Edward E. French

The novel that introduced the world to its deadliest villain In the Burmese rainforest, an arrow steeped in the venom of the hamadryad snake, the deadliest reptile of the East, strikes colonial police commissioner Nayland Smith. His only hope is to immediately cauterize the wound using a sharp knife, a match, and a broken cartridge. For three delirious days, he lies on the forest floor, too weak to move. When the fever finally breaks, he walks out...

Best known as a master of searing satire, American author Ambrose Bierce was also an accomplished short story writer. The engrossing tale The Damned Thing presents as its central theme the ultimately unknowable—and untameable—essence of nature and the natural world. Told from several different perspectives, the story focuses on a freak fatal accident that is written off as a wild animal attack. But does that description get at

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This wonderful story starts with curiosity, fun and discovery, and ends with madness and death. Two little seed cause so much trouble.... Please Note: This book is easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher. This eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year.

A Christmas-themed collection of ghost stories may seem like an odd idea, but English writer Jerome K. Jerome pulls it off in the engaging volume Told After Supper. Pull it out at your next holiday gathering, or read it any time you're craving some spine-tingling short fiction.

The whimsical tale of a witch and an enchanted scarecrow come to life from the otherwise serious author Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 - May 19, 1864), whose themes often center on the inherent evil and sin of humanity. He is best known for The House of the seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter, a story of a proud adulteress sentenced by her stern Puritan judges to wear a scarlet A on her breast, published in 1850. His published works include a biography...

This is a story in Victorian England of how in 1884 Frederick Treves, Surgeon and Lecturer in Anatomy at the London Hospital arranged for the "Elephant Man" (whose distorted grotesque face and deformed body made him a "freak") to visit the medical college next to the hospital for the purpose of a lecture. They would later become friends and Treves the savior of the man named John Merrick. This is Treves' memoir.

This charming, funny and clever Christmas Holiday fantasy is narrated by Oscar nominated and Emmy Award Winning Special Makeup Effects Artist Edward E. French. Author Frank Richard Stockton, born April 5, 1834, was an American writer and humorist, best Remembered for his most famous fable, "The Lady, or the Tiger?" (1882), about a man sentenced to an unusual punishment for having a romance with a king's beloved daughter. Taken to the public arena,...

Sinister early American satire from Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 — November 28, 1859) author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. The classic short story "The Devil and Tom Walker" is the dark and eerie tale of a foolish man's greed, hypocrisy and ambition. Puritan writing at its finest. Tom is a debased man, miserly and cruel to his fellows, and even to his wife. The Devil, shows him a grove of rotting trees, representing souls....

Author Abraham "Bram" Stoker, born on November 8, 1847 was an Irish civil servant prolific writer, critic, journalist and theatre producer. He was a sickly child and spent a lot of time in bed. Growing up, his mother told him a lot of horror stories which may have influenced his later writings. He is of course most famous for creating one of the most memorable monsters in literary history. The gothic masterpiece, Dracula, was published by Archibald...

First published in a 1849 edition of The Flag of Our Union, Hop-Frog is a revenge tale akin to The Cask of Amontillado. Told from the perspective of a crippled jester who was taken from his homeland and has been abused by the king he serves, the story focuses on the revenge Hop-Frog takes after the king strikes his fellow countrywoman and performer, the dancer Trippetta.