{"product_id":"the-three-impostors-or-the-transmutations","title":"The Three Impostors or The Transmutations","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Three Impostors is an episodic novel by British horror fiction writer Arthur Machen, first published in 1895 in the Bodley Head's Keynote Series.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eControversy:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePublisher John Lane, wary of the atmosphere following the trial of Oscar Wilde, asked Machen to censor his manuscript. Barring the omission of one word, Machen refused to do this.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Things Near and Far Machen wrote:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e   It was in the early spring of 1894 that I set about the writing of the said \"Three Impostors,\" a book which testifies to the vast respect I entertained for the fantastic, \"New Arabian Nights\" manner of R. L. Stevenson, to those curious researches in the byways of London which I have described already, and also, I hope, to a certain originality of experiment in the tale of terror.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe novel incorporates several inset weird tales and culminates in a final denouement of deadly horror, connected with a secret society devoted to debauched pagan rites. The three imposters of the title are members of this society who weave a web of deception in the streets of London-retailing the aforementioned weird tales in the process-as they search for a missing Roman coin commemorating an infamous orgy by the Emperor Tiberius and close in on their prey: \"the young man with spectacles\". (wikipedia.org)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57484237472117,"sku":"9781644399934","price":23.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781644399934.jpg?v=1786266286","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/the-three-impostors-or-the-transmutations","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}