a new edition of the fantasy tales that inspired jrr tolkien and hp lovecraft a pioneer in the realm of imaginative literature lord dunsany has gained a cult following for his influence on modern fantasy literature including such authors as jrr tolkien and h p lovecraft this unique collection of short stories ranges over five decades of work liberal selections of earlier talesincluding the entire gods of pegana as well as such notable works as idle days of the yann and the fortress unvanquishable save for sacnothare followed by memorable later tales including several about the garrulous traveler joseph jorkens and the outrageous murder tale the two bottles of relish throughout the stories are united by dunsanys cosmic vision his impeccable and mellifluous prose and his distinctively irish sense of whimsyhere published for the first time by penguin classics this edition is the only annotated version of dunsanys short stories for more than seventy years penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the englishspeaking world with more than 1700 titles penguin classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors as well as uptodate translations by awardwinning translators