Search Worlds Without End

Lalette Asterhax could not escape her destiny. She was a hereditary witch in a world where witchcraft was banned by ecclesiastical and temporal powers. And any man who possessed her would then gain possession of her precious Blue Star... and all the powers it could bestow.

Rodvard Bergelin was a reluctant revolutionary... a rogue who had a date with destiny. Although he lusted after a rich baron's daughter, Rodvard was ordered to seduce the saucy witch-maiden. Then all the magical powers of that strange blue jewel would be his... for as long as he remained faithful to Lalette!

The poetic style and sweeping grandeur of The King of Elfland's Daughter has made it one of the most beloved fantasy novels of our time, a masterpiece that influenced some of the greatest contemporary fantasists. The heartbreaking story of a marriage between a mortal man and an elf princess is a masterful tapestry of the fairy tale following the "happily ever after."

When the wife of Golden Walter betrays him for another man, he leaves home on a trading voyage to avoid the necessity of a feud with her family. His efforts are fruitless, as word comes to him en route that his wife's clan has killed his father. As a storm then carries him to a faraway country, the effect of this news is merely to sunder his last ties to his homeland. Walter comes to the castle of an enchantress, from which he rescues a captive maiden in a harrowing adventure (or rather, she rescues him). They flee through a region inhabited by mini-giants, eventually reaching a city whose custom is to take as ruler when the throne is vacant the next foreigner to arrive. The late king having died, Walter and his new love are hailed as the new monarchs, and presumably live happily ever after.

After he followed the old man through the mirror, nothing in his life was ever right again. It was a special mirror, and the man he followed was a special man -- a man who led him to the things that underlie the fate of all creation.

A glowing anthology of gems from the ancient writers, including excerpts from:

The Volsunga Saga
Beowulf
The Mabinogion
The Shah-Namah
The Kalevala
and many, many more.

The companion volume to "The Young Magicians." Edited and with introduction and notes by Lin Carter

Contents:

• 1 - Introduction: Over the Hills and Far Away - essay by Lin Carter
• 10 - The Ogre - (1961) - short story by unknown
• 30 - The High History of the Sword Gram - [Volsungs] - (1870) - short story by unknown
• 54 - Manawyddan Son of the Boundless - (1930) - short story by Kenneth Morris
• 64 - Puck's Song - (1905) - poem by Rudyard Kipling
• 67 - Barrow-Wight - juvenile - (1890) - short story by Sabine Baring-Gould [as by S. Baring-Gould]
• 73 - Fingal at the Siege of Carric-Thura - poem by James Macpherson
• 83 - The Sword of Avalon (excerpt from Le Morte d'Arthur) - short fiction by Sir Thomas Malory
• 98 - Tom O'Bedlam's Song - poem by Anonymous
• 102 - The Last Giant of the Elder Age - (1886) - short story by unknown (variant of Ilya of Murom the Peasant Hero, and Hero Svyatogor)
• 112 - The Lost Words of Power - poem by unknown
• 125 - Wonderful Things Beyond Cathay - (1895) - short story by unknown
• 135 - Prospero Evokes the Air Spirits (excerpt from The Tempest) - poem by William Shakespeare
• 138 - The Lords of Faerie (excerpt from The Faerie Queen) - (1953) - short fiction by Edmund Spenser
• 144 - Tales of the Wisdom of the Ancients - (1959) - short story by unknown
• 160 - The Magical Palace of Darkness (excerpt from Palmerin of England) - [Amadis de Gaula] - (1807) - short story by Francisco de Moraes
• 178 - Rustum Against the City of Demons - short story by Firdausi
• 197 - Childe Rolande to the Dark Tower Came - (1855) - poem by Robert Browning
• 203 - The Princess of Babylon (abridged) - (1885) - novella by Voltaire
• 275 - The Horns of Elfland - (1909) - poem by Alfred Tennyson [as by Alfred Lord Tennyson]

Contents:

• 1 - Diana's Foresters - essay by Lin Carter
• 8 - Rapunzel - (1858) - poem by William Morris
• 22 - The Sword of Welleran - (1908) - short story by Lord Dunsany
• 39 - In Valhalla (excerpt) - (1926) - short fiction by E. R. Eddison
• 45 - The Way of Ecben - [Biography of the Life of Manuel - 4.2] - (1929) - novelette by James Branch Cabell (variant of The Way of Ecben: A Comedietta Involving a Gentleman 1928)
• 86 - The Quest of Iranon - [Dream Cycle] - (1935) - short story by H. P. Lovecraft
• 96 - The Cats of Ulthar - [Dream Cycle] - (1920) - short story by H. P. Lovecraft
• 101 - The Maze of Maal Dweb - [Maal Dweb] - (1933) - short story by Clark Ashton Smith
• 121 - The Whelming of Oom - short story by Lin Carter
• 126 - Through the Dragon Glass - (1917) - short story by A. Merritt
• 144 - The Valley of the Worm - [James Allison] - (1934) - novelette by Robert E. Howard
• 170 - Heldendämmerung - (1964) - poem by L. Sprague de Camp
• 172 - Cursed Be the City - [Prince Raynor] - (1939) - novelette by Henry Kuttner
• 202 - Ka the Appalling - [Pusadian] - (1958) - novelette by L. Sprague de Camp
• 203 - Turjan of Miir - [Dying Earth] - (1950) - short story by Jack Vance
• 249 - Narnian Suite - (1953) - poem by C. S. Lewis
• 254 - Once Upon a Time - (1965) - poem by J. R. R. Tolkien
• 257 - The Dragon's Visit - (1937) - poem by J. R. R. Tolkien
• 263 - Azlon (from Khymyrium, a work in progress) - [Khymyrium] - short fiction by Lin Carter
• 276 - A Basic Reading List of Modern Heroic Fantasy - essay by Lin Carter

