Imagine a Man in a Box

When IMAGINE A MAN IN A BOX was published in 1931, it was Wakefield's third short story collection in four years, and a departure from THEY RETURN AT EVENING and OLD MAN'S BEARD in that the author seemed to be attempting to move away from the field of the supernatural tale. Of the thirteen stories in this collection, only seven could be called supernatural; the other six include tales of romance, humour, and science fiction.

'In this collection a highly original mind is at work,' reads the original dustjacket blurb. 'Mr Wakefield, with his curious, penetrating and often humorous invention has inspected a wide range of possibilities, and explored them wittily and brilliantly. His other two books of stories were almost entirely concerned with the occult, but here he has played with ideas on a more earthly plane. Nevertheless, he takes the reader clean out of the dull and prosaic world of mere fact into one of his own making. To a writer with a pen in his hand, all things are possible. Mr Wakefield has made whatever his delightful fancy touched upon, not only possible, but plausible.'

This edition of IMAGINE A MAN IN A BOX, the third in Ash-Tree Press's series of Wakefields collected weird fiction, also contains a bibliographical afterword by Jack Adrian, in which he discusses the most intriguing puzzle left by Wakefield.


Genre: Horror