Carmilla - Paperback

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was a pioneer of Victorian ghost stories and Gothic fiction. His most famous works centered women and explored cultural taboos of sexuality, gender non-normativity, and mental illness, His life ended in 1873, when he supposedly "died of fright," his death seeming to take after the stories he wrote. A master of craft, his stories continue to haunt audiences generations later. Rosemary Valero-O'Connell is a cartoonist and illustrator born in Minneapolis, raised in Zaragoza, and currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. She received her BFA in Comic Art from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2016, and has been making comics full time ever since. Her work has received two Eisner awards, four Ignatz awards, a Harvey, a Prism, a Society of Illustrators Gold Medal, and a Printz Honor.Poppy Z. Brite is the longtime pen name of Billy Martin. Since beginning his career in the small-press magazine The Horror Show in 1985, he has published eight novels including Lost Souls, Exquisite Corpse, and the Liquor series, as well as several short story collections and assorted nonfiction work. Brite is also the editor of the erotic horror anthologies Love in Vein and Love in Vein 2. He lives in New Orleans with his husband, the artist Grey Cross, and their cats.

J. Sheridan Le Fanu has been said to be the father of the English ghost story, and is arguably one of the most important writers in modern history. The story contained in this volume was a major source of inspiration for Bram Stoker, who later wrote Dracula. Carmilla (our heroine), was the progenitor of the vampire romance movement. Without Carmilla there would be no sensual or alluring vampires. Legend, and recorded history, had vampires to be foul creatures with horrid smells emanating from them, bloated bodies saturated with blood, and grotesque nails of sometimes extraordinary length. Carmilla changed all of that, and she has the honor of being the earliest example of a vampire story in English literature. J. Sheridan Le Fanu penned more than a dozen novels over his lifetime, including his famous The House by the Churchyard, and Uncle Silas: a Tale of Bartram Haugh, in addition to writing numerous short stories, articles, and other works. But to this day, unknown to most of the public, Carmilla still casts a long shadow, as all modern vampires owe her a great debt of gratitude, one she will extract one day. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu died in Dublin on the 7th of February 1873. Carmilla lives on, whispering her secrets in the occasional ear. It is from these whisperings that this volume was born.