Customer Reviews

Fancies and Goodnights

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"Fancies and Goodnights" is a superb selection of John Collier's short stories: the enthusiastic reviews on Amazon are a good measure of the response of many readers to his mixture of whimsy, satire, understatement, ingenious concepts, and very polite English bemusement -- with the first half of the twentieth century in general, and New York and Hollywood in particular.

I am adding this review to the chorus of praise because there is some possible bibliographical confusion (as an earlier reviewer briefly warned).

The title "Fancies and Goodnights" has been used for two related collections, one a shorter version of the other. The 1951 version, of which this "New York Review Books" edition is a complete reprinting, contained fifty stories. This is far and away the better of the two. It has been reprinted before; I have a copy of a "Bantam Giant" mass-market paperback from 1953.

A shorter edition, with only thirty-two of the stories, has also been published under the same title. A copy of this shorter "Fancies and Goodnights" I have on hand is an edition issued in the old Time Reading Program Special Edition series (1965). It includes much praise of Collier by Fred Hoyle (then at the height of his fame as an astronomer/cosmologist/novelist), but no notice (so far as I can see) that it was not the full version, and that a reader who knew the older form could search it in vain for a remembered story. Copies of this "revised edition" dated at least as late as 1980 are available.

I am not sure if the Time Reading Program edition was the first short-text version. I once did a library search for copies, twenty-some years ago, and I believe that I found at least one other such cut edition, from a different publisher, with the same reduced selection.

If you have one of these shorter versions, and are happy with it, you will almost certainly want the extra material available in the full version; some of the eighteen additional stories, at least, will be a real treat. If you are ordering a used copy, even if the publisher is not Time Life Books, you should try to compare the length to other editions.

To add to the complications, forty-one of these fifty stories were included, with some others not in "Fancies," in the collection "The Best of John Collier" (Pocket Books paperback, 1975). The six added stories *may* make that volume an attractive acquisition to a Collier fan, despite the extensive overlap; and if you already have a copy, you *might* want to consider a full copy of "Fancies and Goodnights."

However, "The Best ..." was itself a cut version of a larger volume!

"The John Collier Reader," a long-out-of-print omnibus, included, in addition to the forty-seven short stories found in "The Best...," two chapters from "Defy the Foul Fiend, or, The Misadventures of a Heart" (1934), and a complete text of another of Collier's novels, "His Monkey Wife, or, Married to a Chimp " (1930).

See what I mean about confusion?

(Unlike "Defy the Foul Fiend," "His Monkey Wife" is currently in print, also as a New York Review Book. The adventures of an educated chimpanzee who attempts to look after her feckless Englishman, it is, depending on your point of view, an attack on men, or on women, or on marriage, with just a touch of satire on the Empire. For many of those who react to it strongly, it is either offensive but very funny, or just offensive. There are those who find it too funny to be offensive. I don't find it *successful* enough to have a strong opinion against it... or for it. It seems to me to contain a brilliant shorter work stretched beyond its limits.)

It is great to have "Fancies and Goodnights" back in print. For John Collier's fans -- or at least the fans of his short fiction -- there is an unmet need for a really comprehensive collection of his stories. In a more ideal world -- perhaps one arranged by one of Collier's polished fiends or bewildered angels -- a large, and non-overlapping, collection of additional Collier stories would be available as well.

I know from bitter experience, having done just that to a "friend" who proceeded to "lose" it. The stories, many of which feature a tongue-in-cheek use of supernatural or other fantastic elements, are generally of a somewhat cynical bent. Some, however, are actually quite moving, like one (the title of which I forget) about a lovable pyromaniac. Warning! There are at least two editions of this book, one of which has fewer stories. Be sure to get the full version. If you like Collier, you will also like Roald Dahl, Charles Beaumont, Stanley Ellin and Fredric Brown.

The book comes as a revelation. One simply does not expect such invention on such a scale and with such constant intensity. These short stories ought to be strictly rationed so that one will read no more than a single example per day. This way the maximum pleasure can be obtained and that sly, wry smile of the connoisseur will surface often. Collier can do more with a paragraph than King does in a whole volume. This is what truly excellent writing is all about.

John Collier has the distinction of being the only writer who wrote a short storywhich I read decades ago, and remembered for years _as having been a novel_.The story was "Youth from Vienna" and it is only twenty pages long. I find that quite a few people remember individual John Collier stories which have been burned indelibly into their minds, without, alas, remembering the name of the author. "Oh, the story of the people living in the in the department stores..." "Oh, the one where Helen of Troy says 'here I am on a bearskin again.'" My continuing quest to replace worn-out, falling-apart paperbacks with new hardbounds continues to frustrate. How can this book possibly be available on cassette, but not in print?

