The Tell-Tale Heart Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/814 urn:isbn:0553212281 en 1843 Short Fiction Horror Gothic "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in 1843. It follows an unnamed narrator who insists on his sanity after murdering an old man with a "vulture eye". The murder is carefully calculated, and the murderer hides the body by cutting it into pieces and hiding it under the floorboards. Ultimately the narrator's guilt manifests itself in the hallucination that the man's heart is still beating under the floorboards. It is unclear what relationship, if any, the old man and his murderer share. It has been suggested that the old man is a father figure or, perhaps, that his vulture eye represents some sort of veiled secret. The ambiguity and lack of details about the two main characters stand in stark contrast to the specific plot details leading up to the murder. The story was first published in James Russell Lowell's The Pioneer in January 1843. "The Tell-Tale Heart" is widely considered a classic of the Gothic fiction genre and one of Poe's most famous short stories. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/814.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/814.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/814.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/814.mobi The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/772 urn:isbn:1420927035 en 1839 Short Fiction Horror The tale opens with the unnamed narrator arriving at the house of his friend, Roderick Usher, having received a letter from him in a distant part of the country complaining of an illness and asking for his comfort. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/772.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/772.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/772.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/772.mobi The Murders in the Rue Morgue Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/795 urn:isbn:0679643427 en 1841 Short Fiction Crime/Mystery "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in Graham's Magazine in 1841. It has been claimed as the first detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of ratiocination". Similar works predate Poe's stories, including Das Fräulein von Scuderi (1819) by E.T.A. Hoffmann and Zadig (1748) by Voltaire. C. Auguste Dupin is a man in Paris who solves the mysterious brutal murder of two women. Numerous witnesses heard a suspect, though no one agrees on what language was spoken. At the murder scene, Dupin finds a hair that does not appear to be human. As the first true detective in fiction, the Dupin character established many literary devices which would be used in future fictional detectives including Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. Many later characters, for example, follow Poe's model of the brilliant detective, his personal friend who serves as narrator, and the final revelation being presented before the reasoning that leads up to it. Dupin himself reappears in "The Mystery of Marie Roget" and "The Purloined Letter". http://www.feedbooks.com/book/795.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/795.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/795.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/795.mobi Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/40 en 1840 Short Fiction Horror Collections Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque is a collection of previously-published short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1840. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/40.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/40.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/40.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/40.mobi The Masque of the Red Death Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/789 en 1842 Short Fiction Horror "The Masque of the Red Death", originally published as "The Mask of the Red Death", is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842. The story follows Prince Prospero's attempts to avoid a dangerous plague known as the Red Death by hiding in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, has a masquerade ball within seven rooms of his abbey, each decorated with a different color. In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure enters and makes his way through each of the rooms. When Prospero confronts this stranger, he falls dead. The story follows many traditions of Gothic fiction and is often analyzed as an allegory about the inevitability of death, though some critics advise against an allegorical reading. Many different interpretations have been presented, as well as attempts to identify the true nature of the disease of the "Red Death." http://www.feedbooks.com/book/789.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/789.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/789.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/789.mobi The Raven Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3428 en 1845 Poetry Horror "The Raven" is a narrative poem by the American writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe. It was published for the first time on January 29, 1845, in the New York Evening Mirror. Noted for its musicality, stylized language and supernatural atmosphere, it tells of the mysterious visit of a talking raven to a distraught lover, tracing his slow descent into madness. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3428.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3428.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3428.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3428.mobi The Cask of Amontillado Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/762 en 1846 Short Fiction Horror "The Cask of Amontillado" (sometimes spelled "The Casque of Amontillado") is a short story, written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. The story is set in a nameless Italian city in an unspecified year (possibly sometime during the eighteenth century) and concerns the deadly revenge taken by the narrator on a friend who he claims has insulted him. Like several of Poe's stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, the narrative revolves around a person being buried alive – in this case, by immurement. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/762.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/762.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/762.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/762.mobi The Purloined Letter Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/805 urn:isbn:0801832934 en 1844 Short Fiction "The Purloined Letter" is a short story by American author Edgar Allan Poe. It is the third of his three detective stories featuring the fictional C. Auguste Dupin, the other two being "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt". These stories are considered to be important early forerunners of the modern detective story. It first appeared in The Gift for 1845 (1844) and was soon reprinted in numerous journals and newspapers. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/805.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/805.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/805.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/805.mobi The Black Cat Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/759 urn:isbn:0582417740 en 1842 Short Fiction Crime/Mystery "The Black Cat" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in the August 19, 1843, edition of The Saturday Evening Post. It is a study of the psychology of guilt, often paired in analysis with Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". In both, a murderer carefully conceals his crime and believes himself unassailable, but eventually breaks down and reveals himself, impelled by a nagging reminder of his guilt. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/759.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/759.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/759.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/759.mobi A Descent into the Maelström Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/765 en 1841 Short Fiction Horror Inspired by the Moskstraumen, it is couched as a story within a story, a tale told at the summit of a mountain climb. The story is told by an old man who reveals that he only appears old - "You suppose me a very old man," he says, "but I am not. It took less than a single day to change these hairs from a jetty black to white, to weaken my limbs, and to unstring my nerves." The narrator, convinced by the power of the whirlpools he sees in the ocean beyond, is then told of the "old" man's fishing trip with his two brothers a few years ago. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/765.