Short Stories
Talking Books
The titles in this booklist are just a selection of the titles available
for loan from the RNIB National Library Talking Book Service.
Don’t forget you are allowed to have up to 6 books on loan. When
you return a title, you will then receive another one.
If you would like to read any of these titles then please contact the
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read, then please contact the Reader Services Team on 01733 37
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Alfred Hitchcock's A mystery by the tale. 1990. Read by Bruce
Montague, 15 hours 44 minutes. TB 9031.
A selection of 28 suspense stories, from authors such as
Brandner, Lutz and Morice, for the 29th edition of the Alfred
Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. TB 9031.
The big book of western action stories. 1996. Read by Garrick
Hagon, 23 hours 49 minutes. TB 10983.
With selections by the premier short story writers of the genre, the
reader will travel down the "Trail of the lonely gun", with Les
Savage Jr., will witness "The strange ride of Perry Woodstock", by
Max Brand, and will be introduced to Frank Bonham's "Border
man". Also included are stories by Luke Short, Ernest Haycox,
Ryerson Johnson, and many others. TB 10983.
Detective stories from the Strand magazine. 1991. Read by
Michael McStay, 14 hours 2 minutes. TB 9230.
25 stories of mystery and detection first published in the Strand
magazine. Authors include: Agatha Christie, G.K. Chesterton,
Sapper, Edgar Wallace, Aldous Huxley, Conan Doyle and E.C.
Bentley. TB 9230.
Classic English short stories, 1930-1955. 1972. Read by
Multiple narrators, 11 hours 21 minutes. TB 9271.
The Faber book of contemporary Australian short stories.
1988. Read by Erica Grant, Read by Nigel Graham, 14 hours 55
minutes. TB 9185.
The art of story telling has always remained strong in Australia.
When the European settlers arrived, tales travelled from smalltown bars to out-stations within the barren interior and towards the
coast. In this collection, editor Murray Bail aims to demonstrate the
special place the short story has within the culture of his country,
challenging Patrick White's condemnation of Australian literature
as being "a dreary dun-coloured offspring of journalist realism". TB
9185.
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Great racing stories. 1989. Read by Nigel Carrington, Read by
Francis Jeater, 8 hours 42 minutes. TB 8818.
Dick Francis, undisputed champion among thriller writers, and
John Welcome, author of many turf classics, select and introduce
14 of their all time favourite short stories, featuring the very best of
racing fiction.
Loves me, loves me not. 2009. Read by Multiple narrators, 17
hours 4 minutes. TB 17177.
A collection of over forty love stories.
Major American short stories. 1980. Read by Multiple
narrators, 40 hours 37 minutes. TB 10266.
This collection of 46 stories by 28 writers encompasses the full
range of American short fiction. It includes a wide variety of
subjects and forms, but strongly emphasises the work of the major
writers, with four stories each by Hawthorne and Poe, two by
James and two each by Irving, Crane and Faulkner. Stories range
in time from 1819 to 1977, from traditional works to recent
experimental fiction by Barth, Coover and Joyce Carol Oates. TB
10266.
The mammoth book of best British mysteries. 2008. Read by
Multiple narrators, 21 hours 14 minutes. TB 17178.
Over 20 short stories of murder mystery, selected from the very
cream of British crime fiction. Contributors include Lee Child, Colin
Dexter, Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, Len Deighton, John
Harvey, and many more. Contains strong language, violence and
passages of a sexual nature.TB 17178.
The mammoth book of fantastic science fiction : short novels
of the 1970s. 1992. Read by Cameron Stewart, Read by
Jacqueline King, 22 hours 20 minutes. TB 10196.
In the 1970s science fiction finally took centre stage in the culture
of both Britain and America. This kaleidoscope of the best of a
decade of the genre includes works by Poul Anderson, Gordon R
Dickson, Donald Kingsbury, Larry Niven, Frederick Pohl, Robert
Silverberg, Norman Spinrad, John Varley, Joan D Vinge, Edward
Wellen. TB 10196.
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The Mammoth book of the western: an anthology of classic
stories of the American frontier. 1991. Read by Garrick Hagon,
21 hours 37 minutes. TB 11945.
This volume brings together more than 20 short novels and stories,
ranging from the excitement of Max Brand's `Wine on the Desert'
to the realism of Stephen Crane's `The Blue Hotel', from Loren D.
Estleman's elegiac `The Bandit' to Jack London's atmospheric `All
Gold Canyon'. Many of the stories, which feature ranchers,
American Indians, outlaws and pioneers, became celebrated films
including Dorothy M. Johnson's `A Man Called Horse'. TB 11945.
The Mammoth book of Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories.
1995. Read by Multiple narrators, 26 hours 14 minutes. TB
10953.
This anthology contains the cream from the golden age of the
ghost story, spanning the Victorian era from 1839 right up to the
end of the Edwardian decade in 1910. Many of literature's greatest
names are in this collection, and these masters promise delicious and chilling - entertainment. TB 10953.
The mammoth book of vintage science fiction. 1990. Read by
Multiple narrators, 23 hours 4 minutes. TB 10306.
In the 1970s science fiction finally took centre stage in the culture
of both Britain and America. This kaleidoscope of the very best
science fiction comes from a brilliant decade for the genre. TB
10306.
Nobel crimes. 1992. Read by Garard Green, 11 hours 6
minutes. TB 9914.
When the world's greatest writers turn to crime, mystery and
detection, the results are stunning. From Boll's chilling tale of an
unrecorded war crime, via classic crime stories such as Faulkner's
"Smoke" and Hemingway's "The Killers" to T.S. Eliot's "McCavity"
and Shaw's "The mysterious revenge", this book encompasses all
kinds of crime and mystery stories. The writers are some of the
most celebrated of our time, including Camus, France, Gordimer,
Kipling, Marquez, Steinbeck and many more. TB 9914.
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The Oxford book of English short stories. 2009. Read by
Multiple narrators, 22 hours 4 minutes. TB 17280.
The 37 stories featured here are selected from the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, ranging from Dickens, Trollope, and Hardy to
J. G. Ballard, Angela Carter, and Ian McEwan. There are
exuberant stories by Saki and Waugh, Wodehouse and Firbank.
They pack together comedy and tragedy, farce and delicacy,
elegance and the grotesque, with language as various as the
subject matter. TB 17280.
The Penguin book of modern women's short stories. 1991.
Read by Frances Jeater, 12 hours 48 minutes. TB 8874.
Susan Hill's collection of short stories by British women reveals the
consolidations made during the postwar period as women became
more confident about articulating their desires and intimate
thoughts. Taken together, the stories drive a tap root into different
aspects of the feminine psyche. TB 8874.
Sex in the city: London. 2010. Read by Multiple narrators, 8
hours 3 minutes. TB 18245.
Twelve of the very best erotic writers have contributed to this
anthology of erotic fiction which all have London themes.
Contributors include: Marcelle Perks & Kevin Mullins, Francis Ann
Kerr, Maxim Jakubowski, NJ Streitberger, Kristina Lloyd, Carrie
Williams, C Clique, Matt Thorne, Valerie Grey, Elizabeth Coldwell,
Lily Harlem and Justine Elyot. Contains strong language and
passages of a sexual nature. TB 18245.
Smoke signals: stories of London. 1993. Read by Various, 8
hours 34 minutes. TB10620.
An anthology of new short stories, written by London writers, about
the city. It includes the winning entries from the 1992 London short
story competition, together with specially commissioned pieces
from renowned authors. While the stories range in subject from
cannibalism to spiritual enlightenment, from bigamy to racism, all
are clearly rooted in London and reflect the common experience of
a life dominated by journeys across a metropolis grinding to a halt,
where meetings can influence lives and where hostility and
isolation are matched by excitement. TB 10620.
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Winter's tales: new series. 1985. Read by Christopher Saul, 5
hours. TB 6096.
