This is a collection of the Victorian master of fantasy's shorter Gothic pieces. In these pages you will meet a ghosts, animated skeletons, a witch, a werewolf, and a man who pretends to be a vampire. You will look through an occult mirror, visit a haunted house, and spend Halloween in Scotland. In short, you will experience all the thrills your nerves desire; but, this being George MacDonald, you will at the same time find nourishment for your soul. Contents: 1)The Dead Hand, 2)Cosmo, 3)The Homeless Ghost, 4) A Gruesome Dance, 5) The Unseen Model, 6) The Gray Wolf, 7) The Haunted House, 8) A Grotesque Tragedy, 9) A Dead House, 10) The Cruel Painter, 11) Halloween.
George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.
Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence."
Even Mark Twain, who initially disliked MacDonald, became friends with him, and there is some evidence that Twain was influenced by MacDonald.
MacDonald grew up influenced by his Congregational Church, with an atmosphere of Calvinism. But MacDonald never felt comfortable with some aspects of Calvinist doctrine; indeed, legend has it that when the doctrine of predestination was first explained to him, he burst into tears (although assured that he was one of the elect). Later novels, such as Robert Falconer and Lilith, show a distaste for the idea that God's electing love is limited to some and denied to others.
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