Three Gothic Novels: Frankenstein, Carmilla, Dracula.

A man of medicine explores his darker side only to fall prey to it. The character is a prototypical example of the lesbian vampire, expressing romantic desires toward the protagonist. A young adventurer succumbs to the night world of a diabolic count.

They are legendary tales that have held readers spellbound for more than a century. The titles alone—Frankenstein, Dracula, and Carmilla—have become part of a universal language that serves to put a monster’s face on the good-and-evil duality of our very human nature. And the authors—Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, and Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu — equally as mythic, are still possessed of an inventive and subversive power that can shake a reader to this day with something far more profound than fear. They gave root to the modern horror novel, and like the creatures they invented, they’ve achieved immortality.