Introduction by Kirby McCauley The Nameless City by H.P. LOVECRAFT Terror in Cut-Throat Cave by ROBERT BLOCH The Grey God Passes by ROBERT E. HOWARD The People of the Pit by A. MERRITT The Traveller by RAY BRADBURY A View From A Hill by M.R. James The Interloper by Ramsey Campbell The Cotillon by L.P. Hartley A Watcher By The Dead by Ambrose Bierce
Kirby McCauley (1941-2014) was a New York City literary agent and editor.
He attended the University of Minnesota and became a literary agent in the 1970s, soon building a successful agency and representing authors such as Stephen King, Roger Zelazny, and George R.R. Martin, who credits him with helping to launch his writing career. In 1975, McCauley chaired the first World Fantasy Convention.
He died of of renal failure associated with diabetes in 2014.
In L.P. Hartley's "The Cotillion" young Marion attends a well-to-do masked ball, hoping it will take her mind off the distressing reaction her young paramour, Harry Chichester, had when he dumped her - though she's had quite a history of playing with the affections of young men. But her oddly taciturn partner at the masquerade seems remotely familiar. While familiar in it's trajectory, this does a great job sketching the expectations and parlor "games" of the higher classes, while also being quite dark with it's dialogue near the end.