BRASS Stacks

In the conclusion to our Missives mini-series, the Angel of Blood writes a final letter to Lady Brass–but will it receive a reply?  

  The Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "The Snowman" tells the melancholy story of a snowman's ill-suited romance with a kitchen stove. Read by special BRASS Stacks guest Billie Wildrick in a co-production with Utter Love audio experiences; go here for more information. (And thanks to Wildrick for the original music and soundscape in this special episode.)  

Lord Brass has tea, Lady Brass sees to an an exit, Gwendolyn arranges an entrance, and Mechanical Badgers.

William Dean Howell's 1892 story about a little girl who wished it could be Christmas every day has an interesting moral or two for adults as well.

A classic ghost story from an acknowledged Master, "Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad" is a reminder that not all finders should be keepers. Read by our Lord Brass, Charles Leggett.

Our latest Stacks is this classic story by H.H. Munro, the illimitable Saki. A young man of nervous temperament meets a young woman with a tale to tell. Narrated by our Gwendolyn Brass, the lovely Katherine Grant-Suttie.

We return to our favorite short story writer, Saki, for this classic tale of a disquieting encounter with a strange young man.The Immortal Saki

This episode is an eerie short story from H.G. Wells, "The Flowering of the Strange Orchid," about a mild-mannered orchid enthusiast who gets much more than he bargains for at a bulb auction.

A witty parable about the problem of assuming too much about one's spouse, "When the Door Opened" was written by the Irish author Sarah Grand, one of the pioneers of fiction dealing with the "New Woman." It's read by renowned radio actor Larry Albert, best known for playing the titular detective in "The Adventures of Harry Nile" as well as Dr. Watson in Imagination Theatre's long-running "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."

A clever if frightfully amoral young man livens things up during a holiday weekend at a country home in this mischievous story by Saki.

A brief holiday greeting and some news on BRASS Yuletide Specials, including our live stage show The Christmas Case: A Lady Brass Mystery.

This short story by the French master of the form recounts a conversation between two beautiful young women about the perils of finding good domestic help.

In the conclusion to E. E. Kellett's short story, things get increasingly dark as the beautiful creation of an genius inventor conquers not only London society, but the hearts of two suitors.

In this obscure but brilliant short story by E. E. Kellett, an inventor is challenged by his friend to create an "anti-phonograph" that can engage a speaker in a conversation. But he does much, much more than that....

Professor Challenger meets an inventor whose creation may prove so catastrophic as to imperil the entire British Empire, in this classic short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

H.G. Wells is now primarily known for his early science fiction novels, but it was his short stories that made a name for him. This one comes from a 1905 Pearson's Magazine. Subtitled "A Tale of Anarchy," it was darkly topical, as in the last 20 years self-proclaimed anarchists had killed several heads of state and committed bombing outrages throughout Europe. The anarchist in Wells' tale, however, is of greatest danger to himself.

For this episode, we return to the English master of the short sharp shock, Saki, and a delightfully mischievous narrative about the sort of tales children really enjoy, "The Storyteller."

The late 19th and early 20th century were the golden age of the ghost story. Some of the greatest tales of the supernatural were written at this time, including masterpieces by Sheridan Le Fanu, Algernon Blackwood and M.R. James, as well as short stories by such heavyweight novelists as Dickens,  George Eliot, and Henry James. A surprising name on this list is the Mistress of the Experimental Novel, Virginia Woolf. What is a ghost? asks this exquisite and little-known story. In a few short pages, Woolf creates a comic, thoughtful, yet ultimately disturbing portrait of the woman always on the outskirts of the party, the ever-present but unknowable Miss V.  

For our second BRASS Stacks, we are featuring one of the greatest short story writers of the pre-War years, H.H. Munro, who wrote as Saki. This brilliant journalist-turned-short story writer was one of the great wits of the Edwardian age. Orphaned at age 2, Munro was raised by his grandmother and a household of puritanical aunts. (In both his comic pieces and his horror stories, aunts often end up being the victims.) His brilliant young wastrels like Reginald and Clovis inspired P.G. Wodehouse, and his stories of supernatural and natural horror place him squarely in the tradition of great British ghost writers like E.F. Benson and M.R. James. This story, Tobermory, is one of his best, and deftly combines both drawing room comedy and the fantastical to tell the story of the world's first talking cat.

Poet, playwright and fantasist Lord Dunsany Our new series of narrated short stories begins with two early stories by Lord Dunsany.