Something pushed out from the body there on the floor, and stretched forth a slimy, wavering tentacle... Perhaps no figure better embodies the transition from the Gothic tradition to modern horror than Arthur Machen. In the final decade of the nineteenth century, the Welsh writer produced a seminal body of tales of occult horror, spiritual and physical corruption, and malignant survivals from the primeval past which horrified and scandalised-late-Victorian readers. Machen's 'weird fiction' has influenced generations of storytellers, from H. P. Lovecraft to Guillermo Del Toro-and it remains no less unsettling today. This new collection, which includes the complete novel The Three Impostors as well as such celebrated tales as The Great God Pan and The White People, constitutes the most comprehensive critical edition of Machen yet to appear. In addition to the core late-Victorian horror classics, a selection of lesser-known prose poems and later tales helps to present a fuller picture of the development of Machen's weird vision. The edition's introduction and notes contextualise the life and work of this foundational figure in the history of horror.

Arthur Machen has finally been recognized as a key contributor to the glittering age of British Decadence. Best known for the novella The Great God Pan and for his formative influence on weird fiction, in fact much of Machen’s writing profoundly challenges literary and cultural convention. From the demonic horror of “The Recluse of Bayswater” to the plush occultism of The Hill of Dreams and the prose poems of Ornaments in Jade, this selection of works from throughout Machen’s career brings to life his unique symbolist aesthetics and spiritual philosophy. This is the first edition of Machen’s work to foreground his Decadent and occult writing. It includes a scholarly introduction, extensive annotations, and revealing contextual materials. Engaging with the gems of Machen’s oeuvre, the collection invites readers to open their minds to a reality beyond the veil, the reality – in Machen’s view – that matters most.

"Two for Tee" chronicles the boyhood friendship between Chad Ashworth, Jr. and Buzzy Odom. A backfiring prank binds the two boys together at an early age and they cope with the lasting effects in their own way. Chad becomes passionate about the only allowable sport, golf, and finds comfort on the course and in his imagination. Buzzy turns into the court jester hoping a dose of humor will make things better. The two boys attend a professional golf tournament, spend a week at golf camp, and play in a junior golf tournament, but their perspective experiences at each event are polar opposites. When the jokes start to wear thin, and only one of them remains committed to golf, will the friendship survive?

Shortlisted for the 2023 Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize On his fifteenth birthday, in the summer of 1880, future science-fiction writer M.P. Shiel sailed with his father and the local bishop from their home in the Caribbean out to the nearby island of Redonda—where, with pomp and circumstance, he was declared the island’s king. A few years later, when Shiel set sail for a new life in London, his father gave him some advice: Try not to be strange. It was almost as if the elder Shiel knew what was coming. Try Not to Be Strange: The Curious History of the Kingdom of Redonda tells, for the first time, the complete history of Redonda’s transformation from an uninhabited, guano-encrusted island into a fantastical and international kingdom of writers. With a cast of characters including forgotten sci-fi novelists, alcoholic poets, vegetarian publishers, Nobel Prize frontrunners, and the bartenders who kept them all lubricated while angling for the throne themselves, Michael Hingston details the friendships, feuds, and fantasies that fueled the creation of one of the oddest and most enduring micronations ever dreamt into being. Part literary history, part travelogue, part quest narrative, this cautionary tale about what happens when bibliomania escapes the shelves and stacks is as charming as it is peculiar—and blurs the line between reality and fantasy so thoroughly that it may never be entirely restored.

"Arthur Machen: Weaver of Fantasy" by William F. Gekle is a 1949 book that takes readers on a fantastical journey. Machen was a Welsh writer who inspired people's imaginations across the globe. This book means to pay homage to his work by delving into his mindset and what pushed him to create the magical stories he put into the world.

Here is the 34th issue of Black Cat Weekly, packed with more than 500 pages of great reading, with contents ranging from mystery to adventure to science fiction and fantasy. The complete contents includes: Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure: “Skin,” by Stephen D. Rogers [Michael Bracken Presents short story] “Booked for Murder,” by Hal Charles [solve-it-yourself mystery] “Grateful Touring,” by Sarah M. Chen [Barb Goffman Presents short story] The Case of Shem Packer, by Hulbert Footner [novel] “The Dragoman’s Secret,” by Otis Adelbert Kline [novelet] Science Fiction & Fantasy: “Skin,” by Stephen D. Rogers [Michael Bracken Presents short story] “A Single Feather,” by Marsheila Rockwell and Jeffrey J. Mariotte [Cynthia Ward Presents short story] The Case by Case Casebook of Emily Silverwood, by Mel Gilden (Part 3 of 4) [Serial Novel] “Towers of Death,” by Henry Kuttner [novelet] The Hill of Dreams, by Arthur Machen [novel] Non-Fiction: Arthur Machen: Weaver of Fantasy, by William F. Gekle [author study]

Arthur Machen: Critical Essays offers a study of the works by Arthur Machen (1863-1947), the Welsh writer who has attracted a cult following for decades, especially among fans and scholars of weird fiction and Gothic studies. These essays take readers into different areas and address several topics in Machen's literary production: the literary, the artistic, the scientific, the religious, the socio-cultural, and the personal. The twelve chapters constituting the volume examine the representation of human beings in the writer's works and their relationship with the surrounding environment, whether it is the omnipresent London or the mysterious, menacing nature. The contributors also interpret Machen's writings through a series of disciplines and academic theories that were contemporary to the writer (such as paleontology and medicine) and demonstrate how he was influenced by the scientific discourses of his time and reproduced them in his works. The last section of the volume considers Machen's interest in the occult and mysticism and the religious themes present in many of his works.

