Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu, often shortened to J. S. Le Fanu, was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He is considered by literary critics to be among the greatest ghost story writers of the Victorian era, as several of his works were central to the development of the genre. In addition to short stories, Le Fanu was also the author of novels such as Uncle Silas (1864), macabre poems, and the collection of five stories In a Glass Darkly (1872), in which the novella Carmilla (1872) is significant as a foundational work of vampire literature.
