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Expanded Edition!

H.P. Lovecraft's favorite horror stories, those that inspired and awed him -- with four additional stories from the original edition!

H.P. Lovecraft made lists of both literary and popular stories "having the greatest amount of truly cosmic horror and macabre convincingness." These lists of his favorite weird tales make for a truly landmark Lovecraftian anthology. We present Lovecraft's own favorites horror stories, including some well-known classics, alongside of a number of excellent rare tales by forgotten authors. Many of these stories are classics, inspiring several generations since of the world's best horror authors. Contributors include Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Machen, Robert W. Chambers, M. R. James, Algernon Blackwood, M. P. Shiel, A. Merritt, Walter de la Mare, Paul Suter, M. L. Humphreys, H. F. Arnold, Everil Worrell, Arthur J. Burks, and John Martin Leahy. This is the anthology of favorite weird tales that Lovecraft himself hoped to compile!

This expanded edition features four additional stories not included in Lovecraft's original lists, culled from his later letters. Included are stories like the classic "Passing of a God" by Henry S. Whitehead, and some additional tales by acclaimed authors Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith.

"To understand why Lovecraft regarded these stories as the touchstone for greatness in the literature of supernatural horror is to understand the significance of the genre itself. The classic works included in this collection, along with Lovecraft's own best tales, both justify and represent the essence of this form of human expression." - Thomas Ligotti

Late Reviews collects Douglas A. Anderson's reviews of older or unusual books, usually ones of a fantastical, supernatural or decadent nature, written over the last twenty-five years.

"Doug Anderson's regular 'Late Reviews' column in Wormwood is a treasury of information and commentary on some of the rarest, most obscure and strangest books in our field. It is infused by Doug's shrewd and unflinching assessments; bad books are named as such, overlooked achievements are justly celebrated." --Mark Valentine, editor of Wormwood

"In his wonderful 'Late Reviews' Doug Anderson boldly goes where few readers have gone before. Rather than write about the familiar classics of fantasy and supernatural literature, he explores the genre's back alleys and waste lands, rediscovering dozens of strange and strangely appealing titles, most of them half forgotten, if remembered at all. Who else has read Guy Ridley's The World of Teregor and John William Harding's A Conjuror of Phantoms and Erica Fay's The Road to Fairyland or, it would seem, the complete works of Anthony Dyllington, author of The Unseen Thing? When Doug praised the wit of Alexander de Comeau's Monk's Magic--and likened it to Mervyn Wall's The Unfortunate Fursey--I immediately went searching for a copy. Far more than just a collection of essays, Douglas A. Anderson's Late Reviews is a valuable reference, a guide for the curious reader and, not least, a source of rare literary entertainment." --Michael Dirda, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and author of Classics for Pleasure and On Conan Doyle

Fantasy is one the best-selling and widely read of today's literary genres, thanks to the enduring popularity of authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien and the blockbuster film versions of "The Lord of the Rings" and other fantasy books. "Seekers of Dreams" is a unique collection of some of the fantasy genre's best short stories. Featured authors include the legendary Bram Stoker, the master of modern fantasy horror Thomas Ligotti, the king of the weird and wonderful H.P. Lovecraft, and many, many more.This is a must-have volume for anyone with an interest in the increasingly popular world of fantasy fiction.

Contents:

• Introduction (Seekers of Dreams: Masterpieces of Fantasy) - essay by Douglas A. Anderson
• Friend's Best Man - (1987) - shortstory by Jonathan Carroll
• Mountains of the Moon - (1899) - shortstory by Laurence Housman
• The Gods of the Mountain - (1912) - shortfiction by Lord Dunsany
• The Challenge from Beyond (Part 1 of 5) - [Cthulhu Mythos Tales] - (1935) - shortfiction by H. P. Lovecraft and C. L. Moore and A. Merritt and Robert E. Howard and Frank Belknap Long (variant of The Challenge from Beyond) [as by C. L. Moore ]
• The Challenge from Beyond (Part 2 of 5) - [Cthulhu Mythos Tales] - (1935) - shortfiction by H. P. Lovecraft and C. L. Moore and A. Merritt and Robert E. Howard and Frank Belknap Long (variant of The Challenge from Beyond) [as by A. Merritt ]
• The Challenge from Beyond (Part 3 of 5) - [Cthulhu Mythos Tales] - (1935) - shortfiction by H. P. Lovecraft and C. L. Moore and A. Merritt and Robert E. Howard and Frank Belknap Long (variant of The Challenge from Beyond) [as by H. P. Lovecraft ]
• The Challenge from Beyond (Part 4 of 5) - [Cthulhu Mythos Tales] - (1935) - shortfiction by H. P. Lovecraft and C. L. Moore and A. Merritt and Robert E. Howard and Frank Belknap Long (variant of The Challenge from Beyond) [as by Robert E. Howard ]
• The Challenge from Beyond (Part 5 of 5) - [Cthulhu Mythos Tales] - (1935) - shortfiction by H. P. Lovecraft and C. L. Moore and A. Merritt and Robert E. Howard and Frank Belknap Long (variant of The Challenge from Beyond) [as by Frank Belknap Long, Jr. ]
• The Bright Valley - (2002) - shortstory by R. H. Barlow
• The Shadow at the Bottom of the World - (1990) - shortstory by Thomas Ligotti
• The Saint and the Forest-Gods - (1917) - shortstory by Kenneth Morris
• The Unicorn Tapestries - (1981) - poem by Peter S. Beagle
• A King's Lesson - (1886) - shortstory by William Morris
• Senator Bilbo - (2001) - shortstory by Andy Duncan
• The Moon-Dial - (1932) - novelette by Henry S. Whitehead
• The Face by the River - (2004) - shortstory by Clark Ashton Smith
• The Fifty-First Dragon - (1919) - shortstory by Heywood Broun
• Quercus Hobbs - shortstory by Leonard Cline
• The Judge's House - (1891) - shortstory by Bram Stoker
• The Grimoire - (1936) - shortstory by Montague Summers
• The Were-Wolf - (1890) - novelette by Clemence Housman
• Inexplicable - (1917) - shortstory by L. G. Moberly
• The Golden Rat - (1913) - novelette by Alexander Harvey
• The Haunted Jarvee - [Carnacki (William Hope Hodgson)] - (1929) - shortstory by William Hope Hodgson
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (excerpt) - [Oz] - (1900) - shortfiction by L. Frank Baum
• Green Hill Country - shortstory by Verlyn Flieger

