<p>Fitz-James O'Brien capitalized on the<br>success of his predecessor Edgar Allan Poe<br>in writing disturbing stories with demented<br>protagonists. This collection of three tales<br>shows his mastery of the macabre. 'The<br>Diamond Lens' tells the tale of a lone<br>protagonist's discovery of a microcosmic<br>world within a drop of water, and his<br>growing obsession in particular with the<br>beautiful Animula, a fair maiden within<br>this worl...