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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 1, December 1943
Page 11
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 11 Rendevous with Triplets In each of the past three years has appeared in the realm of books an outstanding collection of short fantasies which would warm the cockles of the most jaded dilletante's heart. These volumes combine so naturally into a neat, compact trio that to review one without mentioning the others seems actually inappropriate. Therefore I give brief discussions of all three below, in the hopes that other readers will be interested enough to obtain copies in order to learn for themselves just how good the brand of fantasy produced by Mssrs. Collier, Knight and company can be. PRESENTING MOONSHINE: Stories, by John Collier. 327pp. New York: The Viking Press, 1941. $2.50 You've probably heard of this book, since a good reputation isn't easy to keep under cover; perhaps you've even toyed with the notion of buying it. But if you've not actually obtained a copy as yet, you automatically rate (a la Will Cuppy) as a goop of the first order. Collected here from The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly, and Harper's Magazine are "twenty-four astonishing and memorable accounts of the ways in which the normal individual may run afoul of the bizarre the occult and the openly fiendish". Save for those lucky individuals who have perused the above periodicals and those who have been fortunate enough to read three of the stories which were privately printed and distributed --- "Variation on a Theme" (1935), "Green Thoughts" (1932), "Witch's Money" (1940)--- the contents of this volume are new. And anyway, if you've once made Mr. Collier's acquaintance it is not likely that you will forgo the opportunity to renew it. Among other tales is "Rope Enough", where the reader learns what lies above the Indian fakir's rope; "Thus I Refute Beelzy", which shows that although a child's imagined playfellows may be invisible, they may also be rather dangerous; and "Half-Way to Hell", wherein an attempted suicide demonstrates the possibility of riding the devil's tail into paradise. Why should a djinn never be trusted? Read "Bottle Party" to learn the answer. And for those who like their fantasy delicately balanced with the weird there are "Bird of Prey", which tells about the doings of a grotesque black chick that was hatched from a parrot's egg and "Green Thoughts", where we learn of an orchid-grower's metamorphosis into---but it wouldn't be fair to spoil the story by saying more. The latter yarn, as you probably remember, was included in Dashiell Hammett's excellent anthology of the weird, Creeps by Night (1931), as well as in The Haunted Omnibus (1937), edited by Alexander Laing. We meet Beelzebub himself---impeccably attired in evening dress, and sporting a red carnation, a monocle and an imperial---in "The Right Side", while a more prolonged stay with that gentleman is provided by "The Devil, George, and Rosie". In the latter story the wit and ironic insight of Collier reach a peak, producing a tale that will cause you to chuckle for days after you have returning Presenting Moonshine to the place of honor on your bookshelf. To whet your appetite, just imagine yourself in the place of George (a would-be misogynist) in full charge of a Hell designed for the eternal damnation of all sinning females! With a cap of invisibility, absolute authority, and a spark of inventive genius, what could you accomplish? For that matter, what couldn't you? Matters were a bit complicated, though, when there arrived in Hell one Rosie, who was not only very pretty, but not yet dead... Another yarn gives the reactions of a suddenly-aroused Sleeping Beauty, and "The Possession of Angela Bradshaw" deals with the exorcism of a rather genial fiend. The volume ends with "The Invisible Dove-Dancer of Strathpheen Island" and "The Chaser", which latter is a brief but clever insight into the use of love potions.
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 11 Rendevous with Triplets In each of the past three years has appeared in the realm of books an outstanding collection of short fantasies which would warm the cockles of the most jaded dilletante's heart. These volumes combine so naturally into a neat, compact trio that to review one without mentioning the others seems actually inappropriate. Therefore I give brief discussions of all three below, in the hopes that other readers will be interested enough to obtain copies in order to learn for themselves just how good the brand of fantasy produced by Mssrs. Collier, Knight and company can be. PRESENTING MOONSHINE: Stories, by John Collier. 327pp. New York: The Viking Press, 1941. $2.50 You've probably heard of this book, since a good reputation isn't easy to keep under cover; perhaps you've even toyed with the notion of buying it. But if you've not actually obtained a copy as yet, you automatically rate (a la Will Cuppy) as a goop of the first order. Collected here from The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly, and Harper's Magazine are "twenty-four astonishing and memorable accounts of the ways in which the normal individual may run afoul of the bizarre the occult and the openly fiendish". Save for those lucky individuals who have perused the above periodicals and those who have been fortunate enough to read three of the stories which were privately printed and distributed --- "Variation on a Theme" (1935), "Green Thoughts" (1932), "Witch's Money" (1940)--- the contents of this volume are new. And anyway, if you've once made Mr. Collier's acquaintance it is not likely that you will forgo the opportunity to renew it. Among other tales is "Rope Enough", where the reader learns what lies above the Indian fakir's rope; "Thus I Refute Beelzy", which shows that although a child's imagined playfellows may be invisible, they may also be rather dangerous; and "Half-Way to Hell", wherein an attempted suicide demonstrates the possibility of riding the devil's tail into paradise. Why should a djinn never be trusted? Read "Bottle Party" to learn the answer. And for those who like their fantasy delicately balanced with the weird there are "Bird of Prey", which tells about the doings of a grotesque black chick that was hatched from a parrot's egg and "Green Thoughts", where we learn of an orchid-grower's metamorphosis into---but it wouldn't be fair to spoil the story by saying more. The latter yarn, as you probably remember, was included in Dashiell Hammett's excellent anthology of the weird, Creeps by Night (1931), as well as in The Haunted Omnibus (1937), edited by Alexander Laing. We meet Beelzebub himself---impeccably attired in evening dress, and sporting a red carnation, a monocle and an imperial---in "The Right Side", while a more prolonged stay with that gentleman is provided by "The Devil, George, and Rosie". In the latter story the wit and ironic insight of Collier reach a peak, producing a tale that will cause you to chuckle for days after you have returning Presenting Moonshine to the place of honor on your bookshelf. To whet your appetite, just imagine yourself in the place of George (a would-be misogynist) in full charge of a Hell designed for the eternal damnation of all sinning females! With a cap of invisibility, absolute authority, and a spark of inventive genius, what could you accomplish? For that matter, what couldn't you? Matters were a bit complicated, though, when there arrived in Hell one Rosie, who was not only very pretty, but not yet dead... Another yarn gives the reactions of a suddenly-aroused Sleeping Beauty, and "The Possession of Angela Bradshaw" deals with the exorcism of a rather genial fiend. The volume ends with "The Invisible Dove-Dancer of Strathpheen Island" and "The Chaser", which latter is a brief but clever insight into the use of love potions.
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