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/765.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/765.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/765.mobi The Gold-Bug Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/774 urn:isbn:0486268756 en 1842 Short Fiction http://www.feedbooks.com/book/774.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/774.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/774.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/774.mobi The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde http://www.feedbooks.com/book/6 urn:isbn:0375751513 en 1891 Novels Oscar Wilde's story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is one of his most popular works. Written in Wilde's characteristically dazzling manner, full of stinging epigrams and shrewd observations, the tale of Dorian Gray's moral disintegration caused something of a scandal when it first appeared in 1890. Wilde was attacked for his decadence and corrupting influence, and a few years later the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde's homosexual liaisons, trials that resulted in his imprisonment. Of the book's value as autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be--in other ages, perhaps." http://www.feedbooks.com/book/6.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/6.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/6.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/6.mobi The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1 urn:isbn:068983571X en 1902 Novels Crime/Mystery The rich landowner Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead in the park of his manor surrounded by the grim moor of Dartmoor, in the county of Devon. His death seems to have been caused by a heart attack, but the victim's best friend, Dr. Mortimer, is convinced that the strike was due to a supernatural creature, which haunts the moor in the shape of an enormous hound, with blazing eyes and jaws. In order to protect Baskerville's heir, Sir Henry, who's arriving to London from Canada, Dr. Mortimer asks for Sherlock Holmes' help, telling him also of the so-called Baskervilles' curse, according to which a monstrous hound has been haunting and killing the family males for centuries, in revenge for the misdeeds of one Sir Hugo Baskerville, who lived at the time of Oliver Cromwell. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1.mobi The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1421 urn:isbn:0199536953 en 1892 Short Fiction Crime/Mystery Collections The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his famous detective and illustrated by Sidney Paget. These are the first of the Sherlock Holmes short stories, originally published as single stories in the Strand Magazine from July 1891 to June 1892. The book was published in England on October 14, 1892 by George Newnes Ltd and in a US Edition on October 15 by Harper. The initial combined print run was 14,500 copies. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1421.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1421.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1421.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1421.mobi David Copperfield Charles Dickens http://www.feedbooks.com/book/673 urn:isbn:0679783415 en 1850 Novels David Copperfield is the novel that draws most closely from Charles Dickens's own life. Its eponymous hero, orphaned as a boy, grows up to discover love and happiness, heartbreak and sorrow amid a cast of eccentrics, innocents, and villains. Praising Dickens's power of invention, Somerset Maugham wrote: "There were never such people as the Micawbers, Peggotty and Barkis, Traddles, Betsey Trotwood and Mr. Dick, Uriah Heep and his mother. They are fantastic inventions of Dickens's exultant imagination...you can never quite forget them." http://www.feedbooks.com/book/673.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/673.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/673.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/673.mobi Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson http://www.feedbooks.com/book/95 urn:isbn:1593081316 en 1886 Novels Horror Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1886. It is about a London lawyer who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll, and the misanthropic Edward Hyde. The work is known for its vivid portrayal of a split personality, split in the sense that within the same person there is both an apparently good and an evil personality each being quite distinct from each other; in mainstream culture the very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" has come to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next. This is different from multiple personality disorder where the different personalities do not necessarily differ in any moral sense. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was an immediate success and one of Stevenson's best-selling works. Stage adaptations began in Boston and London within a year of its publication and it has gone on to inspire scores of major film and stage performances. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/95.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/95.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/95.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/95.mobi The Call of Cthulhu Howard Phillips Lovecraft http://www.feedbooks.com/book/18 urn:isbn:0786926392 en 1926 Short Fiction Horror "The Call of Cthulhu" is one of H. P. Lovecraft's best-known short stories. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in Weird Tales, February 1928. It is the only story written by Lovecraft in which the extraterrestrial entity Cthulhu himself makes a major appearance. It is written in a documentary style, with three independent narratives linked together by the device of a narrator discovering notes left by a deceased relative. The narrator pieces together the whole truth and disturbing significance of the information he possesses, illustrating the story's first line: "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity; and it was not meant that we should voyage far." This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/18.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/18.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/18.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/18.mobi At the Mountains of Madness Howard Phillips Lovecraft http://www.feedbooks.com/book/26 urn:isbn:0345329457 en 1931 Novels Horror At the Mountains of Madness is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and originally serialized in the February, March and April 1936 issues of Astounding Stories. It has been reproduced in numerous collections since Lovecraft's death. Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi describes the novella as representing the decisive "demythology" of the Cthulhu Mythos by reinterpreting Lovecraft's earlier supernatural stories in a science fiction paradigm. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/26.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/26.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/26.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/26.mobi The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas http://www.feedbooks.com/book/73 urn:isbn:037576030X en 1845 Novels Adventure The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It is often considered, along with The Three Musketeers, as Dumas' most popular work. It is also among the highest selling books of all time. The writing of the work was completed in 1844. Like many of his novels, it is expanded from the plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet. The story takes place in France, Italy, islands in the Mediterranean and the Levant during the historical events of 1815–1838 (from just before the Hundred Days through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book. It is primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, forgiveness and death, and is told in the style of an adventure story. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/73.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/73.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/73.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/73.mobi The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka http://www.feedbooks.com/book/8 urn:isbn:0553213695 en 1912 Short Fiction Horror The Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung) is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into a "monstrous vermin". This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/8.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/8.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/8.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/8.mobi