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The Best of R. A. Lafferty
Edited and collated by Jonathan Strahan, with a volume introduction by Neil Gaiman, THE BEST OF R.A. LAFFERTY is the authoritative collection of short fiction by R.A. Lafferty.
Acclaimed as one of the most original voices in modern literature, Raphael Aloysius Lafferty has been awarded and nominated for a multitude of accolades over the span of his career, including the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
This collection contains 22 unique tall tales, including:
1. Slow Tuesday Night (Introduction by Michael Dirda)
2. Narrow Valley (Introduction by Michael Swanwick)
3. Nor Limestone Islands (Introduction by Michael Bishop)
4. Interurban Queen (Introduction by Terry Bisson)
5. Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne (Introduction by Jack Dann)
6. In Our Block (Introduction by Neil Gaiman)
7. Ride a Tin Can (Introduction by Neil Gaiman)
8. Nine Hundred Grandmothers (Introduction by Patton Oswalt/Afterword by Andy Duncan)
9. Land of the Great Horses (Introduction by Harlan Ellison/Afterword by Gregory Frost)
10. Eurema's Dam (Introduction by Robert Silverberg)
11. Selenium Ghosts of the Eighteen Seventies (Introduction by Kelly Robson)
12. The Primary Education of the Camiroi (Introduction by Samuel R. Delany)
13. Continued on Next Rock (Introduction by Nancy Kress/Afterword by R.A. Lafferty)
14. Sky (Introduction by Gwenda Bond)
15. Cliffs That Laughed (Introduction by Gregory Feeley)
16. Seven-Day Terror (Introduction by Connie Willis)
17. Boomer Flats (Introduction by Cat Rambo)
18. Old Foot Forgot (Introduction by John Scalzi)
19. The World as Will and Wallpaper (Introduction by Samuel R. Delany)
20. Funnyfingers (Introduction by Andrew Ferguson)
21. Thieving Bear Planet (Introduction by Jeff VanderMeer)
22. Days of Grass, Days of Straw (Introduction by Gary K. Wolfe)
Acclaimed as one of the most original voices in modern literature, Raphael Aloysius Lafferty has been awarded and nominated for a multitude of accolades over the span of his career, including the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
This collection contains 22 unique tall tales, including:
1. Slow Tuesday Night (Introduction by Michael Dirda)
2. Narrow Valley (Introduction by Michael Swanwick)
3. Nor Limestone Islands (Introduction by Michael Bishop)
4. Interurban Queen (Introduction by Terry Bisson)
5. Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne (Introduction by Jack Dann)
6. In Our Block (Introduction by Neil Gaiman)
7. Ride a Tin Can (Introduction by Neil Gaiman)
8. Nine Hundred Grandmothers (Introduction by Patton Oswalt/Afterword by Andy Duncan)
9. Land of the Great Horses (Introduction by Harlan Ellison/Afterword by Gregory Frost)
10. Eurema's Dam (Introduction by Robert Silverberg)
11. Selenium Ghosts of the Eighteen Seventies (Introduction by Kelly Robson)
12. The Primary Education of the Camiroi (Introduction by Samuel R. Delany)
13. Continued on Next Rock (Introduction by Nancy Kress/Afterword by R.A. Lafferty)
14. Sky (Introduction by Gwenda Bond)
15. Cliffs That Laughed (Introduction by Gregory Feeley)
16. Seven-Day Terror (Introduction by Connie Willis)
17. Boomer Flats (Introduction by Cat Rambo)
18. Old Foot Forgot (Introduction by John Scalzi)
19. The World as Will and Wallpaper (Introduction by Samuel R. Delany)
20. Funnyfingers (Introduction by Andrew Ferguson)
21. Thieving Bear Planet (Introduction by Jeff VanderMeer)
22. Days of Grass, Days of Straw (Introduction by Gary K. Wolfe)
320 pages, Hardcover
First published April 4, 2019
192 people are currently reading
1358 people want to read
About the author
R.A. Lafferty
541 books309 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 - 30 of 104 reviews
July 22, 2022
Lafferty’s stories are cosmic bumper car rides. Absurdity, erudition, philosophy, nonsense, wit and hilarity collide and bounce off each other to produce an uneasy sense of unreality that feels truer than everything else. These stories twist your mind, tickle your funny bone, and flutter your guts. After reading, your view of the world will be forever askew. To steal a phrase from Lafferty, these stories count coup on God.
