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Strange Doings by R. A. Lafferty
Book by Lafferty, R. A
Paperback
First published April 1, 1973
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About the author
R.A. Lafferty
541 books308 followersRaphael Aloysius Lafferty, published under the name R.A. Lafferty, was an American science fiction and fantasy writer known for his original use of language, metaphor, and narrative structure, as well as for his etymological wit. He also wrote a set of four autobiographical novels, a history book, and a number of novels that could be loosely called historical fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 8, 2020
DAW Collectors #50
Cover Artist: Jack Gaughan
Name: Lafferty, Raphael Aloysius, Birthplace: Neola, Iowa, USA, (7 November 1914 - 18 March 2002
Contents:
002]- Strange Doings (frontispiece) = interior artwork by Jack Gaughan
007 - Rainbird - (1961)
017 - Camels and Dromedaries, Clem - (1967)
28 - Continued on Next Rock - (1970)
049 - Once On Aranea - interior artwork by Jack Gaughan
050 - Once on Aranea = (1972)
059 - Sodom and Gomorrah, Texas - (1962)
065 - The Man with the Speckled Eyes - (1964)
073 •-All But the Words (1971)
082 - The Transcendent Tigers - (1964)
091 •- World Abounding - interior artwork by Jack Gaughan
092 - World Abounding - (1971)
120 - Dream - (1962)
127 - Ride a Tin Can- interior artwork by Jack Gaughan
128 • Ride a Tin Can - (1970)
139 • Aloys - (1961)
146 • Entire and Perfect Chrysolite •-(1970)
157 • Incased in Ancient Rind • (1971)- (variant of Encased in Ancient Rind)
170 • The Ugly Sea - (1961)
182 - Cliffs That Laughed - (1969)
R. A. Lafferty's work isn't easy to describe. If you've never read Rafferty, this collection would be a good starting place.
Cover Artist: Jack Gaughan
Name: Lafferty, Raphael Aloysius, Birthplace: Neola, Iowa, USA, (7 November 1914 - 18 March 2002
Contents:
002]- Strange Doings (frontispiece) = interior artwork by Jack Gaughan
007 - Rainbird - (1961)
017 - Camels and Dromedaries, Clem - (1967)
28 - Continued on Next Rock - (1970)
049 - Once On Aranea - interior artwork by Jack Gaughan
050 - Once on Aranea = (1972)
059 - Sodom and Gomorrah, Texas - (1962)
065 - The Man with the Speckled Eyes - (1964)
073 •-All But the Words (1971)
082 - The Transcendent Tigers - (1964)
091 •- World Abounding - interior artwork by Jack Gaughan
092 - World Abounding - (1971)
120 - Dream - (1962)
127 - Ride a Tin Can- interior artwork by Jack Gaughan
128 • Ride a Tin Can - (1970)
139 • Aloys - (1961)
146 • Entire and Perfect Chrysolite •-(1970)
157 • Incased in Ancient Rind • (1971)- (variant of Encased in Ancient Rind)
170 • The Ugly Sea - (1961)
182 - Cliffs That Laughed - (1969)
R. A. Lafferty's work isn't easy to describe. If you've never read Rafferty, this collection would be a good starting place.
November 16, 2014
According to certain interweb sources, R. A. Lafferty is making a comeback. There are several new (and very well done) websites dedicated to him and his work, a new journal just in time to celebrate his 100th birthday, and (finally) a series of his collected works that might make it incrementally easier to read some of his stuff that’s been out of print for years. Though not much easier. That first volume of his collected works, for instance, is published by a specialty press and is already out of print. It’s so difficult to get one’s hands on, in fact, that even my heroes-- the interlibrary loan librarians at my university-- couldn’t get me a copy. Instead, they found a few early Lafferty collections for me to read.
And that’s fine by me. Lafferty shines brightest in his short stories. His romping, boisterous, almost drunken exuberance comes across better in these than extended across an entire novel. I’ve read plenty of Lafferty novels, but they’re more of an acquired taste. You have to go into them knowing what you’re going to get and prepared to weather the storm. Because Lafferty’s novels are like riding out the storms at the core of a gas giant: there’s a good chance diamonds are going to be falling, but there’s also a good chance you’re going to get turned inside out before it’s done.
