The Great Beast of Kafue (Cryptofiction Classics - Weird Tales of Strange Creatures)

Book excerpt: This early work by Richard Dehan was originally published in 1917 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography as part of our Cryptofiction Classics series. 'The Great Beast of Kafue' is a short story about a the hunt for a mysterious creature in South-eastern Rhodesia. Clotilde Augusta Inez Mary Graves - who wrote under the pseudonym 'Richard Dehan' - was born at Buttevant Castle, County Cork, Ireland in 1863. Graves' short stories - usually about witchcraft and pagan religions - were also well-regarded, appearing in the two collections 'Off Sandy Hook and Other Stories' (1915) and 'Under the Hermes' (1917), as were her high novels of high adventure. The Cryptofiction Classics series contains a collection of wonderful stories from some of the greatest authors in the genre, including Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jack London. From its roots in cryptozoology, this genre features bizarre, fantastical, and often terrifying tales of mythical and legendary creatures. Whether it be giant spiders, werewolves, lake monsters, or dinosaurs, the Cryptofiction Classics series offers a fantastic introduction to the world of weird creatures in fiction.