Scotland has a notoriously rich and diverse cultural tradition when it comes to the supernatural. Many of her greatest writers from Sir Walter Scott and James Hogg to Robert Louis Stevenson and John Buchan have explored the country's unique folkloric heritage to spine-chilling effect. From Highlands to Lowlands, from blasted heath or remote glen to wretched hovel or austere castle, the very topography lends itself somehow to the strange and unexplainable. Leading off Edinburgh's colourful Royal Mile, which runs from the Palace of Holyrood to the gaunt castle on the rock, there are many narrow 'wynds' — passages ancient and mysterious. As soon as you leave the sunshine and enter these dark and reeking ways you know that you are in a city full of ghosts and spirits — unhappy souls condemned for ever to roam this antique city. Tormented spectres like them throng the pages of this disquieting collection. Lock your door, turn up the lights, put extra logs on the fire and as you start to read, utter a fervent prayer: From ghoulies and ghosties And long-leggety beasties And things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us! If this plea fails to work and they choose to come for you, despair; there is no hope; there is no escape. In truth, dear reader, if you are of a nervous disposition and liable to fearings and fantasies we are not sure this book is entirely suitable for you. You have been warned.

«When fifteen-year-old orphan John Trenchard is banished by his Aunt Jane, he goes to live at the local inn with the mysterious Elzevir Block, whose son has been killed by Customs Officers. Unofficially adopted by Block, John comes to learn the reasons for the noises in the graveyard at night, of 'Blackbeard' Mohune's lost treasure and Elzevir Block's secret. This dashing tale of eighteenth-century Dorset smugglers will be enjoyed by all who love stories of derring-do written in the tradition of «Treasure Island».»

«Welcome to the breathtaking adventures of Sexton Blake! For the greater part of the 20th century, the countless escapades of super sleuth Sexton Blake kept millions of readers on the edge of their seats. Together with his faithful sidekick, the youthful Tinker, and his intelligent bloodhound, Pedro, he stood firm against an onslaught of crime and villainy, defeating his enemies with his extraordinary powers of deduction, iron fists and unyielding determination. This thrilling collection presents seven exploits from his ‘golden age’: «The Slave Market» In the dangerous depths of Africa, Blake races to the rescue of an old school friend! «A Football Mystery» Blake and Tinker join the England team to beat the cheating opposition! «The Man From Scotland Yard» Blake has his first encounter with the greatest super-villain he would ever meet! «The Law of the Sea» Blake goes down with the ship in his own version of the sinking of the Titanic! «The Brotherhood of the Yellow Beetle» Blake grapples with oriental cunning in the form of Prince Wu Ling! «A Case of Arson» A master crook is at work but Blake is on his trail! «The Black Eagle» A wronged man is out for vengeance. Can Blake stop him before it's too late? Sexton Blake, consulting detective!»

«I thought I saw a human face, about the most terrible my fancy could have called up, looking fixedly into the room. The face gazed towards the bed, and in the imperfect light looked like a livid mask, with chalky eyes’. Master of the ghost story genre M.R. James commented that the, ‘final terrific murder-scene and escape can hardly be forgotten’ by those who have read «Uncle Silas». Neither does the opening disappoint. As the November winds wail in ivied chimneys we are drawn into a Victorian Gothic atmosphere of menacing, sombre gloom and ebony shadows. Sheridan Le Fanu leaves us in no doubt that we are in for a feast of exciting drama, luring us into the intensely claustrophobic world of the nineteenth century sensational novel. Le Fanu is amongst the top-notch exponents of the creepy, the criminal and the oppressive. In this tale of the orphaned teenage heiress Maud Ruthyn, fearing for her life at the hands of her sinister uncle, he has created a rattling good plot with the depth of a social novel and the power of high romance.»

«Edgar Allan Poe received scant recognition for his efforts, until the publication of «The Raven» in 1845. The poem's popularity gave him a new visibility in literary circles. This title presents a collection of his tales and poems.»

«The Brothers Grimm rediscovered a host of fairy tales. Together with their well-known tales of «Rapunzel», «The Goose Girl», «Sleeping Beauty», «Hansel and Gretel» there are darker tales which deserve to be better known. This is a collection of their tales.»

Kafka’s final novel was written during 1922, when the tuberculosis that was to kill him was already at an advanced stage. Fragmentary and unfinished, it perhaps never could have been finished; perhaps the tensions between K., the Castle and the village, K.’s struggle for acceptance or recognition by the mysterious Castle authorities or by the people of the village, never will and never can be resolved. Like much of Kafka’s work, The Castle is enigmatic and polyvalent. Is it an allegory of the sprawling Austro-Hungarian Empire as it disintegrates into modern nation states, or a quasi-feudal system giving way to a new freedom for the subject? Is it the search by a central European Jew for acceptance and integration into a dominant culture? Is it a spiritual quest for grace or salvation, or an individual’s struggle between his sense of independence and his need for approval? Is K. is an opportunist, a victim, or an outsider battling against an elusive authority? Is the Castle a benign source of authority or a whimsical system of control? Like K., the reader is presented with conflicting perspectives that rehearse the existential dilemmas and uncertainties of literary modernity.