A man named Gene finds himself cast into a new world by a powerful godlike being. Gene has been changed in such a way that he has every talent needed to survive this new world, including the ability to understand the language of its inhabitants. Gene is rescued from the seemingly endless oceans of this new world by a passing ship that is similar to the looks of a Viking galley. Aboard the ship he makes himself useful as best he can while meeting new friends and enemies. Eventually they come to an island where a mysterious creature who some see as a friend, and some see as an enemy, joins them aboard their ship to help deal with the threat of war from their neighboring kingdom known as Koph. The creature, utilizing his sorcerer-like abilities is employed by the other country known as Nanich to help aid them in the war, but will the sorcerer, and his magic be enough to save the land of Nanich from being overrun by Koph?

On Midsummer's Eve, as everybody knows, you should leave a bowl of milk out for the fairies. Unfortunately - or fortunately - Fred Barber, an American diplomat convalescing in Yorkshire, didn't take the obligation with proper seriousness. He swapped the milk for a stiff dose of Scotch. So he had only himself to blame if the fairies got a bit muddled. Barber found himself in an Old English Fairyland. At the Court of King Oberon, to be precise. The natural - or supernatural - laws there were, to say the least of it, distinctly odd. Things kept changing. This made the mssion with which he was entrusted, as the price of his return to the normal world, even harder than he expected. He had to penetrate the Kobold Hills, where it was said that swords were being made, and discover if an ancient enemy had returned. He was given a magic wand - but not told how to use it. Through the fields and forests he went, meeting dryads and sprites, ogres and two-headed eagles, on the way. Danger, seduction and magic lay all around him. And, as the adventure continued, somehow it darkened and became more seriousness. At the end of Fred Barber's quest lay a shattering revelation.

The town of Lud was a prosperous community situated at the confluence of two rivers ... on having its source in the Land of Faerie. But being a stuffy, rational, and no-nonsense province--ruled by stuffy, rational and no-nonsense burghers--the people of Lud refused to believe in fairies, elves of the like, and they meted out severe punishments to those who did. But when the Mayor's son confessed to eating fairyfruit and the proper young ladies of Miss Crabapple's school dashed off to the Debatable Hills, even the stuffiest burgher had to acknowledge that a perfect plague of Faerie influence had hit town ... and now steps would have to be taken!

Lud-in-the-Mist (1926) is the third novel by Hope Mirrlees. It continues the author's exploration of the themes of Life and Art, by a method already described in the preface of her first novel, Madeleine: One of Love's Jansenists (1919): "to turn from time to time upon the action the fantastic limelight of eternity, with a sudden effect of unreality and the hint of a world within a world".

Table of Contents:

• About "At the Edge of the World" and Lord Dunsany: The Dreams of Mana-Yood-Sushai - essay by Lin Carter
• The Cave of Kai - [Pegana] - (1906) - shortstory
• Of the Gods of Averon - [Pegana] - (1906) - shortstory (variant of "The Sorrow of Search")
• Mlideen - [Pegana] - (1906) - shortstory
• The King That Was Not - [Pegana] - (1906) - shortstory
• The Men of Yarnith - [Pegana] - (1906) - shortstory
• In the Land of Time - [Pegana] - (1906) - shortstory
• Time and the Gods - [Pegana] - (1906) - shortstory
• The Opulence of Yahn - [Pegana] - (1906) - shortstory (variant of "Usury")
• The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth - (1908) - shortstory
• Poltarnees, Beholder of Ocean - (1908) - shortstory
• The Idle City - (1909) - shortstory
• Bethmoora - (1908) - shortstory
• Idle Days on the Yann - [Beyond the Fields We Know - 1] - (1910) - shortstory
• The Hashish Man - (1910) - shortstory
• Carcassonne - (1910) - shortstory
• In Zaccarath - (1909) - shortstory
• The Dream of King Karna-Vootra - (1915) - shortstory
• How the Enemy Came to Thlunrana - (1915) - shortstory
• The Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller, and of the Doom That Befell Him - (1911) - shortstory
• A Shop in Go-by Street - [Beyond the Fields We Know - 2] - (1912) - shortstory
• The Avenger of Perdóndaris - [Beyond the Fields We Know - 3] - (1912) - shortstory
• How the Dwarfs Rose Up in War - (1919) - shortstory (variant of "A Pretty Quarrel)"
• The Probable Adventure of the Three Literary Men - (1911) - shortstory
• The Loot of Bombasharna - (1912) - shortstory
• The Injudicious Prayers of Pombo the Idolater - (1910) - shortstory
• The Bride of the Man-Horse - (1911) - shortstory
• The Quest of the Queen's Tears - (1911) - shortstory
• How One Came, as Was Foretold, to the City of Never - (1911) - shortstory
• A Day at the Edge of the World - (1916) - shortstory (variant of "The Long Porter's Tale" 1914)
• Erlathdronion - (1916) - shortstory (variant of "A Tale of the Equator" 1914)
• Epilogue to "The Book of Wonder" - (1912) - essay
• Afterword (The Edge of the World) - essay by Lin Carter

In October 1857, George MacDonald wrote what he described as "a kind of fairy tale, in the hope that it will pay me better than the more evidently serious work." This was Phantastes -- one of MacDonald's most important works; a work which so overwhelmed C. S. Lewis that a few hours after he began reading it he knew he "had crossed a great frontier."

