Medusa

A Novel of Mystery, Ecstasy and Strange Horror

E. H. Visiak, Aaron Worth

$22.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

British Library Publishing
01 August 2025

Classic horror & ghost stories; Myth & legend told as fiction; Historical fiction; Ancient religions & mythologies

Series: British Library Tales of the Weird

'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

By: E. H. Visiak
Introduction by: Aaron Worth
Imprint: British Library Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Volume: 60
ISBN: 9780712355728
ISBN 10: 0712355723
Series: British Library Tales of the Weird
Publication Date: 01 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

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.