«The Castle of Otranto» tells the story of Manfred, lord of the castle and his family. «Nightmare Abbey» follows the fortunes of Christopher Glowry, a morose widower who lives with his only son Scythrop in his semi-dilapidated family mansion Nightmare Abbey. «Vathek» tells the story of the ruthless Caliph Vathek's journey to damnation.»

«For 150 years, the tales of Hans Christian Andersen have been delighting both adults and children. This edition contains all of Andersen's 168 tales, and among the favourites are «The Red Shoes», «The Mermaid», «The Emperor's New Clothes», and «The Ugly Duckling».»

«Dracula Introduction and Notes» by Dr David Rogers, Kingston University — 'There he lay looking as if youth had been half-renewed, for the white hair and mustache were changed to dark iron-grey, the cheeks were fuller, and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck. Even the deep, burning eyes seemed set amongst the swollen flesh, for the lids and pouches underneath were bloated. It seemed as if the whole awful creature were simply gorged with blood; he lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his repletion'. Thus Bram Stoker, one of the greatest exponents of the supernatural narrative, describes the demonic subject of his chilling masterpiece «Dracula» — a truly iconic and unsettling tale of vampirism. «Dracula's Guest & Other Stories» is edited and introduced by David Stuart Davies. The above is followed with a rich collection of Stoker's macabre tales including «Dracula's Guest» (which was omitted from the final version of Dracula); a devilishly dangerous haunted room in The Judge's House; a fatalistic tragedy in The Burial of the Rats; a terror of revenge from beyond the grave in The Secret of Growing Gold, and a surprising twist in the tail in The Gypsy's Prophecy. Other strange and frightening episodes provide a feast of terror for those readers who like to be unnerved as well as entertained.»

«The two American classics here together in one volume, «Little Men» and «Jo's Boys», are worthy sequels to «Little Women», one of the best-loved children's stories of all time, and its continuation, «Good Wives». In «Little Men», Louisa May Alcott takes up the story of the everyday dramas and exploits of the naughty but easy-going boys at Plumfield, now a boarding-school run by Professor Bhaer and his lovable madcap wife Jo, the most fiery and free-spirited of the four March sisters. «Jo's Boys» revisits the one-time members of that 'wilderness of boys' ten years later when they are making their ways in the world with varying degrees of triumph and disaster.»

«Set in the sinister monastery of the Capuchins in Madrid, «The Monk» is a violent tale of ambition, murder and incest. The great struggle between maintaining monastic vows and fulfilling personal ambitions leads to its main character, the monk Ambrosio, to temptation and the breaking of his vows, then to sexual obsession and rape, and finally to murder to conceal his guilt.»

«In «Tom Sawyer Abroad», Tom, Huck and Jim set sail to Africa in a futuristic hot air balloon. Where they survive encounters with lions, robbers, and fleas to see some of the world's greatest wonders. In «Tom Sawyer, Detective», Tom attempts to solve a murder.»

«This title includes an introduction by A. M. de Medeiros, University of Kent at Canterbury. A year after the publication of «The Three Musketeers», Alexandre Dumas produced a sequel worthy in every respect of the original. In «Twenty Years After» the much beloved D'Artaganan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis reunite to fight the forces of evil. In the original novel they defeated Milady, a formidable foe; now they need to face her vengeful son Mordaunt, as well as countering the machinations of the sinister Cardinal Mazarin. Their adventures also take them to England, where Cromwell is about to topple Charles I. Meanwhile, they must overcome the obstacles which the passing of time has placed between them. Rediscovering strength in unity, they fight for Queen and country. «The Musketeer» novels were a huge success in Dumas' own lifetime, and have lost none of their original appeal. Translated into many languages and adapted for cinema and television, they have helped to make Dumas arguably the most successful exporter of French culture to the wider world.»

The Wings of the Dove is a tale of desire and possession, of love and death. It is in essence a simple story, but one that opens up the great subject of art: life itself. To tackle this, James moves between fairytale storylines and the startlingly modern techniques of his testing late style. An unspeakable subtext lies beneath the silence. Distinct points of view and different centres of consciousness betray the dislocation of the social facade from the desolation beneath. For all the familiar signs, there is a gulf between glamour and the underlying threat of loss. The eternal triangle of romance is played out here like a game on an international stage for the very highest stakes. It centres on 'the dying girl who wants to live — to live and love.' But those closest to her are in competition for what she can leave behind. Milly Theale, 'the heiress of all the ages', is imaged as a dove, a princess, a Renaissance beauty, but these symbols come at a dreadful cost. By the end of the novel we know, 'We shall never be again as we were!

