Dracula
by Bram Stoker
Dracula is a horror novel by Bram Stoker, narrated in first person diary entries and letters, telling the story of an encounter with Count Dracula.
Horror
Horror is fiction that involves a sinister atmosphere and supernatural characters and settings. It includes stories of witches, vampires, and monsters.
Books
Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus
by Mary Shelley
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus was first published in London, England in 1818. It contains elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement. It was also a warning against the “over-reaching” of modern man and the Industrial Revolution. The story has had an influence across literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories and films. It is often considered the first science fiction novel.
The Picture of Dorian Gray
by Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a suspense novel by Oscar Wilde, narrating the tale of Dorian Gray, and his mysterious life.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a suspense novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating the tale of Dr. Jekyll, and his menacing alter ego Mr. Hyde.
The Vampyre
by John Polidori
The Vampyre is a short novel written by John William Polidori and is a progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of fantasy fiction.
The Vampyre was first published on April 1, 1819, by Colburn in the New Monthly Magazine with the false attribution “A Tale by Lord Byron.” The name of the work’s protagonist, “Lord Ruthven”, added to this assumption, for that name was originally used in Lady Caroline Lamb’s novel Glenarvon, in which a thinly-disguised Byron figure was also named Lord Ruthven. Despite repeated denials by Byron and Polidori, the authorship often went unclarified.
The novel was an immediate popular success, partly because of the Byron attribution and partly because it exploited the gothic horror predilections of the public. Polidori transformed the vampire from a character in folklore into the form we recognize today—an aristocratic fiend who preys among high society.
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe
by Edgar Allan Poe
This book collects some of the finest short stories, poems, and essays from the masterful American writer Edgar Allan Poe.
Passages
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
American Short Fiction
by Washington Irving
A superstitious schoolteacher comes to a mysterious end in the isolated glen of Sleepy Hollow.
Melmoth the Wanderer
Melmoth the Wanderer
by Charles Robert Maturin
The central character, John Melmoth, is a scholar who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for 150 extra years of life and spends that time searching for someone who will take over the pact for him; the novel actually takes place in the present, but this backstory is revealed through several nested stories-within-a-story that work backwards through time (usually through the Gothic trope of old books).