HMPH Audiobooks

Jerome K. Jerome The Man of Science

Count Magnus by M.R. James

The Inmost Light by Arthur Machen

United States Constitution

U.S. Bill of Rights by James Madison

Rocket Summer by Ray Bradbury

Defense Mech by Ray Bradbury

Blood Toil Tears and Sweat Winston Churchill

Change by Theodore Dreiser

The Haunted Mind by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The House Divided

Abraham Lincoln

A Blackjack Bargainer by O. Henry

The Voice of the City by O. Henry

The Yarkand Mannerby H.H. Munro (SAKI)

The Girl Who Got Rattled by Stewart Edward White

State of the Union Address, 1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt

Abraham Lincoln Fourth State of the Union Address

Transformation by Mary Shelley

A Ghost by Guy de Maupassant

Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation

A Wireless Message by Ambrose Bierce

A Hyperborean Brew by Jack London

My Friend the Murderer by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Mortal Immortal by Mary Shelley

In this short story first published by Ray Bradbury in the 1951 "Illustrated Man" collection, the game of "Invasion" has been sweeping the country. Children all across the nation pretend to have been enlisted by alien invaders, their job to overthrow their parents, and help their newfound friends take over the Earth

The $25,000 Jaw by Richard Connell

The story is set in the distant future where Earth and Mars are on the verge of war. The last spaceship to leave Mars[1] headed for Earth is stopped and searched by Martian soldiers, who are looking for three saboteurs who destroyed a Martian city.[2] They are not found, and the ship continues towards Earth. On board the space ship, a business man by the name of Thacher meets a young woman and two men, who tell that they are the people sought by the Martians, and proceed to tell Thacher the story of how they did not destroy the Martian city, but used a device to reduce the entire city to fit in a tiny globe, which they smuggled on board the ship. The city is to be used as a bargaining chip against Mars in the upcoming war. Thacher reveals that he is a Martian secret agent, and several of the passengers on board are Martian police.

3 HG Wells stories 1 Hour Free Audiobook

A Dream of Armageddon by H.G. Wells

"Jest w'en we guess we've covered the trail
So's no one can't foller, w'y then we fail
W'en we feel safe hid. Nemesis, the cuss,
Waltzes up with nary a warnin' nor fuss.
Grins quiet like, and says, 'How d'y do,
So glad we've met, I'm a-lookin' fer you'"

Ray Douglas Bradbury (1920-2012) was a novelist, short-story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and poet. Bradbury's short story "Pendulum", written with Henry Hasse, was published in 1941 in the pulp magazine Super Science Stories. The protagonist, Layeville, had built a time machine and invited the world’s top scientists to attend its first performance. Unfortunately, a massive explosion killed them all, and for his crime, Layeville was imprisoned in a glass pendulum for what seemed an eternity. The people called him The Prisoner of Time. But everything comes to an end....

Cynthia is a story published in Huxley's collection titled Limbo, published in 1920. "So she was absolutely, frozenly virginal; but she was made of a sort of burning ice, if you understand me. She was virginally passionate just the combination you’d expect to find in a goddess."

The taxidermist is talking with an unnamed acquaintance about the price of birds when he tells the story of a bird auction on an East India Company ship en route from India to London. Sir Mohini Padishah, a wealthy native Indian, is aboard the vessel. An unnamed caretaker, was on deck with five ostriches when one of the birds swallowed the diamond from Padishah’s turban. The bird becomes mixed with the others during the resulting confusion. Word of the incident sweeps the vessel as Padishah demands the return of the diamond. He swore he would retrieve the diamond, but would not buy the birds. He demands his rights as a British Subject and plans to appeal to the British House of Lords.The passengers debate the legalities of the situation. As no barrister is aboard, much of the discussions are speculation. Padishah demands the ostriches from the caretaker who refuses because he does not own the birds. Following a stopover in Aden, Padishah offers to buy all five birds. The caretaker refuses, but tells Padishah that another passenger, Potter, made a similar offer. While in Aden, Potter wired the birds owners in London, made the offer and his answer would be waiting in Suez. He intends to kill the birds to find the diamond. Padisha raged over this and the taxidermist cursed himself for not having thought of it.The birds’ owner accepted Potter’s offer and Padishah wept over the sale. Potter offered to sell the birds to Padishah for more than twice the amount he paid. When Padishah balked, Potter sells the birds at auction on the ship. Interest in the auction flared when a Jewish diamond merchant assessed the diamond at three to four thousand British Pounds. After the first bird sold was slaughtered upon the deck, Potter forbid their slaughter until landfall in London. The price for each subsequent bird grew netting Potter more than one thousand Pounds. Padishah provided each new owner with his address and begged the men to mail the diamond once they found it. They rebuffed him and went their own ways.A week later, the taxidermist sees Padishah and Potter together in London. Padishah was an eminent Hindu, the diamond was indeed real, but the taxidermist doubts the bird swallowed the diamond.