His short stories are a bit easier, not because they’re more muted or less powerful but simply because they don’t last as long. What is it about this guy? He’s not simply a science fiction writer, though he has plenty of stories about humans on new worlds. He’s even less a fantasy author, though there are fantastic elements in almost all his stories. What he is, is a story-teller. He’s someone who tells tall, sweating, shambling, horrifying, and beautiful stories-- who tells stories like they used to be told when the world was a lot younger-- and at the time he was writing it was only in the fantasy and science fiction pulps that stories like this still found a home.
The pieces in this volume seem to cluster around a theme. They are stories of breaking out, of some new, larger reality breaking into the world. They’re stories of superhuman genius (“Rainbird,” “The Man with the Speckled Eyes,” “The Transcendent Tigers,” and “Aloys”) and of making contact with transcendent creatures or transcendent places (“All but the Words,” “World Abounding,” “Entire and Perfect Chrysolite”). Lafferty writes stories of phase transitions, of tipping points, of new or unseen (and sometimes horrifying) worlds breaking in on this one (“Continued on Next Rock,” “Once on Aranea,” “Sodom and Gomorrah, Texas,” “Dream”). They aren’t always the most narratively dense or developed; they don’t necessarily have tight plots or dizzying plot turns. What they all are, however, are huge, rollicking yarns told in Lafferty’s unmistakable voice.
And this is what makes them work. There is a grotesque jollity about Lafferty. For him, the world is a bloody, beautiful, terrifying place-- but never simply grim or grey. He is more than a little drunk on the world. This is a huge, holy brutality similar to but rowdier than Chesterton and far less tidy than the subdued mysteries of Borges. Wolfe has this in flashes, like shots of light through his stories’ elaborate puzzles. But in Lafferty it’s all there on the surface, naked and undistilled.
If you want to hear Lafferty’s language, head over to Daniel Otto Jack Petersen’s blog, where he regularly lays out slabs of Lafferty prose in all their bloody, dripping glory for passers-by to admire. Besides his language, Lafferty has a strength in building characters, but his characters are like his stories-- super-humans, larger than life, more alive than alive. I’m reminded of the sort of things people say about van Gogh, that he saw colors more vibrantly than other people. When I read Lafferty’s stories, I can’t help but wonder: is this how he saw the world? Is this how he saw people? It’s as though someone was living as Chesterton wrote in Manalive, with a certainty that the world was more gruesome and deep and joyful than could be properly grasped. There’s nothing slow or sedate or studied in his character sketches.
The stories that are the most effective in this particular collection are the ones that attempt the least. “Rainbird,” which opens the volume, tells the story of an early American inventor and the way he did-- or did not-- shape the modern world. It has all the pieces of Laffertian excellence in an easy-to-swallow morsel: the language that takes an obvious delight in lists and the bright mundanity of the workshop in all its sawdusty glory, the hint of the fantastic and the ease of the impossible that makes the entire, simple time-loop drama shine. And then there’s “The Ugly Sea” near the volume’s end. Again, something as simple as a tale of how a man falls in love with a woman and with the sea-- and yet nothing could be more significant. This is what Lafferty does. He tells stories, but they are the stories that live down deep in the bones of the earth. He’s a grave-robber, and he does it all with a deep-throated laughter and terrible bright eyes and words that are thick with soil.
And that’s fine by me. Lafferty shines brightest in his short stories. His romping, boisterous, almost drunken exuberance comes across better in these than extended across an entire novel. I’ve read plenty of Lafferty novels, but they’re more of an acquired taste. You have to go into them knowing what you’re going to get and prepared to weather the storm. Because Lafferty’s novels are like riding out the storms at the core of a gas giant: there’s a good chance diamonds are going to be falling, but there’s also a good chance you’re going to get turned inside out before it’s done.
His short stories are a bit easier, not because they’re more muted or less powerful but simply because they don’t last as long. What is it about this guy? He’s not simply a science fiction writer, though he has plenty of stories about humans on new worlds. He’s even less a fantasy author, though there are fantastic elements in almost all his stories. What he is, is a story-teller. He’s someone who tells tall, sweating, shambling, horrifying, and beautiful stories-- who tells stories like they used to be told when the world was a lot younger-- and at the time he was writing it was only in the fantasy and science fiction pulps that stories like this still found a home.
