Christmas After Dark - 36 Holiday Ghost Stories & Supernatural Thrillers

Christmas After Dark - 36 Holiday Ghost Stories & Supernatural Thrillers

by Charles DickensRobert Louis Stevenson Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and others
Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date: 13/12/2023

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'Christmas After Dark - 36 Holiday Ghost Stories & Supernatural Thrillers' offers a riveting exploration into the eerie and spectral facets of the Christmas season, presenting an anthology that spans a vast array of literary styles and eras. From the gothic to the bizarre, this collection showcases the remarkable diversity and significance of ghostly narratives that have been intertwined with Christmas traditions, inserting a chilling contrast to the season's warmth and joy. Standout pieces convey a deep psychological depth, deft use of suspense, and a keen reflection on the human condition, making this collection an extraordinary compendium of the supernatural tradition in literature. The authors contributing to this anthology, including luminaries like Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle, and lesser-known yet influential figures like Florence Marryat and Catherine Crowe, bring a rich tapestry of backgrounds, enriching the collection's theme with their unique cultural and historical positions. Their collective efforts highlight the profound impact of the Victorian fascination with the supernatural and its lasting influence on subsequent literary movements. The inclusion of varying perspectives and narrative techniques serves to illuminate the multifaceted relationship between the Yuletide season and the supernatural, offering a comprehensive view of the evolution of ghost stories in English literature. This anthology is recommended for readers looking to delve into the darker, more mysterious aspects of the holiday season, presenting a unique opportunity to engage with a multiplicity of voices and themes. 'Christmas After Dark' promises an enriching exploration of the intersections between holiday cheer and ghostly dread, making it a perfect selection for those interested in the educational value of literary history, the breadth of insights into human nature, and the evocative dialogue fostered between these captivating stories. The collection stands as a testament to the enduring allure of the Christmas ghost story, inviting readers to partake in a literary tradition that both haunts and fascinates.

ISBN:
8596547752066
8596547752066
Category:
Short stories
Format:
Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date:
13-12-2023
Language:
English
Publisher:
DigiCat
Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and became the most popular novelist of the Victorian era.

A prolific writer, he published more than a dozen novels in his lifetime, including Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and Hard Times, most of which have been adapted many times over for radio, stage and screen.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied law but preferred writing and in 1881 was inspired by his stepson to write Treasure Island.

Other famous adventure stories followed including Kidnapped, as well as the famous collection of poems for children, A Child's Garden of Verses. Robert Louis Stevenson is buried on the island of Samoa.

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer of gothic tales, mystery novels and ghost stories, most famous for his novel Uncle Silas. Carmilla was first published in 1872 and has served as an inspiration countless books, from Bram Stoker's Dracula and Henry James' The Turn of the Screw to Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, and a slew of films such as Hammer Horror's Karnstein Trilogy.

Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859 and died in 1930. Within those years was crowded a variety of activity and creative work that made him an international figure and inspired the French to give him the epithet 'the good giant'.

He was the nephew of 'Dickie Doyle' the artist, and was educated at Stonyhurst, and later studied medicine at Edinburgh University, where the methods of diagnosis of one of the professors provided the idea for the methods of deduction used by Sherlock Holmes. He set up as a doctor at Southsea and it was while waiting for patients that he began to write.

His growing success as an author enabled him to give up his practice and turn his attention to other subjects. His greatest achievement was, of course, his creation of Sherlock Holmes, who soon attained international status and constantly distracted him from his other work; at one time Conan Doyle killed him but was obliged by public protest to restore him to life.

And in his creation of Dr Watson, Holmes's companion in adventure and chronicler, Conan Doyle produced not only a perfect foil for Holmes but also one of the most famous narrators in fiction.

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy was born in Dorset in 1840. His first published novel was Desperate Remedies in 1871. Such was the success of these early works, which included A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873) and Far From the Madding Crowd (1874), that he gave up his work as an architect to concentrate on his writing.

However, he had difficulty publishing Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1889) and was forced to make changes in order for it to be judged suitable for family readers. This, coupled with the stormy reaction to the negative tone of Jude the Obscure (1895), prompted Hardy to abandon writing novels altogether and he concentrated on poetry for the rest of his life. He died in January 1928.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, where he wrote the bulk of his masterful tales of American colonial history.

His career as a novelist began with The Scarlet Letter (1850) and also includes The house of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, and The Marble Faun.

Saki

Hector Hugh Munro (1870 1916) was a British author best known by his pen name Saki.

Although he wrote two novels and several political sketches most notably The Westminster Alice, a parody authorized by Carroll's publishers it is his large output of satirical short stories for which he is remembered, and is still considered one of the masters of the genre.

J. M. Barrie

J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) was fascinated by stories of his mother's life. He was determined to write, and worked on the Nottingham Journal after graduating from Edinburgh University.

In 1885 he successfully sold the Auld Licht Idylls, which were based on his mother's tales. By the time Peter Pan opened on the London stage in 1904, Barrie had written more than thirty novels and plays, such as Quality Street and The Admirable Crichton. He was created a baronet in 1913 and awarded the Order of Merit in 1922.

Jerome K. Jerome

An English writer and humorist, Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) wrote a range of plays, essays and novels during his lifetime and is best known for the classic comic work Three Men in a Boat

M. R. James

Montague Rhodes James was born on 1 August 1862 near Bury St Edmunds, though he spent long periods of his later life in Suffolk, which provided the setting for many of his ghost stories. He studied at Eton and Kings College, Cambridge, where he was eventually elected Fellow, and then made Provost in 1905. In 1918 he became Provost of Eton.

He was a renowed medievalist and biblical scholar, and published works on palaeography, antiquarianism, bibliography and history, guides to Suffolk and Norfolk, as well as editing a collection of ghost stories by Sheridan Le Fanu.

However, he remains best known for his own ghost stories, which were published in several collections including Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), A Thin Ghost and Other Stories (1919), A Warning to the Curious (1925) and a collected edition in 1931. M. R. James never married and died on 12 June 1936.

Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915) has been called the 'Queen of Sensation' for her exceedingly popular sensational novels, including Lady Audley's Secret.

She also wrote plays; contributed essays, short stories and poems to Punch and The World; and edited two literary magazines, Temple Bar and Belgravia.

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