Showing results by author "Arthur Machen" in All Categories

Science fiction has been called the "literature of ideas", and it often explores the potential consequences of scientific, social, and technological innovations. Besides providing entertainment, it can also criticize present-day society and explore alternatives. Including short stories by Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Kurt Vonnegut, E.M. Forster, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Machen, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edwin A. Abbott, Jules Verne, and H. G. Wells.

Gothic horror is one of the oldest of the horror genres; darker, edgier, and on the romanticist end of romanticism. In addition to being important to the horror genre, the first sci-fi, fantasy, romance, mystery, and adventure authors drew inspiration from Gothic horror, so it's sometimes considered the parent of all modern genre fiction.

"The Great God Pan" is a novella written by Arthur Machen. A version of the story was published in the magazine Whirlwind in 1890, and Machen revised and extended it for its book publication (together with another story, "The Inmost Light") in 1894. On publication it was widely denounced by the press as degenerate and horrific because of its decadent style and sexual content, although it has since garnered a reputation as a classic of horror. Machen’s story was only one of many at the time to focus on Pan as a useful symbol for the power of nature and paganism.

Dubbed the greatest horror story in English by Stephen King, The Great God Pan is an eerie and otherworldly mystery about a diabolical operation and its terrifying repercussions. After rescuing a young woman from the streets of London, Dr. Raymond uses her as a test subject for brain surgery aimed at "lifting the veil" of reality, to see the supernatural and the "great god Pan". The operation is a disaster and leaves the subject lobotomized. Years later, London becomes afflicted with a strange series of male suicides connected to a beautiful but sinister woman.

A collection assembled by HorrorBabble, comprising some of Machen's most highly regarded works.

Authors writing for the horror genre succeed in creating an eerie and frightening atmosphere for the listener. While the featured horror is often supernatural, it may spring from a very real origin. Several classic horror stories have become icons of the horror genre. They inspire modern retellings throughout print, on stage, and on film. This collection gathers the best of the supernatural and frightening stories spun by expert storytellers.

Arthur Machen (1863-1947) was a master of folk horror. A Fragment of Life, his short novel from 1906, overlays his unique mystical theology with his psychogeographic visions of the grey streets of London, and blends them with…a love story. A young husband and wife, Edward and Mary Darnell, notice weird, dark forces crowding around their lives, and these odd happenings begin to wreak a strange alchemy in them.

Arthur Machen’s novella explores the disturbing consequences of toying with the line between the earthly world and the spiritual realm. The Great God Pan centers around an ominous woman named Helen, who lives in the woods and invites morbid happenings. The book faced harsh censure upon its publication in 1894 for its explicit content, but today it is considered a hallmark of horror fiction. Stephen King himself called it “one of the best horror stories ever written”, making it essential reading for any dedicated fans of the genre.

A masterpiece of Gothic horror and suspense that inspired such writers as H. P. Lovecraft, The Three Impostors is Machen’s famous collection of “weird tales” - a string of shocking short stories woven together with a fine narrative thread. The three impostors of the title are members of a secret society devoted to debauched pagan rites who weave a web of deception in the streets of London as they search for a missing Roman coin commemorating an infamous orgy by the Emperor Tiberius and close in on their prey: “the young man with spectacles”.

An influential writer of supernatural fiction, Arthur Machen was born in Wales, in 1863. Many modern writers, such as Stephen King, have cited him as an inspiration. Perhaps most notably, though, was H.P. Lovecraft, who cites Machen as what led him down the road to eventually creating the Cthulhu Mythos. Presented here are two short stories and two novellas: "The Inmost Light", "A Fragment of Life", "The Shining Pyramid", and "The Terror."

An excellent collection of creepy ghost stories from some of the most notable names of early horror fiction, including: “The Willows” by Algernon Blackwood, “The Shadows On The Wall” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, “The Messenger” by Robert W.Chambers, “Lazarus” by Leonid Andreyev, “The Beast With Five Fingers” by W.F. Harvey, “The Mass Of Shadows” by Anatole France, “What Was It” by Fitz-James O’brien, “The Middle Toe Of The Right Foot” by Ambrose Bierce, “The Shell Of Sense” by Olivia Howard Dunbar, and more!

On publication, it was widely denounced by the press as degenerate and horrific because of its implied sexual content, and the novella hurt Machen's reputation as an author. Beginning in the 1920s, Machen's work was critically re-evaluated and The Great God Pan has since garnered a reputation as a classic of horror. 

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. These facts few psychologists will dispute, and their admitted truth must establish for all time, the genuineness and dignity of the weirdly horrible tale as a literary form.... 

Machen's novella The Great God Pan is often cited as one of Lovecraft's most notable influences. In it, Dr. Raymond's ultimate goal is to devise a way to open the mind of man so that he may experience all the world has to offer. He calls this "seeing the great god Pan". After much study of the human mind, he devises an experiment that involves minor brain surgery. He performs this experiment on a young woman named Mary, but when she awakens she is terrified and mentally crippled.

Arthur Machen (1863-1947) was a Welsh author known for his works of horror and the fantastic. He is acknowledged as an influence on modern writers of supernatural fiction. His story "The Red Hand" (1895) tells of a grisly murder committed with the most unusual of weapons, an ancient stone axe.

The Green Book is a precious artefact procured from the possessions of a dead woman, and carefully kept in secret by the aged and studious Ambrose. Cotgrave is loaned the Green Book to further his understanding of the occult secrets that Ambrose is so reluctant to talk about. FNH Audio presents an unabridged reading of this supernatural classic that's often cited as an inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft.

When Ms Lally walked out into the cold night devoid of hope, hungry and penniless, she expected to find a quiet place to lie down and die. What she found was a benefactor, an academic with a mysterious passion and secret knowledge of a hidden world beyond the realms of known science. The Novel of the Black Seal is cited as one of the primary influences on H. P. Lovecraft and his tales.

Considered Machen’s most important and moving work, The Hill of Dreams tells the story of aspiring author Lucian Taylor and his fascination with a relic Roman fort near his hometown in Wales. The story follows Taylor’s real-life explorations, through dream-like memories, and finally obsession and fantasy that will lead to Taylor’s ultimate doom. Arthur Machen was a major influence on many early-20th Century fantasy and horror writers, including H. P. Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood, Lord Dunsany, and David Lindsay.

Lucian Taylor dreams of becoming an author, but not just any author, the best of authors. Obsession with perfection drives him to extremes of self-deprivation, which leaves him in a state where reality and fantasy blend. FNH Audio presents an unabridged reading of the classic tale of writing and obsession that Lord Dunsany rightly admired. Indeed the text itself appears to almost reach the perfection sought by its protagonist in word choice and pacing.

Lucian Taylor, the hero, is damned either through contact with an erotically pagan "other" world or through something degenerate in his own nature, which he thinks of as a "faun". He becomes a writer, and when he moves to London he becomes trapped by the increasing reality of the dark imaginings of this creature within him, which become increasingly real. One of the first explorations in fiction of the figure of the doomed artist, who is biographically so much a part of the decadent 1890s.