Résultats lu par "B J Harrison" dans Toutes les catégories

A kaleidoscope of genres, themes, topics, and motifs await the listener here. From comedy and mystery, to horror and children’s stories, Season Four abounds in fairy tales adventures, challenges to the listener’s imagination, and joyrides through the unknown realms of the psyche. One of the most famous short stories in horror fiction, "The Call of Cthulhu" sits next to the funny characters of "Right Ho, Jeeves" by Wodehouse, while the eponymous sleepyhead from "Rip Van Winkle" is very much awake, facing H. G. Wells’ "The Door in the Wall".

"I tell you there's nothing the public likes as much as convictions - they'll always follow a man who believes in his own ideas. And this book is just on the line of popular interest." Professor Linyard is a man of science. And when he writes a book to great acclaim in which he takes the side of religion, he fully expects the satire to be understood. But when it's taken at face value, he goes along with it to better provide for his family.

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus reveals the story behind the man we all know. In this children's fantasy story, baby Claus is discovered in a forest by a supreme immortal and placed in the care of a lioness and later a wood nymph. Claus is kind towards children and spends his time making toys for them, but not everyone is pleased with his activities and will do all they can to make it stop. The story by L.

The great detective, Sherlock Holmes, is dying from a highly contagious tropical disease called Tapanuli fever. Dr. Watson is shocked when he hears about his friend’s illness. He travels to examine him, but Holmes refuses his help. Instead, a man called Culverton Smith arrives after being called by Watson. He is not a professional doctor but knows more about the disease than anyone else.

It is Christmas and a little boy receives a gift - a velveteen rabbit. Although the other toys look down on him, the rabbit is happy to be with the boy. They are constant companions and it seems like nothing can worsen their days. But then the boy gets sick and the doctor insists that all the toys get burned because they may be infected. The rabbit as well. Is this the end of their friendship? Or will the rabbit’s dearest wish finally come true? B. J.

It is the day after Christmas. Colonel Adams and his daughter are throwing a party. The neighbor, the girl’s uncle, her godfather and the local priest Father Brown are invited. The uncle comes up with a plan: they are going to arrange a masquerade play with costumes. It seems like a very good idea, until the three diamonds the girl’s godfather had brought her as a gift disappeared from his pocket. Luckily Father Brown is there and he will try to solve this case as quickly as possible.

It is Thanksgiving day. Stuffy Pete has just come out from an unexpected feast but he is now waiting for his companion, "The Old Gentleman". They only ever meet on this one day of the year, and although they do not know that much of each other, they always spend the holiday together. Stuffy Pete follows the tradition although he is so full that he cannot think of eating more food. The Old Gentleman shows up and they head out to a fancy restaurant for a delicious meal. When Stuffy Pete walks out of the restaurant, he collapses on the sidewalk.

"The Dream Woman" is a novella by Wilkie Collins, telling the story of Francis Raven, a young man who dreams that a strange woman is trying to kill him. Eventually, he marries a woman who looks exactly like the one from his dream. This novella is a cosy mystery that leaves readers with more questions than answers. A lot of guesswork is needed, and the reader is often disturbed by the occurrences, not knowing what or how it came to this.

"The physiognomy of this old woman had struck me more than once: her little green eyes, long, thin nose, the immense bouquets of flowers on her shawl, which must have been at least a hundred years old..." Soon after Christian settles in Nuremberg, he becomes aware of some strange events occuring in the city. People keep hanging themselves from the sign of a public house after having all stayed in the same room of that very house. Determined to find out why, Christian decides to stay in the room, too.

This a typical Christmas story but with a classic Leacock ironic twist and a zest of humour. "The Errors of Santa Claus" is a charming tale of gift-giving and kindness. It is Christmas time and parents are getting their children’s gifts ready.

"The Lost Phoebe" is a short story by Theodore Dreiser. Henry is so devastated by the death of his wife that cannot find peace, he finds himself constantly searching for her. He slowly yet inevitably descends into madness. Dreiser’s vivid descriptions of the couple’s happy days offer a sharp contrast to Henry's gloomy present. Set on a dilapidated Midwestern farm during the Big Depression, it as story about love, death, sanity and social inequality. B. J.

For a very long time Monsieur de Merret has been suspecting his wife of infidelity. One night he comes home earlier than usual and knocks on the door of his wife’s chamber. Right before he enters the room, he hears the door of her closet squeak. Initially, Merret thinks that this is their maid Rosalie, but he is perplexed when the maid enters the room right after him. Merret desires to open the closet so he can once and for all find out the truth about his wife.

The narrator is under the spell of Ellis - a female vampire - who takes him on series of flights to different places, such as Paris, St. Petersburg and the Isle of Wight. At these places, he becomes a witness to various incidents and becomes involves in different situations. Why was the narrator cursed by Ellis? Why did she take him to those places and what did she wanted to show him? What will the narrator learn from their journey? How will the story end? Find all the answers in Turgenev’s story "Phantoms" from 1863. B. J.

"The Thing in the Weeds" is a short story by William Hope Hodgson from his "Sargasso Sea Stories" in which he portrays a monster lurking in the darkest recesses of the unfathomable depths of the sea. An example of Lovecraft’s major principle of "fear of the unknown", the terror in this Hodgson story is a mysterious one, despite the fact that it haunts and kills the characters.

The First World War has left the world in agony. Disillusionment, hopelessness, and horror are rife when a despondent author gets a visit by Father Time and Father Christmas, who come to raise his spirits. He wishes for better days, but the war has taken everything, turning him into a hopeless and angry nihilist. Nevertheless, the Christmas spirit is here to bring hope and another chance at happiness.

Apart from the ubiquitous presence of the authors who work in the short story tradition, the Second Season introduces poems and novellas. The romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge is here with his haunting and supernatural sea adventure "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", while Rudyard Kipling tests the human condition with his famous poem "If". Perhaps the most potent addition in this second part is Joseph Conrad’s timeless novella "The Heart of Darkness", exploring the darkest recesses of the human soul. B. J.

Nicholas Nickleby is a young boy left without a father. Nicholas has to take care of his mother and sister and is forced by his uncle to work as an assistant to the schoolmaster Wackford Squeers. Squeers’ intentions are however not good and his only goal is to make Nicholas’ life miserable. At the same time Squeers’ wife convinces herself that Nicholas loves her and this gets the young boy in even greater trouble. Nicholas’ uncle is colluding with the schoolmaster and it seems like everybody is against him.

Aladdin is a boy, who lives in poverty with his mother. One day, while he is playing outside, an African magician approaches him and claims that he is Aladdin’s uncle. The mysterious man tricks the boy to work for him by promising him wealthy rewards. Aladdin agrees after having gotten his mother's permission. The African man instructs the boy to enter a dark cave and fetch him an oil lamp and Aladdin jumps into the cave to finds it. However, the boy refuses to pass it to the magician before he is helped out of the cave and back into daylight.

A three-mast Brazilian ship passes by and a man standing on the shore, waving to it. After sailing on the broad and getting back home, the man starts feeling worse with every passing day. He realizes that there is a supernatural being in his home, taking his strength and sanity away. The man tries to fight back and kill the ghost but it proves more challenging than he had expected. He realizes that he himself had invited the creature.

Ahab is the captain of a whaling ship named the Pequod. His great obsession with the giant whale, Moby Dick, makes him embark on a dangerous voyage. Some years before, the captain lost his leg because of the whale and now Ahab’s main desire is to take his revenge on the whale by killing it. He is so obsessed, that Ahab is ready to sacrifice everything he has, including the Pequod and all the members of his crew, and even his own life.