Author Description

"Sappho: One Hundred Lyrics" contains the beautiful verses of the versatile Classical Greek poet that have been celebrated for centuries for its lyricism and beauty. "Regiment of Women" is the debut novel of Winifred Ashton writing as Clemence Dane. First published in 1917, the novel has gained some notoriety due to its more or less veiled treatment of lesbian relationships inside and outside a school setting. It is said to have inspired Radclyffe Hall to write The Well of Loneliness. "Carmilla" is narrated by a young woman preyed upon by a female vampire named Carmilla, later revealed to be Mircalla, Countess Karnstein (Carmilla is an anagram of Mircalla). Le Fanu presents the story as part of the casebook of Dr. Hesselius, whose departures from medical orthodoxy rank him as the first occult doctor in literature. The story is one of the earliest works of vampire fiction, predating Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) by 26 years.