author
Gerard Van Etten
Best known today for the eerie one-act play The Vampire Cat, this little-documented early 20th-century writer brought a Japanese ghost legend to English-language readers in a compact, theatrical form.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Very little confirmed biographical information about this author seems to survive in widely available sources. What can be confirmed is that Gerard Van Etten is credited with The Vampire Cat, a one-act play published by Dramatic Publishing Company in 1918 and later preserved by Project Gutenberg and other library archives.
The Vampire Cat adapts the Japanese legend of the Nabeshima cat, blending folklore, horror, and stage drama. Because reliable records about Van Etten's life are scarce, the work itself remains the clearest window into the author's legacy: a brief, atmospheric play that helped carry a supernatural tale from Japanese tradition into English-language popular theater.
For modern readers and listeners, Van Etten is an intriguing example of an author remembered mainly through a single surviving title. That air of mystery adds to the appeal, especially for anyone drawn to forgotten drama, early horror, and unusual literary rediscoveries.