A new series of contemporary stories by authors who are known
internationally: Muriel Spark; James Chatto; Gillian Tindall; Cees
Nooteboom; Giles Gordon; Clare Colvin; Rachel Billington; Zulfikar
Ghose; Rachel Gould; and Frank Tuohy. TB 6096.
Women of mystery. 1992. Read by Carmen Lynne Williamson,
9 hours 29 minutes. TB 9439.
Cops, private eyes and ordinary people caught up in extraordinary
situations: here are heroines facing danger and solving crimes with
daring and panache. Amanda Cross's Kate Fansler looks for a
missing fellow-professor; Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski gets
involved in a complicated game; Ruth Rendell's heroine undergoes
liberation from her former self; Mary Higgins Clark highlights the
heroic side of womankind in her story of a stewardess and a
stowaway. TB 9439.
Aickman, Robert
Intrusions: strange tales. 1980. Read by Andrew Timothy, 8
hours 52 minutes. TB 3837.
Six macabre tales, in which the strange and unexpected happens
to ordinary people at the most ordinary times. TB 3837.
Aldiss, Brian W
Last orders, and other stories. 1977. Read by Peter Gray, 9
hours 30 minutes. TB 3286.
Science fiction stories warning us what we might expect to find if a
spacecraft landed in the human psyche. TB 3286.
Amis, Martin
Einstein's monsters. 1987. Read by Antony Higginson, 5
hours 2 minutes. TB 7454.
A collection of five stories that create perplexing visions of a postnuclear holocaust world, highlighting schizophrenia, rape, brutality
and suppurating despair. Contains passages of a sexual nature.
TB 7454.
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Anderson, Jessica
Stories from the warm zone and Sydney stories. 1987. Read
by Rosemary Miller, 9 hours 13 minutes. TB 7493.
Stories from the warm zone are told from the point of view of an
eight-year-old girl, the youngest in a family of one boy and two
sisters. Sibling rivalries and alliances, love and apartness chronicle
the subtle interplay of the various members of her family as they
establish separate identities at home and in school. Sydney stories
are set in the adult world but retain the same sureness of vision
and sharp dialogue. TB 7493.
Archer, Jeffrey
A quiver full of arrows. 1981. Read by Brian Perkins, 5 hours
45 minutes. TB 6863.
Twelve short stories with locations as far apart as London and New
York, Mexico and Nigeria. In "The Luncheon" a young man learns
the dangers of taking out someone who" enjoys a light lunch"; a
pleasantly untraditional cricket match is played between Oxford
and Cambridge in "The Century" and 'Broken Routine" shatters the
incredibly well ordered life of Septimus Horatio Cornwallis with
charming ferocity on an unscheduled train from Cannon Street. TB
6863.
Archer, Jeffrey
Cat o'nine tales: and other stories. 2007. Read by Anton Lang,
7 hours 32 minutes. TB 17172.
These short stories feature the mad, the bad and the dangerous to
know as well as some more poignant and telling characters. Many
of these stories came to Archer while he was incarcerated for two
years in five different prisons, and so they have a prison theme.
Others were inspired since he was released. TB 17172.
Asimov, Isaac
Nine tomorrows: tales from the near future. 1959. Read by Ian
Craig, 7 hours 54 minutes. TB 5745.
Stories combining scientific fact with mankind's unscientific
unpredictability provide nine glimpses into the not-to-distant future
of earth people.
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Asimov, Isaac
The bicentennial man: and other stories. 1978. Read by
Gabriel Woolf, 9 hours. TB 3085.
Science fiction stories, written between 1969 and 1975 and dealing
with a wide range of ideas, including the author's favourite theme,
robotics. TB 3085.
Atwood, Margaret
Dancing girls and other stories. 1982. Read by Pauline Munro,
7 hours 41 minutes. TB 5371.
A collection of twelve stories about everyday people who are
confronted by unexpected happenings. These include trying to
survive at sea after an aircrash, and discovering the harsh reality
of childbirth. TB 5371.
Atwood, Margaret
Bluebeard's egg, and other stories. 1987. Read by Pauline
Munro, 9 hours 3 minutes. TB 7424.
A wide range of stories with settings from a remote rural backwater
to a frenetic metropolis in which the author reveals her awareness
of the despair and anxiety in the human race - and her sense of
the ridiculous. She explores the less conventional bonds: that
between a political activist and his cat, a woman and her dead
psychiatrist and an artist and the men she stalks to use as naked
models.
Auchincloss, Louis
Skinny island: more tales of Manhattan. 1988. Read by James
Tillitt, 7 hours 37 minutes. TB 8476.
From the turn of the century to our present urban follies, these
stories follow the fortunes of the socially secure and powerful as
they try to cope with the changes shaped by the momentous
events and growing anxieties of recent decades. Taken together,
the tales weave a larger pattern of human strengths and foibles
that bemuses the mind and touches the heart. TB 8476.
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Austen, Jane
Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon. 1974. Read by Norma
West, 6 hours 44 minutes. TB 12580.
"Lady Susan", with its wicked, beautiful and energetic heroine, is a
sparkling melodrama. "The Watsons" is a story whose vitality and
optimism centre on the marital prospects of the Watson sisters in a
small provincial town. "Sanditon" is set in a seaside town and its
themes concern the new speculative consumer society and
foreshadow the social upheavals of the Industrial Revolution. TB
12580.
Ballard, J G
Myths of the near future. 1982. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 7
hours 3 minutes. TB 4791.
Ten somewhat nightmarish and gruesome tales, ranging from the
forced colonisation of holidaymakers in the Canaries to solve
European unemployment, to the horrific consequences for a
Japanese P.O.W. entrusted with the disposal of fifty corpses at the
end of the Second World War. TB 4791.
Ballard, J G
The disaster area. 1967. Read by Arthur Blake, 6 hours 7
minutes. TB 7728.
These nine stories are science fiction at its most thought
provoking. They project current trends into the future and explore
the psychological traumas of adjusting to their logical conclusions.
The agricultural sprays that produce seagulls with 20 foot wing
spans; cars which fall to pieces after six months owing to effective
road design; a science student trying to invent a flying machine in
a city where space is at its premium. TB 7728.
Barnes, Julian
The lemon table. 2004. Read by Timothy West, Read by
Prunella Scales, 6 hours 9 minutes. TB 17827.
In this collection of stories it is permissible - indeed obligatory - to
talk about death at the 'lemon table', and each of Julian Barnes'
characters is facing death, but each in a very different way.
Contains strong language. TB 17827.
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Bates, H E
The wild cherry tree. 1968. Read by Anthony Parker, 6 hours
45 minutes. TB 641.
A collection of short stories. TB 641.
Bellow, Saul
Mosby's memoirs and other stories. 1968. Read by Marvin
Kane, 6 hours 45 minutes. TB 921.
The mystery and fascination of human experience are the subjects
of these six stories. TB 921.
Bentley, Phyllis
More tales of the West Riding. 1974. Read by Eric Gillett, 7
hours 14 minutes. TB 2706.
Short stories set in the West Riding of Yorkshire, telling of the
people the author loves and understands so well. TB 2706.
Birmingham, Stephen
Heart troubles: short stories. 1969. Read by Marvin Kane, 6
hours 54 minutes. TB 943.
Fourteen short stories about people of various ages, all beset by
troubles of the heart. TB 943.
Boll, Heinrich
Children are civilians too. 1973. Read by Eric Gillett, 7 hours
15 minutes. TB 2671.
A collection of short stories written between 1947 and 1951, all
portraying the aftermath of the war in Germany as the country
struggles to restore its faith in itself after the devastation. TB 2671.
Borges, Jorge Luis
Doctor Brodie's report. 1976. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 3
hours 5 minutes. TB 8232.
Eleven short stories set in Buenos Aires told with an almost laconic
simplicity that occasionally shocks with true Spanish cruelty. In
"The Gospel according to Mark" a visitor dallies with conversation
and is too successful; in "The Intruder" two brothers fall in love with
the same woman and seek, tragically, for a solution; and in the title
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story David Brodie D.D., a Scottish missionary, tries to understand
the customs of the Yahoos. TB 8232.