September 16, 2022
This man was unique. His stories are quite varied and rarely resemble much of anything else. I enjoy the lighter stories which feel like "tall tales". I can appreciate some of the more heavy ones, but don't fully enjoy them.
He was admired by many other writers, because he plays with structure in so many ways. Each story here has an introduction from a writer who admired him. Careful, though: the introductions often give away important parts of the stories, so read them afterwords.
I think my favorite must be "Thieving Bear Planet". It is about a planet where there are some "bears" like flying squirrels made of about 90% fluff that can steal anything, including the food in your stomach, the alcohol in your blood, and the ideas in your brain.
I'm told some of his stories relate to Catholic theology. I didn't notice. Of course, a story could have a talking snake encouraging a couple to eat a fruit basket and I would probably not notice the symbolism, so your mileage may vary.
He was admired by many other writers, because he plays with structure in so many ways. Each story here has an introduction from a writer who admired him. Careful, though: the introductions often give away important parts of the stories, so read them afterwords.
I think my favorite must be "Thieving Bear Planet". It is about a planet where there are some "bears" like flying squirrels made of about 90% fluff that can steal anything, including the food in your stomach, the alcohol in your blood, and the ideas in your brain.
I'm told some of his stories relate to Catholic theology. I didn't notice. Of course, a story could have a talking snake encouraging a couple to eat a fruit basket and I would probably not notice the symbolism, so your mileage may vary.
May 17, 2024
This is a collection of short stories by R.A. Lafferty, who in the SFF community is often considered “an authors’ author”. The collection idea is to have each story with a preface by a different SFF author (plus for a few, an afterword), where they speak about why they think this particular story is great. Some of the prefaces contain slight spoilers, so I guess for the purity of your experience, it should be read after, not before.
Contents:
1. Slow Tuesday Night Introduction by Michael Dirda about people living in a mad race, so that say some manage to get rich and broke, marry and divorce a few times before midnight. 4*
2. Narrow Valley Introduction by Michael Swanwick a valley that is both narrow and wide, depending on where you enter is, a version of an American tall tale. 4*
3. Nor Limestone Islands Introduction by Michael Bishop floating islands in our history. 3*
4. Interurban Queen Introduction by Terry Bisson alt-history, with a different invention at the end of 19th century… 4*
5. Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne Introduction by Jack Dann to test a time machine a group tries to change the past, but it is their past… 5*
6. In Our Block Introduction by Neil Gaiman a weird block with strange people, like a seller, who sells 45-feet iron tubes from a 5-feet shack of his. 4*
The rest of the stories are also great but it is just hard to describe them w/o spoilers
7. Ride a Tin Can Introduction by Neil Gaiman
8. Nine Hundred Grandmothers Introduction by Patton Oswalt/Afterword by Andy Duncan
9. Land of the Great Horses Introduction by Harlan Ellison/Afterword by Gregory Frost
10. Eurema's Dam Introduction by Robert Silverberg
11. Selenium Ghosts of the Eighteen Seventies Introduction by Kelly Robson
12. The Primary Education of the Camiroi Introduction by Samuel R. Delany
13. Continued on Next Rock Introduction by Nancy Kress/Afterword by R.A. Lafferty
14. Sky Introduction by Gwenda Bond
15. Cliffs That Laughed Introduction by Gregory Feeley
16. Seven-Day Terror Introduction by Connie Willis
17. Boomer Flats Introduction by Cat Rambo
18. Old Foot Forgot Introduction by John Scalzi
19. The World as Will and Wallpaper Introduction by Samuel R. Delany
20. Funnyfingers Introduction by Andrew Ferguson
21. Thieving Bear Planet Introduction by Jeff VanderMeer
22. Days of Grass, Days of Straw Introduction by Gary K. Wolfe
Contents:
1. Slow Tuesday Night Introduction by Michael Dirda about people living in a mad race, so that say some manage to get rich and broke, marry and divorce a few times before midnight. 4*