The book is about the narrator's (Anodos) dream-like adventures in fairyland, where he confronts tree-spirits and the shadow, sojourns to the palace of the fairy queen, and searches for the spirit of the earth. The tale is vintage MacDonald, conveying a profound sadness and a poignant longing for death.

Collection of early Lovecraft stories inspired by Lord Dunsany.

Table of Contents:

• About The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath and H. P. Lovecraft: Through the Gates of Deeper Slumber - essay by Lin Carter
• The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath - (1943) - novella
• Celephais - (1922) - shortstory
• The Silver Key - (1929) - shortstory
• Through the Gates of the Silver Key - (1934) - novelette by H. P. Lovecraft and E. Hoffmann Price
• The White Ship - (1919) - shortstory
• The Strange High House in the Mist - (1931) - shortstory
• Postscript About The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath and H. P. Lovecraft - (1966) - poem by Lin Carter

Clark Ashton Smith's influential Zothique sequence of stories, the majority of which were orignally published during the 1930s, collected in a signle volume. Number 16 in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, edited by Lin Carter.

Contents:

• About Zothique, and Clark Ashton Smith: When the World Grows Old - essay by Lin Carter
• Map of Zothique
• Zothique (1951 poem)
• Xeethra (1934)
• Necromancy in Naat (1936)
• The Empire of the Necromancers (1932)
• The Master of the Crabs (1948)
• The Death of Ilalotha (1937)
• The Weaver in the Vault (1934)
• The Witchcraft of Ulua (1934)
• The Charnel God (1934)
• The Dark Eidolon (1935)
• Morthylla (1953)
• The Black Abbot of Puthuum (1936)
• The Tomb-Spawn (1934)
• The Last Hieroglyph (1935)
• The Isle of the Torturers (1933)
• The Garden of Adompha (1938)
• The Voyage of King Euvoran (1933)
• Epilogue: The Sequence of the Zothique Tales - essay by Lin Carter

Shibli Bagarag, a Persian barber, and Noorna, an enchantress, are given the quest of shaving the tyrant Shagpat, who by the power of his magical hair holds his city in thrall. Along the way Shibli acquires a magic sword and meets a series of exotic creatures, including a talking hawk and several genies.

The first half of The Well at the World's End (Books One and Two)

Using language with elements of the medieval tales which were his models, Morris tells the story of Ralph of Upmeads, the fourth and youngest son of a minor king, who sets out, contrary to his parents' wishes, to find knightly adventure and seek the Well at the World's End, a magic well which will confer a near-immortality and strengthened destiny on those who drink from it. The well lies at the edge of the sea beyond a wall of mountains called "The Wall of the World" by those on the near side of them but "The Wall of Strife" by the more peaceful and egalitarian people who live on the seaward side.

Ralph meets a mysterious lady who has drunk from the well, and they become lovers. Together and separately, they face many foes and dangers including brigands, slave traders, unscrupulous rulers and treacherous fellow travellers. The lady is killed, but with the help of Ursula, another maiden whom Ralph meets upon the way, and the Sage of Sweveham, an ancient hermit who has also drunk of the well, Ralph eventually attains the Well, after many more adventures. The outward journey takes more than a year. Returning from the well, Ralph, Ursula and the Sage find that some of the poor oppressed folk they had helped on the way to the well have righted grave wrongs, increased prosperity and reduced the level of strife in the city-state kingdoms along the way. The wayfarers must now decide whether they can settle down to a righteous but stodgy life at Ralph's home kingdom now that they have learned so much and become near-immortal, or are called to further heroism in the wider world.

The second half of The Well at the World's End (Books Three and Four)

Using language with elements of the medieval tales which were his models, Morris tells the story of Ralph of Upmeads, the fourth and youngest son of a minor king, who sets out, contrary to his parents' wishes, to find knightly adventure and seek the Well at the World's End, a magic well which will confer a near-immortality and strengthened destiny on those who drink from it. The well lies at the edge of the sea beyond a wall of mountains called "The Wall of the World" by those on the near side of them but "The Wall of Strife" by the more peaceful and egalitarian people who live on the seaward side.

Ralph meets a mysterious lady who has drunk from the well, and they become lovers. Together and separately, they face many foes and dangers including brigands, slave traders, unscrupulous rulers and treacherous fellow travellers. The lady is killed, but with the help of Ursula, another maiden whom Ralph meets upon the way, and the Sage of Sweveham, an ancient hermit who has also drunk of the well, Ralph eventually attains the Well, after many more adventures. The outward journey takes more than a year. Returning from the well, Ralph, Ursula and the Sage find that some of the poor oppressed folk they had helped on the way to the well have righted grave wrongs, increased prosperity and reduced the level of strife in the city-state kingdoms along the way. The wayfarers must now decide whether they can settle down to a righteous but stodgy life at Ralph's home kingdom now that they have learned so much and become near-immortal, or are called to further heroism in the wider world.

