Showing results by author "A. J. Alan" in All Categories

As the invention of the automobile enabled quicker travel and enhanced the lives of the early motorists, it also gave new impetus to a generation of story writers. Automobiles were unusual, unfamiliar beasts. They combined speed and danger with an uncanny ability to break down at unexpected moments, catapulting the unhappy traveller into new adventures, or thusting mystery strangers onto the inhabitants of remote houses.

A wonderful collection of spine-tingling, imaginative, terrifying but beautifully written tales to keep you hiding under the bedclothes this Halloween.

A. J. Alan was the pseudonym of Leslie Harrison Lambert (1883-1941), an English magician, intelligence officer, short story writer, and radio broadcaster. He was hugely popular in the '20s and '30s for his radio broadcasts, when he performed his own humorous and often macabre short stories, which he always delivered wearing full evening dress. A Joy Ride is one of A. J. Alan's most amusing stories and has a classic twist at the end.

A secretive gentlemen's dining society meets twice a year. On these occasions they invite a guest speaker... always somebody who has done something extraordinary, like flying to Australia and back, driving across China... or some incredible criminal feat such as robbing the Bank of England. On the search for the next speaker, the Club Secretary spots an account of a most extraordinary jail-break in the East Indies and decides to try to track down the escapee. A course of events is set in motion which nobody could predict.

A. J. Alan's curious story of a recurring dream. Possibly one of the strangest and creepiest tales ever told.

The narrator receives a mysterious envelope in the post containing a single theatre ticket for that evening. There is no note or return address, and he has no idea who could have sent it. When he attends the performance, in the third act a mysterious lady takes the seat next to him and asks him to come with her to see her brother George after the performance. They are whisked away by car to a sinister upper floor apartment in Jermyn Street, where the affair becomes more and more enigmatic.

Leslie Harrison Lambert, who wrote under the name of A. J. Alan (1883 - 1941), was an English magician, intelligence officer, short story writer and radio broadcaster. He kept the secret of his identity secret, while as a spinner of yarns, humorous, fantastic or mysterious, he became ever more popular, especially via his regular radio broadcasts. The Cabmen's Shelter is the humorous tale of a doomed amateur dramatics performance which aims to raise money for a cabmen's shelter at the local station.

The story opens with the narrator on his way home from the theatre one evening, when his attention is drawn to a crowd gathered around a road accident in the West End of London. A taxi has hit a pedestrian. Out of the crowd emerges Charles, an old friend, supporting a fainting women. They had been the passengers in the taxi, and Charles now charges the narrator with seeing the lady home.

When the narrator finds a mysterious brass box in a curiosity shop, he is intrigued. It is heavy, round, and shaking it shows that it clearly contains something...but it cannot be opened. He buys the box and takes it home. With some effort, he manages to open it and discovers a plait of mysterious hair. After cleaning and examining the hair, he discards it on a piece of blank cardboard... or so he thinks. But then mysterious and sinister events begin to take place, and he discovers that the hair has terrifying powers, which he sets out to harness. Gripping and perverse!

A. J. Alan's delicious narrative of a strange adventure on a cold winter night in Norfolk. The narrator is spending a night in an unfamiliar bungalow on the Norfolk Broads. He hears the sound of a car outside, and on investigation finds a young woman whose vehicle has broken down. Attempts to fix the car fail, but they flag down a milk lorry which offers the lady a lift to Norwich, while the broken car is wheeled into the narrator's garage for the night.

Discover the true joys of making new friends and join the fight against bullying with Big Nick and Little Al! Big Nick is tall, gruff and a right ole' meanie. Feared among everybody at school, Nick had quite the reputation. Word in the hallway was, Nick did not like to make friends and would fight anybody who dare approach him. That was until he met Little Al. Calm and composed at all times, Al was not taken aback by Nick's tall demeanor, which perturbed and surprised him to no extent. Nick liked towering over and intimidating small boys but Al was different.

A. J. Alan was the pseudonym of Leslie Harrison Lambert (1883-1941), an English magician, intelligence officer, short story writer and radio broadcaster. He was hugely popular in the '20s and '30s for his radio broadcasts, when he performed his own humorous and often macabre short stories. 'The Photograph' is a short story about a photographer who is hired to take pictures of an old historical house. When the negatives are developed, there are some strange and very eerie images on the film....

A. J. Alan was the pseudonym of Leslie Harrison Lambert (1883-1941), an English magician, intelligence officer, short story writer, and radio broadcaster. He was hugely popular in the '20s and '30s for his radio broadcasts, when he performed his own humorous and often macabre short stories, which he always delivered wearing full evening dress.

In this wide-ranging collection our authors look at every facet and detail of theatre life. From the worries and lives of the actors to what can happen when a theatre is the prime location on which the story depends, be it comedy, theft, the bizarre and even murder.

Hey I'm Alan J Smith