Satan's Circus is a macabre centerpiece that plunges a young man into the world of the Circus Brandt, a traveling troupe with a terrifying reputation. It's a tale of dark bargains and the ultimate price of loyalty, whispered to be a circus run by vampires or other unholy figures.
Drawing heavily on her own experience as a circus publicist and her fascination with Romany culture and the theatrical world, Smith infuses this short story with a unique blend of glamour, exotic settings, and chilling supernatural dread.
This story is a significant piece of inter-war British horror, celebrated for its sophisticated atmosphere and its captivating melding of the Gothic tradition with the colorful, nomadic life of the circus and the mysterious world of the Romany people.