Fans of Robert E. Howard’s work know that he was heavily influenced in his world-building by H.P. Lovecraft, the pioneering horror author. However, Lovecraft himself went through several phases of literary influence, one of which involved the Anglo-Irish fantasist Lord Dunsany. One of Dunsany’s best-known works is The King of Elfland’s Daughter (1924), a sprawling fantasy set along the divide between an Earth much like our own, and the beautiful and dangerous parallel realm of Elfland, with only a shifting twilight separating them in certain places. I am currently reading this story myself, but have been captivated by Dunsany’s use of language in creating extraordinary and dreamlike visions of ethereal beauty. Not every author can employ language in the way that Dunsany does, but I would recommend this work to every fantasy fan.