{"product_id":"hauntings-9781961884663","title":"Hauntings","description":"\u003cb\u003eBewitching ghost stories from seminal short story writer Vernon Lee. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"My ghosts are what you call spurious ghosts, of whom I can affirm only one thing, that they haunted certain brains, and have haunted, among others, my own...\"\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShipwrecked before a remote Italian coastal village, a young girl discovers the ability to command love and incite madness; a Polish historian is drawn to the enigmatic allure of a medieval Duchess with a deadly past; a painter, hired to capture the likeness of a reclusive couple, slowly uncovers a mysterious love affair; and a man with a voice that is as deadly as it is beautiful eats away at the health of those who hear him sing, troubling a composer years later. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOnce described by Henry James as being \"as dangerous and uncanny as she is intelligent,\" Vernon Lee's ghost stories haunt as much as they reveal an obsession with art, architecture, and deadly, queer desires. Even the smallest vibration from the past signals danger for the characters in \u003ci\u003eHauntings\u003c\/i\u003e: from the emanations of old houses and old books to the discovery of old portraits, objects come alive and worm into the minds of the living.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLee, Vernon:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eVernon Lee \u003c\/b\u003e(1856-1935)--the pen name of the writer Violet Paget--was a travel writer, novelist, musician, and critic. Primarily remembered today for her supernatural fiction and her work on aesthetics, she spent most of her life in Florence, Italy, where she cultivated friendships with artists such as Telemaco Signorini, Edith Wharton, and Henry James. One of the first to bring the concept of Einfühlung, or empathy, into English criticism, she was an outspoken follower of Walter Pater's aestheticism and vocal pacifist until her death in 1935.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFelker-Martin, Gretchen:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eGretchen Felker-Martin\u003c\/b\u003e is a Massachusetts-based bestselling horror author and film critic. Her debut novel, \u003ci\u003eManhunt\u003c\/i\u003e, was named the #1 Best Book of 2022 by \u003ci\u003eVulture\u003c\/i\u003e, and was one of the Best Horror Novels of 2022 by \u003ci\u003eEsquire, Library Journal, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003ePaste\u003c\/i\u003e. Her sophomore novel, \u003ci\u003eCuckoo\u003c\/i\u003e, debuted on the \u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller list. You can read her fiction and film criticism on Patreon and in \u003ci\u003eTIME, The Outline, Nylon\u003c\/i\u003e, and more.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eUpadhyaya, Kayla Kumari:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eKayla Kumari Upadhyaya\u003c\/b\u003e is a lesbian writer of essays, fiction, and pop culture criticism living in Orlando. Her queer horror novelette \u003ci\u003eHelen House\u003c\/i\u003e was named one of the Best LGBTQ Books of 2022 by \u003ci\u003eNBC News\u003c\/i\u003e. She is the managing editor of \u003ci\u003eAutostraddle\u003c\/i\u003e, an assistant fiction editor at \u003ci\u003eFoglifter\u003c\/i\u003e, and the former managing editor of \u003ci\u003eTriQuarterly\u003c\/i\u003e. Her short stories appear in \u003ci\u003eMcSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Catapult, The Offing, Joyland, The Rumpus, Cake Zine\u003c\/i\u003e, and others. Some of her culture writing can be found in \u003ci\u003eThe Cut, The A.V. Club, Vulture, Refinery29\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eVice\u003c\/i\u003e, and she previously worked as a restaurant reporter for \u003ci\u003eEater NY\u003c\/i\u003e. She was a 2023-2024 Tin House Reading Fellow and a 2023 Lambda writer in residence. Her fiction will be featured in the upcoming anthology \u003ci\u003eBe Gay, Do Crimes\u003c\/i\u003e, out from Dzanc Books in 2025.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEt al...\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Smith \u0026 Taylor Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51676115665170,"sku":"9781961884663","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_162424df-3884-47b2-98d9-a0ae102c9406.jpg?v=1761043584","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/hauntings-9781961884663","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}