Borges, Jorge Luis
The book of sand. 1979. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 4 hours 46
minutes. TB 7514.
All these stories were written in the author's seventies. "Blind
man's exercises", he calls them, but although increasing blindness
has given his writings a deeper sadness, his way of conjuring with
images - an infinite book, a one-sided disc, mirrors, a golden mask,
a dagger - is as potent and beautiful as ever. He seems to be
incapable of losing his visionary touch. The second half of the book
consists of poems written in Spanish as well as in translation. TB
7514.
Bowen, Elizabeth
The collected stories of Elizabeth Bowen. 1980. Read by
Rosalind Shanks, 38 hours 38 minutes. TB 4841.
Rational behaviour and social portraiture can be expected in
novels but the author reckoned that short stories allowed for 'what
is crazy about humanity'. All of them, from early brief sketches in
Encounters (1923) to the later 'novellas', have a distinctive,
disconcerting edge. TB 4841.
Boyd, William
On the Yankee station: and other stories. 1981. Read by
Garrick Hagon, 7 hours 45 minutes. TB 8832.
Eighteen short stories ranging from adolescent sex in a Scottish
boys' public school to murder in a quiet village in Devon. There are
two adventures from the earlier career of Morgan Leafy (anti-hero
of "A Good Man in Africa", TB 4053) and the title story is a chilling
study of hatred during the Vietnam War. TB 8832.
Boyden, Joseph
Born with a tooth. 2001. Read by Mike Morrison, 8 hours. TB
17449.
A collection of short stories set in the native reserves in Northern
Ontario. The characters include a young woman who falls in love
with a wolf, a boy who enters the pro-wrestling ring and takes on
the defending champion, a lead singer for an all-girl punk band, a
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desperado named Painted Tongue, and a town nerd who learns
how to literally escape his own ugly skin. TB 17449.
Bradley, Marion Zimmer
The best of Marion Zimmer Bradley. 1990. Read by Kate
Binchy, 13 hours 44 minutes. TB 8345.
Fifteen unearthly tales spanning the whole universe of the
imagination. From an alien invasion where death is the key to
success ... to a Darkovian Renunciate who must choose between
the laws of her Guild and the life of a brave warrior... TB 8345.
Buchan, John
The best short stories of John Buchan. 1980. Read by David
Geary, 7 hours 24 minutes. TB 3850.
Twelve of the many short stories written by Buchan between the
1880's and 1920's.
Burgess, Anthony
The devil's mode. 1989. Read by Michael Tudor Barnes, 12
hours 34 minutes. TB 9856.
His first collection of stories, as varied and original as one would
expect. At the centre of the collection is a novella "Hun", telling the
story of Attila. Eight further stories stretch from a husband and
wife's infidelities in Brunei and Malaya, to 17th century Spain,
where Shakespeare meets Cervantes and the two men debate
their respective modes of writing. Contains passages of a sexual
nature. TB 9856.
Byatt, A S
The Matisse stories. 1993. Read by Tom Crowe, 2 hours 54
minutes. TB 10245.
Here are three stories, haunted in different ways by the spirit of
Matisse. Lives unravel from simple beginnings: a trip to the
hairdresser, a cleaning lady's passion for knitting, lunch in a
Chinese restaurant. The everyday is transformed, the ordinary
peels back to expose pain, to reveal desire, longing and joy in
colour and creation. Even against our will, it seems great art lights
the patterns of and meaning to our lives. TB 10245.
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Calvino, Italo
Adam, one afternoon: and other stories. 1983. Read by
Gordon Dulieu, 6 hours 49 minutes. TB 5032.
Stories written over twenty years ago in the Italy of the Partisans in
which the author describes the anguished alternation between
hope and fear of men faced with death, both by Partisan and
German. He feels also with a fifteen-year-old the awareness of his
parents' condescension and hollow heartiness. TB 5032.
Carter, Angela
Black Venus. 1985. Read by Pauline Munro, 4 hours 33
minutes. TB 6210.
A rich, ripe collection of short stories, some of which are based on
real people such a Edgar Allen Poe and Lizzie Borden. The title
story is about Jeanne Duval, Baudelaire's handsome but reluctant
muse, who never asked to be called a Black Venus. TB 6210.
Carver, Raymond
Beginners. 2009. Read by William Roberts, Read by Jeff
Harding, Read by Regina Reagan, 8 hours 41 minutes. TB
17184.
Beginners" is Carver's most famous collection of short stories "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love". This is the
unedited version. A young girl, dancing with her lover amidst the
debris of an older man's life, has her first forewarning of the
dangers of adulthood, and is filled with an 'unbearable happiness'.
A man and woman lock themselves in a motel room and slowly,
painfully, acknowledge the end of a relationship, while somewhere
else in the lonely Midwest a man is photographed over and over
again as he attempts to locate himself in a world that seems utterly
without focus. Contains strong language. TB 17184.
Cather, Willa
The short stories of Willa Cather. 1989. Read by William
Roberts, Read by Helen Horton, 19 hours 4 minutes. TB 9517.
In this selection from Willa Cather's work, Hermione Lee presents
the reader with a diverse mixture of writings, spanning all her
creative life. Cather draws on her observations of black
oppression, commercial art, the literary lifestyle and family art in
contemporary America. TB 9517.
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Cheever, John
The stories of John Cheever. 1990. Read by Garrick Hagon, 35
hours 44 minutes. TB 9401.
These outstanding stories of American award-winning novelist
John Cheever show the power and range of one of the finest short
story writers of the century. Stories of love and squalor in which
momentary glimpses of brightness contend with time, social
change and the chaos of history. Contains strong language. TB
9401.
Chekhov, A P
Five short stories. Read by Simon Cadell, Read by Michael G
Cox, Read by Patience Collier, 1 hours 6 minutes. TB 13741.
This collection consists of "The Black Monk" and "The Boys" read
by Simon Cadell, "The Cobbler and the Devil" and "The Siren"
read by Michael Graham Cox, and "The Party" read by Patience
Collier. Chekhov wrote these humorous stories to earn extra
money while studying medicine in Moscow in 1879.The humour is
often tempered with pessimism and there is frequently a twist in
the ending. TB 13741.
Chesterton, G K
The wisdom of Father Brown. 1914. Read by Peter Bryant, 7
hours 15 minutes. TB 802.
Twelve further detective stories. TB 802.
Christie, Agatha
Thirteen problems. 1972. Read by Marilyn Finlay, 7 hours 34
minutes. TB 9821.
Miss Marple appears in each of these thirteen stories, solving the
most amazing mysteries quietly and unobtrusively from her chair
by the fireside. TB 9821.
Christie, Agatha
Poirot's early cases. 1974. Read by Peter Barker, 10 hours 45
minutes. TB 2659.
Eighteen short stories centring on the cases which helped to
establish the little Belgian detective's professional reputation. TB
2659.
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Clarke, Arthur C
The wind from the sun: stories of the space age. 1972. Read
by David Banks, 7 hours 34 minutes. TB 9162.
Eighteen short science fiction stories written during the 1960s.
Cloete, Stuart
Three white swans, and other stories. 1971. Read by David
Strong, 9 hours 21 minutes. TB 1766.
Short stories set in Malaya, America, Africa, and England setting
out with sometimes brutal realism the emotions, similar in all the
countries, which make men act as they do. TB 1766.
Coleman, Jane Candia
Moving on. 1999. Read by Kath Taylor-Kemp, 9 hours 44
minutes. TB 15283.
A collection of short stories about the American West.
Cooper, Jilly
Lisa and co. 1982. Read by Patricia Hughes, 9 hours 28
minutes. TB 7146.
Fourteen short stories about Lisa and others who fall in and out of
love, finding, losing (and often finding again) the men of their
dreams.
Cowan, Judith Elaine
Gambler's fallacy. 2001. Read by Phyllis Lowe, 7 hours 28
minutes. TB 18479.
