BleakChesneyWold

               'The Gothic Tales of Mary Elizabeth Braddon' This 2014 collection was edited with an introduction by Greg Buzwell, as part of the British Library 'Tales of the Weird' series, and contains fourteen short stories that originally appeared in various periodicals from 1860-1907. Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915) is still most known for one of her first published novel  Lady Audley's Secret (1862), which  made a vital contribution to the 'Sensation novels' genre,was extremely popular and arguably has overshadowed, her huge body of work: Some 90 novels, countless short stories, not  always submitted to magazines in her own name. Braddon scholars are still trying to trace all her work,quite a formidable task. CARNELL & ASSOCIATION 'Sensation novels' tend to emphasise frightful human behaviour, scandal, far fetched coincidence, often with an amateur detective, and crumbling country house, preferably a mansion.But not afra...

                                      Short horror story -England 1896                                  Ferguson Wright Hume  (Fergus Hume) was born in, Powick, Worcestershire, in 1859, and emigrated with his family to New Zealand aged three. Hume remained there and trained as a barrister, qualifying in 1885, then left for Melbourne in 1886 to become a barrister's clerk and unsuccessful playwright. His first novel The Mystery of the Hansom Cab , was self published in 1886 and started selling well. Hume sold all the rights to the book, including to the British and American markets, and lost out when it  became a bestseller. Detective fiction was still in its infancy. The Mystery of the Hansom Cab is sensational, with a murder, disputed inheritance, a family secret that desperately needs to be suppres...

                                                             A ghost story by  Amelia B Edwards (1831- 1892)   Born in London in  1831,Amelia B (Blandford) Edwards was a novelist, musician,journalist,poet, travel writer and a leading Egyptologist.  Her contribution in the latter field was particularly noteworthy, being a founder of The Egypt Exploration Society in 1882. Miss Edwards travelled in to Upper Egypt, and her book of  observations and illustrations were first  published as A Thousand Miles Up The Nile in 1877- and republished in 1982 and 1986. Her account of travels in The Dolomites - Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys (1872)    is not quite so highly regarded, but still highlighted a region that her readership was unlikely to have visited. Miss Edwards was also a member of...