John Cowper Powys Thomas Hardy, and these novels are set in Somerset and Dorset, part of Hardy's mythical Wessex. American scholar Richard Maxwell describes these four novels "as remarkably successful with the reading public of his time". "Maiden Castle", the last of the Wessex novels, is set in Dorchester, Thomas Hardy's Casterbridge, and which he intended to be a "rival" to Hardy's "Mayor of Casterbridge". All the same, despite his indebtedness to the Victorian novel and his enthusiasm for Hardy and Walter Scott, as well as for lesser figures such as Ainsworth, Powys was clearly a modernist, and has affinities also with Fyodor
Jeremy Bates (author) earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Philosophy. He also holds a graduate teaching diploma from Charles Darwin University in Darwin, Australia. Bates currently lives on the far north coast of New South Wales, Australia. Jeremy Bates (author) Jeremy Bates (born July 8, 1978) is a Canadian/Australian author. He writes suspense and horror fiction, which typically explores the darker side of human nature. His work is rich in atmosphere and sensory details. The novels in his "World's Scariest Places" series are all set in real locations, such as Aokigahara in Japan, The Catacombs in Paris, Helltown in Ohio,