If you are a fan of HP Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, EA Poe, Bradbury, etc....you should already know and/or have read Machen. If you somehow have missed him...as many have...this is a GREAT new collection of his stories - only missing Great God Pan and Hill of Dreams to make it perfect. The aura and ambiance created in Machen's tales are without peer . . . and while he seems prone to the run-on descriptive mega-long paragraph, the whole of the stories flow over you like a gentle river until you find yourself wholly dragged under and knocked about in a world other than our own . . . one of ghosts and "little people" and ancient rites and rituals. Dealing with subjects of evil fairies or capturing the soul - to horrors of war and the sensuality of everyday life, Machen is a much underrated and under-read author.