Charles G.Finney

No, no, not the theologian Charles G. Finney, but the entirely distinct author of The Circus of Dr. Lao. This one work is easily available in electronic form, but apparently none of his other writings. (What a great movie, even if it was a deacidified version of the book. Tony Randall forever!)

I'd like to give a bump and a second to this one.  Finney---who was apparently the g-grandson of the evangelist of the same name---was a unique fantasist and stylist.  Besides Dr. Lao (and its mysterious bear---or was it a Russian?---and myriad other wonders), he wrote two other short fantasy novels:   The Unholy City (1937) and The Magician out of Manchuria (1968).  Also of interest is a collection of fantasy short stories, The Ghosts of Manacle (1964).  His style and wit are hard to describe, and must be experienced.   The uninitiated can find some short excerpts here:  http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/CharlesGFinney.php

Anyway, I think these works would make a pretty neat Megapack, but I've no idea about the intellectual property status of any of them.

P.S.---He also published two non-fantasy works:  Past the End of the Pavement (1939; an idyll of a Midwestern boyhood and its many pets); and The Old China Hands (1961; a memoir of Finney's time in China with the US army during the late '20s).  There are also a number of uncollected short stories---primarily in the slicks, it seems---, though I don't know how many (if indeed any) of these are fantastical.

Finney will take some research. No contact info listed with the SFWA Estates list, and pretty much everything is still in copyright.

-- John