The Beetle is the celebrated Victorian horror story by Richard Marsh, originally published in serialized form in 1897, which at first enjoyed even greater popularity than Bram Stoker’s Dracula, published in the same year.The Beetle tells the tale of an evil Ancient Egyptian spirit seeking revenge on an up-and-coming British politician, Paul Lessingham. The shape-shifting creature that pursues Lessingham is possessed of hypnotic powers and takes different ...

Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol—A Ghost Story of Christmas in Five Staves when he was 31; the first edition was published on 19th December 1843 and had sold out just four days later and by the end of 1844, there were already 13 reprints. Now with numerous adaptations for film, television, radio, stage, and indeed, audiobooks, A Christmas Carol has, for many, become an essential part of Christmas!Raconteurs Audio has created this audio anthology to...

They say you can’t catch a fish with a hook.It’s 1925, a world on the cusp of change. Hitler has published Mein Kampf and Mussolini has shut down the free press in Italy.Three friends meet on a Scottish estate for a weekend of salmon fishing and convivial conversation over brandy and cigars: Winston Churchill, future world leader, ‘Bendor’, 2nd Duke of Westminster and Coco Chanel, iconic fashion entrepreneur. The narrative develops into a ...

H.G. Wells was known as the father of science fiction—but his creative geniusencompassed far more than a single literary genre. He was also a visionary, asatirist, a sociologist, and an historian.This audio anthology contains some of Wells’ lesser-known stories and is thethird in a series produced by Raconteurs Audio in collaboration with SpokenRealms.This collection includes:The Argonauts of the Air read by Tim BruceThe Treasure in the Forest read...

Raconteurs Audio and Spoken Realms team up once again to bring this second collection of short stories by H. G. Wells to audio. Written between 1894 and 1902, this anthology of thirteen stories delves into botany, flying machines, travel, distant lands and customs, virology, magic, taxidermy, journalism—and there’s even a ghost story.The collection contains:“The Dream of Armageddon” – read by Greg Wagland“The Sea Raiders” – read by Nigel Patterson“In the Avu Observatory” – ...

Herbert George Wells was one of the most prolific and visionary British writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. H. G. Wells, as he is universally known, is now best remembered for his science fiction novels, although he wrote across many genres, including nonfiction. His fiction embraces history, science fiction, horror, satire, fantasy, and social commentary. Wells was also a futurist, foreseeing air travel, tanks (as in “The Land Ironclads”—part of this anthology) s...

"They believed they had come to the last turning of the wheel."When the Bloodmoon rose, death came rushing into the world. Now the water is bitter, blight consumes everything, and the Crone haunts the hills.While the Druid of Blackthorn searches desperately for hope, the Ovate returns from the underworld bringing omens of despair. But Idris, the young bard, Keeper of the Sacred Word, will walk through fire and iron to uncover a question no one has ever dared to ask--a questio...

A human history of one of the planet's most iconic lakes, and the civilizations that surrounded its shoresThe Dead Sea is a place of many contradictions. Hot springs around the lake are famed for their healing properties, though its own waters are deadly to most lifeforms—even so, civilizations have built ancient cities and hilltop fortresses around its shores for centuries. The protagonists in its story are not only Jews and Arabs, but also Greeks, Nabataeans, Rom...

The second volume in an acclaimed biography of Oliver Cromwell, from the capture of Charles I to the expulsion of the Long ParliamentIn 1647, the Parliamentarians were divided. They had won the first civil war and the king was in custody, but disagreements over the way forward had led to a stalemate. As the leader of one party, Oliver Cromwell found himself again at the center of events.In the second volume of his pioneering biography, Ronald Hutton traces ...

The nuclear age came into existence with the explosion of the first atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945. Since then, the era of the atom has become the age of two bombs: atomic and hydrogen.In The Nuclear Age, Serhii Plokhy, one of our preeminent Cold War historians, explores why governments have acquired and stockpiled nuclear weapons and reveals the global failure to reach meaningful nuclear arms treaties. Plokhy shows how, since the Cuban missile crisi...

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) is a towering figure of modern Western philosophy, someone whose thought continues to exert an influence across all areas of the discipline. His work is characterized by both breadth and unity: he writes powerfully about mind, epistemology, metaphysics, logic, mathematics, natural science, ethics, politics, aesthetics, education, and more. And across those areas, his work is concerned with defending a view of human beings and their place in nature according to whi...

IT WAS AN AGE OF GLORY . . . BUT ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD.The sixth-century AD witnessed a remarkable turn-around in the Roman Empire's fortunes. Justinian's general, Belisarius, recovered North Africa and Italy from the barbarians. An impressive new law code was inaugurated that would endure to this day. Astonishing building projects rivalled the great monuments of Old Rome.But rather than restoring Rome's greatness did Justin...