Fearsome Fairies taps into the enormous fascination with fairies in
the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and includes cornerstone
authors of the Weird genre such as Arthur Machen, M R James and
Charlotte Riddell.
You see - no, you do not, but I see - such curious faces: and the
people to whom they belong flit about so oddly, often at your elbow when
you least expect it, and looking close into your face, as if they were
searching for someone - who may be thankful, I think, if they do not
find him.
There was an enormous fascination with fairies in the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries which popularised depictions of benevolent,
butterfly-winged beings and glittering pantomime figures. But the fae
have always had a more sinister side. Taking inspiration from folk tales
and medieval legends, the works of weird tale and ghost story writers
such as Arthur Machen, M. R. James, Angela Carter and Charlotte Riddell
show that fairies, goblins and other supernatural entities could be
something far more unsettling.
Delving into a frightening realm of otherworldly creatures from banshees
to changelings, this new collection of stories revives and revels in the
fearsome power of the fairy folk.