Squire Toby's Will
2020
First Published
3.28
Average Rating
46
Number of Pages
“In an unforgiving universe, innocence is no protection against the dead.”“SQUIRE TOBY’S WILL” by J.S. Le Fanu is a full-frontal assault against man’s sunlit world of reason. This masterful ghost story by one of the genre’s most important (yet unjustly forgotten) practitioners, reveals the awful spectral malignancy lurking just beneath our flimsy dogmas of logic and faith. In Le Fanu’s guilt and shadow-stained world, nothing is what it seems and the most innocent of choices invite supernatural vengeance.Acknowledged as the greatest writer of supernatural fiction in the 19th century, Le Fanu was a proven influence on none other than M.R. James. Critic Jack Sullivan called him “one of the most important and innovative figures in the development of the ghost story.”Published over one hundred years ago, this terrifying tale has lost none of its ability to frighten, astound, and shock. The chills operate on various levels, from the physical and emotional to the spiritual. Le Fanu creates a sinister, sneaking sense of almost palpable menace with chilling descriptions and an unequaled power of suggestion. As important to the development of modern supernatural fiction as Poe, Le Fanu invested folklore-inspired horror with a psychological realism never before seen in the genre.Volume 18 of Shadow House Publishing’s Penny Dread!fuls series, “SQUIRE TOBY’S WILL” is a forgotten pinnacle of weird fiction that deserves resurrection. It stands alongside the author’s Uncle Silas and Carmilla as a hallmark of horror literature.PENNY DREAD!FULS VOLUME EIGHTEENTABLE OF Penny Dread!fulsIntroduction“Squire Toby’s Will”Author Biography __________PENNY DREAD!“Horror 200 years in the making.” PENNY DREAD!FULS are an homage to—and reimagining of – the supernatural, horror, and weird fiction that thrilled Victorians. Detested by the elite and celebrated by the working class, “Penny Dreadfuls” were subversive and thrilling, bridging gothic with modern fiction. This e-book series combines supernatural and weird fiction classics with surprising rarities. Many stories rarely or never reprinted make their e-book debut here. We preserve various horror, from gothic to dark fantasy, from ghost stories to weird fiction. From macabre masters to neglected female authors, we have something for everyone. Bram Stoker, Arthur Machen, and H.P. Lovecraft stand alongside Aleister Crowley, Elizabeth Braddon, and E. Nesbit. Each Penny Dread!ful offers a quick jolt of terror. And each is only 99¢!“BRING THE HORROR HOME!” __________SHADOW HOUSE PUBLISHING “OPEN THE DOOR…TO A WORLD OF TERROR AND AWE!” Shadow House Publishing unearths both classic and rare supernatural, horror, and weird fiction for modern readers. We offer authoritative special edition novels, collections, and anthologies in affordable kindle e-book and trade paperback editions. Our titles range from traditional gothic and Victorian supernatural fiction to cosmic horror and weird literature.
Avg Rating
3.28
Number of Ratings
81
5 STARS
10%
4 STARS
31%
3 STARS
41%
2 STARS
15%
1 STARS
4%
goodreads
Author
J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Author · 68 books
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. M.R. James described Le Fanu as "absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories". Three of his best-known works are Uncle Silas, Carmilla and The House by the Churchyard.