The pieces in this volume seem to cluster around a theme. They are stories of breaking out, of some new, larger reality breaking into the world. They’re stories of superhuman genius (“Rainbird,” “The Man with the Speckled Eyes,” “The Transcendent Tigers,” and “Aloys”) and of making contact with transcendent creatures or transcendent places (“All but the Words,” “World Abounding,” “Entire and Perfect Chrysolite”). Lafferty writes stories of phase transitions, of tipping points, of new or unseen (and sometimes horrifying) worlds breaking in on this one (“Continued on Next Rock,” “Once on Aranea,” “Sodom and Gomorrah, Texas,” “Dream”). They aren’t always the most narratively dense or developed; they don’t necessarily have tight plots or dizzying plot turns. What they all are, however, are huge, rollicking yarns told in Lafferty’s unmistakable voice.
And this is what makes them work. There is a grotesque jollity about Lafferty. For him, the world is a bloody, beautiful, terrifying place-- but never simply grim or grey. He is more than a little drunk on the world. This is a huge, holy brutality similar to but rowdier than Chesterton and far less tidy than the subdued mysteries of Borges. Wolfe has this in flashes, like shots of light through his stories’ elaborate puzzles. But in Lafferty it’s all there on the surface, naked and undistilled.
If you want to hear Lafferty’s language, head over to Daniel Otto Jack Petersen’s blog, where he regularly lays out slabs of Lafferty prose in all their bloody, dripping glory for passers-by to admire. Besides his language, Lafferty has a strength in building characters, but his characters are like his stories-- super-humans, larger than life, more alive than alive. I’m reminded of the sort of things people say about van Gogh, that he saw colors more vibrantly than other people. When I read Lafferty’s stories, I can’t help but wonder: is this how he saw the world? Is this how he saw people? It’s as though someone was living as Chesterton wrote in Manalive, with a certainty that the world was more gruesome and deep and joyful than could be properly grasped. There’s nothing slow or sedate or studied in his character sketches.
The stories that are the most effective in this particular collection are the ones that attempt the least. “Rainbird,” which opens the volume, tells the story of an early American inventor and the way he did-- or did not-- shape the modern world. It has all the pieces of Laffertian excellence in an easy-to-swallow morsel: the language that takes an obvious delight in lists and the bright mundanity of the workshop in all its sawdusty glory, the hint of the fantastic and the ease of the impossible that makes the entire, simple time-loop drama shine. And then there’s “The Ugly Sea” near the volume’s end. Again, something as simple as a tale of how a man falls in love with a woman and with the sea-- and yet nothing could be more significant. This is what Lafferty does. He tells stories, but they are the stories that live down deep in the bones of the earth. He’s a grave-robber, and he does it all with a deep-throated laughter and terrible bright eyes and words that are thick with soil.
February 7, 2018
Solid story-writing craftsmanship and boundless SF/F inventiveness combine to make this collection a genre classic.
September 1, 2022
I believe strongly in the power of the telling. A story can be a ridiculous, mundane, or just plain bad idea, and still dazzle me with wonderful storytelling. The reverse is also true, and often more common. An idea can be compelling, brilliant, or creative, and frustrate the absolute hell out of me with its writing.
And so, here is this collection of the esteemed R. A Laffertty--and I couldn't wait to be done with the thing.
I once read a scorching, hate-filled review of one of Ray Bradbury's major works. I was baffled how someone could be so angry at such lyrical, beautiful writing. Lafferty has given me some new perspective.
I didn't hate this like that reviewer hated Bradbury, but I was far from happy while reading it. Getting through it became a chore. Lafferty has one of those styles you'll either love or hate, much like Bradbury. Where Bradbury's whimsical sense of abandon in his writing hits the right notes for me, Lafferty's doesn't. The topics are equally odd too(they are remarkably similar writers), but I found much of these to be overly esoteric, cryptic and, sometimes, nonsensical. Even the ideas I found fun where ruined by writing I can only describe as playfully obnoxious.