A collection of seven stories set in Trois-Rivières, Québec. They
feature an erratic cast of ordinarily forgotten folks who have fallen
through the cracks. These include a woman called Raymonde,
who is anxiously awaiting guests to her lover's book launching, and
Jacques, a man of simplicity, observing the often unnoticed and
underappreciated aspects of daily life. TB 18479.
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Coyote, Ivan E
One man's trash. 2002. Read by Nicole Nakoneshny, 2 hours
30 minutes. TB 17868.
A collection of stories about being gay and searching out new
frontiers on the road and on the home front. Includes stories of
Coyote's attempts to get married in Vegas with her girlfriend, her
heroic horse-riding aunt, and a family of beaver-eating eccentrics.
TB 17868.
Crace, Jim
Continent. 1986. Read by Tom Crowe, 4 hours 3 minutes. TB
6779.
In his "Histories" Pycletius wrote: "There and beyond is a seventh
continent...and its business is trade and superstition." Seven
surprising narratives about this mythical land and its inhabitants
explore the irreconcilable forces implicit in all cultures. TB 6779.
Dahl, Roald
The collected short stories of Roald Dahl. 1991. Read by
Stephen Thorne, 29 hours 21 minutes. TB 9571.
This complete collection of Roald Dahl's adult short stories
includes all those from his world famous books "Over To You",
"Someone Like You", "Kiss, Kiss" and "Switch Bitch", many of
them seen in the superb television series "Tales of the
Unexpected". In addition, there are eight further stories taken from
other sources, including two which have not been published before
in book form "The Bookseller" and "The Surgeon". TB 9571.
Dick, Philip K
Little black box. 1990. Read by Eric Meyers, 19 hours 52
minutes. TB 9633.
Fifth and final volume of collected short stories, covering the period
1963-1981, the year before his death. TB 9633.
Dickens, Charles
Christmas stories. 1850-67. Read by George Hagan, 34 hours
30 minutes. TB 696.
A collection of short stories written by Dickens, sometimes alone,
sometimes in collaboration with Wilkie Collins, for the Christmas
numbers of magazines to which he contributed. TB 696.
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Donaldson, Stephen R
Reave the just and other tales. 1999. Read by Stuart Milligan,
16 hours 55 minutes. TB 17388.
A collection of eight short stories rich with exotic atmosphere,
mysticism and menace. Contains violence and passages of a
sexual nature. TB 17388.
Doyle, Arthur Conan
Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. 1894. Read by Stephen Jack, 8
hours 45 minutes. TB 1288.
Eleven adventures of the Baker Street detective.
Doyle, Arthur Conan
His last bow: some reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes. 1917.
Read by Andrew Timothy, 6 hours 3 minutes. TB 1243.
Dr Watson once again opens his portfoliio to reveal eight strange
cases solved by the keen intellect of the master detective. They
range from murdering and kidnapping to theft and treachery though on one occasion it is Holmes and Watson who commit the
crime of burglary. TB 1243.
Du Maurier, Daphne
Not after midnight, and other stories. 1971. Read by Peter
Cushing, 11 hours 13 minutes. TB 1764.
Five long stories about unremarkable people caught up in
situations beyond the boundaries of their experience. TB 1764.
Duncan, Ronald
The perfect mistress: and other stories. 1969. Read by Colin
Keith-Johnston, 4 hours 30 minutes. TB 1015.
A collection of short stories, tender and grim, witty and earnest, in
a variety of settings. TB 1015.
Ellison, Harlan
Shatterday. 1982. Read by Marvin Kane, 10 hours 56 minutes.
TB 4475.
Sixteen science fiction stories (one a novella), to freeze the bloodhorror for our own time. TB 4475.
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Fleming, Ian
Octopussy. 2008. Read by David Rintoul, 2 hours 51 minutes.
TB 15638.
James Bond series; book 14. Sequel to: The man with the golden
gun, TB 1161. In Octopussy, a brilliant major pays a high price
when his past catches up with him. In The Living Daylights, bond
has a rendezvous with a sniper in Berlin. In The Property of a
Lady, an auction at Sotheby's is heating up as the bidding starts
with fear and ends with terror. Contains strong language. TB
15638.
Fowles, John
The ebony tower. 1974. Read by David Dunhill, 10 hours 45
minutes. TB 2782.
Four novellas, varied in style and subject, together with a
translation of an early French romance to which the author can
trace much of his own need to write. TB 2782.
Gardam, Jane
The Sidmouth letters. 1980. Read by Robin Holmes, 6 hours
13 minutes. TB 3658.
Short stories in which the author conveys the extraordinary nature
of the most ordinary events. TB 3658.
Gardam, Jane
The people on Privilege Hill. 2008. Read by Jane Gardam, 5
hours 6 minutes. TB 17352.
A collection of stories ranging from a Victorian mansion converted
into a home for unmarried mothers to a wartime hospital in the
middle of the Blitz, from ghost stories to brilliant observations of
love and loneliness in their various manifestations - including, in
'Pangbourne', a woman who falls in love with a gorilla - to
reflections on the haphazard nature of intellect and memories in
'The Last Reunion'. TB 17352.
rnib.org.uk
Gellhorn, Martha
The short novels of Martha Gellhorn. 1991. Read by Lorelei
King, 29 hours 21 minutes. TB 9423.
Here are tales of people living with enthusiasm, riding on success
and facing failure. All meet their fates in the landscapes described
so well by Martha Gellhorn: the great cities of Europe, the colonial
enclaves of Africa, the American deep south.
Gilliatt, Penelope
What's it like out? and other stories. 1968. Read by Arthur
Bush, 6 hours 45 minutes. TB 959.
Nine short stories showing the author's deep understanding of
people and their actions. TB 959.
Glennon, Paul
How did you sleep?. 2000. Read by Geoffrey Pierpoint, 5
hours 15 minutes. TB 17891.
A collection of nineteen short stories on the subjects of madmen,
paranoiacs and the allegorically burdened: a husband wonders if
his wife has always been made of wood; a scientist suspects his
left hand is plotting against him; a tourist visits a museum
dedicated to his own failed romance. For the characters in these
stories life is a board game to which they have lost the instructions.
Contains strong language and violence. TB 17891.
Gordimer, Nadine
Something out there. 1984. Read by Norma West, 7 hours 32
minutes. TB 5308.
Nine stories: one, the last and longest, in which the menace of an
alien creature "out there", stealing food and killing pets,
counterpoints the preparations of a guerilla cell for an act of
sabotage. The author writes with a compassionate perception of
the various moods of love as well as the sorrow that can ensue.
Greene, Graham
May we borrow your husband? and other comedies of the
sexual life. 1967. Read by Alan Lyne, 4 hours 40 minutes. TB
157.
A collection of short stories which leave the reader feeling he has
met some unusual but strangely real people. TB 157.
rnib.org.uk
Greene, Graham
Twenty-one stories. 2001. Read by Stephen Grief, 7 hours 18
minutes. TB 16738.
The stories in this book, all written between 1929 and 1954, all
share the themes that feature so strongly in Graham Greene's
novels: humour and violence, pity and hatred, betrayal and pursuit.
Comic, sad, shocking and tragic, they recount the tales of Mr
Maling's loud stomach, destructive gangs of children, indiscretions
revealed and secrets uncovered. Contains strong language.TB
16738.
Greig, Francis
The bite and other apocryphal tales. 1982. Read by William
Abney, 5 hours 42 minutes. TB 4243.
Some of the tales are funny, others sinister and most of them
would demand some courage to read alone in an empty house at
night ... TB 4243.
Hardy, Melissa
The uncharted heart. 2001. Read by Geoffrey Pierpoint, 6
hours 36 minutes. TB 17865.
Eight stories, describing the unseen or "uncharted" regions of life,
set among pioneers and Aboriginal people in Northern Ontario in
the early 1900s. In "Traplines" a woman and her child flee from a
dangerous man, whom she knows to be a weendigo, a monster
with an insatiable appetite for eating humans. A fur trader's
discovery, in "The Ice Woman," of an Ojibway woman encased in
ice at the edge of a lake leads to his own disappearance. Contains
strong language. TB 17865.
