Short Fiction

Short Fiction by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Irish writer J. Sheridan Le Fanu is remembered today as a master of Gothic horror. This collection includes his classic atmospheric ghost stories like "Green Tea" and "The Familiar," the latter of which M. R. James considered the best of Le Fanu's ghost stories, and therefore the best ghost story ever written.

But Le Fanu also wrote in genres other than horror. His talent for historical fiction shows in "An Adventure of Hardress Fitzgerald," set in the aftermath of the Battle of the Boyne, and in "The Fatal Bride" he shows his mastery of Victorian sensation fiction. Both of these stories, and many others in this collection, were first published in the Dublin University Magazine, where Le Fanu was a regular contributor and later the owner and editor.

Also included are two pioneering vampire stories: "Carmilla," which profoundly influenced Bram Stoker in creating Dracula, and the lesser-known 1843 novella "Spalatro."

This wide-ranging collection showcases the full breadth of Le Fanu's talent, from the psychological unease of his best-known ghost stories to the historical drama and sensation fiction that filled the pages of the magazines he edited. Readers who admire the atmospheric roots of the Gothic tradition, and the early development of vampire fiction in particular, will find this an essential gathering of one of the genre's foundational voices.

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