Men Without Bones

by Gerald Kersh

Learn, too the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile, or what really happened to Ambrose Bierce. And ponder, if you can, the case of Simple Simon, who lost the only important thing he had-and never even missed it. Lean back, relax, take a long look at the world of Kersh. You may never recover.

Genres: Short Stories, Horror, Fiction, Fantasy, Pulp, Science Fiction, Mystery

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Gerald Kersh was born in Teddington-on-Thames, near London, and, like so many writers, quit school to take on a series of jobs -- salesman, baker, fish-and-chips cook, nightclub bouncer, freelance newspaper reporter and at the same time was writing his first two novels.

In 1937, his third published novel, Night and the City, hurled him into the front ranks of young British writers. Twenty novels later Kersh created his personal masterpiece, Fowler's End, regarded by many as one of the outstanding novels of the century. He also, throughout his long career, wrote more than 400 short stories and over 1,000 articles.

Once a professional wrestler, Kersh also fought with the Coldstream Guards in World War II. His account of infantry training They Die With Their Boots Clean (1941), became an instant best-seller during that war.

After traveling over much of the world, he became an American citizen, living quietly in Cragsmoor, in a remote section of the Shawangunk Mountains in New York State. He died in Kingston, NY, in 1968.

(Biography compiled from "Nightmares & Damnations" and Fantastic Fiction.)

Reviews

[Ben Loory · Rating 3 out of 5]

these are charming and eloquently written but never emotionally involving. also, not sure why this is being marketed as horror as the majority of these are realistic, conversational tales about historical figures (da vinci, shakespeare, jesus, ambrose bierce) and none of the stories aim to be scary, except maybe for the title story (debatable). anyway, apparently kersh is/was harlan ellison's favorite writer, which is just sort of bizarre, based on this book. i'd expect something dazzlingly out there and in-your-face; these are like, basically, clever and polite notions. maybe his other stuff is different.

[Treplovski · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first paperbacks I bought as a thirteen-year old, many decades ago. I'd never heard of the author, and although I didn't know the cover artist's name at the time (Richard Powers), with a typical adolescent's love of all things crawly-creepy I plunked down my lawn-mowing money.

Every story was so intense, such a springboard for ideas, that virtually everything I composed in my junior high and high school writing classes was inspired by ideas generated by Kersh. On finishing a story my mind would race, imagining different possible outcomes, or completely different approaches to the same premise. Truly a young writer's awakening moment.

40-some years later I began reading "Night and the City," but mislaid it during a chaotic move. Harlan Ellison stated in his introduction that Kersh was his all-time favorite author, and I said, well, there ya go.

So I prowled Alibris and every site I could find until I hit paydirt, paying $23 on eBay for another copy of "Bones." It sat untouched on my shelf for fully six months before I dared to crack it open...would it still posess that deep dark magic that captivated me 43 years earlier?

Yes. Yes indeed.

Kersh was a master, right up there in that pantheon that includes Collier, Dahl, Finney, Matheson, Beaumont...

[Rachel]

I've just read 'Men Without Bones' and it was creepy as heck with that surprise twist at the end, so I'm really interested in reading more from this author.

[Debra]

Stephen King recommended book. Noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable. Every story is different, ranging a variety of genres, including science fiction, crime, historical fiction, humour. Gerald Kersh is a writer of great, and weird imagination.

My favourite story was Buried Treasure.

[CQM · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short and very short stories from Gerald Kersh. The title story is Kersh at his fantastical best but after that there are both hits and misses.
Among the hits are Buried Treasure, Carnival on the Downs, The End of a Wise Guy and Elizabeth and Temptation. The Misses include The Fabulous Fido, The Hack and the Sympathetic Souse.
As always there are twists and turns and surprise endings but a few of the surprise endings here were telegraphed.
We get little appearances from plenty of well known names, Shakespeare, Stradivari, Leonardo da Vinci, Ben Jonson, Good King Wenceslas and the murderer Alfred Arthur Rouse.
All in all it's not going to turn you in to a Kersh fan but if you already are one it'll keep you ticking over nicely.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how Gerald Kersh ended on my TBR list but as my library service had a copy of this book in its reserves (I thank the God every time the habit the library services used to have, in the UK at least, of retaining no longer popular, but important books with the result that there is an amazingly eclectic selection of books in reserve store just in case odd readers like me might want them one day). I don't regret borrowing the book or the time spent reading it (well most of it) but I can't seriously recommend it. Kersh is a good writer, but not a great one. His short fiction follows the 'Twilight Zone' school of story writing where in the final paragraph there is a 'twist' of the 'we are the monsters' type. This is not bad storytelling it is just rather dated. The stories all seem like those old Hammer horror film versions of Victorian London - there is something completely fake but rather endearing about them.

I should explain why I call Kersh's stories dated yet so often, in other reviews, sing the praises of writers like Somerset Maugham whose stories while being equally 'dated' in details remain well worth reading. That is the difference between good and great writing. You don't read Stendahl, Balzac, Flaubert, Tolstoy, Mann, Chekov or Maugham Sr. because you expect their work to have mobile phones, Tik Tok and grinder. They deal with the human condition and what they have to say about Life, Love, Money, Ambition, Greed and Human Frailty and Foibles (I should have included Maupassant on my list) remain both relevant and true (and my capitalisation of the themes listed was deliberate).

Kersh is a good writer and there is no reason not to read him unless like me you own so many better books waiting to be read.

[Joseph]

Cool for the title alone, but read the book. A lot of fun and skewed in the way that Palahniuk is skewed.

