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GOTHIC NOVELS & NOVELLAS
MACABRE MASTERS BEST STORIES BY AUTHOR
STORY SUMMARIES & ANALYSES HORROR FICTION TROPES
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E. F. BENSON AMBROSE BIERCE ALGERNON BLACKWOOD RHODA BROUGHTON
ROBERT W. CHAMBERS F. MARION CRAWFORD GUY DE MAUPASSANT CHARLES DICKENS
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE LORD DUNSANY AMELIA B. EDWARDS ELIZABETH GASKELL
WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON E. T. A. HOFFMANN WASHINGTON IRVING W. W. JACOBS
HENRY JAMES M. R. JAMES RUDYARD KIPLING J. SHERIDAN LE FANU GASTON LEROUX
H. P. LOVECRAFT ARTHUR MACHEN EDITH NESBIT FITZ-JAMES O'BRIEN
MARGARET OLIPHANT OLIVER ONIONS EDGAR ALLAN POE
MARY SHELLEY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON BRAM STOKER
H. G. WELLS EDITH WHARTON OSCAR WILDE


Reviewing: Barry Maher's The Great Dick and the Dysfunctional Demon
It’s 1982. The narrator, Steve Witowski (an alias), is a failed songwriter and fugitive, already trying to escape his past. One night he intervenes to save a woman named Victoria from a brutal assault by a seemingly unstoppable attacker. Rather than moving on, Steve becomes entangled with Victoria, who has just purchased a dilapidated church with a dark, haunting past. As Steve stays on to help with the renovation and the mysteries of the place, he discovers that Victoria--an
Michael Kellermeyer
Nov 7, 2025


The 10 Best Film Adaptations of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: A Definitive Analysis
This post has been an extremely long time in coming. As I've mentioned in many previous articles, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is both my favorite story and the high-mark of my personal, literary expertise. Washington Irving has his own designated bookshelf in my living room (not including my collection of illustrated "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" editions), I was accepted into grad school based on the strength of a 20-page essay on Freudian subtexts in "Rip Van Winkle," and Irv
Michael Kellermeyer
Oct 25, 2025


Robert Louis Stevenson's The Bottle Imp: A Detailed Summary and Literary Analysis
Even outside of supernatural fiction circles, “The Bottle Imp” is among Stevenson’s most celebrated short stories. Its reputation stands alongside other perennial classics of the short form—Jacobs’ “The Monkey’s Paw,” Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker,” Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” London’s “To Build a Fire,” and O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi.” Like these tales, Stevenson’s story is remembered for its taut suspense, ironic reversals, and unforgettable emo
Michael Kellermeyer
Oct 14, 2025


Robert Louis Stevenson's Markheim: A Detailed Summary and a Literary Analysis
“ Markheim ” stands among Stevenson’s most psychologically intricate tales, fusing the moral unease of the Victorian conscience with the...
Michael Kellermeyer
Oct 9, 2025


Revisiting the Shadows: Major Update on Our Annotated Anthologies - & a Free Gift for You!
This year, behind the scenes at Oldstyle Tales Press, we’ve been quietly undertaking one of the most ambitious projects in our publishing...
Michael Kellermeyer
Sep 30, 2025


Henry James' The Third Person: A Detailed Summary and Literary Analysis
Henry James’ ghost stories are almost always elegant and stately, wrapped in psychological tension and emotional complexity, and bereft...
Michael Kellermeyer
Sep 24, 2025


Henry James' The Way it Came (or, The Friend of the Friends): A Detailed Summary & Literary Analysis
Just months before he wrote The Turn of the Screw , Henry James penned its literary predecessor, a short story called “The Way it Came,”...
Michael Kellermeyer
Sep 13, 2025


M. R. James' The Mezzotint: A Detailed Summary & Literary Analysis
One of James’ favorite horror motifs was the object which had the power to influence the perception of its owner – literally. The subject...
Michael Kellermeyer
Sep 12, 2025


Henry James' Sir Edmund Orme: A Detailed Summary & Literary Analysis
For fifteen years after “The Ghostly Rental” (1876), Henry James placed himself under a self-imposed moratorium on supernatural fiction....
Michael Kellermeyer
Sep 12, 2025


