The Book of Wonder

There are 14 short stories in Lord Dunsanys 1912 collection The Book of Wonder. He is credited with having a significant influence on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien H. P. Lovecraft Ursula K. Le Guin and other authors.The first short story The Bride of the Man-Horse is about a centaur who journeys into the outside world for unknown but seemingly natural reasons.The famous thief Slith and his two criminal friends set out to steal a golden box believed to hold the most beautiful writings ever considered by man in Probable Adventure of the Three Literary Men. The story follows the three thieves journey the strange dangers they dodge and finally their final strategy for stealing the golden box.Only the final two stories-Chu-Bu and Sheemish and The Wonderful Window-were not based on a Sime drawing.The stories are a tapestry of language conjuring images of people and places and are short and full of wonder.Although they are written in an almost fairytale or allegorical form Dunsanys stories dont usually have happy endings and these are no exception. Instead each of them has a sad vengeful or even insane edge to it.