Episode 12: Escape to the Past… or, Magic Bowmen and Scary Fairies

Machen was a great influence on HP Lovecraft, and the development of the fantasy and horror genres. Stephen King is a fan. There is a direct line from Machen's writing to Dungeons and Dragons, grail quests such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Game of Thrones. Machen bemoaned modernity, the mechanised slaughter of the Great War and especially the dreary Church of England, which had lost all sense of magic. Instead he took refuge in the past, a fantastic and eternal realm of changelings, fairies and monstrous beings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices