The Man In The Panther's Skin

This is the first comprehensive cultural and historical introduction to modern Georgia. It covers the country region by region, taking the form of a literary journey through the transition from Soviet Georgia to the modern independent nation state.

Georgia's recorded history goes back nearly 3,000 years. The Georgians converted to Christianity in 330 and their Bagratuni monarchy endured for over 1,000 years. The Soviets ruled the region from 1921 but their vigorous repression did little to eradicate the strong Georgian sense of nationhood and under Gorbachev, Georgian independence became inevitable. Nasmyth's lively and topical survey charts the nation's remarkable cultural and historical journey to statehood.

Having travelled extensively in the country over a period of five years, Peter Nasmyth is exceptionally qualified to write on Georgia. His authoritative, dynamic and perceptive book is based on hundreds of interviews with modern Georgians, from country priests to black marketeers. Georgia will be essential reading for anyone interested in this fascinating region as well as for students and researchers requiring an insight into life after the collapse of the old Soviet order in the richest and most dramatic of the former republics.

H.P. LOVECRAFT

[Inspiration for Stephen King]

COMPLETE MAJOR WORKS

All the Major Masterpieces of H.P. Lovecraft

Classics of Horror Over 10,000 Pages Including "The Call of Cthulhu", At the Mountains of Madness and More! 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE
• THE BEAST IN THE CAVE
• THE ALCHEMIST
• THE TOMB
• DAGON
• A REMINISCENCE OF DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON
• POLARIS
• BEYOND THE WALL OF SLEEP
• THE TRANSITION OF JUAN ROMERO
• THE WHITE SHIP
• THE DOOM THAT CAME TO SARNATH
• THE STATEMENT OF RANDOLPH CARTER
• THE STREET
• SWEET ERMENGARDE
• THE TREE
• THE TEMPLE
• FACTS CONCERNING THE LATE ARTHUR JERMYN AND HIS FAMILY
• CELEPHAÏS
• FROM BEYOND
• THE PICTURE IN THE HOUSE
• THE NAMELESS CITY
• THE QUEST OF IRANON
• THE MOON-BOG
• THE OUTSIDER
• THE OTHER GODS
• HERBERT WEST — REANIMATOR
• THE MUSIC OF ERICH ZANN
• HYPNOS
• THE HOUND
• THE LURKING FEAR
• THE RATS IN THE WALLS
• THE UNNAMABLE
• THE FESTIVAL
• IMPRISONED WITH THE PHARAOHS
• THE SHUNNED HOUSE
• THE HORROR AT RED HOOK
• HE
• IN THE VAULT
• COOL AIR
• THE CALL OF CTHULHU
• PICKMAN'S MODEL
• THE DREAM-QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH
• THE SILVER KEY
• THE STRANGE HIGH HOUSE IN THE MIST
• THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD
• THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE
• THE VERY OLD FOLK
• THE DUNWICH HORROR
• THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS
• AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS
• THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH
• THE DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE
• THE EVIL CLERGYMAN
• THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP
• THROUGH THE GATES OF THE SILVER KEY
• THE HAUNTER OF THE DARK
• FRAGMENTS
• THE DESCENDANT

EXCERPT

"Examined at headquarters after a trip of intense strain and weariness, the prisoners all proved to be men of a very low, mixed-blooded, and mentally aberrant type. Most were seamen, and a sprinkling of Negroes and mulattoes, largely West Indians or Brava Portuguese from the Cape Verde Islands, gave a colouring of voodooism to the heterogeneous cult. But before many questions were asked, it became manifest that something far deeper and older than Negro fetishism was involved. Degraded and ignorant as they were, the creatures held with surprising consistency to the central idea of their loathsome faith.

They worshipped, so they said, the Great Old Ones who lived ages before there were any men, and who came to the young world out of the sky. Those Old Ones were gone now, inside the earth and under the sea; but their dead bodies had told their secrets in dreams to the first men, who formed a cult which had never died. This was that cult, and the prisoners said it had always existed and always would exist, hidden in distant wastes and dark places all over the world until the time when the great priest Cthulhu, from his dark house in the mighty city of R'lyeh under the waters, should rise and bring the earth again beneath his sway. Some day he would call, when the stars were ready, and the secret cult would always be waiting to liberate him.

Meanwhile no more must be told. There was a secret which even torture could not extract. Mankind was not absolutely alone among the conscious things of earth, for shapes came out of the dark to visit the faithful few. But these were not the Great Old Ones. No man had ever seen the Old Ones. The carven idol was great Cthulhu, but none might say whether or not the others were precisely like him. No one could read the old writing now, but things were told by word of mouth. The chanted ritual was not the secret - that was never spoken aloud, only whispered. The chant meant only this: "In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."

Only two of the prisoners were found sane enough to be hanged, and the rest were committed to various institutions. All denied a part in the ritual murders, and averred that the killing had been done by Black Winged Ones which had come to them from their immemorial meeting-place in the haunted wood. But of those mysterious allies no coherent account could ever be gained. What the police did extract, came mainly from the immensely aged mestizo named Castro, who claimed to have sailed to strange ports and talked with undying leaders of the cult in the mountains of China."

ABOUT H.P. LOVECRAFT

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) — known as H. P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction.

Lovecraft's guiding aesthetic and philosophical principle was what he termed "cosmicism" or "cosmic horror", the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally inimical to the interests of humankind. As such, his stories express a profound indifference to human beliefs and affairs. Lovecraft is best known for his Cthulhu Mythos story cycle and the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore.

Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his lifetime, his reputation has grown over the decades, and he is now regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th century. According to Joyce Carol Oates, Lovecraft—as with Edgar Allan Poe in the 19th century—has exerted "an incalculable influence on succeeding generations of writers of horror fiction". Stephen King called Lovecraft "the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale." King has even made it clear in his semi-autobiographical non-fiction book Danse Macabre that Lovecraft was responsible for King's own fascination with horror and the macabre, and was the single largest figure to influence his fiction writing. His stories have also been adapted into plays, films and games.

H. P. Lovecraft is now noted as a significant figure in 20th-century horror fiction. His writing, particularly the so-called "Cthulhu Mythos", has influenced fiction authors worldwide, and Lovecraftian elements can be found in novels, films, movies, music, video games, comic books (e.g. the use of Arkham Insane Asylum in The Batman comic book series), and even cartoons. Many modern horror and fantasy writers, including Stephen King, Bentley Little, Joe R. Lansdale, Alan Moore, Junji Ito, F. Paul Wilson, Brian Lumley, Caitlín R. Kiernan, and Neil Gaiman, have cited Lovecraft as one of their primary influences. Beyond direct adaptation, Lovecraft and his stories have had a profound impact on popular culture and have been praised by many modern writers.

REVIEWS

"The twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."

Stephen King

"An incalculable influence on succeeding generations of writers of horror fiction."

Joyce Carol Oates

The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning illustrated by Kate Greenaway, First published 1888. This book contains 12 New Illustrations and 33 Original Colorful Illustrations. This edition has a linked "Table of Contents" and has been beautifully formatted.