«Rip van Winkle is an amiable man whose home and farm suffer from his lazy neglect; a familiar figure about the village, he is loved by all except his wife. One autumn day he escapes her nagging to wander up into the mountains, and there after drinking some liquor offered to him by a band of very strange folk, he settles down under a shady tree and falls asleep. He wakes up twenty years later and returns to his village to find that not only is his wife dead but war and revolution have changed many things. He, on the other hand, although older is not appreciably wiser and soon slips back into his idle habits. Three equally compelling stories, «The Spectre Bridegroom», «The Pride of the Village» and «Mountjoy», complete this collection of classic tales from the inspired pen of Washington Irving, one of America's greatest writers.»

When I received the script of The Voyage of the Discovery I was amazed. I had only to read a few pages to realise that it was literature, unique of its kind... Scott's mind was like wax to receive an impression and like marble to retain it. So wrote Leonard Huxley, and he was not alone in his opinion. When this account of Scott's first Antarctic expedition appeared in 1905 the reviewers recognised it as a masterpiece and the first printing sold out immediately. Scott is best known for his doomed last expedition in 1912, but it was this earlier voyage that truly began the opening up of the Antarctic continent and laid the groundwork for the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration. The record of that voyage is a classic account by a remarkable explorer who was also one of the most talented writers in the field of polar exploration. Scott brings alive for the reader the brilliance of the aurora in the long winter nights, the hunger and danger of sledging trips, the isolation, and the joy of seeing what no human eye had previously seen.

The hand was writhing in agonized contortions, squirming and wriggling upon the nail like a worm upon a hook. 'We'll keep it there until it dies', he said. 'May I burn in hell, if I ever open the door of that safe again'. The brilliant and scary The Beast with Five Fingers, is the first entry in this mammoth collection of strange and chilling short stories by W. F. Harvey, an unjustly neglected author of supernatural tales. This unique volume demonstrates clearly that Harvey is one of the masters of the genre. Along with such classics as August Heat, which concerns two strangers whose individual fates become inextricably entwined in a nightmare scenario and the gruesome school yarn, The Dabblers, you will find such minor masterpieces of the uncanny as The Man Who Hated Aspidistras, Sarah Bennet's Possession, The Habeas Corpus Club and many more stories which refreshingly avoid the cliche while at the same time creating that wonderfully eerie sense of fear.

This book is introduced by Mark Valentine. Dr Nikola — Victorian master criminal. Elegant, ruthless, hypnotic: enter Dr Nikola and his black cat Apollyon. He was the world's first master villain, a Victorian forerunner of Dr Fu Manchu and the mad cat-stroking evil genius Blofeld in the James Bond books and films. Now Dr Nikola is back, wielding his sinister powers across the globe. In England, Egypt, Australia, Tibet, he pursues a priceless holy relic that will help him achieve his ultimate goal: immortality. Whether giving orders to his henchmen, suave in an evening suit in a private London restaurant, or languidly interrogating his prisoners in his secret torture chamber, Dr Nikola is always at his ease. And even when, by some mischance, his plans are temporarily thwarted, Dr Nikola manages to return, his implacable dark eyes drawing you to obey his will — Here you will find his two greatest adventures, the vintage Victorian thrillers A Bid for Fortune (1895) and Dr Nikola (1896) in one breathless, pacy, nightmarish volume. Created by Anglo-Australian novelist Guy Boothby, these books won praise from Rudyard Kipling and George Orwell. Dr Nikola is a character you will not be able to forget. 'Frank sensationalism carried to its furthest limits' — The Times, 1905.

This is a book that may have changed history — and still thrills today. One of the first and still one of the finest spy stories ever written, Erskine Childers' book introduced Edwardian readers to the idea of a 'secret service'. In an enthralling tale of a duel among the islands and sandbanks of the North Sea, two amateur investigators and yachtsmen discover sinister preparations off the German coast. At great peril both from an implacable enemy and furious storms at sea, they stake their lives on the strength of their doughty boat, the Dulcibella. Will they fight their way back to England in time to sound a warning? The Riddle of the Sands caused a sensation when it appeared in 1903, with statesmen and soldiers drawn into a debate about Britain's readiness to repulse a naval invasion. So strong was its impact that one critic later accused its author of almost single-handedly starting a European war. But its influence would not have been so great if it had not been so powerfully readable, a quality it keeps to this day. Ranked with the greatest work of John Buchan, Joseph Conrad and Ian Fleming, this vintage adventure has lost none of its force.