Product Description
Carmilla is the story that created the modern day vampire. The House of White version is the only one to present the original unabridged tale (the real story) of Countess Carmilla Karnstein in its entirety with original illustrations, a glossary of Victorian terminology used by Le Fanu, and masterpieces of art that deepen one's understanding of who Carmilla was instead of merely relying on a third-hand account of young girl's jaded memory, twenty years lost in passing.

Carmilla was the vampire to break the mold of rotting flesh and foul stench. She was the very first romantic vampire, and after inspiring Bram Stoker’s Dracula, she has continued with us, always in the shadow, influencing culture with a subtlety that is as alluring as it is elitist. A multi-layered story of love, loss, and a yearning for both a past and a future unobtainable, and finally of great sacrifice. Carmilla ranks as one of the world’s greattragedies. A lonely young girl living in a desolate area in Austria
is befriended by a young countess after what seems a chance encounter. Laura’s innocence and sheltered life prevents her from seeing the obvious, that her new friend Carmilla is a demon of the highest order, and one who has fallen passionately in love with her. Over time, Carmilla’s lust for Laura, and her soul, overpower her caution, and the serenity of a life of seclusion becomes a
nightmarish existence for Laura as her world unravels in ways that can never be repaired. The tale of Carmilla is enchanting and hypnotic to this day. The prose is pure Victorian, alien but accessible, set in a fashion that forces you to forget your daily existence while you fall down the spiral danse macabre with
Carmilla, Laura, and her devoted father. Best read late at night and alone, this story seduces you into a world far from everyday life, a world that extends no further than a day’s ride to the next village. This volume contains the original unabridged 1872 tale. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This is my favorite vampire story

Carmilla was the inspiration for Braum Stoker's "Dracula." Carmilla was also the first vampire to appear in the English language and transformed the wampyr from a loathesome ghoul into a delicate and beautiful creature. Carmilla, as a vampire is the foundation for every modern vampire from Lestat to the Twilight series. This short story leaves more to the imagination than it spells out, which is why it stays with you long after you have closed the back cover.

Simply the most important vampire story--ever. ... Read more

Product Description

Known primarily for his ghost stories and mysteries, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was one of the most popular writers of the Victorian era. Many of his works were published anonymously, and he either owned or had an interest in four Irish newspapers, which served as an outlet for other anonymous pieces by him. This bibliography provides as comprehensive a record as possible of Le Fanu's works. It also includes a bibliography of books, articles, and dissertations about him.

The volume begins with a short biography of Le Fanu, followed by a bibliography of his writings. This bibliography is divided into magazine appearances, books, anthology appearances, and manuscript sources. Entries in each of these sections are arranged chronologically. Annotations comment briefly upon these primary works, and annotations for anonymous works attributed to Le Fanu include the names of those who have assigned these writings to him. The bibliography of secondary sources is also divided into several sections, with entries arranged alphabetically by author. While most annotations are descriptive, some correct erroneous information.

Product Description
An anthology of stories by the Victorian writer widely considered the inventor of the ghost story, who inspired such authors as Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley, includes the story of a young woman seduced by a dead man. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Classic Horror Tales by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
J. Sheridan Le Fanu is a master of ghost and horror stories. His style is gothic. The protagonist might be a young woman without family and friends. The setting is lonely and isolated, often a decaying manor or castle. A growing sense of malice and evil emerges as the story unfolds. Le Fanu was able to transform this trite formula into remarkably suspenseful stories that haunt the reader long afterwards. All thirteen tales in this collection are enjoyable on many levels: suspenseful horror, well-crafted plots, and interesting characterizations.

Le Fanu's novels are noted for their leisurely pace, for their wordy and discursive style. His short stories are tighter, but still reflect Le Fanu's care in developing the setting and the atmosphere. I enjoy Le Fanu's antiquated style; it somehow adds verisimilitude to the accounts.

The Evil Guest, the longest story in this collection, is quite successful as a suspenseful mystery, but what makes it memorable is Le Fanu's description of one man's descent into evil and eventual insanity.

The Murdered Cousin is a traditional gothic story in which a young woman is entrusted to the care of an evil uncle. Le Fanu later expanded this tale into his most popular novel, Uncle Silas.

