Fitz-James O'Brien capitalized on the
success of his predecessor Edgar Allan Poe in writing disturbing stories with demented
protagonists. This collection of three tales
shows his mastery of the macabre. 'The
Diamond Lens' tells the tale of a lone
protagonist's discovery of a microcosmic
world within a drop of water, and his
growing obsession in particular with the beautiful Animula, a fair maiden within
this world which he can see but never enter.
The insights O'Brien gives us to the
scientist's uncompromising pursuit of knowledge at any cost foreshadow the mad
scientist familiar to science fiction readers
in a multitude of works.
In 'What Was It?' an invisible man is discovered by residents of a boarding house.
Pre-dating H.G. Wells' 'The Invisible Man'
by nearly four decades, the residents' capture
and investigation of the creature blends
the fantastic with the scientific as they seek
rational explanations for this extraordinary
phenomenon. 'The Wondersmith' is a
macabre tale of an embittered toymaker
who seeks revenge upon the society that
has persecuted him by creating demonic
mannequins (a precursor of robots) and imbuing them with life in order to slaughter
the masses. The tale is a fantastic melodrama
in which the dominating and cunning
Wondersmith is offset by the unassuming
and unlikely hero Solon the hunchback,
who is in love with the villain's daughter.
