Short Fiction
by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
A collection of J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s short fiction, including some of his famous ghost stories, gothic horror and sensation.
128 chapters · 362,127 words · about 26 hours
Contents
About this book
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.”
About this edition
This edition comes from Standard Ebooks, whose volunteers carefully proofread public-domain books and give their own work to the public domain too. The book is in the public domain in the US, and wherever copyright ends 70 years after its author’s death, so you’re free to read, copy and share it.
The cover is adapted from Still Life with Glass and Porcelain Bowl, a painting completed in 1662 by Willem Kalf.