INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTIONHorror is a genre of speculative fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle its readers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. It shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing. It creates an eerie and frightening atmosphere. Horror is frequently supernatural, though it might also be non-supernatural. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for the larger fears of a society. This book is a special collection of best horror novels of all time. Plunge into this frightening atmosphere in order to release your fear. Here they are : CARMILLA by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu CURIOUS, IF TRUE: STRANGE TALES by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell DRACULA by Bram Stoker FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE by Robert Louis Stevenson THE BURIAL OF THE RATS by Bram Stoker THE DUNWICH HORROR by Howard Phillips Lovecraft THE EMPTY HOUSE AND OTHER GHOST STORIES by Algernon Blackwood THE GREAT GOD PAN by Arthur Machen THE HOUSE OF THE VAMPIRE by George Sylvester Viereck THE KING IN YELLOW by Robert William Chambers THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW by Washington Irving THE MAGICIAN by W. Somerset Maugham THE METAMORPHOSIS by Franz Kafka THE NIGHT LAND by William Hope Hodgson THE RAVEN by Edgar Allan Poe THE SHADOW OUT OF TIME by Howard Phillips Lovecraft THE TELL-TALE HEART by Edgar Allan Poe THE VAMPIRE MAID by Hume Nisbet THE YELLOW WALLPAPER by Charlotte Perkins Gilman A well-formatted, easy-to-read book suitable for any e-reader, tablet or computer. The reader will go from one section to another one as quick as possible. Enjoy your reading! CARMILLA by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu About Le Fanu Sheridan Le Fanu was born at No. 45 Lower Dominick Steet, Dublin, into a literary family of Huguenot origins. Both his grandmother Alicia Sheridan Le Fanu and his great-uncle Richard Brinsley Sheridan were playwrights. His niece Rhoda Broughton would become a very successful novelist. Within a year of his birth his family moved to the Royal Hibernian Military School in Phoenix Park, where his father, an Anglican clergyman, was the chaplain of the establishment. Phoenix Park and the adjacent village and parish church of Chapelizod were to feature in Le Fanu's later stories. Le Fanu studied law at Trinity College in Dublin, where he was elected Auditor of the College Historical Society. He was called to the bar in 1839, but he never practised and soon abandoned law for journalism. In 1838 he began contributing stories to the Dublin University Magazine, including his first ghost story, entitled "A Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter" (1839). He became owner of several newspapers from 1840, including the Dublin Evening Mail and the Warder. In 1844 Le Fanu married Susanna Bennett, the daughter of a leading Dublin barrister. In 1847 he supported John Mitchell and Thomas Meagher in their campaign against the indifference of the Government to the Irish Famine. His support cost him the nomination as Tory MP for County Carlow in 1852. His personal life also became difficult at this time, as his wife Susanna suffered from increasing neurotic symptoms. She died in 1858 in unclear circumstances, and anguished excerpts from Le Fanu's diaries suggest that he felt guilt as well as loss. However, it was only after her death that, becoming something of a recluse, he devoted himself full time to writing. In 1861 he became the editor and proprietor of the Dublin University Magazine and he began exploiting double exposure: serializing in the Dublin University Magazine and then revising for the English market. The House by the Churchyard and Wylder's Hand were both published in this way. After the lukewarm reviews of the former novel, set in the Phoenix Park area of Dublin, Le Fanu signed a contract with Richard Bentley, his London publisher, which specified that future novels be stories "of an English subject and of modern times", a step Bentley thought necessary in order for Le Fanu to satisfy the English audience. Le Fanu succeeded in this aim in 1864, with the publication of Uncle Silas, which he set in Derbyshire. In his very last short stories, however, Le Fanu returned to Irish folklore as an inspiration and encouraged his friend Patrick Kennedy to contribute folklore to the D.U.M. Le Fanu died in his native Dublin on February 7, 1873. Today there is a road in Ballyfermot, near his childhood home in south-west Dublin, named after him.
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