During the month of November, we have all been enjoying stories from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  These are the first three stories in the series, Silver Blaze, The Yellow Face, and The Stockbroker's Clerk.  B.J. knew we hadn't had...

What better way to cap a Halloween Scare Fest than with a strange murder confession from Edgar Allan Poe, as B.J. Harrison brings us "The Cask of Amontillado," a tale of murder by wine. Or rather, the promise of wine. As you may remember, this was the first story B.J....

B.J. Harrison and The Classic Tales continue the Halloween Fright Extravaganza this week with a Bram Stoker's short story called "The Squaw."  B.J. found this story when he picked up a book of short stories on a recent trip to the Shakespearean Festival with his...

Friday's latest installment of Fear in The Classic Tales was William Hope Hodgson's "The House Among the Laurels."  This story is part a chapter from a larger book called Carnacki.  Carnacki is also the name of the lead character, a ghost hunter.  In this story, our...

English writer M.R. James broke the mold of the Gothic ghost story by making the settings and devices much more realistic.  The stories took place in small villages, and there was often an item of ancient power (often a book) that set the story rolling.  This use of...

This week, B.J. and The Classic Tales Podcast continue its run of scary to terrifying stories in honor of Halloween with O. Henry's "The Furnished Room."  It is a dark story of search and suicide. His stories are known mostly for the plot twists, which work great in...

This week, we embark on a five week journey with Buck, a St. Bernard Scotch-Collie who begins life as a happy pet and through bad luck and careless men, ends up as an Alaskan sled dog.  This is one of  Jack London's most beloved books, The Call of the Wild.  London...

This week, B.J. Harrison and The Classic Tales bring back Edgar Allan Poe with the incredibly disturbing Gothic Tale of "The Masque of the Red Death."  May I suggest you listen to this during a sunny walk outside, just to balance even a modicum of darkness in the...

 David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens.  This book was released as a full novel in 1850, after being published serially the two previous years.  The actual title of the book is, The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the...

Cover from the first edition High time we lampoon detectives the world over with "The Stolen White Elephant," by Mark Twain!  This story was written in 1882, a time when detective stories were all the rage (think Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"). ...

The Gods of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs.  This is the second installment of Burroughs’ famous Barsoom series.  Because of this series, Burroughs is considered one of the first masters of the Science Fiction genre. The story opens on the other side of the rivers Iss,...