Arthur Machen was a Victorian bookman who is remembered today for his weird fiction, most of which (four stories) is collected in this Dover Thrift edition. Machen was a member of the Golden Dawn so one might expect high magic to figure in his stories. In fact his theme is primitive paganism and elemental beings. The theme is in the title of 'The Great God Pan' but the structure of the piece is unexpected. A doctor literally opens the mind of the young girl he adopted, sending her mindless but also unleashing a devilish offshoot on a death-dealing spree around London. 'The White People', nearly as famous in its own right as 'Pan' , is a bizarre account of what might be fairies or, more likely, those who live underground like the Tuatha. 'The Shining Pyramid' is definitely about the underground people and 'The Inmost Light' has underpinnings of alchemy whilst echoing the beginning of 'Pan' in the forbidden use of someone's essential being.
The stories are weird, not overtly horrific. Machen deals in suggestion, unease, and comes at his horrors obliquely which only makes them more disturbing. I am very impressed/
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