Hardy, Thomas
A changed man. 1889. Read by Robin Holmes, 13 hours 42
minutes. TB 2640.
Twelve short stories.
rnib.org.uk
Hardy, Thomas
Wessex tales. 1991. Read by Vincent Brimble, 9 hours 6
minutes. TB 8901.
In this series of short stories, Hardy brings out the superstitions
and legends of a Wessex which was rapidly passing and the harsh
social climate of Dorset in the 1880s. His growing cynicism over
personal and sexual relationships also comes through. TB 8901.
Hasek, Jaroslav
The red commissar: including further adventures of the good
soldier Svejk and other stories. 1983. Read by Stanley
McGeagh, 7 hours 50 minutes. TB 5120.
By the time war broke out the author had compromised himself so
completely that it came as a relief for him to escape into military
duties. In 1918 he was made a Bolshevik Commissar and these
stories gently poke fun at bureaucratic idiocy and pomposity while
not overlooking the fact that this was a time when it was "as simple
to garrotte a human being as to wring the neck of a goose." TB
5120.
Henry, O
58 short stories. 1908. Read by Marvin Kane, 19 hours 25
minutes. TB 1751.
Humorous and ingenious short stories.
Heti, Sheila
The middle stories. 2001. Read by Aileen Seaton, 3 hours 30
minutes. TB 18455.
The Middle Stories is a collection of stories, fables, and short
brutalities that are alternately heart-warming, cruel, and hilarious.
Finalist for the Writers Craft Award and the Re-Lit Award. TB
18455.
Hill, Reginald
Asking for the moon. 1996. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 9 hours
30 minutes. TB 11071.
Dalziel and Pascoe series; book 13. In this collection of four short
stories, Reginal Hill divulges how Fat Andy and Peter Pascoe met
in "The last national service man". "Pascoe's ghost" finds the
inspector investigating the fate of a woman who seems to have
rnib.org.uk
slipped out the world. And Pascoe isn't the only one having a
brush with the supernatural: "Dalziel's ghost" sees him expressing
a surprising interest in the 'other side'. "One small step" looks to
the future where murder on the moon requires the personal
intervention of Commissioner Peter Pascoe of the Eurofed Justice
Department... TB 11071.
Houston, Pam
Cowboys are my weakness and other stories. 1993. Read by
Liza Ross, 4 hours 29 minutes. TB 9786.
Sexy, gutsy, and written in prose reflecting the psychic and
geographical wilderness through which its characters roam, these
twelve stories tell of the pleasure of dancing the two-step at the
Stockgrowers' ball, the pity of stalking beautiful beasts, the
comforting companionship of dogs, the challenge of a tetchy horse,
and of course, sex, love and loss. Contains strong language. TB
9786.
Howard, Elizabeth Jane
Mr Wrong. 1975. Read by Carol Marsh, 8 hours 45 minutes. TB
2826.
Nine stories with themes ranging from marital infidelity to the
macabre explore the passion, trust, confusion, and betrayal of
human sentiments. TB 2826.
Hunter, Aislinn
What's left us: stories and a novella. 2001. Read by Aileen
Seaton, 6 hours 19 minutes. TB 18099.
Set in London, Dublin, Vancouver and southern Ontario, the six
stories and novella explore love, loss and family relations. The
characters include a woman who believes she has a Divine calling
to work at Dublin's xxx-rated cinema; a pregnant and unwed young
woman who spends the month before her child's birth searching
for her family's mysterious origins; and a woman whose marriage
to a carpenter is in such a state of disrepair that she commits a
very public act of rebellion. TB 18099.
rnib.org.uk
Innes, Michael
The Appleby file: detective stories. 1975. Read by Andrew
Timothy, 7 hours. TB 2939.
Sir John Appleby series; book 33. A collection of short stories
about the varied adventures of Sir John Appleby, Commissioner of
Metropolitan Police. TB 2939.
Irving, Washington
The sketch book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. 2006. Read by Jeff
Harding, 15 hours 41 minutes. TB 17332.
'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' and 'Rip Van Winkle' are classics of
American fiction and display Irving's ability to depict American
landscapes and culture. Irving earned his preeminence in early
American literature with the masterpieces in miniature collected
here: travel essays, tale of romance, biographical discourses and
literary musings. TB 17332.
Ishiguro, Kazuo
Nocturnes: five stories of music and nightfall. 2009. Read by
David Thorpe, Read by Matt Addis, Read by Peter Brooke, 6
hours 9 minutes. TB 16880.
In a sublime story cycle, Kazuo Ishiguro explores ideas of love,
music and the passing of time. From the piazzas of Italy to the
Malvern Hills, a London flat to the 'hush-hush floor' of an exclusive
Hollywood hotel, the characters we encounter range from young
dreamers to cafe musicians to faded stars, all of them at some
moment of reckoning. Contains strong language. TB 16880.
Jacobs, W W
Light freights. 1901. Read by Jon Curle, 7 hours 15 minutes.
TB 1305.
Stories of old salts, introducing some of the author's best comic
characters, Bob Pretty, Ginger Dick and Old Sam Small. TB 1305.
Jameson, Storm
Women against men. 1982. Read by Vivien Creegor, 11 hours
21 minutes. TB 5501.
Three short novels about very different women, examining their
relationships with men and with other women. TB 5501.
rnib.org.uk
Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer
East into upper east: plain tales from New York and New
Delhi. 1998. Read by Multiple narrators, 13 hours 10 minutes.
TB 11825.
The stories in this collection span two worlds - the restless,
aspiring society of New York's Upper East side, and the world of
India's capital city, New Delhi, where the old India is giving way to
one powered by industry and property development. A rich cast of
characters inhabits these stories - Indian businessmen, holy
women, students, society hostesses and ambitious young
politicans; New Yorkers preoccupied with money yet in search of
meaning, struggling with their longings and failures and
complicated sex lives. TB 11825.
Joseph, Marie
The way we were. 1994. Read by Carole Boyd, 8 hours 30
minutes. TB 11014.
A collection of Marie Joseph's short stories, previously published in
magazines in the 1960s and 1970s. The stories include the
husband who has spent his life surrounded by women and longs
for a son and companion; a couple who are brought together with
unexpected help from a feline source; and a younger sister's
wedding which brings faint misgivings and memories from the past.
All are told in the sepia of nostalgia and tinged with the irony that
are Marie Joseph's hallmarks. TB 11014.
Kafka, Franz
The metamorphosis and other stories. 2007. Read by Thomas
Eyre, Read by Steve Hodson, Read by Damian Lynch, 9 hours
27 minutes. TB 17462.
A collection of short stories. In the main story "The
Metamorphosis" - A commercial traveller is unexpectedly freed
from his dreary job by his inexplicable transformation into an
insect, which drastically alters his relationship with his family. TB
17462.
rnib.org.uk
Kennedy, Lena
Ivy of the angel. 1993. Read by Joe Dunlop, Read by Carol
Marsh, 7 hours 6 minutes. TB 9651.
Eleven vivid and compelling stories. The title story reveals why an
elderly bag lady becomes the centre of attention in an Oxford
Street store; there is a tale of thwarted love in London's East End,
and a number of examples of how the smooth surface of a buried
past can be disrupted by the intrusions of the present. With her
customary freshness and directness, Lena Kennedy explores the
enduring power of love, the triumph of hope over adversity, the
problems of illness and racial prejudice, and the quirky kindness of
fate. TB 9651.
Kiely, Benedict
A letter to Peachtree: and nine other stories. 1988. Read by
Philip O'Sullivan, 7 hours 48 minutes. TB 7415.
Ten short stories in which the tragic and comic sides of life rub
shoulders in the west of Ireland. In the title story a trip on the train
out of Dublin becomes something much more by the time the
occupants return, more off the rail than on. In Secondary Top, the
local name for the part of the school where the older girls go,
letters of complaint have been received from the mothers of the
teenagers alleging the intimate attentions of one of their teachers.
