But, the general’s niece falls ill and dies. She’s been eagerly looking forward to a visit from a friend of her father’s, General Spielsdorf, because he has a niece her own age. Hesselius, Le Fanu’s “occult detective.” It is told from the perspective of a teenaged girl named Laura, who lives in a castle in Styria. It is not a tool that just anybody can pick up and use effortlessly but it requires the careful touch of a master. Le Fanu was such a master, and that is why his works deserve to be read.Ĭarmilla purports to be from the casebook of Dr. I admire this style, and I too, in my own horror writing, tried to “leave important details unexplained and mysterious.” But of course, I was only a foolish apprentice and so the effect was to leave readers confused and disappointed. He avoided overt supernatural effects: in most of his major works, the supernatural is strongly implied but a “natural” explanation is also possible.”Īh, one of my own authorial dreams is that someday the same might be said of my works. “He specialised in tone and effect rather than “shock horror” and liked to leave important details unexplained and mysterious. So allow me to quote from a theoretically neutral source, Wikipedia, describing his works: Le Fanu wrote the first short story that truly scared me, “Green Tea.” To this day I can’t hear the words “green tea” without thinking of it. It is my personal belief that this is to the great detriment of the world of horror fiction, and to restore the field to health, we should recognize his contribution to it. Before I talk about Carmilla, I must first introduce you to its author, J.
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