Before his untimely death at the age of 36 of cirrhosis of the liver due to his excessive alcoholism and opium addiction, Stenbock managed to publish three slim volumes of poetry, much of which was fixated on suicide, as well as this volume of short stories, Studies of Death. This short collection of tales of death in all its various forms featuring occultism, vampires, jilted lovers and sea sprites among other things is seen as not only an early curiosity of occult and weird literature but also contains early queer themes as well, most notably in the stories "Hylas" and "The True Story of a Vampire".