The Three Impostors
The Three Impostors is Arthur Machen’s remarkable novel of weird horror, published in 1895 at the height of the decadent 1890s. Built as a set of linked tales in the manner of the Arabian Nights, it follows a sinister group who spin strange stories to lure their victims, and within its frame sit two of Machen’s most famous pieces, the Novel of the Black Seal and the Novel of the White Powder. Through them he suggests that beneath the ordinary surface of London and the Welsh hills lie ancient and terrible survivals, older than mankind and utterly hostile to it. Eerie, elegant, and deeply unsettling, it helped shape the whole tradition of cosmic horror that followed. This free PDF and EPUB offers the complete novel.
About the Author
Arthur Machen (1863 to 1947) was a Welsh writer whose supernatural stories are landmarks of weird fiction. Working in obscurity for much of his life, he came to be recognised as one of the great masters of horror and the uncanny.
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Listen to The Three Impostors Audiobook Free
Listen to The Three Impostors by Arthur Machen free online. The full audiobook (6 hr 30 min, 21 chapters, read by Tony Oliva) streams free on this page.
The Three Impostors (1895) is a public domain work.
| # | Chapter | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 01 - Prologue | 8:10 | |
| 2 | 02 - Adventure of the Gold Tiberius | 21:25 | |
| 3 | 03 - The Encounter of the Pavement | 10:44 | |
| 4 | 04 - Novel of the Dark Valley; Part 1 | 25:00 | |
| 5 | 05 - Novel of the Dark Valley; Part 2 | 21:59 | |
| 6 | 06 - Adventure of the Missing Brother | 23:11 | |
| 7 | 07 - Novel of the Black Seal; Part 1 | 22:11 | |
| 8 | 08 - Novel of the Black Seal; Part 2 | 21:27 | |
| 9 | 09 - Novel of the Black Seal; Part 3 | 21:09 | |
| 10 | 10 - Novel of the Black Seal; Part 4 | 19:48 | |
| 11 | 11 - Novel of the Black Seal; Part 5 | 23:06 | |
| 12 | 12 - Incident of the Private Bar | 27:43 | |
| 13 | 13 - The Decorative Imagination | 6:21 | |
| 14 | 14 - Novel of the Iron Maid | 14:38 | |
| 15 | 15 - The Recluse of Bayswater | 12:40 | |
| 16 | 16 - Novel of the White Powder; Part 1 | 17:47 | |
| 17 | 17 - Novel of the White Powder; Part 2 | 29:32 | |
| 18 | 18 - Strange Occurrence in Clerkenwell | 17:11 | |
| 19 | 19 - History of the Young Man with Spectacles; Part 1 | 15:18 | |
| 20 | 20 - History of the Young Man with Spectacles; Part 2 | 18:48 | |
| 21 | 21 - Adventure of the Deserted Residence | 11:41 |
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