The Anglo-Irish fantaisiste Lord Dunsany (1878–1957) was immensely prolific. Author of more than a dozen novels, hundreds of stories, essays, and poems, and more than fifty plays, he infused every single work with his unique blend of fantasy, weirdness, and subtle humor.

S. T. Joshi and Martin Andersson, two of the leading authorities on Dunsany’s work, have spent years in unearthing uncollected works by Dunsany, and the present volume is the result of their labors. Here we find stories set in Dunsany’s native Ireland, evoking the real or imagined ghosts, leprechauns, and spirits that haunt that ancient land. Other tales are set in locales around the world, reflecting Dunsany’s far-flung travels through the Middle East and Asia.

The core of the book is a presentation of an untitled short story collection that Dunsany assembled in 1956 but that was never published. Here we find some of the lost jewels of Dunsany’s output: “The Dwarf Holóbolos and the Sword Hogbiter,” a splendid sword-and-sorcery tale that evokes such early masterpieces as “The Sword of Welleran”; “The Dance at Weirdmoor Castle,” a delicate tale of ghosts; “The Stolen Power,” in which the horrors of the atomic age are pungently expressed; and “A Goat in Trousers,” a story of metempsychosis treading the borderline of humor and horror.

Also included in this volume are several previously unpublished tales, found among the manuscripts at Dunsany Castle in County Meath, Ireland.

No reader can fully appreciate the prodigal fertility of Lord Dunsany’s imagination without appreciating the diverse and unfailingly entertaining stories in this volume.

CONTENTS
Introduction
Tales and Sketches, 1931-1957
1. The Use of Man
2. The Ghost in the Corner
3. Very Secret
4. Tales for the Dark Continent
5. Advance Regulations
6. A Modern Portrait
7. The Rations of Murdoch Finucan
8. A Day on the Bog
9. Little Tim Brannehan
10. The Burrahoola
11. Kind Pagan Lights
12. A Witch in the Balkans
13. A Talk in the Dark
14. Mid Snow and Ice
15. A Treasure of India
16. Two Young Officers
17. The Unforgivable Choice
18. The Old Detective's Story
Tales from the 1956 Collection
19. Helping the Fairies
20. The Story of Tse Gah
21. The Dwarf Holóbolos and the Sword Hogbiter
22. Progress
23. One Night in Eldorado
24. The Traveller to Thundercliff
25. The Lucky Escape
26. How Mickey Paid His Debt
27. Lost Lyrics
28. The Dance at Weirdmoor Castle
29. As It Seems to the Blackbird
30. The Haunting of Whitebeams
31. The Romance of His Life
32. A Theory of Evolution
33. The Stolen Power
34. The Cook of Santamaria
35. The Awakening
36. A Goat in Trousers
37. A Breeze at Rest
38. A Channel Rescue
39. In the Governor's Palace
40. Hard Horses
41. The Blundering Curate
42. A Tale of the Irish Countryside
43. The Price of the World
44. When Mrs. Fynn Was Young
45. At the Scene of the Crime
46. A Tale of Bad Luck
47. In the Hotel Lounge
48. The Chambermaid of the Splendide
49. The Motive
50. The Quiet Laugh
Bibliography
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Selection and Introduction by S. T. Joshi and Martin Anderson
Cover art from QUEEN OF THE SECRET CITY by Joseph J. Doke (1916) - artist unknown
[Cover by Samuel Araya - ISFDB]