Contents:

• ix - Here There Be Dragons: An Introduction - essay by Lin Carter
• 3 - Introduction to the First Tale: How Nefer-Ka-Ptah Found The Book of Thoth - essay by Lin Carter
• 6 - How Nefer-Ka-Ptah Found the Book of Thoth - short story by Brian Brown
• 15 - Introduction to the Second Tale: The Descent of Ishtar to the Netherworld - essay by Lin Carter
• 20 - The Descent of Ishtar to the Netherworld - poem by Lin Carter
• 29 - Introduction to the Third Tale: Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou - essay by Lin Carter
• 33 - Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou - novelette by Antoine Galland (trans. of Histoire de prince Ahmed et de la fée Pari-Banou 1717) [as by Galland]
• 63 - Introduction to the Fourth Tale: The Talisman of Oromanes - essay by Lin Carter
• 65 - The Talisman of Oromanes: The Merchant Abudah's Adventure with the Ivory Box - novelette by Sir Charles Morell [as by uncredited]
• 111 - Introduction to the Fifth Tale: Wars of the Giants of Albion - essay by Lin Carter
• 114 - Wars of the Giants of Albion - short story by Wayland Smith
• 129 - Introduction to the Sixth Tale: Forty Singing Seamen - essay by Lin Carter
• 130 - Forty Singing Seamen - (1906) - poem by Alfred Noyes
• 137 - Introduction to the Seventh Tale: The Shadowy Lord of Mommur - essay by Lin Carter
• 141 - The Shadowy Lord of Mommur - novelette by Robert Steele
• 169 - Introduction to the Eighth Tale: Olivier's Brag - essay by Lin Carter
• 170 - Olivier's Brag - (1909) - short story by Anatole France (trans. of Le gab d'Olivier 1908)
• 181 - Introduction to the Ninth Tale: The White Bull - essay by Lin Carter
• 183 - The White Bull - (unknown) - novelette by Voltaire (trans. of Le taureau blanc 1774)
• 217 - Introduction to the Tenth Tale: The Yellow Dwarf - essay by Lin Carter
• 219 - The Yellow Dwarf - (1889) - novelette by Comtesse d'Aulnoy (trans. of Le nain jaune 1698) [as by Madame d'Aulnoy]
• 243 - Introduction to the Eleventh and Twelfth Tales: Arcalaus the Enchanter and The Isle of Wonders - essay by Lin Carter
• 247 - Arcalaus the Enchanter - short story by Vasco de Lobeira [as by uncredited]
• 262 - The Isle of Wonders - short story by Vasco de Lobeira [as by uncredited]
• 273 - Introduction to the Thirteenth Tale: The Palace of Illusions - essay by Lin Carter
• 276 - The Palace of Illusions - [Orlando Furioso] - (1516) - short story by Ludovico Ariosto
• 299 - A Concluding Word (Golden Cities, Far) - essay by Lin Carter

Hibbert, an imprisoned innocent, is caught up in the jailbreak of his cellmate Scarlatti, engineered with the assistance of another man, Burks. Forcing Hibbert to accompany them, Scarlatti and Burks make for the Florida Everglades, picking up Scarlatti's girlfriend Carlotta on the way.

In the Everglades the four encounter a miraculous golden stairway extending into the sky. Ascending, they find a pool defended by a blue flamingo, which is killed by Burks. Another stairway leads them to the land of Khoire, a strange and mysterious paradise. There a man named Patur exposes the true nature of each by means of a crystal mask. He warns them that they will be transformed in accordance with those natures within a day, and must leave Khoire.

Scarlatti and Carlotta's alteration is horrible, and they are consumed by a huge beast; Burks agrees to become a blue flamingo, taking the place of the guardian of the pool, in the hope of some day being readmitted to Khoire. Hibbert is little changed. Returning to the mundane world, he undertakes to find certain persons who can help him gain his own readmittance to Khoire, having fallen in love with one of its denizens, Mareth of the Watchers.

Thor has broken the sword Tyrfing so that it cannot strike at the roots of Yggdrasil, the tree that binds together earth, heaven and hell. But now the mighty sword is needed again to save the elves in their war against the trolls, and only Scafloc, a human child kidnapped and raised by the elves, can hope to persuade Bolverk the ice-giant to make Tyrfing whole again. But Scafloc must also confront his shadow self, Valgard the changeling who has taken his place in the world of men.

Adventures in the Strange places of the Earth, after the foundering of the good ship Glen Carrig through striking upon a hidden rock in the unknown seas to the Southward. As told by John Winterstraw, Gent., to his son James Winterstraw, in the year 1757, and by him committed very properly and legibly to manuscript.

Calm yourself. There are 20 terrorizing short tales of mirth and murder awaiting your inspection, created by the master of horror, H.P. Lovecraft. Prepare for the fright of your life--it's within these pages....

Table of Contents:

• About The Doom That Came to Sarnath and Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Farewell to the Dreamlands - essay by Lin Carter
• The Other Gods - (1933)
• The Tree - (1921)
• The Doom That Came to Sarnath - (1920)
• The Tomb - (1922)
• Polaris - (1920)
• Beyond the Wall of Sleep - (1919)
• Memory - (1923) - poem
• What the Moon Brings - (1922) - poem
• Nyarlathotep - (1920) - poem
• Ex Oblivione - (1921) - poem
• The Cats of Ulthar - (1920)
• Hypnos - (1922)
• Nathicana - (1927) - poem
• From Beyond - (1934)
• The Festival - (1925)
• The Nameless City - (1921)
• The Quest of Iranon - (1935)
• The Crawling Chaos - (1921) - by Winifred V. Jackson and H. P. Lovecraft
• In the Walls of Eryx - (1939) - by H. P. Lovecraft and Kenneth Sterling
• Imprisoned with the Pharaohs - (1924)
• A Partial Chronology of Lovecraft's Early Work - essay by Lin Carter

Contents:

