Description:
"It was the straying that found the path direct." - Austin Osman Spare
In the final throes of the Blitz, Austin Osman Spare is the only salvation for Marlene, an artist escaping a traumatic past. Wandering Southwark's ruins she encounters Paddy Hughes, a fugitive of another kind. Falling under Marlene's spell Hughes agrees to seek out her lost mentor, the man she calls The Satyr. Yet Marlene's past will not rest as the mysterious Doctor Charnock pursues them, trying to capture the patient she'd once caged. The Satyr is a tale inspired by the life and ethos of sorcerer and artist Austin Osman Spare.
Another three novellas of occult enchantment follow: a bookseller discovers that his late wife knew the Devil, in the Carpathian Mountains refugees shelter in a museum devoted to a forgotten author, and in Prague a portraitist must paint a countess whose appearance is never the same twice.
This omnibus is comprised of The Satyr (2010) and The Bestiary of Communion (2011); newly illustrated, expanded, and revised.
Brief description: Stephen J. Clark was born in County Durham. His work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, having been published by Egaeus Press, Side Real Press, and Fulgur Press, among others. Regular collaborations with Tartarus Press have notably featured his cover illustrations for a complete series of Robert Aickman's strange tales. His debut novel In Delirium's Circle was released by Egaeus Press in 2012, followed in 2018 by The Feathered Bough, a fully illustrated second novel published by Zagava.
Review Quotes:
"Reading a Stephen J. Clark story is akin to being caught inside a ritual. Clark is a poet of the occult who evokes that strange region of the imagination where dread and wonder intersect. A writer and artist with genuine vision, to whom the surreal is second nature." - Adam L. G. Nevill
"Stephen J. Clark is not only an original visionary artist, he is a writer of strange romances in the decadent macabre tradition of the Yellow Nineties: elegant, bizarre, full of curious occult learning and louche bohemian characters. He is a modest gentleman, otherwise his work would be blazing more brightly in the literary firmament. This book will adorn your shelves, where it will be at ease in shadowy converse with your copies of A Rebours, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Great God Pan." - Mark Valentine
"Clark's descriptions of the borderless interiors bleeding into the outside are memorable dreamscapes . . . The unremitting pace of these four little mystical thrillers evoke the best of the pulp-era decadents." - The Pan Review
"Clark's subtle prose, vivid and disturbing imagery, and the concepts he weaves into his stories make them irresistible to those whose senses have been jaded by more common fare." - Black Static