Shortalk Classic Chillers

The Grave by the Handpost, The Cask of Amontillado & The Phantom Coach

By: Thomas Hardy, Edgar Allan Poe, Keith Risk

Narrated by: Sean Brosnan, Jon Crowley, Keith Risk

Length: 1 hr and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Three fine writers have created three gloriously chilling tales that will cut you to the quick. Will you be able to listen and turn out the light? Great stories, simply told with fresh voices.

Shortalk - moving words off the page

The Grave by the Handpost by Thomas Hardy
It is Christmas and a soldier returning from the war discovers a local choir singing a carol over the freshly dug grave by a cross roads. When the soldier discovers who is in the grave he vows to make amends. Thematically Thomas Hardy is under the microscope here, showing the tragedy of human existence with a wit as dry and bitter as a mid-winter gale blasting over the Wessex downs.

The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe
They say that revenge is a dish that is best served cold. it is positively icy in this classic tale as Montressor offers his 'friend' Fortunato a taste of his new acquisition, a pipe of Amontillado. Already full of revelry and the demon drink, Fortunato just cannot refuse. Poe is the master at creating tales that chill the blood and the further this story progresses, the more your temperature will drop.

The Phantom Coach by Amelia Edwards
A traveller is lost on the North Yorkshire moors. it is snowing and he fears for his life. He meets a man who could be his salvation... A dark story where the journey really is as important as the destination, perhaps Edwards was drawing on her experience as a travel writer, journalist and Egyptologist for this tale. She certaianly can create a sense of place and puts us right there, alone in the fading gray light, a bleak aspect indeed with little hope of light on the horizon.

Public Domain (P)2007 Shortalk

Really liked this quick little gem...

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

It was a quick listen to fill the time. I really liked the first story. The second story was not so good, but the last story was also very good.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I like the soldier who returned to find his father had killed myself. It was heartbreaking and ironic.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

All of the performers did a great job - i love how they kind of drag you in and cling to you.

Who was the most memorable character of Shortalk Classic Chillers and why?

Definitley the soldier from the first story. He did so much and got so little in return.

Three Stories, Only One is Chilling

This is a brief collection of three purportedly scary stories. I had never read The Grave by the Handpost before and did not find it scary or particularly interesting. The Cast of Amontillado is a cute little Poe story, but I have never found it scary or one of my favorite Poe. The Phantom Coach was new to me and I enjoyed it. It was a nice little chilling story, agreeably written and well narrated. For me, this third story made the collection worth the listen. It is three bucks, so not worth a full credit. All the narrators are good, as is the production quality.