Horror

Talking Books

The titles in this booklist are just a selection of the titles available for loan from the RNIB National Library Talking Book Service.

Don’t forget you are allowed to have up to 6 books on loan. When you return a title, you will then receive another one.

If you would like to read any of these titles then please contact the Customer Services Team on 0303 123 9999 or

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Best horror stories. 1972. Read by John Dunn, 9 hours 35 minutes. TB 233.

A collection of macabre and hair-raising stories by old and new writers. TB 233.

Classic tales of ghosts and vampires; compiled by The Story Circle. Read by multiple narrators, 9 hours 21 minutes. TB 13282.

Sixteen stories by authors such as Ambrose Bierce, F. Marion Crawford and H. P. Lovecraft. TB 13282.

Classic tales of ghosts and vampires: volume two. Read by multiple narrators, 9 hours 6 minutes. TB 15320.
The Mammoth book of Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories. 1995. Read by Multiple narrators, 26 hours 14 minutes. TB 10953.

This anthology contains the cream from the golden age of the ghost story, spanning the Victorian era from 1839 right up to the end of the Edwardian decade in 1910. Many of literature's greatest names are in this collection, and these masters promise delicious - and chilling - entertainment. TB 10953.

The omnibus of 20th-century ghost stories. 1990. Read by Multiple narrators, 14 hours 59 minutes. TB 10316.

Haunted houses and rooms, demon lovers, childrens' visions, ghosts of the self revenge, guilt and love from beyond the grave are the themes of the 20th century ghost story. Graham Greene, Dylan Thomas, Walter de la Mare, Muriel Spark, John Updike, Truman Capote, Jean Rhys, Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Tennessee Williams and E.M. Forster all wrote about ghosts and the supernatural. This omnibus collates 27 stories from these authors and many more. TB 10316.

The Oxford book of English ghost stories. 1986. Read by Multiple narrators, 24 hours 56 minutes. TB 10364.

Ghost stories have a universal fascination, but the literary ghost story, as opposed to the tales of oral tradition, is of relatively recent origin. This selection of 42 stories written between 1829 and 1968 is the first to present the full range of the English tradition by demonstrating its historical development as well as its major themes and characteristics. TB 10364.

Tales of terror from Blackwood's Magazine. 1995. Read by Geoffrey Harris, 13 hours 21 minutes. TB 10867.

These tales of terror and hysteria, selected from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine in its first fifteen years of publication from 1817, set the standards for concentrated dread and calculated alarm for all such tales. Authors include the famous (Walter Scott) and the talented but forgotten (William Mudford, Samuel Warren). TB 10867.

Ajvide Lindqvist, John

Let the right one in. 2009. Read by Mark Elstob, 17 hours 8 minutes. TB 16908.

Oskar is a 12 year old boy living with his mother on a dreary housing estate at the city's edge. He dreams about his absentee father, gets bullied at school, and wets himself when he's frightened. Eli is the young girl who moves in next door. She doesn't go to school and never leaves the flat by day. She is a 200 year old vampire, forever frozen in childhood, and condemned to live on a diet of fresh blood. Contains violence and passages of a sexual nature. TB 16908.

Ajvide Lindqvist, John

Harbour. 2011. Read by Sherry Baines, 20 hours 38 minutes. TB 19227.

Two years after the mysterious disappearance of his young daughter, Anders is a broken alcoholic, his life ruined. He returns to the home of his childhood and his family and through a haze of memory, loss and alcohol, he realises that someone - or something - is trying to communicate with him. Contains strong language. TB 19227.

Amis, Martin

Einstein's monsters. 1987. Read by Antony Higginson, 5 hours 2 minutes.TB 7454.

A collection of five stories that create perplexing visions of a post-nuclear holocaust world, highlighting schizophrenia, rape, brutality and suppurating despair. Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 7454.

Andrews, V C

My sweet Audrina. 1982. Read by Pat Starr, 13 hours 53 minutes. TB 8089.

The house in the wood is picturesque and charming and the family who live there seem to be happy and affluent. But what is the secret of the room empty of everything but the rocking chair? What is the secret that everyone knows? Everyone except my sweet Audrina? TB 8089.

