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Medusa
A Novel of Mystery, Ecstasy and Strange Horror
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Brief Description
Something moved along upon the verge with a sliding, writhing motion, seeming like the body of a huge serpent...Drawn by horror's fearful traction, I moved to the verge of the parapet and looked down. Bristol, the early eighteenth century. On the run following a fatal accident...
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Format: Paperback / softback
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See moreA new edition of an important novel which is now extremely scarce, its only recent edition having been a short-run collector's item. This novel is regularly listed as one of the twentieth-century's best horror novels in reviews throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s.
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Description
Something moved along upon the verge with a sliding, writhing motion, seeming like the body of a huge serpent...Drawn by horror's fearful traction, I moved to the verge of the parapet and looked down.
Bristol, the early eighteenth century. On the run following a fatal accident at school, the orphan Will Harvell joins a voyage setting sail in search of a mariner's missing son. But the mystery of his disappearance harbours a deeper secret; a dark current pulling the crew ever closer to an ancient Gorgonian terror of the ocean.
Combining elements of Conradian sea adventure, Atlantean mythology, and sublime horror, Medusa was first published in 1929 and achieved cult classic status in the late twentieth century as a neglected masterpiece of weird fiction.
Visiak achieved the terror and wonder, the sense of awe, that Lovecraft could only grasp at. R. S. Hadji, 1983
Series: British Library Tales of the Weird
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Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780712355728
Publisher: British Library Publishing
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 17 April 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: British Library Publishing
Illustration: Illustrations
Contributors:
- Introduction by Aaron Worth
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Weight: 250g
About the Author
E. H. Visiak (1878-1972) was the nom de plume of the British writer and critic Edward Harold Physick, an expert on Milton and celebrated Edwardian poet best known for Buccaneer Ballads (1910) and a handful of strange short stories. His novel Medusa (1929) is heralded as an important contribution to weird fiction.
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