But that should give you the general idea. Since the most familiar and relevant genre terms in use today - "science fiction," "fantasy," "supernatural," "horror" - were not so much in use when these books were first published, pegging them that way can be anachronistic. Most of it is fiction from the 19th and early 20th century with a strong emphasis on the fantastic. "Ghost stories" would be another handy, if somewhat reductive, term. When I began my bookselling business in 1996 I called it "Eldritch Books" because that adjective at least partly covered the type of material I offered (and because its similarity to my own surname seemed so - eldritch). The striking dust jacket art is perhaps the best part of the book. Still, an uncommon book and intriguing for what it might have been, and as a minor item of marginal relevance to bibliofantasy. (Carroll's Land of Laughs comes to mind as a better use of the same potential.) Story padding, flat characters and pompous style further sap the vitality of what could have been a much more interesting novel. The comparison of imagination, magic and madness has rich potential for a novelist but it is mostly squandered here. The book tilts towards madness as the explanation for the strange coincidences noticed by its hero, and the story culminates with a murder. A love story with interlocking romantic triangles provides most of the plot. Is he going mad? Or does this represent a real erosion of metaphysical boundaries? A meditation on the nature of literary creation thus provides the theme. Soon he finds his fictional characters appearing in his real life. The book alternates between his diary entries and the chapters in his emerging novel. A hen-pecked and idle husband, kept by a rich wife, takes action when she taunts him that he is so incompetent he couldn't shine shoes, carry a sandwich board, or even write pulp fiction. Tight, clean very good copy in good pictorial dust jacket with small chips and tears at edges and some dust soiling. Early gift inscription on front free endpaper. Original gray cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black.
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