"In the episodic novel of The Three Impostors," comments Lovecraft, "a work whose merit as a whole is somewhat marred by an imitation of the jaunty Stevenson manner, occur certain tales which perhaps represent the highwater mark of Machen's skill as

"In the episodic novel of The Three Impostors," comments Lovecraft, "a work whose merit as a whole is somewhat marred by an imitation of the jaunty Stevenson manner, occur certain tales which perhaps represent the highwater mark of Machen's skill as a terror-weaver. Here we find in its most artistic form a favourite weird conception of the author's; the notion that beneath the mounds and rocks of the wild Welsh hills dwell subterraneously that squat primitive race whose vestiges gave rise to our common folk legends of fairies, elves, and the "little people," and whose acts are even now responsible for certain unexplained disappearances, and occasional substitutions of strange dark "changelings" for normal infants. This theme receives its finest treatment in the episode entitled The Novel Of The Black Seal; where a professor, having discovered a singular identity between certain characters scrawled on Welsh limestone rocks and those existing in a prehistoric black seal from Babylon, sets out on a course of discovery which leads him to unknown and terrible things."

In 1927, H.P. Lovecraft wrote an essay titled “Supernatural Horror in Literature”. This podcast will include readings of works referenced in this essay, including the works of Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Lord Dunsany, and M.R. James, among oth

In 1927, H.P. Lovecraft wrote an essay titled “Supernatural Horror in Literature”. This podcast will include readings of works referenced in this essay, including the works of Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Lord Dunsany, and M.R. James, among others.