Fancies and Goodnights Vol 1

by John Collier, Ray Bradbury (Foreword)

This collection of John Collier short stories won the International Fantasy Award in 1951. His fantastic ability to mix satire with though provoking 'what ifs' is clearly seen in this compilation of thirty-two short stories entitled, Fancies and Goodnights.

He pulls the reader into a world of fantasy, make believe, and even 'Hell'. As the stories unfold, the surreal and bizarre become almost possible as we weave in and out of 'reality'.

John Collier uses the shortcomings, selfishness and downright stupidity of ordinary man and his incredible imagination to develop a new and exciting twist in each of these witty stories. Subjects such as eternal youth potions, man-eating flowers, and murder are fraught with humor and mystery. He leaves the audience wanting more.

Genres: Short Stories, Collections, Fiction

282 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 17, 2012

About the author

John Collier was a British-born author and screenplay writer best known for his short stories, many of which appeared in The New Yorker from the 1930s to the 1950s. They were collected in a 1951 volume, Fancies and Goodnights, which is still in print. Individual stories are frequently anthologized in fantasy collections. John Collier's writing has been praised by authors such as Anthony Burgess, Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman and Paul Theroux. He was married to early silent film actress Shirley Palmer.

Reviews

[Paul O’Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of my favourite short stories of all time are in this collection. Collier is a legend. If only short stories were more popular, he'd be more widely known. His voice is unique and some of these had me laughing out loud. On the train. Next to actual people. Who now think I'm weird...

Favourite stories from this are:
Bottle Party
Du Mortuis
Three Bears Cottage
Squirrels Have Bright Eyes
Halfway to Hell
Over Insurance
Season of Mists
If you Knew if Age Could
Special Delivery
Bird of Prey
Steel Cat
The Chaser

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is nicely chaptered with great navigation. I will read the stories here and highlight but will review stories under the title.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished: 22.08.2019
Genre: short stories
Rating: D -
#TBR list January 2018
Conclusion:

My new reading motto:

Just remember, when you should grab something,
grab it;
when you should let go,
let go.”
— Taoist proverb

Reading a collection 32 short stories
Fancies and Goodnights (32 short stories) – John Collier

Bottle Party – reviewed — good
Bottle Party by John Collier in his collection Fancies and Goodnights vol 1. Collier was British novelist, poet and occasional screenwriter…best known as the author of macabre or bizarre short stories with trick endings. Tone: spooky! The main character Franklin Fletcher wants a hobby and buys a Jinn in a bottle to grant his wishes: palace with the most beautiful girl in the world. Of course strange things happen! I loved Collier’s description right out of a Hollywood B-film: plump and dusky muscles (swarthy or dark-skinned); the Jinn withdrew with a a soapy smile (excessively suave or ingratiating). MORAL: don’t fear one who attacks… fear the fake friend that hugs you!

The rest....
De Mortuis – average...10 min reading time
Evening Primrose – …confusing not good – 18 min
Witch’s Money – awful – 12 min
The Touch of Nutmeg Makes It – awful – 8 min
Three Bears Cottage – awful – 5 min
Wet Sunday – awful – 10 min
Squirrels Have Bright Eyes – awful – 10 min
…time to pull the plug on this one!

[Michael Berens · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are stories of a type in vogue during the golden age of magazines and definitely are showing their age. Quirky, droll, witty, with a bit of nudge-nudge wink-wink, and easily digestible, they are tales for the three-martini (or G&T) set, something to bring a smile, a chuckle and a "a-ha, that's a good one" during a few minutes of downtime. A number of them are very clever and quite enjoyable for what they are. Reading them in bulk as in this collection, rather than weekly or bimonthly in a magazine, they start to lose some of their luster, as the narrative devices get a bit repetitive. This probably would be a great collection to have on the shelf in a weekend or summer cottage, where you might pick it up and read a story or two, and come back to it sometime later for another dose. For those who are easily offended, some of the stories are mildly sexist, though not misogynistic (this was the age of mother-in-law jokes, after all). Otherwise they are harmless, a bit twisted (in a humorous way) but not macabre. If you enjoy Gahan Wilson's cartoons, you'll probably like this book.

[Ruth Collier · Rating 3 out of 5]

I pretty much wanted to give some John Collier a go just because of the name, although there's no relation as far as I'm aware! On the whole these were pretty good, they're quite whimsical and there's often no effort made to explain away the more fantastical elements of the story: these things simply happen because that's the way they happen. Maybe explaining magic is more of a modern style, but it was a little jarring for me to not know what I was supposed to be questioning, and what was just to be accepted as part of the story's internal logic. Some of the endings fell a little flat for me too, I could tell there had been a twist, or it ended on a witty remark, but I couldn't quite make out what the twist had been or what exactly the remark signified. Again, it's probably just the style of storytelling that I'm not used to, but I'm used to ambiguous endings and this was different. It felt like I'd missed something that the reader was clearly expected to pick up.
They're not bad stories though, maybe not completely to my taste but they're fairly light and some of the characters are very entertaining.

[Christopher Nilssen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as part of my following Ray Bradbury’s advice to read a short story and an essay every day. Collier was even one of the authors he recommended. These stories are products of their time, and they don’t all end in mind blowing twists, but each one is a perfect example of a short story. There is a lot of value in reading these for structure, pacing, character, and to help establish the mental parameters necessary for executing shorts of your own.

There’s a second volume but I think I’ll look to more contemporary examples going forward, just to ensure that I don’t fall into the antiquated vernacular of such aged tales.

[Sam Hicks · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of dated fluff with a couple of moments of genuine darkness (Thus I Refute Beelzy, Special Delivery).