Schalken the Painter, Green Tea, Mr. Justice Harbottle, and Sir Dominick's Bargain are among his most admired stories and are frequently encountered in anthologies. Although superficially they share a common theme about demonic visitations, all four tales offer unique, imaginative aspects that make them classics.I find Schalken the Painter and Green Tea to be especially frightening. Mr. Justice Harbottle is a story of demonic retribution, retribution fully deserved. Sir Dominick's Bargain is a conventional tale of a pact with the devil, but one with an unexpected twist.

The title story Carmilla (1871) is ranked among the classic vampire stories, along with John Polidori's The Vampyre (1819) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). The relationship between the heroine and the female vampire is surprisingly complex, adding a dimension not found in most gothic characterizations.

Other stories in this collection include Ultor De Lacy, Wicked Captain Walshawe of Wauling, The White Cat of Drumgunniol, Madam Crowl's Ghost, Dickon the Devil, and Laura Silver Bell.

I reviewed a paperback edition (1996) published by Signet Classic. This inexpensive edition (446 pages) is a bargain.

shaken
I special ordered this book because I thought it would be really good. I read the reviews and some how got the impression that it was a sensual vampire story. It was a vampire story that dragged on a little to much. Itwas also vague, and not so sensual at all. I got the feeling that thisstory tried to capture the elegence of Dracula, but failed. I was shakenbecause I expected so much more.

An entertaining selection of Victorian ghost stories.
I liked this book, but probably not quite as LeFanu intended I ought. The majority of stories are ghost tales, longer and less punchy but more engrossing than those of M.R. James, but with a very similar atmosphere.Most striking is Carmilla, an amusing Gothic story about a female vampire and her relationship with the narrator, her innocent girlfriend. Modern times have robbed the story of much of its horror, and Carmilla becomes as much an object of sympathy as a pure villain - a fact that raises new questions rather than weakening the tale. Like Gormenghast, it is easy to dismiss such writing as plain silly - much of the story IS rather daft - but the charm of the stories remains, provided that the reader enters into the spirit of the book.LeFanu's style is not great - he is rather wordy and his prose a bit "purple", but the meticulous construction of his stories makes them worth reading as exercises in plot alone. His clear love of the atmosphere he builds shows through, and it is refreshing to find a book in which the gothic is not played for laughs.Overall, this is a pleasing collection of stories with a few real highlights. Its atmosphere and style inevitably mean that it will not have much appeal to many people, but fans of the macabre and antiquated will find it a worthwhile purchase. Like Stoker's Dracula or a good Hammer film, it is highly entertaining, simultaneously chilling and slightly camp. ... Read more

Product Description
"Uncle Silas" is J. Sheridan Le Fanu's classic gothic novel narrated by the teenage character Maud Ruthyn who lives with her reclusive father Austyn Ruthyn in their mansion at Knowl. From her father Maud comes to learn of her Uncle Silas, an infamous rake and gambler and the suspicious suicide of a man to whom Silas owes an enormous gambling death. Mystery surrounds this suicide as the man is found dead in a locked room. While Austyn is convinced of his brother's innocence Maud is not and when her father unexpectedly dies, she must go to live with her Uncle. As Maud suspects that Uncle Silas has designs on her inheritance she finds herself in a dreadful situation in which she fears for her life. "Uncle Silas" is a chilling psychological thriller that is considered by many as Le Fanu's best and most popular work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Great Stuff
This is a real rip-snorter of a gothic novel. Eighteen-year-old Maude, whose mother is dead, has been raised by her wealthy father, an adherent to a peculiar Scandinavian science religion. There are dark rumors afoot about the character of Maude's father's brother, the mysterious Uncle Silas, into whose guardianship Maude is entrusted at her father's death. Maude is the only thing standing between the money she will inherit from her father (when she comes of age) and Silas' considerable debt. Laudanum addiction, poison, big old houses with uninhabited wings, a creepy cousin (Silas' son), and an evil French governess: if you like gothic novels, this one's got it all.

