It is worth noting first that "modern" in the title of The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction refers to the contemporary times of the author, this book being originally published in 1917. That said, this is a wonderful guide to the supernatural fiction of the times, and perfectly timed to track the evolution towards modern horror fiction.<br><br>Dorothy Scarborough was a respected academic and writes in an engaging, accessible style. She drew on over three thousand book and short stories in the process of writing this and it is fascinating to see which stories have remained in the public conscious, which have fallen out of favour and which writers from her time which are considered classics now but she did not see fit to mention. The stories are classified by type and discussed as groups, showing the trends of writing in progress.<br><br>This book is valuable both as an academic work of history, tracking the changing forms of literature but even more so to the horror or supernatural story fan as it will give the background to make your reading that much more satisfying. There is no doubt that after reading this your wishlist of reading will have expanded.