Author

Barry Pain

15 books1 series

Barry Eric Odell Pain (1864–1928) was an English journalist, poet and writer. Born in Cambridge, he was educated at Sedbergh School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He became a prominent contributor to The Granta. He was known as a writer of parody and lightly humorous stories. In 1889, Cornh…

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Barry Eric Odell Pain (1864–1928) was an English journalist, poet and writer.

Born in Cambridge, he was educated at Sedbergh School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He became a prominent contributor to The Granta. He was known as a writer of parody and lightly humorous stories.

In 1889, Cornhill Magazine's editor, James Payn, published his story "The Hundred Gates", and shortly afterwards Pain became a contributor to Punch and The Speaker, and joined the staffs of the Daily Chronicle and Black and White.

Pain's works include In a Canadian Canoe (1891), papers reprinted from The Granta; Playthings and Parodies (1892); The Kindness of the Celestial (1894); The Octave of Claudius (1897); Eliza (1900); Another English Woman's Love Letters (1901); The Shadow of the Unseen (1907); An Exchange of Souls (1911); and others. Stories in the Dark (1901) and Stories In Grey (1911) contain several of Pain's horror stories, including the famous "The Moon-Slave". Going Home (1921) is a sentimental fantasy story about a winged man.

Barry Pain's An Exchange of Souls is credited with being inspirational to H. P. Lovecraft, specifically in his short story "The Thing on the Doorstep".