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The Penny Dreadfuls MEGAPACK™

Oscar Wilde




  Contents

  COPYRIGHT INFO

  A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

  The MEGAPACK™ Ebook Series

  FRANKENSTEIN, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

  DRACULA, by Bram Stoker

  VARNEY, THE VAMPIRE, by Thomas Preskett Prest

  THE WERE-WOLF, by Clemence Housman

  THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, by Oscar Wilde

  THE MONK, by Matthew Lewis

  THE STRING OF PEARLS, by Thomas Peckett Prest

  THE RING OF THOTH, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

  THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, by Robert Louis Stevenson

  THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, by Edgar Allan Poe

  COPYRIGHT INFO

  The Penny Dreadfuls MEGAPACK™ is copyright © 2015 by Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.

  * * * *

  The MEGAPACK™ ebook series name is a trademark of Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.

  A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

  “Penny Dreadfuls” (also called penny horribles, penny awfuls, penny numbers, and penny bloods) were a type of British publication in the 19th century that usually featured lurid serial stories appearing in parts over a number of weeks, each part costing one penny. The term, however, soon came to encompass a variety of publications that featured cheap sensational fiction, such as story papers and booklet “libraries”. The penny dreadfuls were printed on cheap pulp paper and were aimed at young working class males.

  Two of the most famous Penny Dreadfuls were Varney the Vampire (which popularized vampires) and The String of Pearls (Sweeney Todd), both of which are included here, alongside other works which share the same gothic horror traditions: Frankenstein, by Mary W. Shelley; Dracula, by Bram Stoker; The Portrait of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde; The Were-Wolf, by Clemence Housman; and a number of others.

  Enjoy!

  —John Betancourt

  Publisher, Wildside Press LLC

  www.wildsidepress.com

  ABOUT THE SERIES

  Over the last few years, our MEGAPACK™ ebook series has grown to be our most popular endeavor. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”

  The MEGAPACK™ ebook series (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Shawn Garrett, Helen McGee, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)

  RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?

  Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the MEGAPACK™ ebook series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).

  Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.

  TYPOS

  Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.

  If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at [email protected] or use the message boards above.

  The MEGAPACK™ Ebook Series

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  THE GOLDEN AGE OF WEIRD FICTION

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  THE GOLDEN AGE OF WEIRD FICTION

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  The Wizard of Oz MEGAPACK™

  The Zanthodon MEGAPACK™, by Lin Carter

  HORROR

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  The Charles Dickens Christmas MEGAPACK™

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  The F. Scott Fitzgerald MEGAPACK™

  The Mary Fortune Mystery & Suspense MEGAPACK™

  The First R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™

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  The Third R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™*

  The Jacques Futrelle MEGAPACK™

  The Randall Garrett MEGAPACK™

  The Second Randall Garrett MEGAPACK™

  The Anna Katharine Green MEGAPACK™

  The Zane Grey MEGAPACK™

  The Edmond Hamilton MEGAPACK™

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  The C.J. Henderson MEGAPACK™

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  The A. Merritt MEGAPA
CK™*

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  The E. Hoffmann Price Spicy Story MEGAPACK™

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  The Charles Alden Seltzer MEGAPACK™

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  The Fred M. White Disaster MEGAPACK™

  The Lon Williams Weird Western MEGAPACK™

  The Walt Whitman MEGAPACK™

  The Virginia Woolf MEGAPACK™

  The Arthur Leo Zagat Science Fiction MEGAPACK™

  * Not available in the United States

  ** Not available in the European Union

  ***Out of print.

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  OTHER COLLECTIONS YOU MAY ENJOY

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  The Wildside Book of Fantasy

  The Wildside Book of Science Fiction

  Yondering: The First Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories

  To the Stars—And Beyond! The Second Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories

  Once Upon a Future: The Third Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories

  Whodunit?—The First Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories

  More Whodunits—The Second Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories

  X is for Xmas: Christmas Mysteries

  FRANKENSTEIN, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

  or the Modern Prometheus

  Letter 1

  St. Petersburgh, Dec. 11th, 17—

  To Mrs. Saville, England

  You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. I arrived here yesterday, and my first task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking.

  I am already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets of Petersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves and fills me with delight. Do you understand this feeling? This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. Inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more fervent and vivid. I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is forever visible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a perpetual splendour. There—for with your leave, my sister, I will put some trust in preceding navigators—there snow and frost are banished; and, sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable globe. Its productions and features may be without example, as the phenomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtedly are in those undiscovered solitudes. What may not be expected in a country of eternal light? I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle and may regulate a thousand celestial observations that require only this voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent forever. I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man. These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer all fear of danger or death and to induce me to commence this laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little boat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of discovery up his native river. But supposing all these conjectures to be false, you cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind, to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole to those countries, to reach which at present so many months are requisite; or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which, if at all possible, can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine.