The Penny Dreadful was a 19th-century publishing phenomenon.
These cheap, sensational, highly illustrated stories were very popular with the
Victorian public.
In the 1830s, increasing literacy and improving technology
saw a boom in cheap fiction for the working classes. ‘Penny bloods’ was the
original name for the booklets that, in the 1860s, were renamed Penny Dreadfuls
and told stories of adventure, initially of pirates and highwaymen, later
concentrating on crime and detection.
Penny Dreadfuls were issued weekly, each ‘number’, or
episode, was eight (occasionally 16) pages, with a black-and-white illustration
on the top half of the front page. Double columns of text filled the rest,
breaking off at the bottom of the final page, even if it was the middle of a
sentence.
The bloods were astonishingly successful, creating a vast
new readership. Between 1830 and 1850 there were up to 100 publishers of
penny-fiction, as well as the many magazines which now wholeheartedly embraced
the genre.
There is some THING
within us all.
Penny Dreadful the Showtime show is a powerfully written
saga filled with dark mystery and suspense. It lives in a demimonde — a half
world between reality and the supernatural — where personal demons from the
past can be stronger than vampires, evil spirits and immortal beasts.
Some of literature's most terrifying figures, including Dr.
Frankenstein and his Creature, Dorian Gray, and iconic figures from the novel
Dracula are lurking in the darkest corners of the city. They are joined by a
core of original characters in a new narrative filled with alienation and
dread.
Ethan Chandler
A dashing American who finds himself trapped in the darkest
corners of Victorian London, Ethan's charm and brash ways are catnip to the
ladies. Sir Malcolm enlists him to help in a personal quest, and Ethan becomes
protective of the beautiful Vanessa. But behind Ethan's bright eyes lurk dark
secrets. He is running from something, and his troubling past threatens to
overtake him at every turn.
“There are things you can’t control. There are battles you lose. At the end of the day, the only thing we have
is the people we trust.” – Ethan Chandler
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