In a Glass Darkly

"In a Glass Darkly" collects together five short stories from gothic horror and mystery writer Sheridan Le Fanu. The book, published in 1872 a year before Le Fanu's death, is named from a passage in Corinthians which speaks of humankind perceiving the world "through a glass darkly." The stories are told from the posthumous writings of an occult detective named Dr Martin Hesselius. In "Green Tea" a clergyman is being driven mad by an evil demon that takes the ephemeral form of a monkey, but is unseen by others as it burdens the victim's mind with psychological torment. In "The Familiar," revised from Le Fanu's "The Watcher" of 1851, a sea captain is stalked by a dwarf, "The Watcher." Is this strange character from captain's past? In "Mr Justice Harbottle" a merciless court judge is attacked by vengeful spirits, dreaming he is sentenced to death by a horrific version of himself. The story was revised from 1853's "An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street." In "The Room in the Dragon Volant," a notable mystery which includes a premature burial theme, an innocent young Englishman in France tries to rescue a mysterious countess from her unbearable situation. Lastly, "Carmilla" tells the tale of a lesbian vampire. It was a huge influence on Bram Stoker's writing of Dracula and the basis for the films "Vampyr" in 1932 and "The Vampire Lovers" in 1970.