• [viii] - Hyperborea (map) - interior artwork by Lin Carter
• ix - About Hyperborea and Clark Ashton Smith: Behind the North Wind - essay by Lin Carter
• 3 - The Muse of Hyperborea - [Prose Pastels - 3] - (1934) - poem
• 4 - The Seven Geases - [Hyperborea] - (1934) - novelette
• 30 - The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan - [Hyperborea] - (1932) - short story
• 41 - The White Sybil - [Hyperborea] - (1934) - short story
• 53 - The Testament of Athammaus - [Hyperborea] - (1932) - short story
• 77 - The Coming of the White Worm - [Hyperborea] - (1941) - short story
• 94 - Ubbo-Sathla - [Hyperborea] - (1933) - short story
• 104 - The Door to Saturn - [Hyperborea] - (1932) - short story
• 128 - The Ice-Demon - [Hyperborea] - (1933) - short story
• 148 - The Tale of Satampra Zeiros - [Satampra Zeiros] - (1931) - short story
• 164 - The Theft of Thirty-nine Girdles - [Satampra Zeiros] - (1958) - short story
• 181 - The Abominations of Yondo - (1926) - short story
• 190 - The Desolation of Soom - poem (variant of The Abomination of Desolation 1938)
• 192 - The Passing of Aphrodite - [Prose Pastels - 5] - (1934) - poem
• 195 - The Memnons of the Night - (1917) - poem
• 197 - Notes on the Commoriom Myth-Cycle - essay by Lin Carter

Lord Dunsany's first novel, Don Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley, "conveys its young disinherited protagonist through a fantasized Spain, gifting him with a Sancho Panza companion, good luck with magicians, and a castle." [The Encyclopedia of Fantasy] It is a landmark tale for Dunsany, beginning his move from the otherworldly short stories for which his reputation is justly famous to novels, such as the follow-up The King of Elfland's Daughter and The Charwoman's Shadow. L. Sprague de Camp has said: "Dunsany was the second writer (William Morris in the 1880s being the first) fully to exploit the possibilities of... adventurous fantasy laid in imaginary lands, with gods, witches, spirits, and magic, like children."

Can you trust yourself when you don't know who you are? Syme uses his new acquaintance to go undercover in Europe's Central Anarchist Council and infiltrate their deadly mission, even managing to have himself voted to the position of 'Thursday'. In a park in London, secret policeman Gabriel Syme strikes up a conversation with an anarchist. Sworn to do his duty, when Syme discovers another undercover policeman on the Council, however, he starts to question his role in their operations. And as a desperate chase across Europe begins, his confusion grows, as well as his confidence in his ability to outwit his enemies. But he has still to face the greatest terror that the Council has - its leader: a man named Sunday, whose true nature is worse than Syme could ever have imagined...

Contents:

• xi - Makers of Worlds - (1971) - essay by Lin Carter
• 3 - Zulkaïs and Kalilah - [Vathek] - (1909) - novelette by William Beckford (trans. of Histoire de la Princesse Zulkaïs et du Prince Kalilah 1912)
• 58 - Silence: A Fable - [Tales of the Folio Club] - (1903) - short story by Edgar Allan Poe (variant of Siope--A Fable 1838)
• 64 - The Romance of Photogen and Nycteris - (1879) - novelette by George MacDonald (variant of The History of Photogen and Nycteris: A Day and Night Mährchen)
• 113 - The Sphinx - (1894) - poem by Oscar Wilde
• 128 - The Fall of Babbulkund - (1907) - short story by Lord Dunsany
• 145 - The Green Meadow - (1918) - short story by Winifred V. Jackson and H. P. Lovecraft [as by Elizabeth Berkeley and H. P. Lovecraft]
• 154 - The Feast in the House of the Worm - (1970) - short story by Gary Myers (variant of The House of the Worm)
• 166 - Zingazar - (1971) - short story by Lin Carter
• 183 - A Wine of Wizardry - (1907) - poem by George Sterling
• 193 - The Garden of Fear - [James Allison] - (1934) - novelette by Robert E. Howard
• 213 - Jirel Meets Magic - [Jirel of Joiry] - (1935) - novelette by C. L. Moore
• 254 - Duar the Accursed - (1937) - novelette by Clifford Ball
• 279 - The Hashish-Eater - (1947) - poem by Clark Ashton Smith (variant of The Hashish-Eater: or, The Apocalypse of Evil 1922)
• 300 - The Party at Lady Cusp-Canine's - (1969) - short story by Mervyn Peake
• 313 - The Sword of Power (Excerpt from Khymyrium) - [Khymyrium] - (1971) - short fiction by Lin Carter

Table of Contents:

• About The Spawn of Cthulhu and H. P. Lovecraft - essay by Lin Carter
• The Whisperer in Darkness - (1931) - novella by H. P. Lovecraft
• An Inhabitant of Carcosa - (1886) - short story by Ambrose Bierce
• The Yellow Sign - (1895) - novelette by Robert W. Chambers
• Cordelia's Song: From the King in Yellow - (1938) - poem by Vincent Starrett
• The Return of Hastur - (1939) - novelette by August Derleth
• Litany to Hastur - (1965) - poem by Lin Carter
• The Children of the Night - (1931) - short story by Robert E. Howard
• K'n-yan - (1971) - poem by Walter C. DeBill, Jr.
• The Tale of Satampra Zeiros - (1931) - short story by Clark Ashton Smith
• The Hounds of Tindalos - (1929) - short story by Frank Belknap Long
• The Curse of Yig - (1970) - short story by H. P. Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop
• The Mine on Yuggoth - (1964) - short story by Ramsey Campbell

Contents:

• v - About The Firebird and Edmund Cooper: Phoenix Times Two - essay by Lin Carter
• ix - About From the World's End and Roger Lancelyn Green - essay by Lin Carter
• xi - About Double Phoenix - essay by Lin Carter
• 5 - The Firebird - novella by Edmund Cooper
• 93 - From the World's End - (1948) - novella by Roger Lancelyn Green

Stolen as a child and raised in the wood of Evilshaw as servant to a witch, Birdalone ultimately escapes in her captress's magical boat, in which she travels to a succession of strange and wonderful islands. Among these is the Isle of Increase Unsought, an island cursed with boundless production, which Morris intended as a parallel of contemporary Britain and a vehicle for his socialistic beliefs. Equally radical, during much of the first quarter of the novel, Birdalone is naked, a highly unusual detail in Victorian fiction. She is occasionally assisted out of jams by Habundia, her lookalike fairy godmother. She encounters three maidens who are held prisoner by another witch. They await deliverance by their lovers, the three paladins of the Castle of the Quest. Birdalone is clad by the maidens and seeks out their heroes, and the story goes into high gear as they set out to rescue the women. Ultimately, one lady is reunited with her knight, another finds a new love when her knight is killed, and the last is left to mourn as her champion throws her over for Birdalone.

