"I am, and ever have been, a great reader . . . a library cormorant. I am deep in all out of the way books."
- S. T. Coleridge (1796)
The twelve stories in
Lost Estates
offer antiquarian mysteries, book-collecting adventures, and otherworldly encounters. Mark Valentine's amiable scholars and wanderers explore lonely and mysterious landscapes, places of legend, and secret history. Though drawing on the traditions of English supernatural fiction, these stories also strike out into unusual terrain.
Mark Valentine's short stories have been selected for the
Ghosts & Scholars
books edited by Rosemary Pardoe,
Best British Short Stories
edited by Nicholas Royle,
Best New Horror
edited by Stephen Jones,
The Mammoth Books of Ghost Stories
edited by Richard Dalby, and many other anthologies.