Can Socialists Be Happy? by George Orwell

A Case of Premeditation is one of Freeman's inverted detective stories, also referred to as a "locked room mystery" featuring his favorite medical-forensic investigator, Dr. Thorndyke. It was first published in McClure's Magazine, August, 1910.

The story is told through a blood-stained notebook discovered on the edge of a farm in Withyham. The notebook is written by a Mr. Joyce-Armstrong, and the first two and last pages are missing; the notebook is thus dubbed the "Joyce-Armstrong Fragment".

Joyce-Armstrong, a brave aviator, had been curious over the deaths of certain pilots who tried to break the current height record of 30,000 feet. Recent casualties involve some strange deaths – one, Hay Connor, died after landing while he was still in his plane, while another, Myrtle, was discovered with his head missing. Joyce-Armstrong speculates that the answer to these deaths may be the result of what he calls "air-jungles":

Filmer is a short story by H. G. Wells. Herbert George "H. G." Wells (21 September 1866 - 13 August 1946) was an English writer, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing textbooks and rules for war games. Wells is sometimes called "The Father of Science Fiction," as are Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. His most notable science fiction works include The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau.

Written cooperatively by Forrest Ackerman and Ray Bradbury, this story was first published in Ray Bradbury's Futuria Fantasia, Summer 1939 where it was credited only as “by Forrest J. Ackerman”

Eight years ago a nuclear war began between the United States and the Soviet Union. American survivors evacuated to gigantic bunkers miles under ground. Sophisticated, radioactivity-immune robots called "leadys" continue fighting the war on the devastated surface that is too dangerous for humans. The Soviets have similarly evacuated underground, and each side builds powerful weapons and vehicles for the remote-controlled war they only see from film that the robots deliver.

The security department asks Taylor, an American war planner, to observe the interrogation of a leady regarding the progress of the war. Although the robot reports that lethal radioactivity and sophisticated new Soviet weapons continue to make the surface dangerous for humans, the observers find that the leady is not radioactive. Taylor learns that this is the second such robot the security department has found; it assigns him to an expedition, wearing lead suits, to investigate the truth about surface conditions.

Taylor's group surprises the leadys at the surface and demands to see the outside. Although the robots attempt to delay the humans as long as possible, the group discovers outside the bunker an undamaged valley with forests, animals, and a farm. The leadys reveal that the war ended as soon as the humans evacuated because the robots could not see a rational purpose for it. Analyzing history, they found that groups of humans warred with each other until they matured to overcome conflict. Humanity is almost ready for a single culture, the current worldwide division into American and Soviet sides being the final step. The leadys create counterfeit photographs of the devastated planet to fool humans, while destroying weapons they received and rebuilding the world for their creators' return.

The first great rocket flight into space, bearing intrepid pioneers to the Moon. The world's ecstasy flared into red mob-hate when President Stanley canceled the flight. How did he get that way? Published in Planet Stories, Spring 1947

A Hanging (1931) is a short essay written by George Orwell, first published in August 1931 in the British literary magazine The Adelphi. Set in Burma, where Orwell (under his real name of Eric Arthur Blair) had served in the British Imperial Police from 1922 to 1927, it describes the execution of a criminal.

"Tony and the Beetles" is a science fiction short story by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in Orbit Science Fiction, No.2, in 1953.

The story is told from the point of view of a young boy, Tony, living on an alien world that humans have conquered. The native species are beetle like creatures called the Pas-udenti, some of whom Tony has befriended. As news reaches the planet that the war has turned against the humans, Tony attempts to carry on his daily life, to disastrous effect.

The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost by H.G. Wells

The Morgue Ship had gleaned information from space that would end the three hundred year war, knowledge that would defeat the aggressor Martians—if Brandon could carry it to Earth.

The Bookshop is a story published in Huxley's collection titled Limbo, published in 1920.

A operation during which Dr Haddon administers an anesthetic. While under, the patient journeys into space and discovers that the universe is merely a speck of light reflected on a ring, worn on God's hand. A thought-provoking exploration of the afterlife, the universe, and the unconscious mind

Nibley stood in the changing shadows and sounds of Marsport, watching the great supply ship TERRA being entered and left by a number of officials and mechanics. Something had happened. Something was wrong. There were a lot of hard faces and not much talk. There was a bit of swearing and everybody looked up at the night sky of Mars, waiting.

