Gertrude Barrows Bennett, known by the pseudonym Francis Stevens, was a pioneering author of fantasy and science fiction. Bennett wrote a number of fantasies and has been called "the woman who invented dark fantasy". ] The critic August Nemo selected seven short stories by this remarkable author for your enjoyment: - Behind the Curtain. - Unseen Unfeared. - Elf Trap. - Serapion. - Friend Island. - Citadel of Fear. - Nightmare!

Two adventurers, prospecting for gold in the jungles of Mexico, stumble across a lost Aztec city and cause an ancient evil to be unleashed. An early science fiction masterpiece written by Gertrude Barrows Bennett, writing as Francis Stevens. Discovering a lost city in the Mexican jungle, two adventurers embark on a terrifying journey. Disturbing ancient gods and nightmare creatures, they find a hidden civilization of Aztecs and bring dark magic into the modern world. With a potent cocktail of romance, revenge and swampish evil this book is one of the earliest examples of fantasy and remains an enthralling read. Gertrude Barrows Bennett, writing as Francis Stevens, is often regarded as the founder of dark fantasy and was admired by H.P. Lovecraft amongst many, with some ranking her alongside Mary Shelley in impact and imaginative power. Foundations of Feminist Fiction. The early 1900s saw a quiet revolution in literature dominated by male adventure heroes. Both men and women moved beyond the norms of the male gaze to write from a different gender perspective, sometimes with female protagonists, but also expressing the universal freedom to write on any subject whatsoever.

Gertrude Barrows Bennett, known by the pseudonym Francis Stevens, was a pioneering author of fantasy and science fiction. Bennett wrote a number of fantasies and has been called "the woman who invented dark fantasy". ] The critic August Nemo selected seven short stories by this remarkable author for your enjoyment: - Behind the Curtain. - Unseen — Unfeared. - Elf Trap. - Serapion. - Friend Island. - Citadel of Fear. - Nightmare!

This book contains 70 short stories from 10 classic, prize-winning and noteworthy authors. The stories were carefully selected by the critic August Nemo, in a collection that will please the literature lovers. For more exciting titles, be sure to check out our 7 Best Short Stories and Essential Novelists collections. This book contains: Fitz-James O'Brien: - The Diamond Lens. - The Lost Room. - What Was it? A Mystery. - My Wife's Tempter. - The Golden Ingot. - The Child Who Loved a Grave. - The Wondersmith.Francis Marion Crawford: - The Dead Smile. - The Screaming Skull. - Man Overboard! - For The Blood Is The Life. - The Upper Berth. - By The Waters of Paradise. - The Doll's Ghost.Francis Stevens: - Behind the Curtain. - Unseen — Unfeared. - Elf Trap. - Serapion. - Friend Island. - Citadel of Fear. - Nightmare!Barry Pain: - Aunt Martha. - The Bet. - The Boy in the Book. - The Discovery of Nesting. - Eliza and the Special. - The Kindness of the Celestial. - The Victim of Apparatus.Frank L. Packard: - Corporal Bob. - The Guardian of the Devil's Slide. - Where's Haggerty? - McQueen's Hobby. - Munford. - "If a Man Die" - The Blood of Kings.Paul Laurence Dunbar: - The Scapegoat. - One Christmas At Shiloh. - The Mission Of Mr. Scatters. - A Matter Of Doctrine. - Old Abe's Conversion. - The Race Question. - A Defender Of The Faith.Otis Adelbert Kline: - The Corpse on the Third Slab. - The Man from the Moon. - The Cup of Blood. - Mignight Madness. - The Malignant Entity. - The Bird-People. - The Thing of a Thousand Shapes.John Ulrich Giesy: - The Occult Detector. - The Purple Light. - The Significance of the High "D". - The Wistaria Scarf. - The Master Mind. - Rubies of Doom. - The House of Invisible Bondage.Valery Bryusov: - The Republic of the Southern Cross. - The Marble Bust. - For Herself or for Another. - In the Mirror. - Protection. - The "Bemol" Shop of Stationery. - Rhea Silvia.Eleanor H. Porter: - A Delayed Heritage. - The Folly of Wisdom. - The Letter. - The Elephant's Board and Keep. - Crumbs. - The Lady in Black. - That Angel Boy.

"A trio of time-travelers land in Philadelphia's brutal totalitarian state of 2118. This 1919 classic was the first alternate-world fantasy, and H. P. Lovecraft hailed its author as among "the top grade of writers." Loaded with action and humor, the novel anticipates the work of Philip K. Dick. "A much-sought rarity." -- Analog"--

This story depicts a world where women are the dominant and ruling sex. It takes place on an island also named after a woman. The writer was a female using a male pseudonym. Her real name was Gertrude Barrows Bennett

Slithering from these pages are never-before-collected tales of suspense and wonder by the woman who invented modern-day dark fantasy: A man goes quietly to bed aboard the doomed Lusitania and awakens on a magical South Pacific Island just as the passenger liner is torpedoed. In a future where women rule the world, a sentient island becomes murderously jealous of a shipwrecked couple. Dire consequences await a human swept into the dark, magical world of elves. A deadly labyrinth coils around the dark heart of a picturesque landscape garden. Within an Egyptian sarcophagus lies the horrifying price of infidelity. Swirling unseen around us are loathsome creatures giving form to our basest desires and fears. A beautiful, veiled medium may hold the key to preventing unspeakable evil from slipping through the borderlands between life and death. On a lost island a woman pipe player and her monstrous dancing partner bring death and terror to five adventurers. ø The stories in this collection have played an integral role in the development of modern dark fantasy, greatly influencing such writers as H. P. Lovecraft and A. Merritt.