The Well Told Tale

The second part Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "Rappaccini's Daughter." Our protagonist, Giovanni, is falling in love with Beatrice, but something is amiss.  Why are all the plants in Rappaccini'…

This week, we have the first part of a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Rappaccini's Daughter." Hawthorne is probably best known for his novel "The Scarlet Letter," but this story has inspired ma…

The final part of our reading of 'The Invisible Man' by H. G. Wells.  The Invisible Man, Griffin, has been relaying his extraordinary tale and scientific method to his old university acquaintance, Dr…

The fifth part of our reading of 'The Invisible Man' by H. G. Wells.  We now know that the Invisible Man is called Griffin.  He has taken shelter at the house of an old acquaintance, Doctor Kemp, and…

The fourth part of our reading of 'The Invisible Man' by H. G. Wells.  We last saw Thomas Marvel, the Invisible Man's unwilling accomplice, racing toward the village of Burdock.  He's run off with th…

The third part of our reading of 'The Invisible Man' by H. G. Wells. The Invisible Man has been discovered for what he is, and he was forced to flee without clothes or his precious books. He has pers…

The second part of our reading of 'The Invisible Man' by H. G. Wells. The Invisible Man has arrived in the village of Iping and taken a room. He is frustrated, trying to find a cure for his invisibil…

This week, we return to science fiction legend H. G. Wells and begin a new Tale, 'The Invisible Man.' Wells popularised and invented so many of our beloved sci-fi sub-genres, including time travel an…

This week, our Tale is 'Rip Van Winkle' by Washington Irving. While it draws on a variety of old stories and fairy tales which give it a timeless quality, it was written in 1819, and although it is s…

The fourth and final part of our reading of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll. Alice has shared tea with the Mad Hatter and played flamingo croquet with the Queen of Hearts. She sti…

The third part of our reading of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll. After a number of adventures and some confusing advice, Alice has left the Cheshire Cat behind and is heading off…

The second part of our reading of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll. Alice has fallen down the rabbit hole and spent some time growing larger and smaller, met many talking animals, …

Today we start a new Tale, Lewis Carroll's beloved classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Since its publication in 1865 it has never been out of print.  Perhaps it's the absurdity of it all that …

Today's Tale is another Edgar Allan Poe short story, The Masque of the Red Death. This is one of his classic works of gothic horror, focused on death and mortality. Some commentators believe it to be…

This week we have a short story from F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Best known for his novel "The Great Gatsby," Fitzgerald only ever wrote four novels, but published almost 200 short stories over his career.…

The fifth and final part of our reading of "The Time Machine" by H. G. Wells. The Time Traveller, still 800,000 years in the future, has decided to reclaim his time machine and return to the present …

The fourth part of our reading of "The Time Machine" by H. G. Wells. The Time Traveller, 800,000 years in the future, has discovered a second race descended from humanity, the Morlocks, and he is con…

The third part of our reading of "The Time Machine" by H. G. Wells. The Time Traveller has travelled 800,000 years in the future and met the Eloi, the beautiful, if flighty, inhabitants of this time.…

The second part of our telling of "The Time Machine" by H. G. Wells. In Part 1, the Time Traveller revealed his time machine to his friends and in today's episode, he will tell them about what he exp…

Today we start a new tale, 'The Time Machine' by H. G. Wells. This masterwork of science fiction from 1895 gave rise to the very idea of a time machine, a theme still beloved of sci-fi fans the world…