But nobody came to Nibley for his opinion or his help. He stood there, a very old man, with a slack-gummed face and eyes like the little bubbly stalks of crayfish looking up at you from a clear creek. He stood there fully neglected. He stood there and talked to himself.

"They don't want me, or need me," he said. "Machines are better, nowadays. Why should they want an old man like me with a taste for Martian liquor? They shouldn't! A machine isn't old and foolish, and doesn't get drunk!"

Way out over the dead sea bottoms, Nibley sensed something moving. Part of himself was suddenly awake and sensitive. His small sharp eyes moved in his withered face. Something inside of his small skull reacted and he shivered. He knew. He knew that what these men were watching and waiting for would never come.

Nibley edged up to one of the astrogators from the TERRA. He touched him on the shoulder. "Say," he said. "I'm busy," said the astrogator. "I know," said Nibley, "but if you're waiting for that small repair rocket to come through with the extra auxiliary asteroid computator on it, you're wasting your time."

"Like hell," said the astrogator, glaring at the old man. "That repair rocket's got to come through, and quick; we need it. It'll get here."

"No, it won't," said Nibley, sadly, and shook his head and closed his eyes. "It just crashed, a second ago, out on the dead sea bottom. I—felt—it crash. I sensed it going down. It'll never come through."

Along the edge of the field was a grove of ancient trees. Lifeless trees, withered and dead, their thin, blackened stalks rising up leaflessly. Broken sticks stuck in the hard ground. Row after row of dead trees, some bent and leaning, torn loose from the rocky soil by the unending wind.

Lori crossed the field to the trees, her lungs laboring painfully. The wind surged against her without respite, whipping the foul-smelling mists into her nostrils and face. Her smooth skin was damp and shiny with the mist. She coughed and hurried on, stepping over the rocks and clods of earth, trembling with fear and anticipation.

She circled around the grove of trees, almost to the edge of the ridge. Carefully, she stepped among the sliding heaps of rocks. Then—

She stopped, rigid. Her chest rose and fell with the effort of breathing. "I came," she gasped.

For a long time she gazed at the withered old apple tree. She could not take her eyes from it. The sight of the ancient tree fascinated and repelled her. It was the only one alive, the only tree of all the grove still living. All the others were dead, dried-up. They had lost the struggle. But this tree still clung to life.

The tree was hard and barren. Only a few dark leaves hung from it—and some withered apples, dried and seasoned by wind and mists. They had stayed there, on the branches, forgotten and abandoned. The ground around the tree was cracked and bleak. Stones and decayed heaps of old leaves in ragged clumps.

"I came," Lori said again. She took the leaf from her pocket and held it cautiously out. "This tapped at the window. I knew when I heard it." She smiled mischievously, her red lips curling. "It tapped and tapped, trying to get in. I ignored it. It was so—so impetuous. It annoyed me."

The tree swayed ominously. Its gnarled branches rubbed together. Something in the sound made Lori pull away. Terror rushed through her. She hurried back along the ridge, scrambling frantically out of reach.

"Don't," she whispered. "Please."

The wind ceased. The tree became silent. For a long time Lori watched it apprehensively.

Night was coming. The sky was darkening rapidly. A burst of frigid wind struck her, half turning her around. She shuddered, bracing herself against it, pulling her long coat around her. Far below, the floor of the valley was disappearing into shadow, into the vast cloud of night.

In the darkening mists the tree was stern and menacing, more ominous than usual. A few leaves blew from it, drifting and swirling with the wind. A leaf blew past her and she tried to catch it. The leaf escaped, dancing back toward the tree. Lori followed a little way and then stopped, gasping and laughing.

"No," she said firmly, her hands on her hips. "I won't."

There was silence. Suddenly the heaps of decayed leaves blew up in a furious circle around the tree. They quieted down, settling back.

"No," Lori said. "I'm not afraid of you. You can't hurt me." But her heart was hammering with fear. She moved back farther away.

The tree remained silent. Its wiry branches were motionless.

Lori regained her courage. "This is the last time I can come," she said. "Steve says I can't come any more. He doesn't like it."

She waited, but the tree did not respond.

From a very early age, perhaps the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer. Between the ages of about seventeen and twenty-four I tried to abandon this idea, but I did so with the consciousness that I was outraging my true nature and that sooner or later I should have to settle down and write books.