The Collected Jorkens, Volume 3

Jorkens #5-6

by Lord Dunsany, Michael Dirda, S.T. Joshi (Editor)

The third in a three-volume set collecting all of Lord Dunsany's club stories, as told by Jorkens. Long unavailable, and essential reading for all fans of classic fantasy. Introduction by Pulitzer-winning critic Michael Dirda of the Washington Post.

Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

Genres: Fantasy, Classics

335 pages, Hardcover

Published August 1, 2005

About the author

Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, eighteenth baron of Dunsany, was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist, notable for his work in fantasy published under the name Lord Dunsany. More than eighty books of his work were published, and his oeuvre includes hundreds of short stories, as well as successful plays, novels and essays. Born to one of the oldest titles in the Irish peerage, he lived much of his life at perhaps Ireland's longest-inhabited home, Dunsany Castle near Tara, received an honourary doctorate from Trinity College, and died in Dublin.

Reviews

[Scott Campbell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. The irredeemable racism of the story "Across the Colour Bar" left a bad taste in my mouth and ruined the entire series for me.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

Add Jorkens to the long list of things destroyed by World War II. The context switch of Jorkens watching TV or being a cold war spy is jarring. If this was the only issue, I would overlook it just for the pleasure of spending more time with Jorkens and a whiskey-and-soda. But it is compounded by the stories being shorter and less developed. They still have clever little punches at the end, but it's as if Dunsany didn't put enough credit in any of his punches to flesh out a real story for them.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Collected Jorkens Volume 3 By Lord Dunsany might be the nicest bound new book I've ever owned. Normally I prefer to read his work in nice old hardbacks (actually that's true about everyone) but the Night Shade Books feel old even though they're not.

The books in Volume 3 are Jorkens Borrows Another Whisky and The Last Book of Jorkens the latter not being published before Dunsany's death but actually my favorite of the two. The stories are the usual mix of insanity, tall tales, horror and humor done with varying levels of success but totally enjoyable. The most noteable thing about this collection is that the tales are all post world war two. Therefore there is a longing to return to a more natural primitive age, there are a lot of scientific discoveries looking into the future, and there are aliens from other worlds who show up in seances to tell how their worlds were destroyed. There are a couple of deals with the devil involving cricket, champagne swilling women, witches curses, spy tales, and even a few about the evils of cutting off the tales of dogs "docking", something that was legal till just a few years ago. But as always Dunsany is a delight to read.

[Earl Solper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume Three was not as satisfying as Volume Two. Jorkens is a little less sympathetic, Terbut a little less irascible, and the gullible narrator a little less intrusive. Few of the reminiscences deal with Colonial Africa or India; instead, many are set behind the Iron Curtain or in America. A couple of the stories in this collection duplicate other stories to a remarkable degree, as if Dunsany had kept the central idea but reworked the storyline completely. Most of the stories are completely forgettable, but still worth reading to a Jorkens fan.