Uncle Silas: Friend or Fiend?
An interesting aspect to Le Fanu's Uncle Silas is that there is something going on outside and beyond just the leading character, Maud's, narrative focus. Her being easily agitated and frightened, which she reiterates often, lends credence to the notion that we can't take everything she sees with perfect accuracy. Is there more than meets the eye when she feels the dread and gloom at Uncle Silas', or is this just an overly active imagination? Is she really feeling or seeing the darkness of characters such as Madame or Uncle Silas, or is her anxiety getting the best of her? The reader can take a step back, and come to their own conclusions as they follow the plot. Le Fanu might not entertain and enthrall contemporary audiences like he did in his day, but his method of ambivalence and uncertainty gives the novel the Gothic, mysterious quality that can "get under your skin." He seems to go with the idea that "what you don't know or see" is far more terrifying than what you do; subtle hints, shady pasts, eerie settings and strange characters all give the novel a creepy, suspenseful, dark feel.

The basic premise of the novel is this: Maud Rhuthyn, after her father's passing, is required to live at her Uncle Silas' estate until her twenty first birthday, partly as a means to clear her uncle's name. While some, such as her aunt, are strictly opposed to Maud's going to the creepy house for such a long time, Maud is a bit undecided. Maud's only knowledge of her uncle is a portrait of him which hangs at the Rhuthyn estate. She learns that Silas has an allegedly dark and mysterious past and that he was once suspected of the murder of a man, but it was ruled a suicide. He has changed his ways, and now lives a reformed life, although there is a somber, soft-spoken manner to him that makes Maud question who he really is. After Maud's arrival, she begins to adapt to life there, but begins to see some of the questions of the past unraveled, albeit in a slow manner because she rarely gets to see him. Eventually, a villainess from the past, Madame de la Rougierre, her father's governess who was fired for stealing, resurfaces at Uncle Silas' just as the plot begins to thicken.

The gloom and foreboding mood at Uncle Silas wreaks some havoc on Maud's fragile state, and there is uncertainty what is real or exaggerated. At one point, Maud is looking through the house and is terrified out of her wits to see the face of Madame de la Rougierre. She immediately tells Silas' daughter or this and considers the room haunted. Maud also wavers between being intrigued with her uncle, and having him be her source of abject terror: "Gentle he had been to me...but it seemed like the talk of one of those goblins of the desert...Was, then, all his kindness but a phosphoric radiance covering something colder and more awful than the grave?" A puzzling fear seems to permeate Maud's existence at Uncle Silas, but we only learn later what the real story is.

De Fanu's novel is comparable to a Wilkie Collins mystery, although I'd say Uncle Silas has a darker feel to it. The gothic, supernatural nature is created slowly and subtlety, but nevertheless, it is there. I enjoyed this suspense, and would love to read more of De Fanu's other novels and short stories.

A misunderstood masterpiece?
(WARNING - SPOILERS!!!)

The question mark refers to the word "misunderstood", not to the word "masterpiece". I don't think there is much question that "Uncle Silas" is a masterpiece. According to E. F. Bleiler, an expert on the genre, it is the greatest mystery novel of the 19th century, one of only a handful of 19th century novels that are still read purely for pleasure today. But I do think that it has been widely misunderstood.

The virtually unanimous opinion on "Uncle Silas" is that it has a wonderfully Gothic and ghostly atmosphere, but no actual ghosts. I beg to differ - I think that the supernatural absolutely pervades the book in a very fundamental way. True, LeFanu never makes the supernaturalism explicit - he leaves you free to interpret the events in the novel naturalistically if you want to. But it seems clear to me that he himself had quite a different idea of what "Uncle Silas" is really all about.

For instance, there is all the talk of the Swedenborgians in the first third of the novel, to the effect that we are continually surrounded and being watched by invisible presences - the souls of the dead, as well as angelic and demonic forces. LeFanu spends many pages on this sort of thing, and it is all quite pointless (except as atmosphere) if it does not directly relate to the plot in some way.

