7 best short stories by Arthur Machen


Book Description

He was born in 1863 in Wales, in Caerlson-Usk. He settled in London, still young, where he was a bookstore clerk for a few months, becoming a preceptor. Subsequently, he began to write in total material shortage and fatigue. For a long time he lived on translations. Still unrecognized, he continued his work with a growing feeling that "an immense spiritual gulf separated him from other men" and that he lived as a "Robinson Crusoe of the soul."A curious fact was that he, along with W. B. Yeats and Aleister Crowley, was a member of the "Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn," the ill-fated 20th century magic society.His work is acclaimed worldwide and has already been recognized by such big names as H. P. Locecraf, Stephen King and Jorge Luis Borges. This selection specially chosen by the literary critic August Nemo, contains the following stories:The Great God PanThe White PeopleThe Black SealThe Novel of the White PowderThe Red HandThe Inmost LightThe Bowmen




Best Short Stories Omnibus - Volume 1


Book Description

This book contains 350 short stories from 50 classic, prize-winning and noteworthy authors. Wisely chosen by the literary critic August Nemo for the book series 7 Best Short Stories, this omnibus contains the stories of the following writers: - H.P. Lovecraft, - Edgar Allan Poe, - Arthur Conan Doyle, - Katherine Mansfield, - Jack London, - Guy de Maupassant, - Virginia Woolf, F. - Scott Fitzgerald, - Edith Wharton, - Stephen Crane, - Susan Glaspell, - Kate Chopin, - Laura E. Richards, - Alice Dunbar-Nelson, - Louisa May Alcott, - Hans Christian Andersen, - Charles Dickens, - Nathaniel Hawthorne, - Henry James, - Mark Twain, - Charlotte Perkins, - Elizabeth Gaskell, - Herman Melville, - James Joyce, - Leo Tolstoy, - Nikolai Gogol, - Anton Chekhov, - Fyodor Dostoevsky, - Maxim Gorky, - Leonid Andreyev, - Ivan Turgenev, - Joseph Conrad, - Aleksander Pushkin, - Robert Louis Stevenson, - Robert E. Howard, - G. K. Chesterton, - Edgar Wallace, - Arthur Machen, - Ambrose Bierce, - Talbot Mundy, - Abraham Merritt, - Zane Grey, - Edgar Rice Burroughs, - Oscar Wilde, - Rudyard Kipling, - E.T.A. Hoffman, - Bram Stoker, - H.G. Wells, - Franz Kafta - Washington Irving.




The Great God Pan Illustrated


Book Description

The Great God Pan is a horror and fantasy novella by Welsh writer Arthur Machen. Machen was inspired to write The Great God Pan by his experiences at the ruins of a pagan temple in Wales. What would become the first chapter of the novella was published in the magazine The Whirlwind in 1890. Machen later extended The Great God Pan and it was published as a book alongside another story, "The Inmost Light", in 1894. The novella begins with an experiment to allow a woman named Mary to see the supernatural world. This is followed by an account of a series of mysterious happenings and deaths over many years surrounding a woman named Helen Vaughan. At the end, the heroes confront Helen and force her to kill herself. She undergoes a series of supernatural transformations before dying and she is revealed to be the child of Mary and the god Pan.




The Novel of the White Powder


Book Description

“The Novel of the White Powder” is a short story by Welsh author Arthur Machan, first published in his novel “The Three Imposters” (1895). The story concerns a man whose behaviour alters dramatically as the result a change in his prescription. However, even though some of these changes are indubitably for the better, his sister remains sceptical—and with good reason. Arthur Machen (1863 – 1947) was a Welsh author and renowned mystic during the 1890s and early 20th century who garnered literary acclaim for his contributions to the supernatural, horror, and fantasy fiction genres. His seminal novella “The Great God Pan” (1890) has become a classic of horror fiction, with Stephen King describing it as one of the best horror stories ever written in the English language. Other notable fans of his gruesome tales include William Butler Yeats and Arthur Conan Doyle; and his work has been compared to that of Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, and Oscar Wilde. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.




