Gothic Fiction
The Old Ladies
“Quite a number of years ago there was an old rickety building on the rock above Seatown in Polchester, and it was one of a number in an old…
Masterpieces of Mystery
'The Listener'First, it was a strange array of cats, then an increasingly mysterious, and then terrifying increase in...happenstances and...…
Manfred
Manfred is a dramatic poem in three acts by Lord Byron, and possibly a self confessional work. A noble, Manfred, is haunted by the memory of…
Hans of Iceland
Hans of Iceland was written in 1821 and is the very first novel written by young Victor, years before he became the great Hugo. It has all t…
The Magician
The Magician is a novel by British author W. Somerset Maugham, originally published in 1908. In this tale, the magician Oliver Haddo, a cari…
Dead Love Has Chains
We see another facet of Mary Elizabeth Braddon's amazing talent in Dead Love Has Chains, written in her seventies. Focusing on character and…
Sinister House
What is it about that old house down the road that bothers Pierre and his wife Annette so much? The owners, Eric and Julia, seem like nice p…
The Canterville Ghost
A modern American family move into a traditionally drafty and very haunted English mansion. So far so good but anyone knowing Wilde can expe…
Frankenstein
This is a classic (gothic) horror story, and one of the earliest examples of science fiction. The main characters are Dr. Frankenstein and h…
They Return at Evening
The Author of The Ghost Stories of an Antiquary in the preface to one of his books expressed his lively distaste for benevolent ghosts, and …
The Landlady
Everything changed when Ordynov, a secluded young thinker, stepped out of his old lodgings in search of another corner. The ailing landlord …
The Lady of the Shroud
As the title suggests, this work does flirt with the supernatural. Yet it is essentially a political novel—a utopian experiment in a fictiti…
Short Stories
In 1859 Charles Dickens launched a new weekly journal, All the Year Round, to replace Household Words. Elizabeth Gaskell remained a prolific…
Northanger Abbey
Northanger Abbey is a hilarious parody of 18th century gothic novels. The heroine, 17-year old Catherine, has been reading far too many “hor…
Fifty-one Tales
A multitude of very short stories populated with things that lurk in the dark corners of human imagination. Wonderfully crafted and sometime…
The Necromancers
Following the death of his fiancée, Laurie Baxter becomes consumed by an obsession with the supernatural. Attempting to reach his dec…
Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf
Wagner is a poor, lonely old shepherd living on the edge of the Black Forest. In a devil's pact he gains youth and wealth for the price of t…
Tales and Stories
While Mary Shelley will most likely always be known for her enduring classic of mad science Frankenstein, this collection intends to show th…
St Andrews Ghost Stories
Seventeen ghost stories (fourth edition published 1921) centered around the ruined medieval cathedral of Saint Andrew in the Scots city of t…
Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre is a profound exploration of a young woman's journey toward self-discovery and independence. Set in 19th-century England, the nove…