2. Narrow Valley Introduction by Michael Swanwick a valley that is both narrow and wide, depending on where you enter is, a version of an American tall tale. 4*
3. Nor Limestone Islands Introduction by Michael Bishop floating islands in our history. 3*
4. Interurban Queen Introduction by Terry Bisson alt-history, with a different invention at the end of 19th century… 4*
5. Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne Introduction by Jack Dann to test a time machine a group tries to change the past, but it is their past… 5*
6. In Our Block Introduction by Neil Gaiman a weird block with strange people, like a seller, who sells 45-feet iron tubes from a 5-feet shack of his. 4*
The rest of the stories are also great but it is just hard to describe them w/o spoilers
7. Ride a Tin Can Introduction by Neil Gaiman
8. Nine Hundred Grandmothers Introduction by Patton Oswalt/Afterword by Andy Duncan
9. Land of the Great Horses Introduction by Harlan Ellison/Afterword by Gregory Frost
10. Eurema's Dam Introduction by Robert Silverberg
11. Selenium Ghosts of the Eighteen Seventies Introduction by Kelly Robson
12. The Primary Education of the Camiroi Introduction by Samuel R. Delany
13. Continued on Next Rock Introduction by Nancy Kress/Afterword by R.A. Lafferty
14. Sky Introduction by Gwenda Bond
15. Cliffs That Laughed Introduction by Gregory Feeley
16. Seven-Day Terror Introduction by Connie Willis
17. Boomer Flats Introduction by Cat Rambo
18. Old Foot Forgot Introduction by John Scalzi
19. The World as Will and Wallpaper Introduction by Samuel R. Delany
20. Funnyfingers Introduction by Andrew Ferguson
21. Thieving Bear Planet Introduction by Jeff VanderMeer
22. Days of Grass, Days of Straw Introduction by Gary K. Wolfe
October 2, 2021
Dawno nie czytałam niczego tak ekscytującego literacko.
May 18, 2019
I gave special consideration in evaluating this collection, because there were, along with several stories I recognized from other collections, other stories that I’d not read, a few of them especially good. Another aspect of this collection that made it different from others is that a multitude of writers contributed, each writing an introduction to one or two of the stories selected for the volume by editor Jonathan Strahan.
After Neil Gaiman’s very good introduction to the entire volume—which recounted his discovery of the sui generis author RA Lafferty when he was a youngster and then the surprise and satisfaction of having been able to maintain an extended correspondence with that reclusive author—I hoped for but found that other writers did not have much more to say about Lafferty himself nor about the peculiarity of his voice and vision. …And with good reason: much as with the elephant and the blind men, Lafferty remains a literary chimera, a man of many peculiar parts that seemingly refuse to cohere.
While style, subject, voice, and narrative “strategy” are all up for grabs in a Lafferty story, there is most often a comic distortion of perception, often played for shaggy-dog understatement and deadpan wonder. His narratives are typically lively, and he renders his settings quickly, often using mock Homeric epithets to dab in the traits of his characters. There is often a huckster’s diction and bombast in his character’s speech, exaggerated talk that suggests there’s an underlying scheme afoot.
This collection featured three of my favorites—“Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne”, “Seven Day Terror”, and “In Our Block”—and it introduced me to two stories that may in time find a place in my irresolute pantheon of 10-best Lafferties: “Sky” and “Days of Grass, Days of Straw”, the former a parable about addiction and the second an illustration of how overlapping realities might interpose on one another to make of any moment a “fuller” moment.
It’s easy to gulp down these stories in swift bursts, two and three at a time, and one could easily assume that it would diminish their impact, but I’ve found with Lafferty that the stories will linger and the memories invite re-reading. I offer as proof my own recollections of the unexpected smile-inducing delight I experienced when I gulped down his collections Nine Hundred Grandmothers and Strange Doings almost 50 years ago. Engorge and enjoy, then re-read at leisure.
