LitReading - Short Stories and Timeless Tales

There’s a reason crows gather in cemeteries. They remember. They watch. And sometimes, they wait. Murder of Crows isn’t a tale borrowed from the past—it’s one I wrote for New Tales Told, a series of original stories that echo in the spaces between memory and myth. This one lingers in the cold silence of the American frontier, where the shadows are long and the watchers have wings.

Set in Montana Territory, 1868, Murder of Crows is a western—but not the kind you remember from Saturday matinees. The dead don’t rest. The land doesn’t forget. And the crows? They remember everything.

Author's Note

There’s an old belief that crows remember faces. That they mourn their dead. That they never forget a slight.

It was early morning when a murder of crows descended on the sycamore outside my bedroom window, their cries so sharp and relentless they pulled me from sleep with a strange sense of dread. I lay there, half-conscious and irritated, staring at the ceiling as their screams echoed through the glass. And in that moment—quietly, almost reflexively—I had a thought I wasn’t proud of: Maybe this murder deserves one of its own.

From that flash of anger came something unexpected: a story. Murder of Crows began as a whisper of guilt and folklore. Though it draws faint inspiration from the life and legend of Jeremiah Johnson, this tale is entirely imagined—fiction through and through. But like many stories, its roots are tangled in real emotion: grief, memory, regret… and the uncanny way the natural world sometimes stares back.

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We reprise another classic thriller from Litreading's archives for this year's scary season,

In this episode, we go on an adventure off the coast of South America, as a famous big game hunter finds himself stranded on an island where hunting has been elevated to a new and frightening level. It’s time to play “The Most Dangerous Game.”

"The Most Dangerous Game" has been called "the most popular story ever written in English" and was made into a 1932 movie. It’s author, Richard Connell was one of the most famous American short story writers in the early 20th Century. He was also a screenwriter who won an Academy Award in 1942 for his original screenplay “Meet John Doe.”

If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonald

or click FOLLOW

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here is one of the greatest gothic horror stories of all time, originally produced for Litreading in 2019.

As Halloween approaches, our tales of horror grow more grisly with a classic scary story, The Black Cat by one of America’s greatest devisers of dread, Edgar Allen Poe

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This dark, thriller deserves to be included in our reprise of classic stories for the scary season. Written by one of America’s greatest writers, Sinclair Lewis, "The Willow Walk" features some fascinating characters, shocking twists, and powerful imagery. It is also one of our longest stories clocking in at over one hour.

In addition to winning a Pulitzer Prize, Sinclair Lewis was the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1930. Like many great artists, he had a brief and truly brilliant period, after which the quality of his work declined markedly.

If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonald

or click FOLLOW

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is the scary season without a classic monster story? Like the campy creature features of the 50s and 60s, this story features a tiny annoyance turned into a killing machine. First published in 2020, this story returns to send chills down your spine.

Late 19th and early 20th-century science fiction writers were fascinated with the wild and relatively unknown regions of the world, from which they imagined all manner of invaders from insects to lizards, even giant apes.

H.G. Wells was a master of using our irrational fears of the unknown to craft masterful stories that still resonate today. In today’s story, the true tales of giant Amazonian ants are magnified into a tale much like a terrestrial “War of the Worlds.”

Herbert George Wells was one of the preeminent science fiction writers of his day and his tales, including this one, have been the basis of dozens of movies. 1977’s “Empire of the Ants,” very loosely based on the short story, has the distinction of being one of the very worst.

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everyone in town has a story about Luella Miller. She never seems to lift a hand, yet somehow, help is always at her side. And those who give it—well, they never quite look the same afterward. Some tales of horror are loud and bloody. This one is quiet, gentle… and suffocating. Mary E. Wilkins Freeman spins a ghostly puzzle where the most dangerous thing may be a smile too sweet to resist.

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman wasn’t known for monsters or gore. She wrote about the quiet corners of New England life—where duty, repression, and superstition sat heavy in the air. But every so often, she let the shadows slip through. “Luella Miller” is one of those rare stories, proof that horror doesn’t always need screams… sometimes it only takes a fragile smile.

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What led a man to live an isolated life at his ramshackle cabin, with a boarded up window, in the former American wilderness? What is the tragic story that led him to this doleful existence? Here is his traumatic tale.

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the owner of a 19th-century home, I often think about those lives lived here before us and what they must have been like. As our homes are so much a part of us, those who have gone before us leave traces of their lives and loves behind. Here is a very short, yet poignant tale of just such an old house.

It seems that the author experienced the feeling of something lurking at the edge of human senses, feelings, and powerful emotions. This unique story straddles prose and poetry, as does much of Virginia Woolf’s work.

Woolf’s unique writing talents came naturally from her well-read parents. Her father, Sir Leslie Stephen (he was knighted for his literary services), was the creator of the Oxford Dictionary of Biography.

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Humans are rarely content with their lot in life. We long for something more and, all too often, believe that, given the right opportunity, our lives can be made better in an instant through some fortunate event, like winning a lottery.

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here is a relatively obscure tale of suspense for the scary season.

After checking into a small hotel to convalesce for the summer, a man becomes curious about an enigmatic guest who has taken up residence and the other end of the hall.

About the story:

As I can only read stories in the public domain, you might wonder about the reference to a Hitler mustache. That’s because this story was published in 1934 and the copyright was not renewed.

Julius Long was a lawyer and author of a few horror and detective stories. His work is not well known, but several of his stories, like this one, are quite good. He was not a prolific writer and died fairly young at age 47.

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.