Aycliffe, Jonathan

A garden lost in time. 2004. Read by Nick Rawlinson, 10 hours 18 minutes. TB 14457.

Cousin Tom soon takes Simon under his wing, showing him the grounds andestate of Trevelyan Priors. Exploring further one day, the boys enter anenclosed garden, long abandoned and overgrown. In the untouched snow liesa set of footprints with no discernible beginning or end. Weeks later,Simon encounters a girl in the same garden. She tells him her name isLily, a fisherman's daughter from nearby Porthmullion. As they strike up afriendship, Simon soon learns that Trevelyan Priors and its inhabitantshave much to hide. TB 14457.

Bachman, Richard

The regulators. 1996. Read by William Roberts, 10 hours 47 minutes. TB 10955.

Wentworth, Ohio: just a small friendly town where the Carver children bicker over sweets and writer Johnny Marinville is about the only resident who minds his own business. On Poplar Street it's just a normal summer's day with lawnmowers humming, Little League bats 'tinking', frisbees flying and barbecues being readied. But for young Cary Ripton on his paper round it won't be a normal day at all. Contains strong language. TB 10955.

Banks, Iain

The wasp factory. 1990. Read by Hugh Ross, 6 hours 41 minutes. TB 11189.

The private world of Frank, just sixteen, is unconventional to say the least. 'Two years after I killed Blythe I murdered my young brother Paul... then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmeralda, more or less on a whim. That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again. It was just a stage I was going through.' Contains violence. TB 11189.

Barker, A L

Element of doubt: ghost stories. 1992. Read by multiple narrators, 6 hours 7 minutes. TB 10061.

An academic is haunted by his dead colleague's certainty; a tutor is confronted by an eight year old mortal secret and Aunt Selina's dancing bear appears from beyond the grave. This collection of ghost stories casts more than an element of doubt on the differences dividing life and death, good and evil, animate and inanimate, as the uncanny enters the everyday world. TB 10061.

Barker, Clive

The damnation game. 1986. Read by Ian Craig, 15 hours 27 minutes. TB 6101.

When Marty Strauss is offered parole and becomes the bodyguard of one of the richest men in Europe, it seems that Fate has finally dealt him a kind hand. On Charles Whitehead's estate he tastes a life of luxury and of love. But there is something terrifying in the air which is to shatter the idyll. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 6101.

Barker, Clive

The great and secret show. 1989. Read by William Dufris, 22 hours 55 minutes. TB 9242.

Armageddon begins quickly. It is 1971. In the small Californian town of Palomo Grove four girls go swimming in a mysterious and haunted lake. Nine months later several children are born. Their prize is the Art, the greatest power known to mankind. Dreams will be made real. At last the grove will see the Great and Secret Show. It will never be the same again; nor will the world. Contains strong language. TB 9242.

Barker, Clive

Weaveworld. 1987. Read by Gordon Dulieu, 22 hours 10 minutes. TB 7383.

When his prize pigeon escapes, Cal Mooney follows it through the streets of Liverpool to a window sill in Rue Street. He climbs a wall to coax it back, and the strange events begin. A story of the struggle between the forces of good and evil. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 7383.

Benchley, Peter

Jaws. 1974. Read by Robert Gladwell, 10 hours 30 minutes. TB 2732.

A shark kills repeatedly off the beach of a holiday resort on Long Island. Its destruction becomes for Brody, the Chief of Police, a personal challenge which earns him the enmity of the townsfolk and involves him in a tense and spine-chilling sea-chase. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 2732.

Benson, E F

The collected ghost stories of E.F. Benson. 2001. Read by Greg Wagland, 34 hours 42 minutes. TB 18525.

United by a perfect chilling atmosphere and graceful literary style, these ghostly stories range from the horror of vampires, homicidal ghosts and monstrous spectral worms and slugs (appearing in the classic "Negotium Perambulans" and "And No Bird Sings") to the satire of humorous tales that poke fun at charlatan mediums and fake seances ("Spinach" and "Mr Tilly's Seance"). TB 18525.