Arthur Machen is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan (1890; 1894) has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror, with Stephen King describing it as "Maybe the best [horror story] in the English language." Machen was a great enthusiast for literature that expressed the "rapture, beauty, adoration, wonder, awe, mystery, sense of the unknown, desire for the unknown" that he summed up in the word ecstasy. The Novels THE HILL OF DREAMS THE TERROR THE SECRET GLORY EPILOGUE THE GREEN ROUND The Shorter Fiction THE CHRONICLE OF CLEMENDY: OR THE HISTORY OF THE IX JOYOUS JOURNEYS. CARBONNEK INTRODUCTION EPISTLE DEDICATORY MASTER PERROT’S DISCOURSE OF ALE THE PORTREEVE’S GAUDY-DAY STRANGE STORY OF A RED JAR THE SPIGOT CLERK’S FIRST TALE HOW THE FOLK OF ABERGAVENNY WERE PESTERED BY AN ACCURSED KNIGHT THE LORD MALTWORM’S FIRST TALE HOW A MAN OF CAERLEON FOUND A GREAT TREASURE THE RUBRICAN’S FIRST TALE THE TANKARD MARSHALL’S FIRST TALE THE QUEST OF CONSTANCY BY THE WAY THE SPIGOT CLERK’S SECOND TALE. THE PORTREEVE’S SOLEMNITY THE TALE TOLD BY THE SEIGNEUR OF LA ROCHE NEMOURS THE JOURNEY HOMEWARD SIGNOR PIERO LATINI’S TALE THE LORD MALTWORM’S SECOND TALE THE RUBRICAN’S SECOND TALE EPILOGUE THE GREAT GOD PAN, AND THE INMOST LIGHT The Great God Pan The Inmost Light THE THREE IMPOSTORS: OR THE TRANSMUTATIONS THREE IMPOSTORS PROLOGUE. ADVENTURE OF THE GOLD TIBERIUS. THE ENCOUNTER OF THE PAVEMENT. NOVEL OF THE DARK VALLEY. ADVENTURE OF THE MISSING BROTHER. NOVEL OF THE BLACK SEAL. INCIDENT OF THE PRIVATE BAR. THE DECORATIVE IMAGINATION. NOVEL OF THE IRON MAID. THE RECLUSE OF BAYSWATER. NOVEL OF THE WHITE POWDER. STRANGE OCCURRENCE IN CLERKENWELL. HISTORY OF THE YOUNG MAN WITH SPECTACLES ADVENTURE OF THE DESERTED RESIDENCE. THE HOUSE OF SOULS Introduction A Fragment of Life The White People The Red Hand THE ANGELS OF MONS Introduction The Bowmen The Soldiers’ Rest The Monstrance The Dazzling Light The Bowmen And Other Noble Ghosts Postscript THE GREAT RETURN THE SHINING PYRAMID, 1923 The Priest and the Barber The Spagyric Quest of Beroaldus Cosmopolita A Wonderful Woman The Lost Club Nature, or, The Splendid Holiday Drake’s Drum THE SHINING PYRAMID, 1924 The Arrow-Head Character The Eyes on the Wall The Search for the Bowl The Secret of the Pyramid The Little People THE GLORIOUS MYSTERY The Rose Garden Psychology, or, Fragments of Paper The Holy Things A New Christmas Carol THE COSY ROOM AND OTHER STORIES The Cosy Room A Double Return Munitions of War The Gift of Tongues The Islington Mystery Awaking Opening the Door The Compliments of the Season THE CHILDREN OF THE POOL, AND OTHER STORIES Children of the Pool Out of the Earth Change The Exalted Omega The Tree of Life Out of the Picture The Bright Boy UNCOLLECTED TALES Candletime Cidermas The Town of Long Ago Over the Gate Of the Isle of Shadows, and of the Strange Customs of the Men That Dwell There A Further Account of The Academy of Lagado Tales from Barataria Sir John’s Chef Rus in Urbe By the Brook The Autophone The Marriage of Panurge The Brook Farm A Remarkable Coincidence An Underground Adventure The Young Man in the Blue Suit The War Song of the Welsh The Light That Can Never Be Put Out Jocelyn’s Escape The Story of Sergt Richard Haughton and What Happened To Him on the Somme The Calvary of Azay 7b Coney Court Ritual Johnny Double N The Happy Children The Dover Road The Poems ELEUSINIA THE ASSEMBLING. THE SEA-SHORE THE FAST THE PROCESSION THE DAY OF TORCHES IACCHUS THE INITIATION THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE BARD THE PRAISE OF MYFANWY The Non-Fiction THE MEMOIRS OF JACQUES CASANOVA DE SEINGALT, 1725-1798 THE ANATOMY OF TOBACCO HIEROGLYPHICS DR STIGGINS: HIS VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS THE SECRET OF THE SANGRAAL THE STROLLER WHEN I WAS YOUNG IN LONDON THE GLITTER OF THE BROOK LONDON THIRTY YEARS AGO THE JOY OF LONDON RE-DISCOVERY OF LONDON DR JOHNSON’S DISAPPEARING ACT TOM O’BEDLAM AND HIS SONG THE ONLY WAY THE GRAY’S INN COFFEE HOUSE A NOTE ON POETRY

Metals deals with the conservation of a group of materials that have been used in buildings for everything from structural components and fixings to weatherproofing, repairs, and decoration. It covers both the iron-based and the non-ferrous metals (such as copper, bronze and lead), in each case considering technological evolution, deterioration processes, and the practical application and long-term implications of the common conservation materials and methods.