British Weird (Handheld Classics)

For fans of the best-selling Women’s Weird anthology comes British Weird, a new installment of stories by British writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century that embrace the supernatural, horror, and the Gothic.

Curated by James Machin, the author of Palgrave Gothic's Weird Fiction in Britain, 1880 – 1939, who details the background of these stories in the Weird tradition, identifying their use of peculiarly British preoccupations in supernatural short fiction. Immense church effigies walk at night, man find a prehistoric tribe in the Scottish Highlands, canoeing on a haunted river—these are some examples of Weird stories that are uniquely British in style and content.

Authors include: 

E.F. Benson (“Caterpillars”)

Algernon Blackwood (“The Willows”)

John Buchan (“No-Man’s Land”)

Mary Butts “Mappa Mundi”)

L.A. Lewis (“Lost Keep”)

Arthur Machen (“N”)

John Metcalfe (“The Bad Lands”)

Edith Nesbit (“Man-Size in a Marble”)

Eleanor Scott (“Randalls Round”)

This collection is certain to thrill, entertain, and chill any fan of classic Weird fiction.

"A landmark anthology. . . " - Gingernuts of Horror

"This book is an absolute must-read for anyone with even a passing interest in the pre-WW2 era of the British Weird, and the stories have been chosen with obvious care." – Horrified 

James Machin teaches at the Royal College of Art, London. He is the author of Weird Fiction in Britain 1880–1939 (Palgrave 2018), and he co-edits Faunus, the Journal of the Friends of Arthur Machen. He has had short fiction published in various places including The Shadow Booth, Supernatural Tales and Weirdbook.