TB 7415.
King, Stephen
Four past midnight. 1990. Read by Adam Henderson, 28 hours
54 minutes. TB 9598.
This collection of four novellas tells of a terrifying airline journey to
a dead world, of a lonely man who suddenly finds himself very
much not alone, of a new camera which takes terrifying pictures
and of evil at work in Iowa. Contains violence. TB 9598.
Kinsella, W P
Japanese baseball and other stories . 2000. Read by Jim
Rodger, 6 hours 5 minutes. TB 17451.
A collection of baseball short stories that will delight all lovers of
engaging storytelling and fans of the sport Kinsella chronicles in
"Shoeless Joe," "Field of dreams," and "The thrill of the grass."
Kinsella weaves his characters into the thrill of the game, be it in
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Japan, Central America, Canada or the U.S., with a variety of
comic, tragic, and mystical results. TB 17451.
Kipling, Rudyard
The man who would be king and other stories. 1987. Read by
Michael Elder, 4 hours 13 minutes. TB 8946.
A collection of stories features the tale of two ex-British soldiers
who try to establish their own kingdom. TB 8946.
Kipling, Rudyard
Mrs Bathurst and other stories. 1991. Read by Jon Cartwright,
11 hours 10 minutes. TB 9357.
In this selection of his late stories, some unforgettable women tell,
or conceal, the secrets of their lives. There are ghosts, hauntings
and psychological studies. One of the earliest radio signals comes
crackling through the dark, a pioneer motorist rejoices in his newfound freedom, and the English find themselves threatened from
the air. Here are Kipling's considered views on writing and artists.
TB
Klassen, Sarah
The peony season. 2000. Read by Anne Glatt, 9 hours 15
minutes. TB 18225.
From Zaire to Winnipeg to Ukraine, these short stories provide an
assortment of characters who transcend various circumstances to
explore personal experiences. They reflect a recurring tension
between a desire for solitude and the needs of companionship;
between wanting to enter other people's stories and lives and
wanting to remain separate, a stranger. TB 18225.
Le Guin, Ursula K
The compass rose.1983. Read by Malcolm Ruthven, 9 hours
30 minutes. TB 5155.
A compass of spatial dimensions as well as the usual four
directions give a framework to twenty new stories ranging from
science fiction to fantasy and a magical realism. The author finds
comedy as well as tragedy as her satire stretches from a wellknown TV series to a totalitarian America of the future. TB 5155.
rnib.org.uk
Leach, Christopher
Scars and other ceremonies. 1980. Read by Brian Perkins, 4
hours 58 minutes. TB 3779.
Twelve short stories with hidden resonances of fear and violence.
Lee, Nancy
Dead girls. 2002. Read by Gillian Hart, 7 hours 31 minutes. TB
18071.
A hand model's strange and troubled bond with her ailing father is
revealed though an inventory of her body parts. A marriage is
tested as a mother struggles to cope with the disappearance of her
prostitute daughter, while two angry women in a mini-van search
for catharsis as they rampage through the night. Linked by the
background narrative of a serial killer's arrest in Vancouver, these
dark short stories of emotional wagers, discovery and loss reveal
the desires and delusions that compel us to do the things we do.
Contains strong language and passages of a sexual nature. TB
18071.
Leonard, Elmore
The complete Western stories of Elmore Leonard. 2007. Read
by Jeff Harding, 21 hours 14 minutes. TB 16172.
Lessing, Doris
The story of a non-marrying man, and other stories. 1972.
Read by Norma West, 10 hours 18 minutes. TB 8836.
In this collection of 13 short stories Doris Lessing offers a unique,
sensitive and sometimes humorous study of humanity from a tale
of adultery in "Not a Very Nice Story" to an analysis of self-doubt in
"The Temptation of Jack Orkney". TB 8836.
Lessing, Doris
The black madonna. 1992. Read by Norma West, 2 hours 52
minutes. TB 9039.
A series of short stories with an African setting, exploring the whole
range of human emotions, portraying modern woman in all her
complexity.TB 9039.
rnib.org.uk
Linklater, Eric
The stories of Eric Linklater. 1968. Read by Marvin Kane, 13
hours 30 minutes. TB 498.
Eighteen stories from his previous collections with widely varied
themes and backgrounds. TB 498.
Listowel, Judith Hare
Dusk on the Danube. 1969. Read by Carol Marsh, 7 hours 15
minutes. TB 1013.
Six stories set against a background of the author's native Hungary
during the changing times from 1920 to the Nazi occupation and
Soviet oppression. TB 1013.
Lovecraft, H P
H.P. Lovecraft omnibus 1: At the mountains of madness and
other novels of terror. 1985. Read by William Roberts, 20
hours 6 minutes. TB 17021.
Gathered together are seven tales of horror in the gothic tradition full of hinted terrors and unholy stenches, supernatural terror and
vilest horror. TB 17021.
Lyon, Annabel
Oxygen. 2000. Read by Angela Willson, 5 hours 10 minutes.
TB 18085.
A collection of short stories covering many different elements
within the theme of family. Topics include dating, death,
relationships between parents and children, and those between
friends. Contains strong language. TB 18085.
MacLaverty, Bernard
The great Profundo: and other stories. 1987. Read by Denys
Hawthorne, 5 hours 9 minutes. TB 7354.
The characters in these stories are on the fringes of society, forced
to seek consolation as best they can, like the lonely old lady who
resorts to posting a monthly letter to herself. In a shabby world,
some just suffer unseen, but a young boy manages to lose his
shame in the psoriasis on his chest through his friendship with an
eccentric duchess, and a poem is the link between two strangers.
TB 7354.
rnib.org.uk
Malamud, Bernard
The stories of Bernard Malamud. 1984. Read by Maxine Howe,
10 hours 43 minutes. TB 5466.
A collection of twenty-five short stories about Jewish Americans, a
celebration and an expiation which gently unravels the
complexities of human behaviour with both clarity and charity. TB
5466.
Mansfield, Katherine
Collected stories. 1945. Read by Rosalind Shanks, 29 hours 4
minutes. TB 5303.
A collection of ninety-one short stories from a New Zealander who
spent most of her life in Europe, writing stories and continually
seeking higher standards in her writing. Her first book was
published in 1911 and, until her early death in 1923 at the age of
thirty-four, she wrote continuously, although from 1917 she was
also searching for a cure for tuberculosis. Her reputation as a
writer stems from the undramatic, sensitive and lyrical quality of
her stories. TB 5303.
Mars-Jones, Adam
Lantern lecture. 1981. Read by Robert Gladwell, 8 hours 8
minutes. TB 4438.
Three stories by a new writer: the title story is an amusing account
of the disorders which are the normal occurence of Philip Yorke's
life, the last squire of Erdigg driving in his acient Morris Cowley
with a bicycle on the roof for lifeboat duty. The second story,
Hoosh-mi, is a satire of royalty and the last and longest, Bathpool
Park, is concerned with the law. TB
Maupassant, Guy de
Boule de suif and other stories. 1880. Read by Robin Holmes,
9 hours 5 minutes. TB 1414.
A collection of short stories by one of the masters of French
literature.
Mitchison, Naomi
Images of Africa. 1980. Read by Robin Holmes, 5 hours 4
minutes. TB 3879.
Stories from Botswana and Zambia.
rnib.org.uk
Moggach, Deborah
Smile. 1988. Read by Helen Copp, Read by Raymond Sawyer,
4 hours 43 minutes. TB 7800.
A series of 11 realistic short stories, written with wit and
compassion, in which the author explores modern relationships
and everyday human crises. Through her characters, which range
from a Brighton waitress to a father to be at an ante-natal class,
various themes are revealed: women's endeavour to please in love
and the compromises people make in life. TB 7800.
Moore, George
Celibate lives. 1927. Read by George Hagan, 8 hours 11
minutes. TB 1005.
Five stories, each chronicling a life.
Morgan, Bernice
The topography of love: stories. 2000. Read by Ann Saunders,
10 hours 26 minutes. TB 17551.
