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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