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Five Plays
Lord Dunsany
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R803
Discovery Miles 8 030
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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Lord Dunsany mixes reality with fantasy in this forgotten
collection of modern detective stories. Some are macabre, others
have a lighter and more amusing touch, but every story stimulates
the imagination and reveals the acknowledged master of the short
story at his very best. SMETHERS is a travelling salesman for
Numnumo, who make a relish for meats and savouries. He shares a
flat with an Oxford graduate called Linley, who fancies himself as
a detective and to whom Scotland Yard is inclined to turn if they
encounter a particularly challenging mystery. When a pretty young
girl disappears and her lodger is suspected of murdering her, two
bottles of Numnumo relish are the only clues, and Smethers is sent
to gather more information . . . Amongst the hundreds of fantasy
stories for which the Irish dramatist, poet and writer Lord Dunsany
became deservedly famous there was one solitary little book of
detective stories. Selected by Ellery Queen as an ‘unequivocal
keystone’ in the history of crime writing, this quirky collection
is a mixture of the masterful and the macabre, a book that lovers
of detective stories and tales of the unexpected will want to
savour.
The lord of Erl is told by the parliament of his people that they
want to be ruled by a magic lord. Obeying the immemorial custom,
the lord sends his son Alveric to fetch the King of Elfland's
daughter, Lirazel, to be his bride. He makes his way to Elfland,
where time passes at a rate far slower than the real world, and
wins her. They return to Erl and have a son, but in the manner of
fairy brides of folklore, she fits uneasily with his people. She
returns to the waiting arms of her father in Elfland, and her
lovesick husband goes searching for her, abandoning the kingdom of
Erl and wandering in a now-hopeless quest. The poetic style and
sweeping grandeur of The King of Elfland's Daughter has made it one
of the most beloved fantasy novels of our time, a masterpiece that
influenced some of the greatest contemporary fantasists. The
heartbreaking story of a marriage between a mortal man and an elf
princess is a masterful tapestry of the fairy tale following the
"happily ever after."
Time and the Gods (1906) is a short story collection by Lord
Dunsany. Published at the beginning of his career, Time and the
Gods, a sequel to The Gods of Pegana (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." "Once when the gods were young and
only Their swarthy servant Time was without age, the gods lay
sleeping by a broad river upon earth. There in a valley that from
all the earth the gods had set apart for Their repose the gods
dreamed marble dreams." Time and the Gods, Dunsany's second
collection of stories, contains some of his finest tales of fantasy
and adventure. From their "marble dreams" arose a city fit for the
gods, a sweeping expanse of towers, terraces, lawns, and fountains
known as Sardathrion. Protected by mountains and a vast desert,
safe in the heart of a fertile valley, the city of the gods is a
place to which few humans go, and from which none can return.
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 Time and the Gods is a classic of Irish fantasy fiction
reimagined for modern readers.
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The Gods of Pegana (Paperback)
Lord Dunsany; Contributions by Mint Editions
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R191
R157
Discovery Miles 1 570
Save R34 (18%)
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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The Gods of Pegana (1905) is a short story collection by Lord
Dunsany. Published at the beginning of his career, The Gods of
Pegana 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."
"Whether the season be winter or whether it be summer, whether it
be morning among the worlds or whether it be night, Skarl still
beateth his drum, for the purposes of the gods are not yet
fulfilled." The Gods of Pegana, Dunsany's debut collection of
stories, contains some of his finest tales of fantasy and
adventure. The Mana-Yood-Sushai created the gods of Pegana before
falling asleep in the middle of Time. The only thing keeping him
from creating new gods and worlds is the drummer Skarl, who can
never cease his playing. In their creator's absence, dozens of
small gods and a thousand local deities have free reign to create
the worlds and realities they want. As they compete to outdo one
another, the order and peace of Pegana hangs in the balance.
Humorous and inventive, 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 Gods of Pegana is a classic of
Irish fantasy fiction reimagined for modern readers.
There be islands in the Central Sea, whose waters are bounded by no
shore and where no ships come -- this is the faith of their people.
*
In the mists before the Beginning, Fate and Chance cast lots to
decide whose the Game should be; and he that won strode through the
mists to MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI and said: "Now make gods for Me, for I
have won the cast and the Game is to be Mine." Who it was that won
the cast, and whether it was Fate or whether Chance that went
through the mists before the Beginning to MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI -- none
knoweth.
From "The Last Dream of Bwona Khubla":
From steaming lowlands down by the equator, where monstrous
orchids blow, where beetles big as mice sit on the tent-ropes, and
fireflies glide about by night like little moving stars, the
travelers went three days through forests of cactus till they came
to the open plains where the oryx are.
When Bwona Khubla had gone there three years ago, what with
malaria with which he was shaking all over, and what with disgust
at finding the water-hole dry, he had decided to die there, and in
that part of the world such decisions are always fatal. In any case
he was overdue to die, but hitherto his amazing resolution, and
that terrible strength of character that so astounded his porters,
had kept him alive and moved his safari on.
There is not doubt that he was a fearful man. . . .
*
Dunsany had a weird, "weird" imagination, but unlike most folks
who think weird thoughts, he had a powerful ability to write (as
you can see from the above). This peculiar collection is a very
real treat: we envy you the reading of it. Among the treasures in
this volume are "The Last Dream of Bwona Khubla," "How the Office
of Postman Fell Vacant in Offord-Under-the-Wold," "The Prayer of
Boob Aheera," "East and West," "A Pretty Quarrel," "How the Gods
Avenged Meoul Ki Ning," "The Gift of the Gods," "The Sack of
Emeralds," "The Old Brown Coat," "An Archive of the Older
Mysteries," and "A City of Wonder," and a section he called Beyond
the Fields We Know, which included "Publisher's Note," "Idle Days
on the Yann," "A Shop in Go-By Street," and "The Avenger of
Perdndaris."
A Dreamer's Tales (1910) is a short story collection by Lord
Dunsany. Published at the height of his career, A Dreamer's Tales
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."
"Like a great wall is the mountain to the west. It comes up out of
the distance and goes down into the distance again, and it is named
Poltarnees, Beholder of Ocean." A Dreamer's Tales, Dunsany's fourth
collection of stories, contains some of his finest tales of fantasy
and adventure. The distant mountain of Poltarnees has long been a
place of wonder for mankind. The stories of old tell of many a
traveler who set out to see what lay beyond its insurmountable
peak. In these same stories, no one has ever returned. Promised the
hand of the Princess of Arizim, one man hopes that love will give
him the power not only to reach the mountaintop, but to return
alive. In "Idle Days on the Yann," a story praised by Yeats and
Lovecraft alike, a man sails down the River Yann in order to reach
its fabled gate. Along the way, he observes cities of unspeakable
strangeness and beauty. 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 A Dreamer's Tales is a classic of
Irish fantasy fiction reimagined for modern readers.
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