Great God Pan, The

Horror master Stephen King has called Arthur Machen's Gothic horror story The Great God Pan "one of the best horror stories ever written. Maybe the best in the English language." Its influence extends from Bram Stoker's Dracula to H.P. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror to Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. Fans of Stuart Gordon's From Beyond will be able to spot the story's vile fingerprints on that cult classic, and classicists of another sort will recognize a twisted version of Cupid and Psyche from The Golden Ass. It tells the story of Helen Vaughan — or rather, of the men whose lives she touches, in various (but always significant) ways. But more than that, it tells the story of what happens when man delves beyond his depth, heedless of what he may find in the shadowy deep. It shows how fragile are his edifices of civilization and morality when tested by forces beyond his comprehension. And it investigates these lofty matters in the most mundane way imaginable: through good old-fashioned detective work, undertaken by those alert enough to pay attention to the news of the day and do a little digging in the world's more unsavory corners. By turns suspenseful, horrifying, tragic, and moving, it is a compact classic of the form.