"On Ghosts" by Mary Shelley explores people's belief in the supernatural through personal anecdotes and reflections on ghostly encounters. The essay discusses stories of apparitions and the psychological...

R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) is a science fiction play in the Czech language by Karel ?apek. It premiered in 1921 and is famous for having introduced and popularized the term robot.

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, generally known as Frankenstein, is a novel written by the British author Mary Shelley. The title of the novel refers to a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who...

"Lodore" explores the interconnected lives of three women shaped by Lord Lodore: his estranged wife Cornelia, who is influenced by societal norms and her mother; his daughter Ethel, raised in Illinois...

"The Mortal Immortal" tells the story of Winzy, who gains eternal life after drinking an alchemist's elixir. Over time, he realizes that immortality is more of a curse than a blessing as he watches everyone...

"The Invisible Girl" is a Gothic tale about Rosina, a young woman who is cast out by her guardian. As she faces isolation, her fiancé searches for her, leading to a dramatic and romantic reunion. The...

"The Heir of Mondolfo" is a gothic short story by Mary Shelley, published posthumously in 1877. It revolves around Ludovico, the second son of a nobleman, who is initially despised by his father. When...

Falkner charts a young woman's education under a tyrannical father figure.

A futuristic story of tragic love and of the gradual extermination of the human race by plague, The Last Man is Mary Shelley's most important novel after Frankenstein. With intriguing portraits of Percy...

"Valperga" by Mary Shelley follows the story of Castruccio Castracani, a historical figure, and his rise to power in 14th-century Italy. The novel intertwines his military and political ambitions with...

"The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck" tells the story of Perkin Warbeck, a young man who claims to be Richard, Duke of York, and rightful heir to the English throne. Set against the backdrop of late 15th-century...

In this gothic tale, Constance, a young woman, is in love with Gaspar, the son of her father's enemy. After their fathers die in a battle, Constance seeks guidance in her dreams on how to handle this...

"The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842. The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, though Poe skews historical...

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in Graham's Magazine in 1841. It has been claimed as the first detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of...

"The Masque of the Red Death", originally published as "The Mask of the Red Death", is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842. The story follows Prince Prospero's attempts...

In an isolated town called Vondervotteimittis (wonder-what-time-it-is), the punctilious inhabitants seem to be concerned with nothing but clocks and cabbage. This methodical, boring and quiet little borough...

The Efficiency Expert, an often overlooked by Burroughs' fans, is a cracking tale of young Jimmy Torrance, an upstanding college graduate in post-World War I Chicago who inadvertently rubs shoulders with...

"The Return of Tarzan" follows Tarzan as he navigates life after losing Jane. He becomes a French Secret Service agent, survives assassination attempts, and eventually returns to the African jungle. There,...

Inspired by the Moskstraumen, it is couched as a story within a story, a tale told at the summit of a mountain climb. The story is told by an old man who reveals that he only appears old - "You suppose...

Having fulfilled this vow for many years to the letter, and with a religious punctuality and method that conferred great credit upon him as a man of devout feeling and excellent sense, he was interrupted...

The death of Edgar Allan Poe on October 7, 1849, has remained mysterious: the circumstances leading up to it are uncertain and the cause of death is disputed. On October 3, Poe was found delirious on...

"The Cask of Amontillado" (sometimes spelled "The Casque of Amontillado") is a short story, written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. The story...

As the Beasts of Tarzan begins, Tarzan -- as Lord Greystoke -- is settled in civilized London. But two of his enemies, Nikolas Rokoff and henchman Alexis Paulvitch, are on his trail. The pair abducts...

The tale opens with the unnamed narrator arriving at the house of his friend, Roderick Usher, having received a letter from him in a distant part of the country complaining of an illness and asking for...

When Tarzan is orphaned as a baby deep in the African jungle, the apes adopt him and raise him as their own. By the time the boy is ten, he can swing through the trees and talk to the animals. By the...

A Princess of Mars is an Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the first of his famous Barsoom series. It is also Burroughs' first novel, predating his Tarzan stories. He wrote it between July and...

Starting out as a harrowing wartime sea adventure, Burroughs’s story ultimately develops into a lost world story reminiscent of such novels as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World (1912) and Jules...

"The Chessmen of Mars" follows Tara of Helium as she is swept away by a Martian storm and finds herself in a region where headless bodies are controlled by brain-like creatures. She becomes a captive...

Here Tarzan returns to Opar, the source of the gold for lost Atlantis. Ages ago Atlantis sunk beneath the waves -- but the denizens of Opar still mine the gold of this lost colony. Tarzan, following greedy...

"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in 1843. It follows an unnamed narrator who insists on his sanity after murdering an old man with a "vulture eye". The murder...