Fairy Feller's Master Stroke [Hardcover]

Mark Chadbourn (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 114 pages
• Publisher: PS Publishing (June 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1902880331
• ISBN-13: 978-1902880334
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,354,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A two-time winner of the prestigious British Fantasy Award, Mark has published his epic, imaginative novels in many countries around the world. He grew up in the mining community of the English Midlands, and was the first person in his family to go to university. After studying Economic History at Leeds, he became a successful journalist, writing for several of the UK's renowned national newspapers as well as contributing to magazines and TV.

When his first short story won Fear magazine's Best New Author award, he was snapped up by an agent and subsequently published his first novel, Underground, a supernatural thriller set in the coalfields of his youth. Quitting journalism to become a full-time author, he has written stories which have transcended genre boundaries, but is perhaps best known in the fantasy field.

Mark has also forged a parallel career as a screenwriter with many hours of produced work for British television. He is a senior writer for BBC Drama, and is also developing new shows for the UK and US.

An expert on British folklore and mythology, he has held several varied and colourful jobs, including independent record company boss, band manager, production line worker, engineer's 'mate', and media consultant.

Having travelled extensively around the world, he has now settled in a rambling house in the middle of a forest not far from where he was born.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The riddle of a painting and one man's life., June 15, 2005

By 

J. N. Mohlman (Barrington, RI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fairy Feller's Master Stroke (Hardcover)

First off, this isn't a typical Amazon title, rather it is the product of PS Publishing, which puts out limited, signed editions by various science fiction and fantasy authors. Specifically, "The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke" by Mark Chadbourn was limited to 300 hardcover and another 500 paperback copies, and at the time of this writing, some copies were still available from the publisher as well as on the internet.

PS Publishing is known for putting out unique works, titles like "A Year in the Linear City" and "In Springdale Town" defy easy explanation, but "The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke" is in a class by itself. On its surface, it presents the story of Danny's quest to find meaning and personal redemption in Richard Dadd's painting, The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke. A prodigy who has wasted his talents on drugs and alcohol, Danny turns to the painting as a lifeboat after a near fatal overdose.

The first thing one notices about Danny's narrative is that the timeline ebbs and flows like the tide rather than flowing smoothly from point A to point B. In other circumstances this might be disruptive, but it actually matches quite nicely with Danny's mental state and creates further questions in the reader's mind about his reliability as a narrator. As Danny begins to drift between our world and the Invisible World (the fairy world, the world of myths or dreams, etc.) Chadbourn quite effectively leaves his sanity open to doubt.

However, it in its purposefully enigmatic conclusion that the book truly shines as Chadbourn manages to place questions of parenthood (and specifically one's own parents) with those of growing up into related signs of the same coin. In particular, Danny's revelation that growing up shouldn't mean losing one's sense of wonder is both true and completely in keeping with the spirit of the book.

Though less than one hundred pages long, "The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke" somehow manages to encapsulate one man's entire journey from personal growth from a child with the attitudes of an adult, to an adult with the attitudes of a child, and finally to an amalgam of the two that is healthier than either end of the spectrum. Imbued with mystery and suspense, but also offering a lot to think about, "The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke" is another terrific offering by PS Publishing.

Jake Mohlman