BOOK DETAILS
Trade paper ISBN-13: 978-1954321649 List Price: $24.99 U.S. Pages: 334 Published: 2025 |
The Jewelled Hand and Other Tales of Mystery and the Macabre
Lionel Sparrow Edited by James Doig Book Description
Totally forgotten today, Australian pulp writer Lionel Sparrow (1867-1936) was a prolific contributor of Gothic and horror tales to late-Victorian Australian newspapers and magazines. For this new volume, editor James Doig has collected 24 rare tales, originally published between 1887 and 1910. The title story, "The Jewelled Hand" (1887), is a Grand Guignol-style horror tale in which the narrator's obsession over proving whether or not the mind retains consciousness after decapitation leads to a gruesome experiment. In "The Purple Death," a jealous suitor exacts vengeance on his hated rival by imprisoning him in a room where everything -- from the walls and floor to his clothes and food -- is purple, a strange and decadent torture intended to drive his victim slowly mad. "The Vengeance of the Dead" is an unusual vampire story in which the narrator's sisters fall ill and seem to be slowly wasting away, the victims of a dead occultist whose evil spirit prays on the living for sustenance. These and 21 more strange and macabre tales will thrill and delight aficionados of Victorian Gothic and horror.
With their plots involving madness, torture, and revenge, these stories are reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe, but with more than a touch of the decadence that was the hallmark of late-Victorian weird fiction. This volume represents one of our most exciting rediscoveries and features an illuminating introduction by James Doig. |