The Three Impostors; or, The Transmutations

Arthur Machen, pseudonym of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, (born March 3, 1863, Caerleon, Monmouthshire, Eng.—died Dec. 15, 1947, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire), Welsh novelist and essayist, a forerunner of 20th-century Gothic science fiction.

Machen’s work was deeply influenced by his childhood in Wales and his readings in the occult and metaphysics. He lived most of his life in poverty as a clerk, teacher, and translator. In 1902 he became an actor with Benson’s Shakespearean Repertory Company. A...