Bierce, Ambrose

Classic chilling tales: volume 3. 1998. Read by multiple narrators, 2 hours 34 minutes. TB 15683.

From a fearful beast to a murderous obsession, from the fear of an invisible presence to malevolent magic, these chilling tales written by masters of the genre, contain all manner of disconcerting phenomena that will linger in the mind long after the final word is spoken. TB 15683.

Blackwood, Algernon

Best ghost stories of Algernon Blackwood. 1973. Read by Steve Hodson, Read by Natalie Macaluso, 17 hours 20 minutes. TB 16108.

Thirteen short stories by the English supernaturalist demonstrate his mastery at evoking feelings of mysticism and cosmic experience and his skill in creating an atmosphere of unrelieved horror. TB 16108.

Blish, James

Black Easter: or, Faust aleph-null. 1969. Read by Robert Gladwell, 4 hours 35 minutes. TB 947.

After such knowledge series; book 3. Sequel to: Dr Mirabilis.All hell is let loose by Theron Ware, a black sorcerer of appalling power, and the preparations for the dreadful event, as well as its happening, are described in this book in horrifying detail. TB 947.

Blatty, William Peter

The exorcist. 1971. Read by Marvin Kane, 10 hours 23 minutes. TB 2177.

A normally happy little girl loses her identity, becomes vicious and begins to speak in tongues. No doctor or psychiatrist can help, and finally two priests battle tragically to exorcise her devil. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 2177.

Bradbury, Ray

A graveyard for lunatics. 1990. Read by Garrick Hagon, 10 hours 15 minutes. TB 9064.

The hero, a scriptwriter in 1950s Hollywood, is invited to a graveyard where he learns that in J.C. Arbuthnot's grave there is a life-like dummy, not a corpse. TB 9064.

Brooks, Max

World War Z: an oral history of the zombie war. 2010. Read by Jeff Harding, 13 hours 44 minutes. TB 18376.

It began with rumours from China about another pandemic. Then the cases started to multiply and what had looked like the stirrings of a criminal underclass, even the beginnings of a revolution, soon revealed itself to be much, much worse. Faced with a future of mindless, man-eating horror, humanity was forced to accept the logic of world government and face events that tested our sanity and our sense of reality. Contains strong language. TB 18376.

Brown, George Mackay

Andrina: and other stories. 1983. Read by Crawford Logan, 5 hours 10 minutes. TB 5166.

Short stories by a poet, born in1921 in the Orkneys and still living and working there. Fact and fantasy come together in these atmospheric evocations of the past. Andrina, a girl of twenty, is the magical ingredient in a gentle ghost story. TB 5166.

Buxton, James

Pity. 1997. Read by Greg Wagland, 15 hours 8 minutes. TB 11791.

Auguste Coffey ekes out an existence as an artist in a Victorian greetings card manufacturer until he is befriended by Giles Bouverie, who sets him up with a studio in the Bouverie house. But glimpses of stricken faces and horrifying violence haunt the house and all is not what it seems. Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 11791.

Campbell, Ramsey

The doll who ate his mother. 1987. Read by Pauline Munro, 7 hours 7 minutes. TB 6768.

It was a freak accident. The man suddenly stepped into the road. The brakes failed and Clare could only steer wildly, the car finally crashing into a tree. Now her brother Rob was dead, slumped against the passenger door. But his right arm is missing - severed but no longer to be found ... someone has taken it! TB 6768.

Clemo, Jack

The shadowed bed. 1986. Read by George Hagan, 7 hours 15 minutes. TB 6632.

"Bert's face became dark and ugly, his arm jerked up - but it was not to strike. He pulled a red handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood from his cheek." In the Cornish claywork village of Carn Veor, sinister, occult forces are at work among the villagers. Over a single weekend, when the village is cut off from the outside world by a landslide, its conflicts reach flash-point. TB 6632.

Collins, Nancy

Dark love; edited by Nancy Collins et al. 1995. Read by various narrators, 15 hours 1 minute. TB 10933.