A day spent at the home of a movie star leads three fiends to
divulge secrets. A woman returns home after many years to find
that her childhood friend has led a bleak version of her own life.
Morgan's short stories take place in Newfoundland and focus on
the bonds between family and friends. Contains strong language.
TB 17551.
Mortimer, John
Rumpole. 1980. Read by John Westbrook, 14 hours 43
minutes. TB 3774.
Rumpole series; book 3. Rumpole is the oldest Junior in
Chambers, a barrister who never prosecutes, is apt to quote
poetry, and has a wife known as "She Who Must Be Obeyed". The
stories in this collection were previously published as "Rumpole of
the Bailey" and "The Trials of Rumpole".
Munro, Alice
Runaway. 2006. Read by Liza Ross, Read by Garrick Hagon,
11 hours 44 minutes. TB 17168.
The runaway of the disturbing title story is Carla, a congenital
'bolter', who has neighbourly fantasies that take on a frightening
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afterlife... Elsewhere, a stagestruck girl finds life is more
Shakespearean than even she imagines; while Tessa, a young
country woman with strange powers cannot foresee what will
happen if she makes off with a plausible charmer. The stories
unravel layers of the past, and different versions of the truth: the
characters learn that if you look too closely at anything - the past,
the truth - it may crumble. Contains strong language. TB 17168.
Murakami, Haruki
The elephant vanishes. 2006. Read by Multiple narrators,
10:43. TB 15975.
In these haunting, hilarious stories the author makes a determined
assault on the normal. A man's favourite elephant simply vanishes;
a couple suffering midnight hunger pangs hold up a McDonalds;
and a woman finds she is irresistible to a green monster that
burrows through her garden. TB 15975.
Naipaul, Shiva
Beyond the dragon's mouth: stories and pieces. 1984. Read
by Ian Craig, 18 hours 40 minutes. TB 5643.
In 1964 as a young man the author sailed out of Port of Spain
harbour, beyond the strait known as the Dragon's Mouth to the
escape he had longed for for over 18 years. Two years later, while
still at Oxford, a fellow student from Trinidad is found dead and the
wholeness of life is broken. A new structure must be built out of the
ruins and this construction shines through the collection of writings
that make up the main part of the book. TB 5643.
Narayan, R K
A horse and two goats, and other stories. 1970. Read by
Garard Green, 4 hours 50 minutes. TB 1810.
Malgudi series; book 10. Sequel to: The sweet vendor. Short
stories full of enchantment by one of India's most important living
novelists. TB 1810.
Nin, Anais
Little birds: erotica. 1990. Read by Lorelei King, 3 hours 51
minutes. TB 8734.
Some passages of a sexual nature may be considered offensive.
Glimpses in dream-like fashion of the subtle or explicit means by
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which men and women are aroused. Each of the thirteen vignettes
captures a moment of sexual awakening, recognition or fulfilment.
Lust, obsession, fantasy and desire emerge as part of the human
condition, as pure or as complex as any other of its aspects. TB
8734.
Oates, Joyce Carol
Last days. 1985. Read by Maxine Howe, 9 hours 22 minutes.
TB 6667.
Short stories that enter into the private world of each of its
characters: Saul Morgenstein who is too smart for any psychiatrist
to help, Wendy, who cannot face going to the hospital where her
mother was taken after an accident and the glimpse of an ageing
lover in the street. The second half of the book leaves America for
the cities of Eastern Europe, as seen through the eyes of educated
Americans who visit for conferences and are led into less easily
expressed experiences.
O'Brien, Edna
The love object. 1968. Read by Gretel Davis, 6 hours 15
minutes. TB 1200.
Short stories concerned with obsessive love and its
disappointments.
O'Faolain, Sean
The talking trees and other stories. 1971. Read by Stephen
Jack, 8 hours. TB 1660.
Short stories set in Ireland.
Okri, Ben
Stars of the new curfew. 1989. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 5
hours 59 minutes. TB 9863.
Short stories from the 1991 Booker Prize winner. A succession of
flights into the grotesque and phantasmagoric: a medicine huckster
bedevilled by dreams as he touts a panacea called "Power drug", a
hallucinatory horror show, in which a musician is haunted by
premonitions of his girl friend's death. Okri's world is one in which
nightmares have become the only reality. TB 9863.
rnib.org.uk
Paley, Grace
Enormous changes at the last minute. 1975. Read by Stanley
Pritchard, 4 hours 35 minutes. TB 2733.
A 'splendidly comic and unladylike' collection of short stories from
a contemporary American writer. TB 2733.
Priestley, J B
The Carfitt Crisis, and two other stories. 1975. Read by
Andrew Timothy, 7 hours 5 minutes. TB 2819.
Described by the author as 'entertainments embodying some
serious ideas,' and a short horror story. TB 2819.
Pritchett, V S
The Camberwell beauty. 1974. Read by Gabriel Woolf, 6 hours
14 minutes. TB 2628.
Nine stories, various in mood and circumstance, about those areas
where the absurd cohabits with the rational, reality with fantasy. TB
2628.
Rendell, Ruth
The fever tree and other stories. 1982. Read by Anne White, 7
hours 22 minutes. TB 4479.
Eleven short stories, one a novella, ranging through a variety of
reasons for murder and undermining any comfortable assumptions
previously held. TB 4479.
Rendell, Ruth
The new girlfriend and other stories. 1985. Read by Pauline
Munro, 5 hours 22 minutes. TB 6033.
A collection of sinister short stories, from "The New Girl Friend's"
murderous confusion of identities to "The Convolvulus Clock"
where each tick is the tick of guilt. TB 6033.
Rhys, Jean
Sleep it off lady. 1976. Read by Vivien Creegor, 4 hours 7
minute4s. TB 5402.
A collection of sixteen stories beginning and ending in Dominica,
the West Indian island where Jean Rhys was born. TB 5402.
rnib.org.uk
Ross, Bess
A bit of crack and car culture and other stories. 1990. Read by
Brigit Forsyth, 3 hours 44 minutes. TB 9597.
This is a 'village of stories', rooted in the stark shore-line
community in Ross-shire: real people engaged in the day to day
struggles, joys and vanities of life. TB 9597.
Sagan, Francoise
Incidental music. 1985. Read by Carol Marsh, 3 hours 58
minutes. TB 6120.
Twelve tales of love discovered and love lost, love disowned and
love betrayed - stories of charm and tenderness with an ironic twist
in the tail, most set in the superficial world of wealthy Parisian
society. TB 6120.
Saki
The chronicles of Clovis. 1911. Read by Andrew Timothy, 14
hours 45 minutes. TB 2462.
A selection of stories from the Chronicles of Clovis.
Sayers, Dorothy L
Hangman's holiday. 1996. Read by Ian Carmichael, 6 hours 38
minutes. TB 10889.
Lord Peter Wimsey, the delightful detective, is a familiar and
popular character but, also introduced is the incredible Mr Egg,
salesman extraordinaire, whose powers of deduction, if they don't
surpass, at least equal those of Lord Peter. This collection of
stories is one of the most interesting, for its blend of the new and
the old, yet still retaining the essential charm that has captivated
her many readers over the years. TB 10889.
Schroeder, Adam Lewis
Kingdom of monkeys. 2001. Read by Dorothy Hayward, 6
hours 7 minutes. TB 17691.
Charting the jungles and depths of the South Seas, these stories
delve into the lives of a Malay boy in 19th-century Singapore, a
Dutch painter in wartime Bali, an opium-smoking porter in modernday Thailand, and others, offering an exposé of colonial power in
Asia, as well as a voyage across its culture, religion, and
landscape. Contains strong language. TB 17691.
rnib.org.uk
Singer, Isaac Bashevis
The image and other stories. 1986. Read by Maxine Howe, 9
hours 22 minutes. TB 6387.
Another 22 stories, set in contemporary America and pre-war
Warsaw, from a Nobel Prizewinner. They tell of miracles and tests
of faith - "the mad hurricane of human passions and the struggle
with them". TB 6387.
