Great God Pan & Xelucha cover

Great God Pan & Xelucha

by Arthur Machen

AN INCOHERENT NIGHTMARE OF SEX..." That was The Westminster Gazette's description of Arthur Machen's first book, THE GREAT GOD PAN, upon its publication in 1894. An unwittingly enticing description for one of the greatest ever works of weird horror and decadence, in which Machen unfurls with his singular eye for the bizarre and macabre the tale of a young girl cursed by her unnatural parentage to become a creature of shape-shifting, polysexual, demi-human evil. First published in the 1896 short story collection Stones In The Fire, M P Shiel's XELUCHA is the most grotesque entry from that collection, a deliberate and delirious evocation of the sepulchral horrors of Poe. This new double edition of THEe€ˆGREATe€ˆGOD PAN and XELUCHA, two key works of British decadent horror, includes a set of rare automatic drawings by the occult artist Austin Osman Spare, and a short introduction to Machen by the author H P Lovecraft who also provides two back cover quotes.

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?