Shadow House Publishing
Announces the Release of:
BAPTISMS OF HORROR & ECSTASY: SUPERNATURAL STORIES OF THE GREAT GOD PAN
Edited by William P. Simmons
A new anthology of supernatural literature honoring the Great God Pan.
His scream inspires terror, His song is a savage seduction. Madness is His gift, liberation His curse.
God, demon, and folk-hero, Pan has left His cloven hoofprints across centuries of myth and literature. Guardian of nature and personification of raw existence, this lustful and numinous deity represents the primordial creative and destructive energies of the universe, seducing humanity to heights of pleasure and depths of depravity. Kneel before the ancient nature god and receive BAPTISMS OF HORROR & ECSTASY: SUPERNATURAL STORIES OF THE GREAT GOD PAN, a comprehensive anthology exploring Faunus in all His grisly guises, edited by bestselling anthologist William P. Simmons.
Despite claims to the contrary, Pan is NOT dead. He lives in our secret desires and fevered dreams. He is eternally resurrected through our imagination. This eclectic collection of fiction and poetry captures Him in His varied manifestations of lust, brutality, and horror. Here is Pan as embodiment of chaotic nature; sexual liberator; Sylvian protector, and demonic fiend. From Romantic poets Keats and Shelley to weird fiction pioneers Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood, literary legends join underrepresented authors and modern pulpsters in a bacchanalian orgy of weird literature wonderous to behold.
A boy’s mind is shattered by a horrifying woodland encounter. A cynic mocks Pan at her own peril. Occult experiments reveal the chaos of existence. Outcasts find sexual liberation in a satyr’s touch. A statue is diabolically cursed. An engaged woman is seduced by an unseen dancing partner. A Naturalist’s obsession leads to spiritual annihilation. Animals find salvation in Pan’s piping. A child plays with damnation in the forest. These and other bewitching stories are accompanied by bewitching poetry by Oscar Wilde, Lord Dunsany, Aleister Crowley (the Great Beast himself), and many more.
This third volume in Shadow House Library of Weird Fiction is a frightening feast of folk horror, magical realism, and gothic chills. Many of the stories are reprinted and anthologized here for the first time, and Simmons provides literary context with a comprehensive Introduction and Notes. Experience Pan at His most horrifying, nurturing, and visionary. Follow Faunus to the outer reaches of experience and deep into the damnable darkness of your own heart.
Available as a Kindle and trade paperback from Amazon.
EDITOR BIO:
William P. Simmons is a critically acclaimed Amazon bestselling author of four collections and editor of nine anthologies. Specializing in supernatural horror, his work has been featured in Publisher’s Weekly, Rue Morgue, Dark Discoveries, and others. An active HWA member, he has received eight Honorable Mentions in THE YEAR’S BEST FANTASY & HORROR, and has been praised by Adam Nevill, Kealan Patrick Burke, and Graham Masterton. Simmons also works as a critic, reviewer, and journalist. He feeds the dark so that it won’t take even more from him.
SHADOW HOUSE LIBRARY OF WEIRD FICTION: This series preserves classic and rare supernatural, horror, and weird fiction in comprehensive and affordable editions.
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