This large collection of short stories by Collier (1901-1980), written between 1931 and 1951, won the 1952 International Fantasy Award in Fiction, the second book to win that award (although John Clute erroneously says it was the first winner; that distinction belongs to Stewart's "Earth Abides") (Interestingly, one of the individuals who originated the International Fantasy Award was John Beynon Harris [John Wyndham], and "Fancies and Goodnights" beat out Wyndham's "The Day of the Triffids" for the award.) Most of these stories appeared in mainstream magazines and contain fantasy or science fiction elements, often with some humor and a twist in the story. Although many of the stories now appear dated, it is only because Collier has had so many "descendents." The collection is also of interest to young writers as it can serve as a source for new ideas. Interestingly, this collection also won a 1951 Edgar Award for best mystery short stories of the year, even though there were only a handful of stories that one would call mysteries.

Never has there a writer who has written so many brilliant and exquisite short stories. Each one is a gem. Better than Saki. The tongue in cheek humour and satirical presentation of human behaviour in his stories is unique. Check out the brilliant movie where he wrote the screenplay, "The War Lord" starring Charlton Heston. Also, I Am A Camera, Elephant Man, African Queen, etc. John Collier's books should be republished and studied in universities. No doubt the liberal humanities departments of today who prefer the feminist and political correct claptrap to real writing will not look at his writings.

This collection of 50 short stories and fables won the International Fantasy Award in 1952. Many of the stories were from much earlier though, and the collection covers stories from 1931 - 1951, including many that had not appeared in print before. Ray Bradbury writes a wonderful introduction to the collection, and if you have read Bradbury without reading Collier, you will definitely see that Collier had a big influence on Bradbury.

There are simply too many stories here to talk about them all, but for the most part they are very enjoyable. Many are fables; almost all have twists to them. All in all, this is a very fun collection to read.

I have seen John Collier grouped with Poe, O'Henry and Saki--to that list I would add Roald Dahl. Collier is a brilliant, subtle, and powerful writer of wicked little stories that take the reader by surprise. Clever, ingenious, and original are other words that come to mind. Collier himself said he had learned a great deal about writing from reading James Joyce--and we in turn can learn a great deal about some of the darker aspects of human nature (tinged with humor) from reading John Collier. Excellent.

Here is the first line of the first story in John Collier's "Fancies and Goodnights."

"Franklin Fletcher dreamed of luxury in the form of tiger-skins and beautiful women. He was prepared, at a pinch, to forego the tiger-skins."

It's a representative beginning. A typical Collier hero is a young man with big dreams, beaten down by poverty and respectability. He longs for seashores and good champagne, but one wonders whether he ever actually has a date (perhaps he wonders himself). His powers are the powers of the weak: sneakiness, sometimes with the aid of the supernatural. The supernatural, as any reader knows, is not always reliable: Franklin Fletcher's tale ends on a note of grisly comedy. The best comparison I can think of is Saki, laced by Gissing and with just a dash of Poe.

These Collier stories were hugely popular among people whom I held in high regard back when I was in college in the 50s. I can't say I entirely liked them - the stories. The snarkiness was entertaining, but unsettling: probably it hit too close to home. Rereading them after nearly half a century, it's easy to see why one would want to put them back in print. They have plenty of intrinsic merit. But I think they have a side-benefit, perhaps unintended: I think they are a bracing reminder of the 50s and what one (read: I) might have hated about them. Try this:

"In Hell, as in other places we know of, conditions are damnably disagreeable. Well-adjusted, energetic, and ambitious devils take this very much in their stride. They expect to improve their lot and ultimately to become fiends of distinction."

That was fine if your deviltry was "well-adjusted, energetic and ambitious." Otherwise you had to settle for smaller consolations, one of which, surely, would have been the stories of John Collier. Reading these stories, then, may be a kind of nostalgia trip. It may not always seem like a nostalgia trip one wants to take, but as Jane Austen says, one may love a place even if one has suffered there. And in any event, Collier is surely good company along the way.

I have been looking replace my copy of this book for a couple of years. I can't believe this is out of print. Do publishers have no souls? I too have favorite stories from this collection that I have never forgotten. "Over Insurance" is a story that I take great pleasure in reading aloud to people and girlfriends, although I rarely make it through with a straight face, and "Green Thoughts" with that damdned orchid is just plain creepy. A delight for anyone who loves to read.