Sorcery and Sanctity: A Tribute to Arthur Machen

To mark the 150th anniversary of Arthur Machen's birth, Hieroglyphic Press are publishing Sorcery and Sanctity - A Tribute to Arthur Machen, with new stories in the Machen tradition from seventeen authors inspired by the wizard from Gwent, including Ron Weighell, Mark Samuels, Thana Niveau, Steve Rasnic Tem, John Howard and John Gale.

The tales offer tributes to all aspects of Machen's literary career, including his work in supernatural horror and mystical wonder, the wartime legends and the ornate prose of his Nineties vignettes. The anthology, elegantly designed and produced, is in a limited edition of 150 copies, only 100 of which are for sale, and proceeds go to The Friends of Arthur Machen. It is sure to be a choice collector's item among Machenites for years to come, and an enduring homage to his work. Update: now sold out.

STEFAN GRABINSKI - ON THE HILL OF ROSES

Hieroglyphic Press have just published a translation (by Miroslav Lipinski) of Stefan Grabinski's first full collection of fantastical and macabre stories, On the Hill of Roses (1918). Grabinski's work has gradually been appearing from independent and small presses over the last couple of decades. This quiet renascence of interest allows us to appreciate the late and strange flowerings of a sombre but exquisite Symbolist. This edition is well-designed, with a beautiful dustjacket appropriate to the title. Mark Samuels provides a brief, affectionate foreword about discovering Grabinski, and the translator a very helpful introduction, explaining just how singular Grabinski was in the Polish literature at the time, and outlining the tragedy of the author's life, and subsequent neglect. The stories will appeal to all connoisseurs of the fantastic and decadent in European literature.