Short Fiction

There are outliers. “A Transient Guest” finds its protagonist in the Dutch East-Indies. “Mary Magdalen,” an historical novella, recounts the final days of Jesus Christ through the perspective of the title character. And although “Madam Sapphira” is more in line with his other works, its story bears striking similarities to the circumstances surrounding Saltus’s highly publicized divorce from his first wife. Written to clear his name and that of his corespondents, its publication had the opposite effect.

After 1895, the name Edgar Saltus began to lose its luster. He continued to write and publish, but less often and to much less attention. At the same time, the cynical worldview that defined his early output shifted. Inspired by religious movement of Theosophy, he gradually became milder and more optimistic, the effect of which is noticeable in his later work.

During this second half of his career Saltus frequently reused and recycled ideas, phrases, passages, and even whole plots. This collection has been carefully edited to avoid including such obviously redundant material and to avoid overlap between these stories and other Standard Ebooks titles.

This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.