The Mark of the Beast

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) born in Bombay was an English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist.

Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius, as distinct from fine intelligence, that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 42, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.

Best known for his children's books, Kipling is actually considered as an innovator in his adult stories. The eighteen stories presented here complement his image of an extraordinary writer who mixes mysticism and horror, describes the rebirth of the soul, exotic and strange places, supernatural and paranormal phenomena and sometimes having rational and even humorous explanations about everything around us.