I will say, the story Ride a Tin Can was devastating. I have a huge soft spot for innocence and helplessness depicted through non-humans, and this one struck my heart.
Still hated the telling though.
And so, here is this collection of the esteemed R. A Laffertty--and I couldn't wait to be done with the thing.
I once read a scorching, hate-filled review of one of Ray Bradbury's major works. I was baffled how someone could be so angry at such lyrical, beautiful writing. Lafferty has given me some new perspective.
I didn't hate this like that reviewer hated Bradbury, but I was far from happy while reading it. Getting through it became a chore. Lafferty has one of those styles you'll either love or hate, much like Bradbury. Where Bradbury's whimsical sense of abandon in his writing hits the right notes for me, Lafferty's doesn't. The topics are equally odd too(they are remarkably similar writers), but I found much of these to be overly esoteric, cryptic and, sometimes, nonsensical. Even the ideas I found fun where ruined by writing I can only describe as playfully obnoxious.
I will say, the story Ride a Tin Can was devastating. I have a huge soft spot for innocence and helplessness depicted through non-humans, and this one struck my heart.
Still hated the telling though.
February 3, 2023
I’ve seen R.A. Lafferty’s name on the spines of books in plenty of used bookstores for years, but it never occurred to me to actually pick up any of them – mainly because I kept confusing him with R.A. Salvatore, whom I associate mainly with the Forgotten Realms franchise, which doesn’t really interest me. Anyway, like probably a lot of people in recent years, I decided to check Lafferty out after Neil Gaiman kept namedropping him as one of the greatest writers ever. Then of course I couldn’t find anything by him for ages until I finally found this short-story collection in a used bookstore in the US a couple of years ago.
By the second story, I could see what all the hoo-ha was about. Lafferty is generally classified as an SF/F writer, but these 16 stories aren’t really straight SF or fantasy but a blend of playful oddball surrealism, where the wordplay matters more than the story itself. There are a lot of tropes here – mad geniuses, explorers visiting strange planets, aliens invading Earth, sailors seduced by the sea, people whose imaginations become reality – but Lafferty takes none of them seriously and uses them all to make weird things happen, and his characters either roll with it or refuse to accept it.
In that sense, these aren’t short stories in the traditional sense – they’re more like good-natured surreal thought experiments. No wonder Gaiman is a fan. The downside for me is that I ended up not remembering too much of what actually happened in many of these stories, but I had a great time while I was there. Lafferty’s dialogue alone is a whimsical delight and well worth the price of admission. I’ll definitely be seeking out more of his work.
By the second story, I could see what all the hoo-ha was about. Lafferty is generally classified as an SF/F writer, but these 16 stories aren’t really straight SF or fantasy but a blend of playful oddball surrealism, where the wordplay matters more than the story itself. There are a lot of tropes here – mad geniuses, explorers visiting strange planets, aliens invading Earth, sailors seduced by the sea, people whose imaginations become reality – but Lafferty takes none of them seriously and uses them all to make weird things happen, and his characters either roll with it or refuse to accept it.
In that sense, these aren’t short stories in the traditional sense – they’re more like good-natured surreal thought experiments. No wonder Gaiman is a fan. The downside for me is that I ended up not remembering too much of what actually happened in many of these stories, but I had a great time while I was there. Lafferty’s dialogue alone is a whimsical delight and well worth the price of admission. I’ll definitely be seeking out more of his work.
March 9, 2021
One of the best short story collections I've ever read.
January 4, 2019
I first heard of R.A. Lafferty by reading Neil Gaiman. In his collection Fragile Things, Gaiman praises Lafferty as being one of the best short story writers in the world. Eager to find a new author I’d probably like, I looked up Lafferty’s name in the library and found nothing. I looked it up on Amazon and found the next worst thing to nothing: an incredibly expensive specialty edition that was a first volume in a complete collection, and well out of my price range. I began scouring used bookstores and continuously came up empty until a couple of years ago when I finally hit paydirt: not just the short story collection Nine Hundred Grandmothers but also two of his novels. Soon after, a trip to Powell’s Books in Portland resulted in another Lafferty collection, Strange Doings.
READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE: https://csgstories.wordpress.com/2018...
READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE: https://csgstories.wordpress.com/2018...