After Neil Gaiman’s very good introduction to the entire volume—which recounted his discovery of the sui generis author RA Lafferty when he was a youngster and then the surprise and satisfaction of having been able to maintain an extended correspondence with that reclusive author—I hoped for but found that other writers did not have much more to say about Lafferty himself nor about the peculiarity of his voice and vision. …And with good reason: much as with the elephant and the blind men, Lafferty remains a literary chimera, a man of many peculiar parts that seemingly refuse to cohere.
While style, subject, voice, and narrative “strategy” are all up for grabs in a Lafferty story, there is most often a comic distortion of perception, often played for shaggy-dog understatement and deadpan wonder. His narratives are typically lively, and he renders his settings quickly, often using mock Homeric epithets to dab in the traits of his characters. There is often a huckster’s diction and bombast in his character’s speech, exaggerated talk that suggests there’s an underlying scheme afoot.
This collection featured three of my favorites—“Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne”, “Seven Day Terror”, and “In Our Block”—and it introduced me to two stories that may in time find a place in my irresolute pantheon of 10-best Lafferties: “Sky” and “Days of Grass, Days of Straw”, the former a parable about addiction and the second an illustration of how overlapping realities might interpose on one another to make of any moment a “fuller” moment.
It’s easy to gulp down these stories in swift bursts, two and three at a time, and one could easily assume that it would diminish their impact, but I’ve found with Lafferty that the stories will linger and the memories invite re-reading. I offer as proof my own recollections of the unexpected smile-inducing delight I experienced when I gulped down his collections Nine Hundred Grandmothers and Strange Doings almost 50 years ago. Engorge and enjoy, then re-read at leisure.
November 23, 2021
In Lafferty's stories, strange objects of incomprehensible purpose act in an outlandish way, not even to say "how you don't expect from them", because you don't expect from them at all, And everything works quite well for him. And no, don't try to remember the author. It has never been published in Russian at all before, thanks to ABC, which gave us this collection. He is little remembered at home, in America. That is, on the contrary, they remember him well in the English-speaking world, but not the general reading public, but science fiction writers, many of whom speak of him as a teacher and inspiration. It is no coincidence that Raphael Aloysius Lafferty is called a writer for writers.
So in this collection, each story is provided with a brief preface, in which the stars of modern fantasy fiction confess their love for his work. And what are all the names: Neil Gaiman and Harlan Ellison, Michael Swanwick and Gene Wolf, Philip K. Dick and Roger Zelazny. Actually, thanks to these brief eulogies, I found out about him. The main fiction critic of Russia praised the collection on Facebook, but was annoyed that almost every grateful reader-admirer considers it his duty to retell the novel that you have to read and what the hell the hell! Who let them?
What can I say here: firstly, who will forbid them, they are already bronze, and secondly, well, put yourself in the place of an admiring reader, who once discovered unimaginable heights and depths that may have determined the vector of his own creativity. But there was no one to share the delight with, because the literature that gave such an impulse is blatantly non-commercial, not for the mass reader. Yes, it happens, and more often than people think. A person brings into the world a heap of remarkably bright and interesting ideas, which immediately form the basis of trends and are pulled apart into quotes, adapting to the mass perception of other people. Normally, there are innovators, there are popularizers.
Нелепо, смешно, безрассудно, безумно, волшебно
- Мне нужно срочно позвонить
- Возьмите игральные кости. Разложите там, на короткой траве, в том порядке, какой вам нужен. Это необычные кости, они кривые. На них есть числа и больше шести, и меньше одного.
- Вы уверены, что так можно дозвониться?
- Конечно не уверена, - ответила леди. - Но если ты, дружок, знаешь способ получше, делай по-своему.
Лафферти весь такой. В его рассказах странные предметы непонятного назначения действуют диковинным образом, не сказать даже "как от них не ждешь", потому что от них вообще никак не ждешь А у него все вполне себе работает. И нет, не пытайтесь вспомнить автора. На русском он прежде не издавался вовсе, спасибо "Азбуке", подарившей нам этот сборник. Его и на родине, в Америке мало помнят. То есть, наоборот, помнят в англоязычном мире хорошо, но не широкая читающая публика, а писатели фантасты, многие из которых говорят о нем, как об учителе и вдохновителе. Неслучайно Рафаэля Алоизиуса Лафферти называют писателем для писателей.
