Ancient Sorceries, Deluxe Edition

Description

A beautifully produced new edition of Blackwood’s weirdest supernatural stories, including “The Willows,” highlighted by H.P. Lovecraft as “the single finest weird tale in literature”Lauded as one of our greatest storytellers, and inspiring generations of writers from H.P. Lovecraft to Tolkien to Stephen King, Algernon Blackwood left a legacy as one of Britain’s greatest conjurors of weird and supernatural stories. Blackwood’s inimitable style puts readers right in the middle of the story, with visceral and nature-inspired fear that lies just beyond the real, often in the form of a nameless dread.
 
This beautifully produced edition, with a stunning cover and thoughtful design and layout to ensure the most enjoyable reading experience, features four of his most unnervingly curious tales:
  • Ancient Sorceries—a traveller stops in a remote French hill town and soon finds himself unable to leave; there is something strangely feline about the inhabitants, he notices, and they all seem to be watching him very closely…  • The Listener—a lodging house guest feels himself observed by a malevolent presence. Soon it transpires his room’s previous occupant is watching him from beyond the grave, and is envious of the very flesh on his bones.  • The Sea Fit—an old retired ship’s captain’s ravings build to a terrifying climax, as he offers himself up as a sacrifice to the cruel gods of the sea.
  • The Willows—two friends on a canoeing trip spend a terrifying night on a lonely willow-covered island, haunted by the strange trees and sinister shapes in the water. Algernon Blackwood was born in Shooter’s Hill, now a suburb of London, in 1869. Raised in a strictly Christian household, Blackwood was interested in other religions from a young age and eventually came to believe in what he called ‘animism’–the idea that nature was sentient and embued with spiritual meaning–which greatly influenced his work. In 1880, he travelled to North America where he hunted moose, worked as a reporter, and wrote short stories. Throughout his life he continued to travel widely and write prolifically, producing 14 novels as well as many popular collections of weird and ghostly tales. GB

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