July 21, 2011
Lafferty is an acquired taste, best approached through collections of his stories like this one.
December 10, 2021
R.A. Lafferty is een van mijn vroege SF helden. Zijn belangrijkste werk dat in mijn hoofd is blijven plakken, is De avonturen van Kapitein Roodstorm. Daar was ik diep van onder de indruk.
Niet pluis is een verhalenbundel met korte verhalen die in 1972 voor het eerst gepubliceerd zijn als bundel. Wederom was ik wat angstig dat een oude held van zijn sokkel zou vallen, maar dat is grotendeels meegevallen. De verhalen zijn allemaal in een wonderlijke stijl geschreven die het midden houdt tussen sprookje, sterk verhaal en plechtstatig heldendicht. Het is mijn vermoeden dat Lafferty alle zeemansverhalen van Homerus tot Linschoten tot zich genomen heeft en vervolgens in dezelfde stijl iets is gaan schrijven dat ingedeeld werd bij SF maar net zo goed als Magisch Realisme geclassificeerd had kunnen worden.
Terwijl ik verhaal na verhaal lees word ik bevangen door de illusie dat Lafferty zelf tot mij spreekt. Zijn verhalen zitten vol met waanzinnige premisses, absurditeiten, verwrongen realiteiten en gelukkig ook humor, heel veel humor. Zijn helden zijn groter dan het leven, complex, vol van tegenstrijdigheden, wijs en compleet maf tegelijk. De verteller springt vaak van de hak op de tak, weeft anecdotes tussen het verhaal door, gaat terug in de verhaallijn en doet beweringen die hij in dezelfde paragraaf ontkracht of tegenspreekt.
Sommige passages zijn zo grappig dat ik er hardop om moest lachen, niet eens om de delivery maar om de situatie waar Lafferty mij (en zijn protagonist) in gemanoevreerd heeft. Met name "Spreken is Zilver" is een hilarisch verhaal over een stel contactschuwe wetenschappers die na 10 jaar werken aan een ultieme communicatie machine erachter komen dat het constante falen ligt aan het feit dat ze eigenlijk liever niet met anderen willen praten.
Het feit dat sommige van de verhalen wel wat te esoterisch zijn voor mij om te begrijpen neemt wat van de glans van deze verzameling weg. Desondanks heb ik genoten van wat Lafferty te bieden heeft en raad deze bundel van harte aan voor een avondje plezante verwarring onderbroken door een occassionele lachstuip.
Niet pluis is een verhalenbundel met korte verhalen die in 1972 voor het eerst gepubliceerd zijn als bundel. Wederom was ik wat angstig dat een oude held van zijn sokkel zou vallen, maar dat is grotendeels meegevallen. De verhalen zijn allemaal in een wonderlijke stijl geschreven die het midden houdt tussen sprookje, sterk verhaal en plechtstatig heldendicht. Het is mijn vermoeden dat Lafferty alle zeemansverhalen van Homerus tot Linschoten tot zich genomen heeft en vervolgens in dezelfde stijl iets is gaan schrijven dat ingedeeld werd bij SF maar net zo goed als Magisch Realisme geclassificeerd had kunnen worden.
Terwijl ik verhaal na verhaal lees word ik bevangen door de illusie dat Lafferty zelf tot mij spreekt. Zijn verhalen zitten vol met waanzinnige premisses, absurditeiten, verwrongen realiteiten en gelukkig ook humor, heel veel humor. Zijn helden zijn groter dan het leven, complex, vol van tegenstrijdigheden, wijs en compleet maf tegelijk. De verteller springt vaak van de hak op de tak, weeft anecdotes tussen het verhaal door, gaat terug in de verhaallijn en doet beweringen die hij in dezelfde paragraaf ontkracht of tegenspreekt.
Sommige passages zijn zo grappig dat ik er hardop om moest lachen, niet eens om de delivery maar om de situatie waar Lafferty mij (en zijn protagonist) in gemanoevreerd heeft. Met name "Spreken is Zilver" is een hilarisch verhaal over een stel contactschuwe wetenschappers die na 10 jaar werken aan een ultieme communicatie machine erachter komen dat het constante falen ligt aan het feit dat ze eigenlijk liever niet met anderen willen praten.
