"[When O'Brien] turned to science fiction and fantasy, he began to display the full force of his truly outstanding talents." - Sam Moskowitz
What Was It? and Others (1858-1864) showcases O'Brien's finest speculative fiction, reflecting his growth as a writer. This collection includes "What Was It?", featuring an encounter with a strange invisible creature, "The Lost Room", regarded as one of the greatest weird stories ever written, and "The Wondersmith", where animated puppets are used for diabolical revenge. These stories cemented O'Brien's legacy, demonstrating his mastery of the genre and his ability to craft unsettling, imaginative narratives that have endured through time.
This is volume three of a three-volume set of Fitz-James O'Brien's fiction and poetry, the most comprehensive collection of his horror and supernatural writings to date. When taken together, the full set offers valuable introductions for readers of fantastical literature, featuring works never previously collected and some appearing for the first time outside their original publications.
About the Author :
Fitz-James O'Brien (1826/8-1862) was born in Co. Cork, Ireland, and spent his teenage years in Limerick after his mother remarried. Early in life, he published poetry, but soon turned to short fiction, the mode defining his legacy. At twenty-one, he inherited family wealth and moved to London in 1849, where he honed his craft. After squandering his inheritance in three years, he emigrated to America in 1852. There, O'Brien flourished as a writer, following Edgar Allan Poe's influence. He enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War and died in 1862 after being wounded in battle.
Review :
Praise for the Collected Speculative Works
"Fitz-James O'Brien deserves serious attention for developing some of science fiction's most familiar tropes-among them microcosmic worlds, invisible monsters, time slips, and robots." - New York Review of Books
"Fitz-James O'Brien's exuberantly morbid stories, set amongst mid-century New York's boarding houses and alleyways, are works of comic skepticism and cosmic messiness . . . [This set] is the most comprehensive attempt yet to situate O'Brien firmly within the canon of 19th-century fantastical literature" - PopMatters
"Quirky humour and darkly imaginative flourishes . . . a weaver of visionary images--a writer of reveries." - Supernatural Tales
"Across these three volumes we get to experience a large variety of short stories, poems, and a play, laid out in chronological order by publication date, and we can see how O'Brien developed into a masterful storyteller." - You're Reading
"Fascinating, elegantly written, quite enjoyable stuff." - Hellnotes
