The Sin-Eater and Other Weird Stories
Hippocampus Press:
New York: 2025
Trade paperback, New,
295 pp.
Cover artwork by: Dan Sauer
“Scottish writer William Sharp (1855–1905) had already attained celebrity as a poet, critic, and fiction writer (including such weird stories as ‘The Gypsy Christ’ and ‘The Graven Image’) when, in the 1890s, he fashioned an alternate literary personality for himself: Fiona Macleod. Sharp came to believe that the soul of a woman lived within him, and he used this conception to produce an abundance of stories and poems that draw upon ancient Celtic myth. Oftentimes these works ventured into the realms of fantasy, terror, and the supernatural. Most famous is ‘The Sin-Eater,’ an unforgettable story of a man who ritually eats a cake laid upon the body of a dead man, thereby taking away his ‘sins,’ with unexpected and horrifying results. Other tales, such as ‘Silk o’ the Kine’ and ‘Ula and Orna,’ are tales of romance that end with a supernatural climax. ‘By the Yellow Moonrock’ tells of a woman ‘who could suck the soul out of a man through his lips.’ Still other tales utilize Norse myth to create battle scenes reminiscent of Lord Dunsany and Robert E. Howard.” #75854
Price: $20.00