These tales - sc-fi, ghost-stories, gothic fables, oriental allegories - were written in the first decade of the century and are now translated for the first time.They make a magnificent introduction to his bizarre genius, which combined the sharp Bohemian scepticism of his contemporary Kafka with the mordant humour and outreach of Swift. Independent on Sunday "Meyrink's short stories epitomised the non-plus-ultra of all modern writing. Their magnificent colour, their spine-chilling and bizarre inventiveness, their aggression, their succinctness of style, their overwhelming originality of ideas, which is so evident in every sentence and phrase that there seem to be no lacunae." Max Brod "His stories recall Gogol in their black, humorous vigour." The European Books of the Year