Arthur Machen (born March 3, , Caerleon, Monmouthshire, Eng.—died Dec. 15, , Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire) was a Welsh novelist and essayist, a forerunner of 20th-century Gothic science fiction. Machen’s work was deeply influenced by his childhood in Wales and his readings in the occult and metaphysics. He lived most of his life in poverty as a clerk, teacher, and translator. In.