of fifty-four.

“To succeed, the artist much possess the courageous soul

… the brave soul.

The soul that dares and defies.”

A bust of Kate Chopin at the Writers’ Corner in St. Louis, Central West End Association, dedicated on March 11, 2012.

Don’t forget to view the INDEX above of more free reading at Reading Fiction Blog. This is a compendium of over 200 short stories by more than 100 famous storytellers of mystery, suspense, supernatural, ghost stories, ‘quiet horror,’ crime, sci-fi, romance, and mainstream fiction.

Follow or sign up to join me in reading one short story every month.

Comments are welcome!

Feel free to click “LIKE.”

Other Reading Web Sites to Visit

Kirkus Mystery & Thrillers Reviews

Books & Such Bibliophilica NewYorkerFictionOnline

Lovecraft Ezine HorrorNews.net Fangoria.com

Slattery’s Art of Horror Magazine Chuck Windig’s Terrible Minds

Horror Novel Reviews HorrorSociety.com

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Poe Stories Read by Vincent Price

Greetings,

I couldn’t resist sharing this link with you. If you love to listen to supernatural stories, this collection from Open Culture.com (via Spotify, free) has five hours of Edgar Allan Poe stories read by Vincent Price. The Raven, The Haunted Palace, the City in the Sea, and much more. Enjoy this bonus from yours truly for August.

http://www.openculture.com/2015/08/5-hours-of-edgar-allan-poe-stories-read-by-vincent-price-basil-rathbone.html