"Only the past could own her heart, only the dead could quench her desire." SHADOW HOUSE PUBLISHING presents the most terrifying love story ever told...a novel of death, desire, and damnation by a 19th century macabre feminist and supernatural fiction legend... A PHANTOM LOVER: A FANTASY or OKE OF OKEHURST , by VERNON LEE , is a novel of sin, sensuality, and the supernatural. This horrific romance of evil from the tragic past returns to haunt a new generation. In this authoritative (and affordable) special edition ...
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"Only the past could own her heart, only the dead could quench her desire." SHADOW HOUSE PUBLISHING presents the most terrifying love story ever told...a novel of death, desire, and damnation by a 19th century macabre feminist and supernatural fiction legend... A PHANTOM LOVER: A FANTASY or OKE OF OKEHURST , by VERNON LEE , is a novel of sin, sensuality, and the supernatural. This horrific romance of evil from the tragic past returns to haunt a new generation. In this authoritative (and affordable) special edition, Lee's use of psychological terror, obsession, and ambiguity is as refined as Henry James and captures the sublime beauty of gothic horror. Vernon Lee (pseudonym for Violet Paget) was a femme fatale of the Decadent aesthetic movement, a lesbian art critic who revealed the subversive nature of reality and the malignant power of history with scathing social criticism. This novella is her most powerful achievement. A loving but ineffectual husband, a narcissistic wife who taunts him with the dead, and a lost spirit form the weirdest love triangle in literature. Alice Oke is selfish, self-indulgent, and fancies herself the reincarnation of a tragic ancestress who murdered her paramour. Is Alice delusional or will her wedding bed become a grave? Supernatural fiction author and critic WILLIAM P. SIMMONS edits and introduces the fourth volume in Shadow House Publishing's HORROR HALL OF FAME NOVELLAS series. This atmospheric, richly layered weird tale features as a supplement "Faustus and Helena", a vintage essay on art and the supernatural that reflects Vernon Lee's theories regarding supernatural fiction. HORROR HALL OF FAME NOVELLAS , VOLUME FOUR TABLE OF CONTENTS: Introduction A Phantom Lover: A Fantasy or Oke of Okehurst "Faustus and Helena" __________ About the Editor: William P. Simmons is a supernatural fiction author, critic, & journalist. Seven of his stories earned Honorable Mentions in The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror. By Reason of Darkness was praised by Publisher's Weekly , All Hallows & Cemetery Dance . Graham Masterton, Hugh B. Cave & T.M. Wright endorsed his fiction. He has interviewed such authors as Richard Matheson, F. Paul Wilson & Caitlin Kiernan. HORROR HALL OF FAME NOVELLAS Series: "Horror hundreds of years in the making!" This series presents classic and rare supernatural, horror, and weird novellas that have been neglected due to major publisher's commercial disdain for the form. SHADOW HOUSE PUBLISHING preserves our horror heritage with authoritative and affordable special editions of supernatural literature.
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