"Meyrink's short stories epitomized the non-plus-ultra of all modern writing. Their magnificent color, their spine-chilling and bizarre inventiveness, their aggression, their succinctness of style, their overwhelming originality of ideas which is so evident in every sentence and phrase that there seem to be no lacunae: all this captivated me, and seemed to me to provide the proper antidote to all the adjectival prose and shallow, false romanticism of the immediate preceding generation." Max Brod. "Gustav Meyrink's stories recall Gogol in their black, humorous vigor." The European
A collection of stories drawn from the author’s long and eventful life (born in 1920). Many are based on the author’s personal experience of life in Central Europe after the First World War. The writing has a sense of mystery and fantasy, but always laced with a wry sense of humour. This is a fascinating and wide ranging collection of stories, many having an almost cinematic quality from the author also being a painter. There are stories drawing on the author’s childhood and youth in Vienna, and visiting the family farm in Moravia in the aftermath of the First World War. Herta’s mother decided to leave home for Vienna as a teenager, and was taken on by a seamstress, who read to her girls while they were sewing, giving her an abiding love of literature that she passed on to her daughter. Herta experienced the rise of Nazism in Austria and Hitler’s Anchluss of the country, and several stories in this section reflect this period vividly. In the title story, The Singing Chair, a prosperous but stressed businessman is transported into a calming universe by a ‘magic’ chair. There follow other poignant and quirky tales of passion between the sexes. By contrast, others draw on Herta’s experience of postwar Germany – her British husband was part of the British Control Commission there. In Demeter, two British officers are rivals for the love of a destitute but beautiful refugee they rescue from a bombed-out street. Many of the stories add the ingredient of mystery and intrigue, but always permeated with the author’s characteristic humanity and wry sense of humour. The Magnolia Gown is set in the cut-throat world of the East London rag trade; Spash is a glorious short burst of fantasy as a woman visitor to Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace during a heatwave is lured into the baroque fountain to become one of Neptune’s mermaids.
The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories (1908) is a short story collection by Lord Dunsany. Published at the beginning of his career, The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories—which features the pantheon of gods first portrayed in The Gods of Pegāna (1905)—would influence such writers as J. R. R. Tolkein, Ursula K. Le Guin, and H. P. Lovecraft. Recognized as a pioneering author of fantasy and science fiction, Dunsany is a man whose work, in the words of Lovecraft, remains “unexcelled in the sorcery of crystalline singing prose, and supreme in the creation of a gorgeous and languorous world of incandescently exotic vision.” “At the end of that avenue was a colossal chariot with three bronze horses driven by the winged figure of Fame, and behind her in the chariot the huge form of Welleran, Merimna's ancient hero, standing with extended sword.” The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories, Dunsany’s third collection of short fiction, contains some of his finest tales of fantasy and adventure. While the people of Merimna sleep soundly, while the guards of the city sing songs and tell stories of the warriors Welleran and Rollory, the tribesmen of the plains below look up in awe, wondering if the day will come when Merimna’s glory fades. Behind the ramparts, a young boy named Rold looks up at the statues of his heroes, hoping to take their place. Dunsany’s tales of high fantasy continue to delight over a century after they first appeared in print. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Lord Dunsany’s The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories is a classic of Irish fantasy fiction reimagined for modern readers.
A man journeys to Cornwall seeking a Ghost - and flowers; while another, visits an old Lifeboat Station where a long time ago, he lost his friends. Why would an obnoxious bully be so welcomed to spend the night at an old Museum?
Exploring widely diverse settingsfrom the wilds of the Australian Outback to urban adventures to biblical landsthis collection of short stories, poems, and other writings celebrates what it is to be Australian. It encompasses love, revenge, debauchery, wonder, loss, and uncertainty, but a common thread of hope emerges from the colourful and eccentric writings of bush author Fairbanks. An elder Aboriginal storyteller regales a group of eager tourists with an ancient story of betrayal, loss, and clever deception by The Old Man in the Mountain. In Tjamiti Ngunytji, an American youth is rescued by a character living in a remote outback Aboriginal community. After the devastating Black Saturday Bushfire destroyed his Victoria home and manuscripts, Fairbanks was inspired to capture the fleeting reflections of such an experience in The Smouldering Stump. Life is, has always been, and will continue to be a complex thing, shaped by friendship and love bonds, ugliness and conflict, anticipation and uncertainty, comedy and joy, tragedy, mystery, and more. Above all, there is hope and beauty for those who look for it. The Old Man in the Mountain and Other Stories celebrates the many threads in the colourful tapestry of life with the quirky, sometimes irreverent Aussie sense of humour.
A beautifully inventive collection from multi award-winning author Nina Allan. These stories will enthral fans of China Mieville, Aliya Whiteley and Carmen Maria Machado. A stunningly inventive collection from multi award-winning author, Nina Allan. Unsettling, dark and brilliantly astute, these weird and wonderful tales take us on journeys through time and space to explore enduring questions of memory and loss. Her worlds are recognisably our own but always closer to the edge, on the slant – and sharply unexpected. These stories are an unmissable insight into a writer at the top of her game.
This collection features 14 of Melville's short stories reprinted from Harper's and Putnam's magazines, including "The Encantadas or Enchanted Isles," a dramatic story set on the Galapagos Islands, plus "The Bell-Tower," more.