7 best short stories - World War I


Book Description

Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", World War I was one of the largest wars in history and also one of the deadliest conflicts in history. Writers often function as the memory of the world, eternalizing in words difficult moments that we can not forget. The critic August Nemo selected seven short stories that allow us to look at the various faces of the war: - Mary Postgate by Rudyard Kipling - The Fly by Katherine Mansfield - May Day by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Dagon by H.P. Lovecraft - The Bowmen by Arthur Machen - His Last Bow by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - At the Bay by Katherine Mansfield For more books with interesting themes, be sure to check the other books in this collection!




Supernatural Short Stories


Book Description

Legends of vampires, werewolves, and unruly spirits have been a feature of European folklore for centuries. The authors whose work is collected together in this volume range from early Gothic writers to modern pulp enthusiasts. English writers like John William Polidori (1795-1821), the physician who wrote The Vampyre, and William H. G. Kingston (1814-1880), were pioneers of supernatural fiction, while others chose to master the ghost story. E. F. Benson was a part time archaeologist and M. R. James, a medieval historian at King's College, Cambridge. James would read his ghost stories aloud to his friends and students at Christmas-time. With good reason, he has been described as 'the best ghost-story writer England has ever produced.' Classic literary writers such as Ambrose Bierce and Guy de Maupassant found an outlet for their imagination in their terrifying tales, and later writers like Clifford Ball and M. P. Shiel established supernatural fiction in the pulp magazines of the early 20th century. Together, these stories demonstrate a stunning mastery of atmosphere and show an unmatched ability to terrify readers to this day. This collection features several of the leading purveyors of supernatural horror. Authors include: Clifford Ball E. F. Benson Ambrose Bierce Francis Marion Crawford Charlotte Perkins Gilman M. R. James William H. G. Kingston Arthur Machen Guy de Maupassant John William Polidori M. P. Shiel Bram Stoker




7 best short stories - Weird Fiction


Book Description

Welcome to the book series 7 best short stories specials, selection dedicated to a special subject, featuring works by noteworthy authors. The texts were chosen based on their relevance, renown and interest. This edition is dedicated to Weird Fiction. Weird Fiction fiction utilises elements of horror, science fiction and fantasy to showcase the impotence and insignificance of human beings within a much larger universe populated by often malign powers and forces that greatly exceed the human capacities to understand or control them. The critic August Nemo has selected seven classic tales of the genre, especially for readers who want (and have courage!) to face the abyss: - The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft. - Hell Screen by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce. - The White People by Arthur Machen. - Number 13 by M. R. James. - The Derelict by William Hope Hodgson. - The Repairer of Reputations by Robert W. Chambers.




The Great Return


Book Description

Table of Contents Published by VM eBook CHAPTER I THE RUMOUR OF THE MARVELLOUS CHAPTER II ODOURS OF PARADISE CHAPTER III A SECRET IN A SECRET PLACE CHAPTER IV THE RINGING OF THE BELL CHAPTER V THE ROSE OF FIRE CHAPTER VI OLWEN'S DREAM CHAPTER VII THE MASS OF THE SANGRAAL




A Fragment of Life


Book Description

A Fragment of Life is a fantasy novella by Arthur Machen. Machen was an author and mystic known for his prominent paranormal, fantasy, and horror fiction. Excerpt: "So, day after day, he lived in the grey phantasmal world, akin to death, that has, somehow, with most of us, made good its claim to be called life. To Darnell the true life would have seemed madness, and when, now and again, the shadows and vague images reflected from its splendour fell across his path, he was afraid, and took refuge in what he would have called the sane 'reality' of common and usual incidents and interests. His absurdity was, perhaps, the more evident, inasmuch as 'reality' for him was a matter of kitchen ranges, of saving a few shillings; but in truth the folly would have been greater if it had been concerned with racing stables, steam yachts, and the spending of many thousand pounds."




The London Adventure


Book Description