Five tales. Darkness optional.
These are not comfortable stories. They were written to unsettle, to linger, and to leave something behind in the mind of the reader that wasn’t there before. Five of them have now been gathered into an audiobook and given to voices not my own.
On ElevenReader, you choose your narrator. The words are mine. The voice is yours to select. I find that arrangement fitting.
Listen to Five Dark Fables on ElevenReader: https://elevenreader.io/audiobooks/five-dark-fables-audiobook/7xYyk6R2wTp515flslYr
The five tales
Gossia’s Garden Yarnulf misjudged a journey to the nearest town, taking a shortcut through the forest. He encounters Gossia, a pixie, who reveals her garden of skeletons, victims of laughter. Despite earlier warnings, he becomes part of her collection
The Children of Bradfield Wood During the reign of King Stephen, two children of strange green hue were discovered near Woolpit in Suffolk, speaking in an unknown tongue and refusing all common food save raw beans. This is not a retelling of that story, but an imagined prelude to it
Emmie and the Black Orchard In Duskdale, the arrival of winter deepens despair as a blight affects children, including young Pip. Emmie, seeking to save him, takes an apple from a forbidden orchard, causing a troubling shift in the village where memories of the dead fade
The Broomfield Witch Jess Harwood returns to her late mother’s home after seven years, uncovering memories and remnants of her mother’s life and secrets. As she begins to help the village with herbal remedies, she discovers a powerful stone, the Eye of the Dracan, which deepens her connection to her mother’s legacy
The Smothing of Dunsop Bridge This folklore tale warns against taking unbaptised children near the Smothing. When a family breaks the rule, they face dire consequences as their child changes, seemingly possessed. An old woman helps reclaim the child, but the experience leaves lasting scars.
Watch the trailer