Carmilla, Deluxe Edition: The cult classic that inspired Dracula

by Sheridan Le Fanu

Overview

A stunning new paperback edition of the original vampire story and horror classic that inspired Dracula — with an art deco design and thoughtful layout for a seductive reading experience

Sapphic longing meets gothic horror in this “exploration of obsessive first love [as] both exciting and monstrous”—“perfect for YA readers” and adult fans of Anne Rice (Kiersten White, New York Times bestselling author)

Steeped in the sexual tension between two young women, this is a beautiful, brand-new edition of the original cult classic which influenced Dracula and all the vampire stories that followed, including Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.

In an isolated castle deep in the Austrian forest, Laura leads a solitary life with only her ailing father for company. Until one moonlit night, a horse-drawn carriage crashes into view, carrying an unexpected guest - the beautiful Carmilla.

So begins a feverish friendship between Laura and her entrancing companion, one defined by mysterious happenings and infused with an indeniable eroticism. But as Carmilla becomes increasingly strange and volatile, prone to eerie nocturnal wanderings, Laura finds herself tormented by nightmares and growing weaker by the day...

Pre-dating Dracula by 26 years, Carmilla is the original vampire story, a rediscovered classic of sexual tension and gothic romance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781805332121
Publisher:	Steerforth Press
Publication date:	02/04/2025
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 7.81(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer of gothic tales, mystery novels and ghost stories, most famous for his novel Uncle Silas. Carmilla was first published in 1872 and has served as an inspiration countless books, from Bram Stoker's Dracula and Henry James' The Turn of the Screw to Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, and a slew of films such as Hammer Horror's Karnstein Trilogy.

Read an Excerpt

Prologue  


Upon a paper attached to the narrative which follows, Doctor Hesselius has written a rather elaborate note, which he accompanies with a reference to his essay on the strange subject which the manuscript illuminates. This mysterious subject he treats, in that essay, with his usual learning and acumen, and with remark- able directness and condensation. It will form but one volume of the series of that extraordinary man’s collected papers.
As I publish the case, in this volume, simply to interest the “laity,”I shall forestall the intelligent lady, who relates it, in nothing; and after due consideration, I have determined, therefore, to abstain from pre- senting any précis of the learned Doctor’s reasoning, or extract from his statement on a subject which he describes as “involving, not improbably, some of the profoundest arcana of our dual existence, and its intermediates.” I was anxious on discovering this paper, to reopen the correspondence commenced by Doctor Hesselius, so many years before, with a person so clever and careful as his informant seems to have been. Much to my regret, however, I found that she had died in the interval.
She, probably, could have added little to the narra- tive which she communicates in the following pages, with, so far as I can pronounce, such conscientious particularity.

Editorial Reviews

"Succeeds in inspiring a mysterious terror better than any other writer" —M.R. James

From the Publisher