Edgar Hoffman Price (1898–1988) was a prolific pulp writer who got his start writing for Weird Tales and became a peripheral member of the Lovecraft Circle of weird fiction writers. This collection contains every story he published featuring a Kurdish holy man named Ismeddin. Price labels him as a “darvish,” an alternate spelling of the Sufi Muslim “dervish,” a man who chooses to become a beggar and an ascetic to become closer to God. The term “whirling dervish” comes from the spiraling dances the holy men use to place themselves in a trance state. Of course Price's darvish is half-crazed, a master swordsman, and particularly good at stirring up trouble. However, the stories he appears in are notable for their themes of religious truths, justice and wisdom, and explorations of the nature of reality. Included are
INTRODUCTION, by Alexander Kreitner
THE DREAMER OF ATLANAAT
THE INFIDEL'S DAUGHTER
THIRSTY BLADES
THE SLAVE OF JUSTICE
SHAYKH AHMAD AND THE PIOUS COMPANIONS
ISMEDDIN AND THE HOLY CARPET
THE FORGOTTEN OF ALLAH
ONE ARABIAN NIGHT
A JEST AND A VENGEANCE
THE SULTAN'S JEST
THE STRANGER FROM KURDISTAN
APRICOTS FROM ISPAHAN
THE HAND OF WRATH
THE RAJAH'S GIFT
SATAN'S DAUGHTER
WELL OF THE ANGELS
THE GIRL FROM SAMARCAND
EVERY MAN A KING
LADY OF THE MOONLIGHT
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