TORn friend and The Hobbit co-writer Guillermo del Toro has written a forward to a new book just released with the works of Arthur Machen from Wales. He was a journalist, tutor and later found literary success with his best known story “The Great God Pan.”

That story isn’t part of this collection from Penguin Classics called, The White People and Other Weird Stories, said by del Toro to be a crucial step forth in the further canonization of one of the best weird fantasy writer ever. Those who enjoy GDT’s works and influences will want to check this out. Machen is also credited with influencing Peter Straub, Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell and Karl Edward Wagner. His stories, many of them now over a century old, cross boundaries of early horror, supernatural and fantasy fiction.