Вот и в этом сборнике каждый рассказ снабжен кратким предисловием, в котором звезды современной фантастики-фэнтези признаются в любви к его творчеству. И какие все имена: Нил Гейман и Харлан Эллисон, Майкл Суэнвик и Джин Вулф, Филип К.Дик и Роджер Желязны. Собственно, благодаря этим кратким панегирикам я о нем и узнала. Главный фантастический критик России у себя в Фейсбуке хвалил сборник, но досадовал на то, что почти каждый из благодарных читателей-почитателей считает своим долгом пересказать новеллу, которую тебе предстоит прочесть и какого, блин, черта! Кто им позволил?
Что тут можно сказать: во-первых, кто ж им запретит, они же уже бронзовые, а во-вторых, ну поставьте себя на место восхищенного читателя, которому когда-то открылись немыслимые высоты и глубины, возможно определившие вектор его собственного творчества. Но поделиться восторгом было не с кем, потому что та литература, которая дала такой импульс, вопиюще некоммерческая, не для массового читателя. Да, бывает такое, и чаще, чем принято думать. Человек приносит в мир ворох замечательно ярких интересных идей, которые тотчас ложатся в основу трендов и растаскиваются на цитаты, адаптируясь к массовому восприятию другими людьми. Нормально, есть новаторы, есть популяризаторы.
Соединяя мотивы ирландского фольклора с эпосами коренных американцев, автор создает удивительный синтез, так мог бы выглядеть сплав Флэнна O'Брайена с Шерманом Алекси. Сквозной мотив его рассказов взаимодействие человечества с иной расой, но никакой прямолинейности, никогда не прямое столкновение, даже в случае с малютками Шилни, которых предприимчивые человеческие дельцы пустят на консервы ("Прокати��ь в консервной банке").
Чаще всего другие поразительно некрасивы по человеческим меркам, но уродство их не отталкивающее, а скорее обаятельное, изначально не агрессивны, хотя владеют умением так изменять физические свойства материи, времени, пространства, что могли бы щелчком пальцев уничтожить человеческую цивилизацию. Смотрят на нас, как терпеливый взрослый на выходки злого избалованного ребенка. Знают что-то, что позволяет им смеяться в ответ на прямую угрозу уничтожения.
Гоблинчики-шелни совсем не похожи на смуглых и золотоглазых марсиан Брэдбери, и страхолюдинка фольклорист Холли ведет себя диаметрально противоположно Спендеру из "Не бродть уж нам ночиами", но немалое сходство в готовности разделить судьбу чужой расы - таки есть. Сжатые пространства "Узкой долины" не вполне "Необъятный двор" Саймака, но прием, равно как опыт взаимодействия с тамошними сурками, вполне узнаваем. И Radiance Кэтрин Валенте вполне возможно выросло из "Лунных призраков 1870-х".
Чудесные, часто забавные, иногда трогательные, порой трагичные истории без которых ваше знание о мире фантастики и фэнтези уже не будет полным.
Видишь, какая я хитренькая: о чем ты ни спросить, у меня уже ответ готов.
So in this collection, each story is provided with a brief preface, in which the stars of modern fantasy fiction confess their love for his work. And what are all the names: Neil Gaiman and Harlan Ellison, Michael Swanwick and Gene Wolf, Philip K. Dick and Roger Zelazny. Actually, thanks to these brief eulogies, I found out about him. The main fiction critic of Russia praised the collection on Facebook, but was annoyed that almost every grateful reader-admirer considers it his duty to retell the novel that you have to read and what the hell the hell! Who let them?