The father of the heroine (Maud), Austin Ruthyn, is himself a Swedenborgian. I believe it is LeFanu's intention to suggest that, although Austin Ruthyn dies early in the book, his spirit continues to be an active force for good, protecting his daughter from the evil forces he has unwittingly subjected her to (through an ill-considered will), and possibly being instrumental in the ultimate destruction of those very forces. For example, at one point Maud hears a disembodied, unidentified voice in an empty room warning her against Uncle Silas. Another time, she enters some kind of trance state and awakens talking to her dead father, whom she seems convinced is present. Near the end of the book, in another strange trance state - indeed, seemingly possessed - she utters words of doom to her two main persecutors, Madame de la Rougierre and Uncle Silas himself, using the very words that had been spoken to her by her father in a dream. Silas' reaction to Maud's appearance in this scene is instructive. He asks her, in a terrified whisper: "Where do you come from?" - a very odd question to ask his niece, who is living in his own house. The entranced Maud whispers in response: "Death! Death!"

Regarding Maud's two evil persecutors, there are numerous strong hints that they are actually demons in human form, or humans possessed by demonic forces. Maud describes Madame as "ghosty", "like an evil spirit in a dream", and has a supernatural dread of her. Indeed, Madame's movements about the house mysteriously mimic the sights and sounds of two of the house's legendary ghosts. Madame even sings a song at one point explicitly comparing herself to one of the demons that possessed the swine in Mark's gospel. As for Uncle Silas, one of the main (good) characters says of him: "Perhaps other souls than human are sometimes born into the world, and clothed in flesh." By the end of the book, I think that every reader will agree that this description suits Silas very well.

There are other examples of the supernatural to be found - such as the gypsy fortune-teller who predicts the book's climactic scene with great accuracy - but you get the idea. All of these things can be, and generally have been, taken metaphorically and/or psychologically by most readers, and LeFanu does leave that door open to us, as I said. But he was a religious man - the son of a priest and a semi-Swedenborgian himself - who definitely believed in spiritual realities. I think that, in his own mind, the events of "Uncle Silas" were not merely metaphorical, but rather reflected the workings of a hidden supernatural order. But he didn't want to insist that the reader share his own beliefs, and so kept the supernaturalism implicit (though strong). The novel is all the richer and more fascinating due to the ambiguity of LeFanu's approach.

A misunderstood masterpiece (no question mark).

The black sheep of the family
Although Sheridan is most well-known for his ghost stories, this Gothic novel stays within the realms of reality while still creating a strong sense of suspense.The only problem is that the story takes too long to really progress forward.The story is told from the point of view of Maud, the niece of Uncle Silas, but there's only a small amount of significant plot involving her until she meets Uncle Silas.Once Silas actually appears (about 150 pages into the book) along with a host of other intriguing characters, the story finally starts to gain momentum.Although he is the black sheep of the Ruthyn family because of his debts and questionable past, Silas as a decrepit, old man has apparently found religion and reformed himself.However, Silas' true motives are concealed until the shocking climax, creating much suspense as the reader tries to understand his seemingly benign actions.Bartram-Haugh, Silas' house and the surrounding areas, are portrayed as such an isolated and disreputable place that its mysteries add another layer to the suspense.The closer I got to the end, the more quickly I read through this book.You just have to be patient for the plot to build up.It's unfortunate that this excellent Gothic mystery has faded away into obscurity.

Never mind the Udolpho, here's Uncle Silas
It's hard for me to believe that this book has seventeen reviews.And that it still has such a high rating.Don't get me wrong, I loved every page of it.And the endnotes are wonderful in the Penguin edition I have.I'm also a big fan of Gothic literature, so I was surprised to find myself enjoying the book as much as I did.When it comes to the genre, I'm not ashamed to admit that I fall squarely in the Monk Lewis camp-- pile on the shocks, keep upping the ante, and don't stop 'till the credits are rolling.

Uncle Silas doesn't really provide any of that.The pace is deliberate, the plot is unsurprising, and there aren't any shocks to be found.But it works.Beautifully.Why?Largely because of Le Fanu's extraordinary prose.I continually found myself re-reading passages, and still quote some of my favorites to pleasantly surprised listeners.

