Tartarus Press

publishers

The Prospero Machine

and Other Stories

Mark Valentine

 

The Prospero Machine and Other Stories collects seven long narratives about legends and mysterious landscape in Britain. The title story depicts the strange incidents surrounding a fortune-telling machine at a seaside resort out of season, while other tales reveal sorcery and sanctity in the Malvern Hills, among Roman ruins on the Cumbrian coast and at a Templar preceptory in Lincolnshire.

 

A seasonal ceremonial at England’s third university seems to have occult significance, a young curator at a museum discovers the key to an ancient ritual, while even the historic curiosities of a town’s municipal boundaries prove to have a deep esoteric significance. All of the pieces have a highly evocative setting and a keen interest in historical episodes and the continuing resonance of myths and lore. The stories have previously appeared in limited edition volumes but are collected here for the first time.

 

Contents: 'Kraken Tide', 'Seek for the Pomegranate', 'Armed for a Day of Glory', 'The Old Wards', 'Masque and Anti-Masque', 'The Prospero Machine', 'Roman Masks'. Acknowledgements.