Three Impostors

The Three Impostors (1895) is a novel by Arthur Machen. Consisting of interwoven stories involving the title characters, The Three Impostors was compared to the prose style of Robert Louis Stevenson on publication. Condemned as decadent and obscene upon publication, Machen’s writing earned praise from Oscar Wilde and H. P. Lovecraft. Throughout the years, Machen’s work has been referenced and adapted by such figures as Stephen King, Guillermo del Toro, and Josh Malerman for its masterfully unsettling blend of science, myth, and magic. Inspired by his knowledge of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which was undergoing a controversial conflict involving Irish poet W. B. Yeats and English mystic Aleister Crowley at the time, Machen crafts a layered tale of suspense and secrecy that continues to entertain and surprise over a century after its release. In London, a secret society of occultists gains strength through mutual disdain of modern life and Victorian social conventions. Three impostors gifted in the art of deceit do their best to disrupt city life while embarking on a quest for an Imperial Roman coin with a salacious history. The Three Impostors is a kaleidoscopic novel concerned with the horrors ever present on the outskirts of daily life, waiting to make themselves known. This edition of Arthur Machen’s The Three Impostors is a classic of British horror fiction reimagined for modern readers.

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Arthur Machen (1863-1947) was a Welsh mystic and author. Born Arthur Llewellyn Jones, he was raised in Monmouthshire in a prominent family of clergymen. He developed an early interest in alchemy and other occult matters, and obtained a classical education at Hereford Cathedral School. He moved to London, where he failed to gain admittance to medical school and soon focused on his literary interests. Working as a tutor, he wrote in the evening and published his first poem, “Eleusinia,” in 1881. A novel, The Anatomy of Tobacco (1884), soon followed, launching his career as a professional writer. Machen made a name for himself as a frequent contributor to London literary magazines and achieved his first major success with the 1894 novella The Great God Pan. Following his wife’s death from cancer in 1899, he briefly joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and began conducting research on Celtic Christianity, the legend of the Holy Grail, and the stories of King Arthur. In 1922, after a decade of working as a journalist for the Evening News, he published The Secret Glory―a story of the Grail―to popular and critical acclaim. This marked the highpoint of his career as a pioneering author of fantasy, horror, and supernatural fiction whose work has been admired and praised by William Butler Yeats, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Stephen King.