The beauty of Le Fanu's novel, I think, is that he managed to follow the Ann Radcliffe model of the Gothic romance-- particularly with his inspired evocations of atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere-- without the anti-climactic 'revelations' that feel more like cheats to the modern reader.Uncle Silas isn't a phantasmagoric experience a la The Monk or Melmoth the Wanderer, but it is an underappreciated classic of Gothic literature, particularly in its remarkable success at turning a rather thin plot into an extended series of beautifully realized, but never overwrought, vignettes.And given the genre's reputation for poorly written overwrought-ness, that makes it a wonderful find. ... Read more

Product Description
Included in this volume of J. Sheridan Le Fanu's eerie tales are Ghost Stories of Chapelizod, including "The Village Bully," "The Sexton's Adventure," "The Specter Lovers"; "The Drunkard's Dream"; "The Ghost and the Bonesetter"; "The Mysterious Lodger"; "Laura Silver Bell"; "Wicked Captain Walshawe, of Wauling"; "The Child That Went with the Fairies"; Stories of Lough Guir, including "The Magician Earl," "Moll Rial's Adventure," "The Banshee," "The Governess's Dream," and "The Earl's Hall"; "The Vision of Tom Chuff"; and "Dickon the Devil." ... Read more

Product Description
This volume contains two of LeFanu's stories: A Chapter in the History of the Tyrone Family (a story which may have been an inspiration for Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre) and The Murdered Cousin (the earliest "sealed room" mystery known.) Although not well known today, LeFanu was a favorite of writers like Bram Stoker and M.R. James, who considered LeFanu to be one of the best supernatural writers of the time. His prose is vivid and detailed and his horror relies on effect and mood, rather than on gore or shock value. Victorian hosts would often place a book of LeFanu's stories by their guests' bedsides, for their reading pleasure late at night. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Bibliographical details
The story "The Murdered Cousin" originally appeared under the title "Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess" in The Dublin University Magazine in 1838. The plot of this short story was later recycled for Le Fanu's novel UNCLE SILAS in 1864. The novel is better.

"A Chapter in the History of the Tyrone Family" originally appeared in the Dublin University Magazine in 1839. He later expanded this story into the novel THE WYVERN MYSTERY and Charlotte Bronte may, or may not, have used it as the foundation for JANE EYRE (1848).
... Read more

Product Description
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and had a seminal influence on the development of this genre in the Victorian era. Le Fanu studied law at Trinity College in Dublin. He soon abandoned law for journalism. In 1838 he began contributing stories to the Dublin University Magazine. He became owner of several newspapers from 1840, including the Dublin Evening Mail and the Warder. Le Fanu worked in many genres but remains best known for his mystery and horror fiction. He was a meticulous craftsman, with a penchant for frequently reworking plots and ideas from his earlier writing in subsequent pieces of writing. He specialised in tone and effect rather than "shock horror", often following a mystery format. Key to his style was the avoidance of overt supernatural effects. Among his famous works are: The House by the Church-Yard (1863), Uncle Silas (1864), Carmilla (1872), The Purcell Papers (1880), and The Evil Guest (1895). ... Read more

Product Description
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and had a seminal influence on the development of this genre in the Victorian era. Le Fanu studied law at Trinity College in Dublin. He soon abandoned law for journalism. In 1838 he began contributing stories to the Dublin University Magazine. He became owner of several newspapers from 1840, including the Dublin Evening Mail and the Warder. Le Fanu worked in many genres but remains best known for his mystery and horror fiction. He was a meticulous craftsman, with a penchant for frequently reworking plots and ideas from his earlier writing in subsequent pieces of writing. He specialised in tone and effect rather than "shock horror", often following a mystery format. Key to his style was the avoidance of overt supernatural effects. Among his famous works are: The House by the Church-Yard (1863), Uncle Silas (1864), Carmilla (1872), The Purcell Papers (1880), and The Evil Guest (1895). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A neglected master
Le Fanu was an enormously influential writer in his time. It's said that his vampire tale Carmilla inspired Bram Stoker. Later on, two of the 20th century's most heralded ghost story writers, M.R. James and Henry James, were also influenced by Le Fanu's tales.

While Le Fanu was one of the most popular writers of the Victorian era, he's not so widely read today, and most people encounter his work in ghost story anthologies, especially his most famous story, "Green Tea," a masterpiece of the genre. As this anthology demonstrates, Le Fanu's style gradually moved away from the mannered, overwrought Gothic conventions popular in his time toward a more vivid and taut style in his later work.

