Ghosts

Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton was born on the 25th May 1803 the youngest of three sons. In 1828 his novel, ‘Pelham’, brought him an income, together with commercial and critical success. He followed these with a string of applauded works across several genres: historical fiction, mystery, romance, the occult, science fiction and poetry.

Whatever the reasons given or proffered the reality and known facts are that if you want a really good ghost story to bring that edge of chill, that foreboding of dread, that feeling that in an empty house we are not quite alone and that sometimes the sharp, sheer shock of what just happened is upon us then look no further than ‘The Victorian Ghost Story’ for your listening pleasure.

Bithia Mary Sheppard was born in Kilgefin, County Roscommon, Ireland, the only daughter of an Anglican Church of Ireland rector. She was educated at Rockferry, Cheshire and in Tours, France. Bithia only began writing at the age of 33 and in her life wrote 42 novels and 7 volumes of short stories. Within her short story creations are much anthologized ghost, supernatural and macabre tales. Many of her novels reveal a side of Empire that is undeniably of its time and a fine example of both talent and observation.

Eureka, California, the Victorian seaport famous for its paranormal stories and tales of hauntings is where psychic sleuth Sarah Thompson once again takes center state. She's thrust into a disturbing mystery when she finds an old book in a timeworn bookstore, and a terrifying scream escapes from its pages. The voice emanating from the book insists that Sarah must help. But refuses to say who, how, or why. The only clue it offers is an ominous novel filled with scenes of illicit passion, deception, and murder. When the book mysteriously transforms into a collection of poems, Sarah is stumped.

Local Guild boss and powerful ghost hunter Cooper Boone is everything botanist Elly St. Clair could ask for-the handsome, strong, and silent type. Maybe too silent. For when Guild secrets threaten her career at the college, Elly has to call off their marriage-and leave small-town life behind....

Young Irish nurse Ellen arrives at May Day House, tasked with helping the men there rehabilitate. But there’s something strange about the house, surrounded by water, on its own island in the Thames. And then there are the men: traumatised by their experiences of war, and subject to troubling methods in a desperate race to get them back to duty. As Ellen gets drawn into the world of May Day House, she starts to realise this will be no place to hide away from her own troubles…

Jane's World is the finest Jane Austen theme park the future has to offer—until The Troubles start. In a world full of androids, who's to say what is real?

Adrian and Delanie Michaels need a new beginning in their marriage. Old grievances have almost buried them. To begin again, they need new scenery. They need a new environment for themselves and their young son, Trey. They never imagined they would be able to afford a home the size of the two-story Victorian they find in an older, upscale Colorado neighborhood. They know the home is newer than those around it, and they know this is because the original home on the site burned to the ground.

It’s 1992, and ten-year-old Molly is tired of living in the fire-rotted, nun-haunted House of Friends: a Semi-Cooperative Living Community of Peace Faith(s) in Action with her formerly blind dad and their grieving housemate Evelyn. But when twenty-three-year-old Jeanie, a dirt bike-riding ex-con with a shady past, moves in, she quickly becomes the object of Molly’s adoration. She might treat Molly terribly, but they both have dead moms and potty mouths, so naturally Molly is the moth to Jeanie’s scuzzy flame.

As a medical examiner, seeing ghosts has its advantages. After being informed by a ghost that there is a mass grave in the area, Lance and Detective Angus Young feel the fallout. As one investigates the murders, the other investigates the bodies, both trying to piece together what happened. Luckily, the dead aren't all silent. As ghosts of the victims appear, clues to what happened start to come together. The only problem now is figuring out who the killer is and catching him before he strikes again.

For Evie St. Claire, life in Honeysuckle Springs isn't anything like she'd imagined. Sure, the old house is charming, and the smalltown lakeside community is picture perfect. But her kitty roommate Birdie is unpredictable, snarky, and demanding. When a ransom note shows up at Evie's backdoor, she must come clean about her aunt's stolen ashes. She'll also need to decide if she's willing to meet the ransom demands and give up her aunt's spell book, or if she'll search for the culprit herself.

On a dark New England night, Cassie Stevens startles awake–something’s in the room with her. Something she can’t see or hear, but feels in the icy air, and the weight of unseen eyes watching her from the darkness. Ever since surviving a near-death experience in a crash, Cassie’s been haunted by this malevolent presence. She sees brief flashes of it from the corner of her eye and in the subtle stir of shadows in dark corners. It’s coming for her, invading her mind and thoughts with dark, grotesque horrors and madness

Zhenia is adrift in Los Angeles, pregnant with a baby her husband doesn't want, while her Russian grandmother and favorite person in the world is dying on the opposite coast. She's deeply disconnected from herself and her desires when she gets a strange call from Paul, a psychic medium who usually specializes in channeling dead pets, with a message from the other side. Zhenia's great-grandmother Irina, a Russian Revolutionary, has approached him from a cloud of ancestral grief, desperate to tell her story and receive absolution from Zhenia.

Angus grew up around the strange. With his mother able to see and speak to ghosts, he's grown up knowing there are things most people can't see or understand. When he accidentally catches Lance arguing with a ghost, he knows he has to step in before the man thinks he's going crazy. As Lance adjusts to his new ability, he also realizes seeing ghosts has its advantages. When several women are murdered in the area, it's up to Lance and Angus to work with the ghosts of the victims to catch the killer.

Perhaps the most brilliantly successful ghost story ever written, The Turn of the Screw creates a terrifyingly believable impression of children so corrupted by evil that they remain deceptive pictures of innocent beauty.