H. P. Lovecraft / Sonia Haft Greene's The Horror at Martin's Beach: A Detailed Summary & Literary Analysis
Sonia Haft Greene was a widowed Ukrainian Jewish immigrant who had survived a childhood hounded by antisemitism, her father’s death, her...
Michael Kellermeyer
Sep 1, 2025


W. W. Jacobs' Three at Table: A Detailed Summary and Literary Analysis
Jacobs was never one for a conventional ghost story. His horror tales are often marked by unexpected irony, chicanery, and twists. His...
Michael Kellermeyer
Aug 21, 2025


W. W. Jacobs' In the Library: A Detailed Summary and Literary Analysis
Edgar Allan Poe’s influence on W. W. Jacobs is unmistakable and surfaces repeatedly throughout Jacobs’ body of work. Poe’s tales such as...
Michael Kellermeyer
Aug 14, 2025


W. W. Jacobs' His Brother's Keeper: A Detailed Summary and Literary Analysis
Jacobs’ penultimate horror tale belongs firmly to the esteemed tradition of the nervous homicide —a genre in which he had already shown a...
Michael Kellermeyer
Aug 12, 2025


Reviewing: Alan Golbourn's The Last Breath Before Death
In a genre long haunted by glittering immortals and emotionally tormented antiheroes, The Last Breath Before Death feels like a jolt...
Michael Kellermeyer
Aug 10, 2025


W. F. Harvey's August Heat: A Detailed Summary and Literary Analysis
W. F. Harvey's "August Heat" is a compact yet chilling entry in the tradition of Edwardian supernatural fiction, notable for its uncanny...
Michael Kellermeyer
Aug 1, 2025


J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Laura Silver Bell: A Detailed Summary and Literary Analysis
"Laura Silver Bell" artfully fuses the folkloric DNA of two of Le Fanu’s most haunting stories: "The Child that Went with the Fairies"...
Michael Kellermeyer
Jun 19, 2025


J. Sheridan Le Fanu's The Child that Went with the Fairies: A Detailed Summary and Literary Analysis
Le Fanu’s ghost stories—like “Schalken the Painter”, “Green Tea,” and “Mr. Justice Harbottle”—are often seen as distinct from his...
Michael Kellermeyer
Jun 18, 2025


J. Sheridan Le Fanu's The Ghost of a Hand (aka Ghost Stories of the Tiled House): A Detailed Summary and Literary Analysis
Excerpted from one of Le Fanu’s most renowned novels, The House by the Churchyard , the following two episodes relate a series of strange...
Michael Kellermeyer
Jun 16, 2025


J. Sheridan Le Fanu's The Sexton's Adventure: A Detailed Summary and Literary Analysis
“Ghost Stories of Chapelizod” is one of several small cameo collections of ghost legends that Le Fanu published during his life. The...
Michael Kellermeyer
Jun 16, 2025


J. Sheridan Le Fanu's A Drunkard's Dream: A Detailed Summary and Literary Analysis
“A Drunkard’s Dream” is a phenomenal if unorthodox place to start a survey of Le Fanu’s supernatural tales, not only because it is among...
Michael Kellermeyer
Jun 16, 2025


Arthur Machen's The Inmost Light: A Detailed Summary and Literary Analysis
It was incumbent upon most Victorian supernaturalists to – sooner or later – create an occult detective who merged the qualities of Poe’s...
Michael Kellermeyer
May 22, 2025


Arthur Machen's The Shining Pyramid: A Detailed Summary and Literary Analysis
Dyson, a recurring character in Arthur Machen’s stories such as The Shining Pyramid and The Red Hand , stands as an unusual and...
Michael Kellermeyer
May 14, 2025


Arthur Machen's Out of the Earth: A Detailed Summary and Literary Analysis
Written just after the apex of his astonishingly popular “The Bowmen” – at a time when it was now being passionately cited as a true...
Michael Kellermeyer
May 1, 2025


Our Classic Horror Blog Ranked #2 by Feedspot
Dear Reader, Last night I was pleased to get an email from the editors at Feedspot.com informing me that Oldstyle Tales’ Classic Horror...
Michael Kellermeyer
Mar 26, 2025
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