Smith, Iain Crichton
Murdo, and other stories. 1981. Read by William Abney, 5
hours 45 minutes. TB 4120.
A collection of short stories in which the author displays a poetic
and anarchic talent. TB 4120.
Spring, Howard
Eleven stories & a beginning. 1973. Read by Peter Gray, 9
hours 52 minutes. TB 2188.
A collection, published posthumously, of short stories and the
beginning of an unfinished novel. TB 2188.
Standish, Robert
Elephant law, and other stories. 1969. Read by Marvin Kane, 6
hours 49 minutes. TB 1025.
Twelve short stories set in Ceylon, the Far East, Europe and
Canada. TB 1025.
Stern, James
The stories of James Stern. 1968. Read by George Hagan, 12
hours. TB 589.
Satirical sketches of upper-class behaviour, compassionate
gestures towards the under-privileged, and a keen interest in
dreams. TB 589.
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Short stories. Read by Robert Trotter, 4 hours 29 minutes. TB
14129.
"The Misadventures of John Nicholson": the only story set by
Stevenson in the Scotland of his own time; the relationship
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between John and his stern parent reflects his own troubled
relationship with his father. "Will O'The Mill": Will wants to live life
to the full but stays serenely in the mountains growing old and
wise, while time and life slip away. "Markheim": on Christmas Day
the dealer lies in his shop, a dagger in his breast. Upstairs,
Markheim searches for the money for which he has killed. He
hears steps on the stairs, and slowly the door opens ... TB 14129.
Stoker, Bram
Dracula's guest. 1990. Read by Michael Tudor Barnes, 5 hours
59 minutes. TB 9609.
A collection of nine horror and suspense stories from the author of
"Dracula".
Stoker, Bram
Midnight tales. 1990. Read by Patrick Romer, 7 hours 31
minutes. TB 8301.
In the last decade of the nineteenth century, the Beefsteak room at
the Lyceum Theatre was the scene for brilliant and cosmopolitan
gatherings hosted by Sir Henry Irving. Irving and his guests told
strange tales of far-distant places. Bram Stoker was Irving's
manager during these years and these conversations provided him
with the inspiration for his classic horror fiction "Dracula". Contains
violence. TB 8301.
Swift, Graham
Learning to swim and other stories. 1982. Read by Antony
Higginson, 6 hours 47 minutes. TB 6455.
Graham Swift's 11 analytical, yet enigmatic, stories explore the
enclosed worlds in which we confine our lives: sexual and familial
enclosures with their tensions and rifts; refuges built of illusion and
deception; the traps of obsession and the falsehood of erroneous
authority. TB 6455.
Symons, Julian
The tigers of Subtopia and other stories. 1982. Read by Tom
Crowe, 6 hours 25 minutes. TB 4602.
Eleven stories of murder, blackmail and deceit resolved in most
cases by an unexpected twist in the tail. TB 4602.
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Taylor, Elizabeth
The devastating boys, and other stories. 1972. Read by John
Richmond, 6 hours 38 minutes. TB 2086.
Short stories about people in search of happiness and their
vulnerability.
Theroux, Paul
The London embassy. 1982. Read by Marvin Kane, 8 hours 32
minutes. TB 4533.
The narrator linking these related short stories and thumb - nail
sketches is a forty-year old diplomat, newly appointed as Political
Officer to the American Embassy in London. He views the city and
its citizens, with a foreigner's penetrating eye, almost as a stage
set holding together personalities. TB 4533.
Thurber, James
The middle-aged man on the flying trapeze. 1992. Read by
William Roberts, 5 hours and 45 minutes. TB 9827.
Thirty six short pieces described by the author as "mainly
humorous, but with a few kind of sad ones mixed in". First
published in 1935, this volume contains some hilarious classic
essays about language and people. TB 9827.
Trevor, William
Angels at the Ritz, and other stories. 1975. Read by Gabriel
Woolf, 08:15. TB 2881.
Twelve stories in which ordinary people find themselves in
extraordinary situations.
Trevor, William
Family sins & other stories. 1990. Read by Marie McCarthy, 8
hours 2 minutes. TB 10311.
The intimacy which masks the most significant secrets and
motives; the casualties of bereavement; the foibles of human
nature; the compromises made for gain; the victims by nature of
birth; the poverty of life without love; these are some of the
subjects around which William Trevor weaves magic.TB 10311.
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Updike, John
Pigeon feathers and other stories. 1993. Read by Hayward
Morse, 8 hours 43 minutes. TB 10019.
The theme of memory runs through this collection of short stories
and for many of the characters the past is a miraculous land
perpetually in need of rediscovery. The stories concern an America
where most are exiles and moving automobiles contain a lot of
their lives. They move from comic romance to sombre monologue,
by way of soliloquies delivered by an angel, an AP clerk and a
lifeguard; and dialogues between man and his wife, a man and his
child, a boy and his mother, a boy and his minister and several
quests and hosts. The setting is generally Pensylvania. TB 10019.
Waugh, Evelyn
The ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, and other stories. 1989. Read by
Michael Lumsden, 6 hours 18 minutes. TB 10264.
"The ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold" is the terrifying story of a novelist
whose imagination turns on and engulfs him. A semiautobiographical depiction of a brief time of insanity, it is one of
Waugh's most disturbing pieces and shows what a fragile thing
mastery can prove to be. There are also two short pieces "Tactical
exercise" and "Love among the ruins". TB 10264.
Weldon, Fay
Polaris and other stories. 1985. Read by David Sinclair, 8
hours 18 minutes. TB 5909.
Twelve short stories ranging from the wilds of Scotland in "Polaris",
where sub-mariner, Timmy, conducts his uneasy marriage, to far
away Tasmania in "Oh Mary Don't You Cry Any More" with the
strong southern winds bearing away both hope and grief. In
"Christmas Lists" the compulsion to make lists takes over the life of
the list-maker and everyday suburbia is viewed with a scurrilous
elegance. TB 5909.
Weldon, Fay
A hard time to be a father.1998. Read by Charlotte Stevens, 7
hours 50 minutes. TB 11745.
A collection of nineteen tales about the way we live now, as lovers,
partners, children, parents. Or alone. Stories of passion, desire,
and necessary restraint; of the near future, the recent past; of old
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habits, new technology; of won't-be mothers and would-be fathers;
and of houses, ancient and modern. Contains strong language. TB
11745.
Wells, H G
Complete short stories. 1927. Read by Michael de Morgan, 30
hours. TB 1621.
Stories packed with humour, strangeness, horror and imagination.
TB 1621.
Welty, Eudora
The collected stories of Eudora Welty. 1981. Read by Marvin
Kane, 28 hours 52 minutes. TB 4349.
A collection of all Eudora Welty's short stories from the earliest
Death of a Travelling Salesman, published in 1936 in `a little
magazine', to a couple not yet in the collection. The settings of her
stories are wide ranging but all coloured by her life in Jackson,
Mississippi, where the present is moulded so often by the past. TB
4349.
Wharton, Edith
The ghost stories of Edith Wharton. 1975. Read by Peter Gray,
12 hours. TB 3078.
Stories of mystery written by the author over the years 1904 and
1937, inspired partly by the fear of ghosts she experienced as a
small child. Set in the bleak mansions of England, America, and
Normandy, eleven classic tales depict the terrors of persons
confronted by unearthly entities.
Wilde, Oscar
Lord Arthur Savile's crime, and other short stories. 2008.
Read by Derek Jacobi, 6 hours 44 minutes. TB 16482.
Lord Arthur Savile, a rich man with no enemies, finds that he must
do something terrible before he can marry. Poor young Hughie
Erskine gives money to a beggar who is not what he seems, and
Lord Murchison falls in love with a mystery woman.
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Yates, Dornford
Berry and co. 1921. Read by Robin Holmes, 10 hours 21
minutes. TB 3115.
Bertram "Berry" Pleydell series: book 1. The hilarious incidents in
the life of Berry and family.
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