Book of Wonder (version 2)

Fourteen tales from a world that exists just beyond the edge of sleep. Lord Dunsany writes in prose that feels ancient and freshly strange, as if the oldest myths were being recounted by a sophisticated Irishman with a taste for the absurd. These stories populated the fantasy genre before it had rules, and their influence echoes through everyone from Lovecraft's cosmic terrors to Leiber's sword-and-sorcery. Here you'll find kings who bargain with gods for terrible gifts, creatures that exist in the spaces between moments, and humor that arrives like a fox in a temple. Dunsany's magic isn't about magic systems or worldbuilding mechanics; it's about the shiver of encountering something that shouldn't exist but does. The Book of Wonder is where modern fantasy was first dreamed into being.