Don't you believe that classic horror should be given the same attentive treatment that mainstream literature gets from artists, critics, and publishers? Don't you believe that the world's best supernatural fiction, horror fiction, and weird tales deserve more than a cheap paperback with a scanty bio and a kitschy, photo-shopped cover? Don't you believe that effective, masterful horror literature has the same ability to change and re-contextualize human life? At Oldstyle Tales, we believe that too. FITZ-JAMES O'BRIEN and GUY DE MAUPASSANT are two of those writers that we believe in -- masters of horror whose works deserve critical analysis and artistic treatment... BUILDING on the weird tales of Hoffmann and Poe, FITZ-JAMES O'BRIEN is one of horror and fantasy literature's best hidden secrets. His astonishingly original forays into speculative fiction include an army of possessed Christmas dolls, the sudden and short-lived manifestation of an invisible monster, a disappearing room possessed by cannibal spirits, a murderous scientist's discovery of a microscopic woman in a drop of water, a child's symbiotic relationship to a grave, and a haunted gallows-tree. BEFORE succumbing to the insanity that ravaged his later life, GUY DE MAUPASSANT established a reputation as France's preeminent short story writer, an artist whose cynical and macabre visions paralleled those of Hoffmann and Poe, and directly influenced those of Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain, and H.P. Lovecraft. His stories are nightmarescapes of psychopathy, corruption, and decadence, featuring a serial-killer judge, a maddening episode of cabin fever (which influenced The Shinning), a gruesome discovery during a night on the river, the inexplicable exodus of a man's walking furniture, the famous invisible vampire, the Horla, werewolves, haunted rooms, neglected ghosts, and vivid affairs of necrophilia. This unique and unrivalled edition of their best weird tales, fantasies, and mysteries includes critical introductions to each story, contextual information, and chilling illustrations that breathe life into their Gothic visions and bizarre fantasias.