Khaled is a djinn working in the service of Allah. So truly does he believe that in his overzealousness, he misses the mark and causes the demise of a non-believer, and is condemned to being human for a while. Although Khaled has no soul, he is offered the opportunity to become fully human, if he should make his wife come to love him.

The World's Desire is the continuing story of Odyseus, who returns to Ithaca to find his home destroyed. Aphrodite orders him to go to Egypt to seek out the immortal Helen, whom he wooed before marrying Penelope.

Contents:

• 3 - About Xiccarph and Clark Ashton Smith: Other Stars and Skies - essay by Lin Carter
• 9 - To the Daemon: an Invocation - [Prose Pastels - 6] - poem (variant of To the Daemon 1943)
• 15 - The Maze of Maal Dweb - [Maal Dweb] - (1933) - short story
• 37 - The Flower-Women - [Maal Dweb] - (1935) - short story
• 58 - Vulthoom - [Mars (Clark Ashton Smith)] - (1935) - novelette
• 94 - The Dweller in the Gulf - [Mars (Clark Ashton Smith)] - (1933) - novelette
• 121 - The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis - [Mars (Clark Ashton Smith)] - (1932) - novelette
• 147 - The Doom of Antarion - short story (variant of The Planet of the Dead 1932)
• 168 - The Demon of the Flower - (1933) - short story
• 185 - The Monster of the Prophecy - (1932) - novelette
• 239 - Sadastor - (1930) - poem
• 244 - From the Crypts of Memory - (1917) - poem

Contents:

• ix - Lost Worlds - essay by Lin Carter
• 7 - The Vision of Yin - [Kai Lung] - (1900) - short fiction by Ernest Bramah (variant of The Vision of Yin, the Son of Yat Huang)
• 26 - The Dragon of Chang Tao - [Kai Lung] - (1922) - novelette by Ernest Bramah (variant of The Story of Chang Tao, Melodious Vision and the Dragon)
• 62 - The Poet of Panopolis - (1888) - short story by Richard Garnett
• 78 - The City of Philosophers - (1888) - short story by Richard Garnett
• 104 - The Bird with the Golden Beak - (1931) - short story by Donald Corley
• 125 - The Song of the Tombelaine - (1927) - novelette by Donald Corley
• 154 - The Miniature - (1927) - short fiction by Eden Phillpotts

Beyond the fields we know, in the Lands of Dream, lies the Valley of the Yann where the mighty river of that name, rising in the Hills of Hap, idling its way by massive dream-evoking amethyst cliffs, orchid-laden forests, and ancient mysterious cities, comes to the Gates of Yann and passes to the sea.

Table of Contents:

• About Beyond the Fields We Know and Lord Dunsany: Return to the World's Edge - essay by Lin Carter
• The Gods of Pegana - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Of Skarl the Drummer - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Of the Making of the Worlds - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Of the Game of the Gods - [Pegana] - (1905)
• The Chaunt of the Gods - [Pegana] - (1905)
• The Sayings of Kib - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Concerning Sish - [Pegana] - (1905)
• The Sayings of Slid - [Pegana] - (1905)
• The Deeds of Mung - [Pegana] - (1905)
• The Chaunt of the Priests - [Pegana] - (1905)
• The Sayings of Limpang-Tung - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Of Yoharneth-Lahai - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Of Roon, the God of Going - [Pegana] - (1905)
• The Revolt of the Home Gods - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Of Dorozhand - [Pegana] - (1905)
• The Eye in the Waste - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Of the Thing That Is Neither God Nor Beast - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Yonath the Prophet - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Yug the Prophet - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Alhireth-Hotep the Prophet - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Kabok the Prophet - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Of the Calamity That Befel Yun-Ilara by the Sea - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Of How the Gods Whelmed Sidith - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Of How Imbaun Became High Prophet in Aradec - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Of How Imbaun Met Zodrak - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Pegana - [Pegana] - (1905)
• The Sayings of Imbaun - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Of How Imbaun Spake of Death to the King - [Pegana] - (1905)
• Of Ood - [Pegana] - (1905)
• The River - [Pegana] - (1905)
• The Bird of Doom and the End - [Pegana] - (1905)
• How Slid Made War Against the Gods - [Pegana] - (1906)
• The Vengeance of Men - [Pegana] - (1906)
• When the Gods Slept - [Pegana] - (1906)
• For the Honour of the Gods - [Pegana] - (1906)
• The Wisdom of Ord - [Pegana] - (1972)
• Night and Morning - [Pegana] - (1906)
• The Secret of the Gods - [Pegana] - (1906)
• The Relenting of Sarnidac - [Pegana] - (1906)
• The Jest of the Gods - [Pegana] - (1906)
• The Dreams of a Prophet - [Pegana] - (1906)
• King Argimenes and the Unknown Warrior - (1911) - play
• In the Sahara - (1929) - poem
• Songs From an Evil Wood - (1917) - poem
• The Riders - (1928) - poem
• The Watchers - (1929) - poem
• The Enchanted People - (1928) - poem
• The Happy Isles - (1929) - poem
• A Word in Season - (1929) - poem
• The Quest - (1929) - poem
• The Kith of the Elf-Folk - (1908)
• The Sword of Welleran - (1908)
• The Madness of Andelsprutz - (1908)
• The Sword and the Idol - (1909)
• Miss Cubbidge and the Dragon of Romance - (1911)
• Chu-Bu and Sheemish - (1911)
• How Nuth Would Have Practised His Art Upon the Gnoles - (1911)
• A Story of Land and Sea - (1914)
• The Naming of Names: Notes on Lord Dunsany's Influence on Modern Fantasy Writers - essay by Lin Carter