Le Fanu was a noted recluse who gradually withdrew from society after the death of his wife, and it's said that his work mirrored his tormented inner life. He wrote by candlelight far into the night in his gloomy Georgian house, perhaps attempting to exorcise the nightmares that kept him from sleep. Indeed, many of Le Fanu's tales have a strangely off-kilter psychological quality to them that seems to spring from a deeply morbid nature. In his work there's a shift away from the typical external Gothic terrors to internal sources of dread. He's sometimes compared to Poe, another groundbreaking writer who was a master of mood and psychological suspense.

One anecdote that is often told about Le Fanu is that throughout his life he was beset by a nightmare of being trapped a crumbling mansion on the verge of collapsing about him. When Le Fanu was found dead one February morning, his doctor remarked, "It is as I feared. The house has fallen at last." ... Read more

Product Description
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and had a seminal influence on the development of this genre in the Victorian era. Le Fanu studied law at Trinity College in Dublin. He soon abandoned law for journalism. In 1838 he began contributing stories to the Dublin University Magazine. He became owner of several newspapers from 1840, including the Dublin Evening Mail and the Warder. Le Fanu worked in many genres but remains best known for his mystery and horror fiction. He was a meticulous craftsman, with a penchant for frequently reworking plots and ideas from his earlier writing in subsequent pieces of writing. He specialised in tone and effect rather than "shock horror", often following a mystery format. Key to his style was the avoidance of overt supernatural effects. Among his famous works are: The House by the Church-Yard (1863), Uncle Silas (1864), Carmilla (1872), The Purcell Papers (1880), and The Evil Guest (1895). ... Read more

Product Description
This volume collects four ghostly tales by J. Sheridan Le Fanu: "The Mysterious Lodger," "Madam Crowl's Ghost," "Dickon the Devil," and "Sir Dominick's Bargain." ... Read more

Product Description
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and had a seminal influence on the development of this genre in the Victorian era. Le Fanu studied law at Trinity College in Dublin. He soon abandoned law for journalism. In 1838 he began contributing stories to the Dublin University Magazine. He became owner of several newspapers from 1840, including the Dublin Evening Mail and the Warder. Le Fanu worked in many genres but remains best known for his mystery and horror fiction. He was a meticulous craftsman, with a penchant for frequently reworking plots and ideas from his earlier writing in subsequent pieces of writing. He specialised in tone and effect rather than "shock horror", often following a mystery format. Key to his style was the avoidance of overt supernatural effects. Among his famous works are: The House by the Church-Yard (1863), Uncle Silas (1864), Carmilla (1872), The Purcell Papers (1880), and The Evil Guest (1895). ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

House by the Churchyard
Another classic from the foremost Irish author of horror, Sheridan Le Fanu.Good turnaround.

Farce meets gothic trappings in small Irish town
I bought this book expecting it to be full of gothic and mystery elements, having read other LeFanu.

I have read LeFanu's ghost stories, and the novels "Uncle Silas," and "Wylder's Hand.""Uncle Silas" is a suspense classic."Wylder's Hand" is less of a page-turner, but has interesting characters in the mystery.Think of Dicken's "Mystery of Edwin Drood" with Wilkie Collins's dominant female characters.

"House by the Churchyard" starts with graves, re-opened crypts, and mystery.LeFanu promptly drops it to pile farce upon farce.

Much of the book relates how the residents of this small town wage "war" on each other, similar to "Lucia and Mapp."Set in the 1700s, in a small town near Dublin, featuring officers in the local regiment, the book brings high and low characters together.

There is a wealthy spinster whose charities are ill-considered.There is a mysterious stranger who has moved to town, who is surrounded by further shadows.Chapter 11 is frequently taken and printed as a ghost story--in the context of the book, the story is an extended example of how servants chatter.

We have lovers, competing small-town doctors, fortune-hunters, nubile and not-so-nubile heiresses, a professional blackmailer, debtors, rapscallions, timid lovers, a priest, an unworldly pastor, an amateur blackmailer, and some nice rabbitty little wives who are under the thumbs of their "lord and master" husbands. There is a hilarious duel-gone-wrong and drowning that never really happens.

The introduction suggests that LeFanu wrote "House by the Churchyard" out of nostalgia for the town he lived in as a youth.I think that this book is better characterized as English humor, a la "Three Men in a Boat," than as English horror.It is very readable.

