Arthur Machen

Arthur Machen (March 3, 1863 - March 30, 1947) was a Welsh-born author of fantasy fiction, writing around the beginning of the 20th century.

Selected works

• The Hill of Dreams - Perhaps semi-autobiographical, this recounts a young man's dreamy childhood in rural Wales, and his attempts to make a living as an author in the City
• The Great God Pan (1894) - A woman has her mind destroyed by an attempt to enable her to see the god of nature. Years later, a young woman, Helen Vaughn arrives on the London social scene, disturbing many young men; it transpires that she is the monstrous offspring of the god Pan and the woman of the experiment.
• The White People - a young girl's diary, recounting tales told her by her nurse, and her increasingly deep delvings into magic.
• The Novel of the Black Seal - somewhat of a precursor of H.P. Lovecraft in its subject matter, the protagonist gradually uncovers the secrets of a hidden pre- and non- human race hiding in the Welsh hills, and the true nature of a hybrid, idiot child fathered by one of them.
• The Novel of the White Powder
• The Inmost Light - A scientist imprisons his wife's soul in a shining jewel, letting something else into her untenanted body, but the jewel is stolen before he can reverse this...
• The Red Hand
• The Shining Pyramid
• The Terror
• The Great Return
• The Bowmen - In this story, written and published during World War I, the ghosts of archers from the battle of Agincourt come to the aid of British troops. This is attributed (by some at least) as the origin of the Angels of Mons legend.

• Project Gutenberg - The Great God Pan can be downloaded for free here (etext number 389)
• The Arthur Machen society