Twenty-two great modern masters of horror give new definition to being madly in love, in a gathering that includes a locket that unlocks forbidden fantasies; an out-of control erotic outlaw; a mother and daughter in a game of sexual one-upmanship with scarier and scarier stakes; a fashion designer who creates a dress to die for; and other stories that show there are no limits to dark love. Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 10933.

Collins, Wilkie

The woman in white. 1860. Read by Gabriel Woolf, 25 hours. TB 1651.

Late one night, a drawing teacher has a midnight encounter on a lonely road with a mysterious and agitated woman dressed entirely in white, whom he helps to escape from pursuers. Who is she, and what is her connection to the teacher's new pupil, a beautiful heiress? TB 1651.

Connolly, John

Nocturnes. 2006. Read by Jeff Harding, 13 hours 19 minutes. TB 14669.

In this macabre collection, inspired by the masters of the genre, Connolly delves into our darkest fears - lost lovers, missing children, subterranean creatures and predatory demons. Framing the collection are two novellas: The Cancer Cowboy Rides charts the progress of a modern-day grim reaper, while The Reflecting Eye is a haunted house tale with a twist that marks the return of private detective Charlie Parker, Connolly's troubled hero. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 14669.

Cook, Robin

Mutation. 1989. Read by David Oliver, 9 hours 55 minutes. TB 8626.

Drawing on a horror theme as old as Frankenstein and as topical as tomorrow's headlines, "Mutation" is a chilling, cautionary tale of the perils of genetic engineering. When gynaecologist and bimolecular researcher Dr Victor Frank discovers his wife is infertile he begins an experiment that is dangerously and frighteningly bold. The doctor adapts the methods of animal husbandry and molecular genetics to human reproduction. TB 8626.

Cottam, Francis

The waiting room. 2010. Read by Robert Portal, 10 hours 5 minutes. TB 17814.

Martin Stride is a retired rock star, enjoying the quiet life with his young family on their beautiful estate. On the edge of his grounds lies a derelict Edwardian railway station waiting room once used to transport troops in The Great War. Silent for many years, it has become a playground for Martin's children but now they won't go near it. Strange occurrences in the waiting room lead Martin to seek the help of TV's favourite ghost-hunter Julian Creed. But Creed's psychic ability is a fabrication to gain viewers. He doesn't believe in the paranormal. Until he spends a night in The Waiting Room. Contains strong language.TB 17814.

Cover, Arthur Byron

Night of the living rerun: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 1998. Read by Laurence Bouvard, 4 hours 6 minutes. TB 12226.

As if real life wasn't already overflowing with vampire-staking, now Buffy has begun to dream about slaying! She's back with the Puritans, a Slayer on the trail of a witch. What can it all mean? Buffy gets a clue when Xander and Giles start acting like they have ancient alter egos. Now the stage is set for a symbolic replay of the night the Master was accidentally trapped in the other dimension. TB 12226.

Cox, Michael

The Oxford book of English ghost stories. 1986. Read by various narrators, 24 hours 56 minutes. TB 10364.

Ghost stories have a universal fascination, but the literary ghost story, as opposed to the tales of oral tradition, is of relatively recent origin. This selection of 42 stories written between 1829 and 1968 is the first to present the full range of the English tradition by demonstrating its historical development as well as its major themes and characteristics. TB 10364.

Dahl, Roald

The best of Roald Dahl. 1983. Read by Christopher Scott, 18 hours 24 minutes. TB 5298.

Twenty spine-chilling stories by one of the masters of the macabre that cover a wide range of topics, from Uncle Oswald's encounter with a beautiful girl in the Sinai Desert to a new way of bringing up babies. His method is to take characters of utter ordinariness and plunge them into a dreadful fantasy from which there is no escape. TB 5298.

Dalby, Richard

The Mammoth book of Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories. 1995. Read by various narrators, 26 hours 14 minutes. TB 10953.

This anthology contains the cream from the golden age of the ghost story, spanning the Victorian era from 1839 right up to the end of the Edwardian decade in 1910. Many of literature's greatest names are in this collection, and these masters promise delicious - and chilling - entertainment. TB 10953.