The Sun has gone out: the Earth is lit only by the glow of residual vulcanism. The last few millions of the human race are gathered together in a gigantic metal pyramid, the Last Redoubt, under siege from unknown forces and Powers outside in the dark. These are held back by a Circle of energy, known as the "air clog," powered from the Earth's internal energy. For millennia, vast living shapes - the Watchers - have waited in the darkness near the pyramid: it is thought they are waiting for the inevitable time when the Circle's power finally weakens and dies. Other living things have been seen in the darkness beyond, some of unknown origins, and others that may once have been human.

To leave the protection of the Circle means almost certain death, or worse, but as the story commences, the narrator establishes mind contact with an inhabitant of another, forgotten, Redoubt, and sets off into the darkness to find her.

In the distant future, the sun has burned out, plunging the world into perpetual twilight. All of the remaining humanity has dwindled to a single, eight-mile-high pyramid called The Last Redoubt. Horrific creatures have evolved that lurk in the darkness. After a second dying Lesser Redoubt is discovered, one man is determined to rescue its last surviving inhabitant, but that means traversing the unknown and terrifying Night Land.

Contents:

• vii - Four Worlds of Wonder - essay by Lin Carter
• 5 - Wall of Serpents - [Incomplete Enchanter - 4] - novella by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt (variant of The Wall of Serpents 1953)
• 93 - The Kingdom of the Dwarfs - novella by Anatole France (trans. of Abeille 1883)
• 169 - The Maker of Moons - (1896) - novella by Robert W. Chambers
• 231 - The Hollow Land - (1856) - novelette by William Morris
• 277 - Afterword (Great Short Novels of Adult Fantasy I) - essay by Lin Carter

Contents:

• ix - About Evenor and George MacDonald: The Dubious Land - essay by Lin Carter
• 1 - Editor's Note (The Wise Woman) - essay by Lin Carter
• 3 - The Wise Woman - (1875) - novella by George MacDonald (variant of The Wise Woman, or The Lost Princess: A Double Story)
• 117 - Editor's Note (The Carasoyn) - essay by Lin Carter
• 119 - The Carasoyn - (1871) - novelette by George MacDonald
• 175 - Editor's Note (The Golden Key) - essay by Lin Carter
• 177 - The Golden Key - (1867) - novelette by George MacDonald

At the heart of Ariosto's romance are Orlando's unrequited love for the pagan princess Angelica and his jealous rage when she elopes. The action takes place against a besieged Paris, as Charlemagne and his Christian paladins defend the city against the Saracen king. The poem, however, obeys no geography or rules but its own, as the story moves by whim from Japan to the Hebrides to the moon; it includes such imaginary creatures as the hippogriff and a sea monster called the orc.

Orlando Furioso is Dante's medieval universe turned upside down and made comic. Characterized by satire, parody, and irony, the poem celebrates a new humanistic Renaissance conception of man in an utterly fantastical world.

An old woman who spends her days scrubbing the floors might be an unlikely damsel in distress, but Lord Dunsany proves once again his mastery of the fantastical. The Charwoman's Shadow is a beautiful tale of a sorcerer's apprentice who discovers his master's nefarious usage of stolen shadows, and vows to save the charwoman from her slavery.

Contents:

• vii - Four Worlds of Wonder (Great Short Novels of Adult Fantasy: Volume II) - essay by Lin Carter
• 1 - George Macdonald - The Woman in the Mirror (1858) - (1973) - essay by Lin Carter
• 3 - The Woman in the Mirror - (1858) - novelette by George MacDonald
• 25 - Robert W. Chambers - The Repairer of Reputations (1895) - (1973) - essay by Lin Carter
• 28 - The Repairer of Reputations - [King in Yellow (Chambers)] - (1895) - novelette by Robert W. Chambers
• 64 - Ernest Bramah - The Transmutation of Ling (1900) - (1973) - essay by Lin Carter
• 66 - The Transmutation of Ling - [Kai Lung] - (1900) - novella by Ernest Bramah
• 147 - Eden Phillpotts - The Lavender Dragon (1923) - (1973) - essay by Lin Carter
• 148 - The Lavender Dragon - (1923) - novel by Eden Phillpotts

Osberne Wulfgrimsson and Elfhild are lovers who live on opposite sides of the Sundering Flood, an immense river. When Elfhild disappears during an invasion by the Red Skinners, the heartbroken Osberne takes up his magical sword Boardcleaver and joins the army of Sir Godrick of Longshaw, in whose service he helps dethrone the tyrannical king and plutocracy of merchants ruling the city at the mouth of the river. Afterwards he locates Elfhild, who had fled with a relative, a wise woman skilled in the magical arts, and taken refuge in the Wood Masterless. Elfhild tells Osberne of their adventures en route to safety. Afterwards they return together to Wethrmel, Osberne's home, and all ends happily.

