Henry Wessells: The Elfland Prepositions

Newly published from Temporary Culture: The Elfland Prepositions, four original short stories by bibliophile and scholar Henry Wessells of The Endless Bookshelf, in a finely produced limited edition of 100 numbered copies (few remaining). 

'Elfland is a labyrinth of paths. You approach from one side and no longer know your way about; you approach the same place from another side and you know your way about. That other Elfland is not a nice place, but it’s important to know how it works.'

Original, startling and oblique tales of Elfland and its margins, a modern reinterpretation of the worlds celebrated by Lord Dunsany, Sylvia Townsend Warner and, in his own way, Walter de la Mare.  Not only the classic fantasy tradition is celebrated here: the fiction also handles deftly American noir, crime fiction, and Borgesian labyrinths of meaning. Here is an Elfland as implacable as ever, but now ruthlessly enmeshed in contemporary mortal affairs.

(Mark Valentine)