[Angelo IG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Αρκετά ενδιαφέρουσα συλλογή. Το ομότιτλο διήγημα είναι μακράν το πιο δυνατό κομμάτι της: μια ιστορία που ξεκινά σαν ταξιδιωτική αφήγηση και καταλήγει σε κάτι πολύ πιο σκοτεινό και υπαρξιακό. Δεν με κέρδισε τόσο η πλοκή όσο η αίσθηση αποξένωσης, ο τρόπος που ο πρωταγωνιστής χάνει σταδιακά τον εαυτό του, την "πολιτισμένη" ταυτότητά του, μέχρι και το δικαίωμα να θεωρεί τη Γη σπίτι του. Η ανατροπή στο τέλος είναι πραγματικά δυνατή. Ίσως λίγο αναμενόμενη, αλλά και πάλι μου άρεσε.

Από τα υπόλοιπα διηγήματα ξεχώρισα τα The Hack, The White-washed Room, The Violin Maker και The Dancing Doll. Ο Κερς έχει μια ιδιαίτερη ικανότητα να γράφει για την ανθρώπινη παραμόρφωση, ψυχική ή σωματική, με τρόπο που μένει στο μυαλό. Δεν είναι τυχαίο ότι ήταν ένας από τους αγαπημένους συγγραφείς του Χάρλαν Έλλισον.

Συνολικά όμως η συλλογή είναι κάπως άνιση. Κάποια διηγήματα τα βρήκα εξαιρετικά, άλλα πιο αδύναμα ή βιαστικά γραμμένα. Παρ’ όλα αυτά, ακόμη κι αν δεν είναι ακριβώς στο γούστο μου, νομίζω ότι αξίζει να διαβαστεί.

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of eccentric stories; a peppering of some brilliant turns-of-phrases add some spice to an otherwise bland purée of pastiche and pulp. Eponymous story is worth the price of admission, provided the ticket was bought at matinee discount.

[Gürkan Metin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Kemiksizler" Gerald Kersh sesli öykü: Akın ALTAN

[Harvey Dias · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read, especially "Clock Without Hands" and "The Dancing Doll". The latter features Leonardo de Vinci as a character as does one other tale.

[Bill FromPA · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book contains a variety of story types, but none of them are really first rate. The stories involving famous historical or Biblical figures almost seem more like sketches, being neither elaborate (except for The Oxoxoco Bottle) or ironic (except for The Epistle of Simon) enough to stand as well-rounded stories.

Men Without Bones - horror / SF reminiscent of Jack London's The Red One but different enough to sustain interest
The Shady Life of Annibal - parents raise an imaginary son & real daughter
The Ape and the Mystery - Leonardo I
The Oxoxoco Bottle - horror / fantasy on the last days of Ambrose Bierce
Thicker than Water - murder story with ironic twist
The Madwoman - An Elizabethan actor (guess who?)
The Terrible Ride of Colonel Tessier - the most engaging of the stories; like a lost Brigadier Gerard tale
The Dancing Doll - Leonardo II
The Hack - Shakespeare II
Ladies or Clothes - Potiphar's widow remembers
In a Room Without Walls - heaven and hell in one embrace
Clock Without Hands - the longest story in the book - a somewhat twisty tale of murder, but one that barely sustains interest during its many digressions
The Epistle of Simon - Christ avoids associating with Christians

[N N · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories of Gerald Kersh are as good as short stories can get while still remaining mostly forgettable (and writers who could be brief and unforgettable can be counted on the fingers of the proverbial one maimed hand). All the stories are garrulous, colourful dialogues or monologues; the technique is diverting but a bit vulgar; no doubt this carnival effect faithfully reflects the author's personality. Kersh has a special fondness for new spins on historical and mythological subjects: the smile of Mona Lisa, the battle of Waterloo, Shakespeare, the Crucifixion, the disappearance of Ambrose Bierce, Potiphar's wife, etc. Particularly amusing are a couple of stories (part of a cycle?) about Leonardo and 'the young duke' Lorenzo, with the two constantly talking at cross purposes, Leonardo's eye always cocked at eternity and Lorenzo unerringly dragging him down to the trivial.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Men Without Bones is a collection of short stories that mostly fall into the genres of horror or alternate history. A majority of the tales are a bit slow and/or just not terribly interesting that tend to end with an anticlimactic “a-ha!” moment where the storyteller is revealed to be of notable historical fame. The gimmick was interesting the first time, but the technique quickly wore thin.

If you do happen to pick up this collection of stories, my recommendation would be to read the title track and skim through until another story catches your attention.

[Mitch Duckworth]

Make it 3.5 stars.

One of Harlan Ellison's favorite writers, Kersh could conceivably occupy a genre of his own. His 1968 Nightshade & Damnation-11 Stories of the Weird, the Unspeakable, the Bizarre is one of my all-time favorites. He was brilliant. Dazzling!

For me, Men Without Bones falls far short of that high water mark, but at their best, the stories in this anthology shine the light on a master at work in the unique Kersh-ian universe open to a rare few.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories. I read the first two, including the title story which I really enjoyed. The second one was more fantasy, and okay enough. This isn't really my cuppa, so I can't make a thumbs up or down on it.

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

As part of an expedition, the main character recounts how he is the sole survivor coming back from the "bad area". A technological marvel is found and he deduces from that marvel that the gelatinous humanoids are men while the people are actually from Mars.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked most of the short stories in this book, especially the book's namesake, "Men Without Bones". Several of the stories were rather slow and boring. Overall, though, it was a good book.