The White People and Other Weird Stories

“I wanted to be alone in my room and glad over it all to myself.” In the framing story, two Victorian gents struggle to decipher the hidden meanings of a teenage girl’s diary they have recently uncovered. Partially written in a secret language, that could equally derive from folklore sayings or teen slang, the contents appear to hint at an inauguration into pagan rituals and witchcraft in the nearby woods. A unique attempt to conjure a dark magic out of the missing memories of childhood, this novella explores both the excitement and peril of keeping your first secrets. “I was… show more.

I’ve always been influenced by the writing of H.P. Lovecraft and he remains one of my favorite authors of all time. One of my hobbies is researching authors that inspired my favorite authors. Enter Arthur Machen, in which Lovecraft stated, “Few if any can hope to equal the versatile Arthur Machen…in which the elements of hidden horror and brooding fright attain an almost incomparable substance and realistic acuteness.” 

Machen is considered an influential writer of weird fiction and his work is undoubtedly strange, artistic, and just plain bizarre. It’s hard to pick my favorite short story from this collection as… show more.