'Nee, ik wil ook niet echt luisteren,' zei Smirnov. 'Ik ben nu te oud om belangstelling te gaan ontwikkelen voor de dingen die werkelijk belangrijk zijn in het leven.'
Het feit dat sommige van de verhalen wel wat te esoterisch zijn voor mij om te begrijpen neemt wat van de glans van deze verzameling weg. Desondanks heb ik genoten van wat Lafferty te bieden heeft en raad deze bundel van harte aan voor een avondje plezante verwarring onderbroken door een occassionele lachstuip.
March 27, 2020
Read this book a long time ago (30-35 yrs?). Unfortunately, I often loan out my books to family and friends which means that a lot of times I don't get them back. Finally got my hands back on Strange Doings and was able to enjoy it all over again. I had always felt that 900 Grandmothers was my fave Lafferty but now I'm torn. This is another wonderful collection from one of my favorite authors. I always urge people to read his short stories but unfortunately they have become very hard to come by and book sellers are well aware of this and charge some pretty outrageous prices. Hopefully, one of the publishers will some day reprint these treasures for the masses. When I read his stories, not only am I engaged with the storytelling but I often have the side thought of "how can someone think and write like this" (genius/madman?). The 3 constants of the universe continue on: Death, Taxes, and the fact that no one has or ever will write stories like R.A. Lafferty...absolutely unique and wholeheartedly recommended.
April 18, 2025
Lafferty was a magician. These stories sparkle with life and wit, and I can't think of any other writer to compare him, too. He eschews all conventional science fiction conventions, and breaks into open fantasy and magical realism here. The curation of stories is tighter than in Nine Hundred Grandmothers, but there's still a sense of a shared universe with recurring characters from the previous collection turning up again. Centipede Press has been publishing Lafferty's complete stories, and are up to 7 volumes now, but they're all out of print and extremely expensive. It would be something if a publisher with more means could take this project on.
December 22, 2023
Having only recently discovered Raffery, I devoured and adored his other short story collection
Nine Hundred Grandmothers as well as the novel The Reefs of Earth. This entire book was a slog. Every story seemed somehow opposed to being read, where the whimsy becomes esoteric, and the esoteric becomes obfuscation.
Maybe you just need to be in the right mood.
Nine Hundred Grandmothers as well as the novel The Reefs of Earth. This entire book was a slog. Every story seemed somehow opposed to being read, where the whimsy becomes esoteric, and the esoteric becomes obfuscation.
Maybe you just need to be in the right mood.
June 16, 2018
Overall pretty good strange stories. I liked Continued on Next Rock best.
November 8, 2009
Every story in here is good, except for the ones that are great, but most of them are excellent. Even the three or so stories with cliche science fiction plots were handled brilliantly with the usual Lafferty charm. I also noticed overlapping characters and places from the earlier novels I've read.
Of the ones in this collection, my favorites were Rainbird, Camels and Dromedaries, Clem, Continued on Next Rock, Sodom and Gommorah, Texas, Ride a Tin Can (which would make a good if screwed up children book), and the Ugly Sea. But there were all basically satisfying.
Of the ones in this collection, my favorites were Rainbird, Camels and Dromedaries, Clem, Continued on Next Rock, Sodom and Gommorah, Texas, Ride a Tin Can (which would make a good if screwed up children book), and the Ugly Sea. But there were all basically satisfying.
March 2, 2015
First foray into Lafferty. Not surprised now that Neil Gaiman said that for a short era, Lafferty was one of the greatest short story writer, and I can see the influence he had on Gaiman's own writings. Will definetely dive into Lafferty's other works.
June 11, 2017
A collection of short stories. Reads like a bunch of Twilight Zone episodes. They're surreal, but grounded in a fairly normal world. Some are science fiction-y and others are more like magic realism. An enjoyable trippy read.
February 19, 2014
Lafferty had an eccentric narrative voice, which only served to make his stories more fun and more memorable.
Read
January 19, 2022Continued on Next Rock, Entire and Perfect Chrysolite, Rainbird, The Man With The Speckled Eyes, Ride a Tin Can, Incased in Ancient Rind
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews