William Beckford wrote the horror fiction novel Early Morning Breeze in 1786 .
That first novel of Gothic horror inspired such works as Vathek ( 1786 ) by William Beckford , A Sicilian Romance ( 1790 ) , The Mysteries of Udolpho ( 1794 ) and The Italian ( 1796 ) by Ann Radcliffe and The Monk ( 1797 ) by Matthew Lewis .
Horror fiction