Khaled (Wildside Fantasy) [Paperback]

F. Marion Crawford (Author, Introduction), Lee Weinstein (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wildside Fantasy | Publication Date: March 1, 2001

In 1909, F. Marion Crawford was one of the most widely read novelists of the English-speaking world. His fame was such that when he became seriously ill in March of that year, his progress was reported on the front page of The New York Times on a daily basis for the last week of his life. His obituary spilled over onto page 2 of the Times. In the Italian village of Sant ’Agnello, where he lived, all the shops were immediately closed upon his death, the door of each bearing a sign saying “closed for public mourning.”

He had written over 40 novels by the time of his death, as well as a play and several histories of Italy.

Today, like Robert W. Chambers, Edward Lucas White, and Edward Bulwer-Lytton, he is little remembered for the bulk of his work, which like theirs consisted largely of romances and historical fiction. The works of these writers that have survived the test of time are for the most part fantasies and tales of horror. Today, Crawford is remembered to some extent for a few fantasy novels and the ghostly tales in The Complete Wandering Ghosts (forthcoming from Wildside Press).

Khaled (1891) is perhaps the most effective of Crawford's fantasy novels. It's an Arabian fantasy sometimes compared to Beckford's Vathek, and it concerns a genie who is made mortal as a punishment.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...Crawford's late nineteenth-century Arabian Nights style fantasy...one of the best. -- Science Fiction Chronicle, November 2001

From the Publisher

Other books in the Wildside Fantasy Classics series include:

The Devil-Tree of El Dorado, by Frank Aubrey
The Enchanted Island of Yew, by L. Frank Baum
Kai Lung's Golden Hours, by Ernest Bramah
Domnei, by James Branch Cabell
The Cream of the Jest, by James Branch Cabell
Figures of Earth, by James Branch Cabell
The Line of Love, by James Branch Cabell
Khaled, by F. Marion Crawford
The Witch of Prague, by F. Marion Crawford
One of Cleopatra's Nights, by Theophile Gautier
Allan and the Holy Flower, by H. Rider Haggard
The Ancient Allan, by H. Rider Haggard
Child of Storm, by H. Rider Haggard
Cleopatra, by H. Rider Haggard
Colonel Quaritch, V.C., by H. Rider Haggard
Eric Brighteyes, by H. Rider Haggard
Heu-Heu, or the Monster, by H. Rider Haggard
Jess, by H. Rider Haggard
Margaret, by H. Rider Haggard
Marie, by H. Rider Haggard
Pearl-Maiden, by H. Rider Haggard
Queen of the Dawn, by H. Rider Haggard
She and Allan, by H. Rider Haggard
The spirit of Bambatse, by H. Rider Haggard
Swallow, by H. Rider Haggard
The Virgin of the Sun, by H. Rider Haggard
The Wanderer's Necklace, by H. Rider Haggard
The Witch's Head, by H. Rider Haggard
Some Chinese Ghosts, by Lafcadio Hearn
Fantastics and Other Fancies, by Lafcadio Hearn
The Phantom Ship, by Capt. Frederick Marryat
The Glittering Plain, by William Morris
The Wood Beyond the World, by William Morris
Well at World's End volume I, by William Morris
Well at World's End volume II, by William Morris
A New Alice in the Old Wonderland, by Anna M. Richards
The Green Eyes of Bast, by Sax Rohmer
The Hand of Fu Manchu, by Sax Rohmer
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu, by Sax Rohmer
Under the Andes, by Rex Stout

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Borgo Press (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587154242
• ISBN-13: 978-1587154249
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,281,836 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Not among Crawford's best, March 4, 2005

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Khaled (Paperback)

This novel is an Arabian fantasy about a genie who must win the love of the loveless Zehowah, a Sultan's daughter. He tries this, that, and the other to get her to love him, to no avail. Only at the end when he's ready to sacrifice his life to a waiting mob does she crack. True, it's a fantasy, but Zehowah's absolute refusal to have any feelings for Khaled is hard to take. This was Crawford's favorite of all his books--which is also hard to take: he wrote much better ones than this.