Charles Barbara (1817-1866), though principally remembered today for being "a friend of Baudelaire," was, arguably, one of the more influential writers of his time, being one of the earliest authors of science fiction, Naturalism, and the roman policier. The present volume, originally published as Histoires émouvantes in 1856, and here offered in English for the first time in a translation by Brian Stableford, brings together nine of the author's highly innovative tales. Marked by their unusual narrative points, the work presented here, both strange and subtle, is that of a fine writer, as heroic in his ambitions as he was in his tribulations, and he left behind some first-rate works, including that assembled in this major collections.