I'm about half-way through, and I have found that the humor/horror ratio is about 80/20.I suppose there are still plenty of chapters in which to pack his murder mysteries towards the end.

"House by the Churchyard"--It's a wild read, for fans of Dickens, Collins, even "Lucia" novels.

one of the gretest horor story writers ever
hello,
as one other great writer M. R. James wrote of
joseph sheridan le fanu he stands absolutely in first rank as a writer of ghost storys I share that same verdict after reading many of his storys
this book had some very god storys in it I recommend it to those that like ghost storys and like to be scared where when you are home all alone it is late at night and as you read the ghost storys you get cold chills that run through your body as you begin to think what was that bump, or creakthat came from don the hall as you shiver continuing to ead the story and wonder if something is comming toward u :)

enjoy the book and get more from this author and wilkie collins andedgar allen poe ... Read more

Product Description
J. Sheridan Le Fanu's classic tale of vampirism and lesbianism, first published in 1871, is presented in a new Postern Press edition thatincludes Le Fanu's story "Green Tea."Says Max Gersh in his Introduction:"Put this elegant tale against Bram Stoker's better known, and far wordier, vampire fantasy, and by several measures Stoker runs second. In its overt sexuality, Carmilla is more modern than its successor, which buried unchaste thoughts under carpets of Victorian high-mindedness. Lovely Carmilla is neither chaste nor well-behaved." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Love will have its sacrifices. No sacrifice without blood
The vampire has always been used to convey sexuality -- and one of the earliest ones, the title character of "Carmilla," is no exception. Years before Bram Stoker ever dreamed of Dracula. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu wove together a luscious, haunting gothic mystery that centers around a lovely, immortal young woman with a taste for blood.

When a mysterious carriage crashes at their schloss, Laura's father offers to take care of a young lady named Carmilla, who has been stunned by the collision. Laura herself is struck by how similar the girl looks to a strange figure that visited her as a child -- and Carmilla claims that they've had some sort of mutual vision of one another.

Even more striking, Carmilla immediately becomes VERY attached to Laura ("You are mine, you shall be mine, you and I are one for ever"), and Laura is strangely entranced by Carmilla's speech.

As the days go by, Laura is increasingly bespelled by Carmilla, despite the young woman's strange behavior (and her weird resemblance to an ancient painting in the schloss, of a woman named Mircalla -- get it?), and is becoming increasingly ill and nervous. But when they visit an old friend, he reveals the shocking truth about Carmilla's true nature... and what she will do to Laura.

"Carmilla" is a true gothic novel in the best sense of the word -- a lushly-written little novella filled with ruined palaces, abandoned villages, moonlight and blood. And Le Fanu injects a not-so-subtle lesbian subtext into the story, since Carmilla seems to be as infatuated with Laura as she is hungry for her blood. Lots of kisses, adoring speeches, and Carmilla constantly creeping into Laura's bedroom.

And Le Fanu's writing is utterly exquisite. He swathes this eerie little story in a ghostly wrap of lush writing ("Over the sward and low grounds a thin film of mist was stealing like smoke, marking the distances with a transparent veil") and some deeply creepy moments, such as Laura waking to see Carmilla covered in blood.

Le Fanu also sketches out his characters quickly and effectively, despite the novella's brevity. Laura is a sweet ordinary girl who seems both weirded out and entranced by Carmilla, and Carmilla herself is a larger-than-life character -- sensual, obsessive, vibrantly erotic and extremely creepy, except when she goes off on crazy rants about how much she hates hymns and funerals.

Stoker brought the vampire into the limelight, but "Carmilla" seductively introduced the vampire's eerie allure long before that. Luscious and eerie. ... Read more

Product Description
Contains the following stories: Dickon the devil -- A debt of honor -- Devereux's dream -- Catherine's quest -- Haunted -- Pichon and sons, of the Croix Rousse -- The phantom fourth -- The spirit's whisper -- Dr. Feversham's story -- The secret of the two plaster casts -- What was it? ... Read more

Product Description
I was looking towards the stair-head. The passage was empty and ended in utter darkness. I glanced the other way, and thought I saw--though not distinctly--in the distance a white figure, not gliding in the conventional way, but limping off, with a sort of jerky motion, and, in a second or two, quite lost in darkness. ... Read more