In his acclaimed collection Tales Before Tolkien, Douglas A. Anderson illuminated the sources, inspirations, and influences that fired J.R.R. Tolkien's genius. Now Anderson turns his attention to Tolkien's colleague and friend C. S. Lewis, whose influence on modern fantasy, through his beloved Narnia books, is second only to Tolkien's own.

In many ways, Lewis's influence has been even wider than Tolkien's. For in addition to the Narnia series, Lewis wrote groundbreaking works of science fiction, urban fantasy, and religious allegory, and he came to be regarded as among the most important Christian writers of the twentieth century. It will come as no surprise, then, that such a wide-ranging talent drew inspiration from a variety of sources. Here are twenty of the tributaries that fed Lewis's unique talent, among them:

"The Wood That Time Forgot: The Enchanted Wood," taken from a never-before-published fantasy by Lewis's biographer and friend, Roger Lancelyn Green, that directly inspired The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; E. Nesbit's charming "The Aunt and Amabel," in which a young girl enters another world by means of a wardrobe; "The Snow Queen," by Hans Christian Andersen, featuring the abduction of a young boy by a woman as cruel as she is beautiful; and many more, including works by Charles Dickens, Kenneth Grahame, G. K. Chesterton, and George MacDonald, of whom Lewis would write, "I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master."

Full of fascinating insights into Lewis's life and fiction, Tales Before Narnia is the kind of book that will be treasured by children and adults alike and passed down lovingly from generation to generation.

Contents:

• ix - Introduction (Tales Before Narnia: The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction) - essay by Douglas A. Anderson
• 3 - Tegner's Drapa - (1849) - poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• 7 - The Aunt and Amabel - (1909) - shortfiction by E. Nesbit
• 17 - The Snow Queen - (1844) - novelette by Hans Christian Andersen (trans. of Snedronningen 1845)
• 45 - The Magic Mirror - (1858) - shortstory by George MacDonald
• 63 - Undine - (1818) - novella by Baron Friedrich de La Motte Fouqué (trans. of Undine: Eine Erzählung 1811) [as by Friedrich De La Motte Fouque ]
• 129 - Letters from Hell: Letter III - (1887) - shortstory by Valdemar Thisted
• 135 - Fastosus and Avaro - (1863) - shortstory by John Macgowan
• 147 - The Tapestried Chamber; or, The Lady in the Sacque - (1910) - shortstory by Sir Walter Scott (variant of The Tapestried Chamber 1828)
• 161 - The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton - (1836) - shortstory by Charles Dickens
• 173 - The Child and the Giant - (1988) - shortstory by Owen Barfield
• 183 - A King's Lesson - (1886) - shortstory by William Morris
• 191 - The Waif Woman - (1914) - shortstory by Robert Louis Stevenson
• 207 - First Whisper of The Wind in the Willows (excerpt) - (1908) - shortfiction by Kenneth Grahame
• 239 - The Wish House - (1924) - shortstory by Rudyard Kipling
• 257 - Et in Sempiternum Pereant - (1935) - shortstory by Charles Williams
• 269 - The Dragon's Visit - (1937) - poem by J. R. R. Tolkien
• 275 - The Coloured Lands - (1925) - shortstory by G. K. Chesterton
• 283 - The Man Who Lived Backwards - (1938) - shortstory by Charles F. Hall
• 301 - The Wood That Time Forgot: The Enchanted Wood - (2008) - shortstory by Roger Lancelyn Green
• 313 - The Dream Dust Factory - (1947) - shortstory by William Lindsay Gresham

Terry Brooks. David Eddings. George R. R. Martin. Robin Hobb. The top names in modern fantasy all acknowledge J. R. R. Tolkien as their role model, the author whose work inspired them to create their own epics. But what writers influenced Tolkien himself? Here, internationally recognized Tolkien expert Douglas A. Anderson has gathered the fiction of authors who sparked Tolkien's imagination in a collection destined to become a classic in its own right.

