The Great American Short Story Collection

40 Outstanding Tales by American Writers

By: Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, O. Henry, Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton, Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce

Narrated by: Cathy Dobson

A thoroughly engaging collection of great classic tales by the very best American authors.

• 1. 'From Beyond' by H. P. Lovecraft
• 2. 'The Mysterious Card and the Card Unveiled' by Cleveland Moffett
• 3. 'Pigs Is Pigs' by Ellis Parker Butler
• 4. 'The Club of One-Eyed Men' by Arthur Somers Roche
• 5. 'Afterward' by Edith Wharton
• 6. 'The Furnished Room' by O. Henry
• 7. 'A Descent into the Maelström' by Edgar Allan Poe
• 8. 'Regret' by Kate Chopin
• 9. 'The Terrible Old Man' by H. P. Lovecraft
• 10. 'The Dumb Man' by Sherwood Anderson
• 11. 'A Desperate Adventure' by Max Adeler
• 12. 'A Bottomless Grave' by Ambrose Bierce
• 13. 'Cannibalism in the Cars' by Mark Twain
• 14. 'Mr. Higginbotham’s Catastrophe' by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• 15. 'The Marionettes' by O. Henry
• 16. 'The Masque of the Red Death' by Edgar Allan Poe
• 17. 'The Storm' by Kate Chopin
• 18. 'The Eyes' by Edith Wharton
• 19. 'Berenice' by Edgar Allan Poe
• 20. 'Imprisoned with the Pharaohs' by Harry Houdini and H. P. Lovecraft
• 21. 'The One Million Pound Bank Note' by Mark Twain
• 22. 'A Lucky Number' by S. B. Hale
• 23. 'Lost in a Pyramid' by Louisa M. Alcott
• 24. 'The Problem of the Five Marks' by Melville Davisson Post
• 25. 'William Wilson' by Edgar Allan Poe
• 26. 'The Venturers' by O. Henry
• 27. 'The Cats of Ulthar' by H. P. Lovecraft
• 28. 'Submarine' by Stella Benson
• 29. 'The Thousand and Second Tale of Sheherazade' by Edgar Allan Poe
• 30. 'The Gift of the Magi' by O. Henry

... and 10 more wonderful stories.

Public Domain (P)2015 Red Door Audiobooks

Unbearable reader.

Unnaturally reads fast then slow. Seems to randomly emphasize certain syllables. Really too bad. Can't do it.

Didn't like narration

Narration style and accent distracted me from enjoying the stories.

Also the pause / transition between stories was so quick and monotone that I was often unsure which story I was in.

Shame on me for not reading reviews

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator

What other book might you compare The Great American Short Story Collection to and why?

I have had a hard time finding short story anthologies on Audible, so, unfortunately, I don't have any other book to compare this one to. However the fault is not with the stories, of course, which are all classics.

Would you be willing to try another one of Cathy Dobson’s performances?

Absolutely not. Wish I could return the book because I simply can't get past her. Sorry.

Was The Great American Short Story Collection worth the listening time?

I haven't even been able to listen.

Any additional comments?

Not really.

over read. Severely over read.

it is read as if for a radio teleplay. Every sentence, it is impossible to ignore the narrator. My opinion: some narrators forget that we are readers. we read constantly. We have our own imaginations. we just want it read with sufficient inflection as to show how it was written. Nothing more.

I couldn't listen to the narrator.

The narration was really difficult to listen to. Her cadence was very bad. I'll find another version.

It's alright

A wide range of quality when it comes to the stories. Too many stories are kind of dull and skippable. The Gift of the Magi is read twice.

The narrator tries to read a bit too dramatically, masking the intonation and syllables that would otherwise make meaning clear.

I'm surprised the cost is so high for books that are public domain and narration that is sub-par.

Annoying voice

The stories are classics, but the narrators rythym was irritating. The stories themselves are fantastically written but I felt that the narrator was trying to tell a cheesy horror story to a toddler.

narrator is bad

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I have only listened to the first 3 stories. I had hoped that each story would have a different narrator. But NO....

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Cathy Dobson?

Don't know

Could you see The Great American Short Story Collection being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

no

Terrible narration. Grating, undulating misery.

Great stories by great authors narrated by a very unpleasant, irritating voice that will have you wishing for a print edition. Sorry

can't hear the story over her annoying voice

I can't stand her voice. I really wish she wasn't the only one reading these stories