Description

The Great God Pan: & Xelucha.

by Arthur Machen.

by Matthew Phipps Shiel.

OVERVIEW: "AN INCOHERENT NIGHTMARE OF SEX…” That was The Westminster Gazette's description of Arthur Machen's first book, THE GREAT GOD PAN, upon its publication in 1894. An unwittingly enticing description for one of the greatest ever works of weird horror and decadence, in which Machen unfurls with his singular eye for the bizarre and macabre the tale of a young girl cursed by her unnatural parentage to become a creature of shape-shifting, polysexual, demi-human evil. First published in the 1896 short story collection Stones In The Fire, M P Shiel's XELUCHA is the most grotesque entry from that collection, a deliberate and delirious evocation of the sepulchral horrors of Poe. This new double edition of THE GREAT GOD PAN and XELUCHA, two key works of British decadent horror, includes a set of rare automatic drawings by the occult artist Austin Osman Spare, and a short introduction to Machen by the author H P Lovecraft who also provides two back cover quotes.

Arthur Machen (3 March 1863 - 15 December 1947) was a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He 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. (Stephen King called it "Maybe the best [horror story] in the English language".)

Matthew Phipps Shiel (21 July 1865 - 17 February 1947) was a prolific British writer of West Indian descent. He is remembered mostly for supernatural and scientific romances. His work was published as serials, novels, and as short stories. The Purple Cloud (1901; 1929) remains his most famous and often reprinted novel.

2012 Creation Oneiros trade paperback.