Dreamscape Media: 178 books

First published in a 1843 edition of The Saturday Evening Post, The Black Cat tells the story of a man and his increasingly antagonistic relationship with his cat. Akin to The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado, The Black Cat investigates the psychological effects of guilt as well as the potentially destructive and violent consequences of alcoholism.

First published in a 1842 edition of Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine, The Masque of the Red Death tells the story of Prince Prospero as he tries to avoid a plague by confining himself and his nobles to a masquerade in an abbey. Often considered a gothic allegory, the story reflects on not only life and death but also the illusion of control.

Circles is an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson, first published in 1841. The essay reflects on the vast array of circles one may find throughout nature, and what is suggested by these circles in philosophical terms. In the opening line of the essay Emerson states The eye is the first circle; the horizon...

In this bleak fairytale, a kind and good-natured learned man on vacation sends his shadow to investigate a balcony across the street. When his shadow never returns, he notices that he has grown a new one and figures all is well.  However, five years later, he meets his original shadow, and it is...

Stories include: The Raven; Hop-Frog; The Black Cat; The Cask of Amontillado; The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar; The Fall of the House of Usher; The Gold-Bug; The Masque of the Red Death; The Murders in the Rue Morgue; The Purloined Letter; The Pit and the Pendulum; and The Tell-Tale Heart.

First published in a 1843 edition of The Pioneer, The Tell-Tale Heart is one of Poe's best-known stories. In it, an unreliable narrator is increasingly troubled by the clouded eye of the old man he lives with. Similar to The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart focuses on the effects of mental instability, crime, and guilt.

First published in the San Francisco Examiner in 1889, Ambrose Bierce’s A Horseman In the Sky”, uses suspense and dreamlike imagery to help describe an unusual wartime episode. Set during the Civil War, a lookout in the Union army sees a mounted confederate spy across the river. Realizing the spy is his own father, the soldier faces a terrible ethical dilemma.

In this parable about the transience of earthly things, a mysterious bell is heard by the inhabitants of a village. They search the forest but are unable to find the source. When a prince and a child eventually discover it, they realize that it is as mysterious and old as nature itself.

In the Brothers Grimm version of “Tom Thumb”, a lonely couple hopes for a child, even “if it were no bigger than my thumb”. To their delight, their wishes come true and the boy is named “Tom Thumb” for his diminutive stature. The boy is crafty and helps his father by directing the family...

In The Tale of Pigling Bland, an old sow sends away her eight rambunctious children. One of them, Pigling Bland gets lost in the woods and spends the night in a strange chicken-coop. The owner, a farmer named Peter Piperson offers to let Pigling Bland stay at his farm, but Pigling Bland isn't sure...

In “Désirée’s Baby”, the adopted daughter of a wealthy prewar French Creole couple is courted by the son of another wealthy, respected French Creole family. After they marry, their child is born with dark skin and believed to have African ancestry, a problem for a prewar white family. Accused...

In Harriet Beecher Stowe's short story, Christmas in Poganuc”, a young New England girl, Dolly, is left alone while the village gathers at the church to celebrate Christmas. This timeless holiday classic was first published in the collection, A Budget of Christmas Tales by Charles Dickens and...

No other author made a greater contribution to the literature of Christmas than Charles Dickens. Collected here are twenty-three short works, some on the theme of Christmas, from "A Christmas Dinner" (1835) to "What Christmas Is As We Grow Older" to others that simply explore the...

George Eliot’s “An English Dinner of Thanksgiving” is excerpted from her 1859 novel “Adam Bede”. In it, wealthy farmer Martin Poyser throws a feast at harvest-time for his assorted workers. Much beef is eaten and much ale is drank. Lusty toasting and singing ensues and...