IMAGINARY WORLDS is a book about fantasy, about the men who write it, and how it is written. It is a joyful excursion by a man who himself loves fantasy, into the origins and the magicks of such writers as Dunsany, Eddison, Cabell: it examines the rise of fantasy in the American pulp magazines and delights in the sturdy health of 'sword and sorcery': it looks with pleasure on the works of some modern masters and knowledgeably explores the techniques of world-making.

It is, in short, a happy exploration of worlds, and men, and writers, and writings, by an author whose enthusiasm for his subject is boundless -- and is thus a joyful guide for fantasy lovers everywhere.

Contents:

• 1 - About Poseidonis and Clark Ashton Smith: The Magic of Atlantis - essay by Lin Carter
• 9 - An Editor's Note (Poseidonis) - essay by Lin Carter
• 11 - The Muse of Atlantis - [Poseidonis] - poem (variant of From a Letter 1922)
• 12 - The Last Incantation - [Malygris] - (1930) - short story
• 18 - The Death of Malygris - [Malygris] - (1934) - short story
• 33 - Tolometh - (1958) - poem
• 35 - The Double Shadow - [Poseidonis] - (1933) - short story
• 50 - A Voyage to Sfanomoë - [Poseidonis] - (1931) - short story
• 59 - A Vintage from Atlantis - [Poseidonis] - (1933) - short story
• 67 - Atlantis - [Poseidonis] - (1912) - poem
• 71 - Editor's Note [2] (Poseidonis) - essay by Lin Carter
• 73 - In Lemuria - (1921) - poem
• 75 - An Offering to the Moon - (1953) - short story
• 88 - The Uncharted Isle - (1930) - short story
• 101 - Lemurienne - (1971) - poem (variant of The Lemurienne 1923)
• 105 - Editor's Note [3] (Poseidonis) - essay by Lin Carter
• 107 - The Epiphany of Death - (1934) - short story
• 115 - Editor's Note [4] (Poseidonis) - essay by Lin Carter
• 116 - In Cocaigne - (1922) - poem
• 117 - Symposium of the Gorgon - (1958) - short story
• 127 - The Venus of Azombeii - (1931) - novelette
• 158 - The Isle of Saturn - (1951) - poem
• 160 - The Root of Ampoi - (1949) - short story
• 177 - The Invisible City - (1932) - short story
• 202 - Amithaine - (1951) - poem
• 203 - The Willow Landscape - (1931) - short story
• 209 - The Shadows - (1922) - poem

Thundering down through the centuries comes the legend of chivalry carved out by EXCALIBUR - the magic sword of Arthur Pendragon - with all the mysticism and heroic courage of the Arthurian legend transmuted to a time and a place remote from Camelot - but linked to it in the still desperate struggle against evil.

Born of a treacherous love union, Hrolf Kraki rose to wild Norseland power in a storm of sorcery, blood... and glory!

Hrolf Kraki's magnificent saga is the story of an age of runes and ravishments, of blades and omens... and of a man who ruled and was ruled by an inescapable destiny.

This "lost race" novel begins as an exciting African adventure. Leonard Outram is a British adventurer who is in Africa seeking his fortune. He becomes part of the rescue of a Portuguese woman from a large slave camp. Leonard, his companion Otter, and the girl set off and find the people of the mist. They then impersonate gods and priests with the hope of getting the people's hoard of jewels.

Master Fantasist Lord Dunsany... unexcelled in the sorcery of crystalline singing prose, and supreme in the creation of a gorgeous world of exotic vision.

Table of Contents:

• About Over the Hills and Far Away, and Lord Dunsany: Happy Far-Off Things - essay by Lin Carter
• On Reading Lord Dunsany's "Book of Wonder" - (1920) - poem by H. P. Lovecraft
• Editor's Note (Tales of the World's Edge) - essay by Lin Carter
• The Journey of the King - [Pegana] - (1906)
• The Fall of Babbulkund - (1907)
• The Bird of the Difficult Eye - (1914)
• The Secret of the Sea - (1914)
• The Compromise of the King of the Golden Isles: A Play - (1923) - play
• Editor's Note (Tales of Far Away) - essay by Lin Carter
• The House of the Sphinx - (1911)
• Blagdaross - (1908)
• The Lonely Idol - (1915)
• An Archive of the Older Mysteries - (1919)
• The Loot of Loma - (1914)
• The Last Dream of Bwona Khubla - (1919)
• The Queen's Enemies - (1916)
• How Plash-Goo Came to the Land of None's Desire - (1916)
• The Prayer of Boob Aheera - (1919)
• East and West - (1916)
• How the Gods Avenged Meoul Ki Ning - (1917)
• The Man With the Golden Ear-rings - (1915)
• Poor Old Bill - (1910)
• Editor's Note (Tales of Near at Hand) - essay by Lin Carter
• The Bad Old Woman in Black - (1914)
• The Field - (1909)
• Where the Tides Ebb and Flow - (1908)
• The Little City - (1915)
• The Highwayman - (1908)
• In the Twilight - (1908)
• The Ghosts - (1908)
• The Doom of La Traviata - (1908)
• A Narrow Escape - (1912)
• The Lord of Cities - (1908)
• The Unhappy Body - (1910)
• The Gifts of the Gods - (1919)
• On the Dry Land - (1908)
• The Unpasturable Fields - (1915)
• Editor's Note (Tales Jorkens Told) - essay by Lin Carter
• The Curse of the Witch - [Jorkens] - (1932)
• Hunting the Unicorn - [Jorkens] - (1974)
• The Pale-Green Image - [Jorkens] - (1947)
• The Sacred City of Krakovlitz - [Jorkens] - (1941) - shortstory by Lord Dunsany
• At Sunset - poem by Lord Dunsany