Andrew Lang's romantic swashbuckler, "The Story of Sigurd," features magic rings, an enchanted sword, and a brave hero loved by two beautiful women-- and cursed by a ferocious dragon. Tolkien read E. A. Wyke-Smith's "The Marvelous Land of Snergs" to his children, delighting in these charming tales of a pixieish people "only slightly taller than the average table." Also appearing in this collection is a never-before-published gem by David Lindsay, author of Voyage to Arcturus, a novel which Tolkien praised highly both as a thriller and as a work of philosophy, religion, and morals.

In stories packed with magical journeys, conflicted heroes, and terrible beasts, this extraordinary volume is one that no fan of fantasy or Tolkien should be without. These tales just might inspire a new generation of creative writers.

Contents:

• 1 - Introduction (Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy) - essay by Douglas A. Anderson
• 4 - The Elves - (1827) - novelette by Ludwig Tieck (trans. of Die Elfen 1812)
• 21 - The Golden Key - (1867) - novelette by George MacDonald
• 46 - Puss-Cat Mew - (1869) - novelette by Lord Brabourne [as by E. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen]
• 87 - The Griffin and the Minor Canon - (1885) - shortstory by Frank R. Stockton
• 101 - The Demon Pope - (1888) - shortstory by Richard Garnett
• 111 - The Story of Sigurd - (1890) - shortstory by Andrew Lang
• 120 - The Folk of the Mountain Door - (1914) - shortstory by William Morris
• 133 - Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll - (1886) - novella by H. Rider Haggard (variant of Black Heart and White Heart 1896)
• 182 - The Dragon Tamers - [Seven Dragons] - (1899) - shortstory by E. Nesbit
• 195 - The Far Islands - (1899) - novelette by John Buchan
• 213 - The Drawn Arrow - (1923) - shortstory by Clemence Housman
• 224 - The Enchanted Buffalo - (1905) - shortstory by L. Frank Baum
• 232 - Chu-Bu and Sheemish - (1911) - shortstory by Lord Dunsany
• 237 - The Baumoff Explosive - (1919) - shortstory by William Hope Hodgson
• 253 - The Regent of the North - (1915) - shortstory by Kenneth Morris
• 264 - The Coming of the Terror - (1917) - shortstory by Arthur Machen
• 302 - The Elf-Trap - (1919) - shortstory by Francis Stevens
• 325 - The Thin Queen Of Elfhame - [Biography of the Life of Manuel] - (1922) - shortstory by James Branch Cabell
• 333 - The Woman of the Wood - (1926) - novelette by A. Merritt
• 359 - Golithos the Ogre (excerpt) - (1927) - shortfiction by E. A. Wyke-Smith
• 371 - The Story of Alwina - [Islandia] - (2003) - novelette by Austin Tappan Wright (variant of An Islandian Tale: The Story of Alwina 1981)
• 391 - A Christmas Play - (2003) - shortfiction by David Lindsay
• 427 - Author Notes and Recommended Reading - essay by uncredited

For readers throughout the world, The Hobbit serves as an introduction to the enchanting world of Middle-earth, home of elves, wizards, dwarves, goblins, dragons, orcs and a host of other creatures depicted in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion -- tales that sprang from the mind of the most beloved author of all time, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Newly expanded and completely redesigned, Douglas A. Anderson's The Annotated Hobbit is the definitive explication of the sources, characters, places, and things of J.R.R. Tolkien's timeless classic. Integrated with Anderson's notes and placed alongside the fully restored and corrected text of the original story are more than 150 illustrations showing visual interpretations of The Hobbit specific to many of the cultures that have come to know and love Tolkien's Middle-earth. Tolkien's original line drawings, maps and color paintings are also included, making this the most lavishly informative edition of The Hobbit available.

The Annotated Hobbit shows how Tolkien worked as a writer, what his influences and interests were, and how these relate to the invented world of Middle-earth. It gives a valuable overview of Tolkien's life and the publishing history of The Hobbit, and explains how every feature of The Hobbit fits within the rest of Tolkien's invented world. Here we learn how Gollum's character was revised to accommodate the true nature of the One Ring, and we can read the full text of The Quest of Erebor, Gandalf's explanation of how he came to send Bilbo Baggins on his journey with the dwarves. Anderson also makes meaningful and often surprising connections to our own world and literary history -- from Beowulf to The Marvellous Land of Snergs, from the Brothers Grimm to C. S. Lewis.