Strange Seas And Shores by Avram Davidson

A richly imaginative collection of short tales that blend fantasy, myth, and quirky mystery, each piece marked by erudition, wit, and a taste for the uncanny. Settings shift from seafaring voyages and ancient courts to modern streets and laboratories, populated by eccentric scholars, stubbornly human protagonists, and oddball narrators who confront supernatural or inexplicable occurrences. The stories mix melancholy and humor, linguistic play and scholarly asides, and favor surprising moral or philosophical twists over tidy resolutions.