What can I say here: firstly, who will forbid them, they are already bronze, and secondly, well, put yourself in the place of an admiring reader, who once discovered unimaginable heights and depths that may have determined the vector of his own creativity. But there was no one to share the delight with, because the literature that gave such an impulse is blatantly non-commercial, not for the mass reader. Yes, it happens, and more often than people think. A person brings into the world a heap of remarkably bright and interesting ideas, which immediately form the basis of trends and are pulled apart into quotes, adapting to the mass perception of other people. Normally, there are innovators, there are popularizers.
Нелепо, смешно, безрассудно, безумно, волшебно
- Мне нужно срочно позвонить
- Возьмите игральные кости. Разложите там, на короткой траве, в том порядке, какой вам нужен. Это необычные кости, они кривые. На них есть числа и больше шести, и меньше одного.
- Вы уверены, что так можно дозвониться?
- Конечно не уверена, - ответила леди. - Но если ты, дружок, знаешь способ получше, делай по-своему.
Лафферти весь такой. В его рассказах странные предметы непонятного назначения действуют диковинным образом, не сказать даже "как от них не ждешь", потому что от них вообще никак не ждешь А у него все вполне себе работает. И нет, не пытайтесь вспомнить автора. На русском он прежде не издавался вовсе, спасибо "Азбуке", подарившей нам этот сборник. Его и на родине, в Америке мало помнят. То есть, наоборот, помнят в англоязычном мире хорошо, но не широкая читающая публика, а писатели фантасты, многие из которых говорят о нем, как об учителе и вдохновителе. Неслучайно Рафаэля Алоизиуса Лафферти называют писателем для писателей.
Вот и в этом сборнике каждый рассказ снабжен кратким предисловием, в котором звезды современной фантастики-фэнтези признаются в любви к его творчеству. И какие все имена: Нил Гейман и Харлан Эллисон, Майкл Суэнвик и Джин Вулф, Филип К.Дик и Роджер Желязны. Собственно, благодаря этим кратким панегирикам я о нем и узнала. Главный фантастический критик России у себя в Фейсбуке хвалил сборник, но досадовал на то, что почти каждый из благодарных читателей-почитателей считает своим долгом пересказать новеллу, которую тебе предстоит прочесть и какого, блин, черта! Кто им позволил?
Что тут можно сказать: во-первых, кто ж им запретит, они же уже бронзовые, а во-вторых, ну поставьте себя на место восхищенного читателя, которому когда-то открылись немыслимые высоты и глубины, возможно определившие вектор его собственного творчества. Но поделиться восторгом было не с кем, потому что та литература, которая дала такой импульс, вопиюще некоммерческая, не для массового читателя. Да, бывает такое, и чаще, чем принято думать. Человек приносит в мир ворох замечательно ярких интересных идей, которые тотчас ложатся в основу трендов и растаскиваются на цитаты, адаптируясь к массовому восприятию другими людьми. Нормально, есть новаторы, есть популяризаторы.
Соединяя мотивы ирландского фольклора с эпосами коренных американцев, автор создает удивительный синтез, так мог бы выглядеть сплав Флэнна O'Брайена с Шерманом Алекси. Сквозной мотив его рассказов взаимодействие человечества с иной расой, но никакой прямолинейности, никогда не прямое столкновение, даже в случае с малютками Шилни, которых предприимчивые человеческие дельцы пустят на консервы ("Прокати��ь в консервной банке").
Чаще всего другие поразительно некрасивы по человеческим меркам, но уродство их не отталкивающее, а скорее обаятельное, изначально не агрессивны, хотя владеют умением так изменять физические свойства материи, времени, пространства, что могли бы щелчком пальцев уничтожить человеческую цивилизацию. Смотрят на нас, как терпеливый взрослый на выходки злого избалованного ребенка. Знают что-то, что позволяет им смеяться в ответ на прямую угрозу уничтожения.
Гоблинчики-шелни совсем не похожи на смуглых и золотоглазых марсиан Брэдбери, и страхолюдинка фольклорист Холли ведет себя диаметрально противоположно Спендеру из "Не бродть уж нам ночиами", но немалое сходство в готовности разделить судьбу чужой расы - таки есть. Сжатые пространства "Узкой долины" не вполне "Необъятный двор" Саймака, но прием, равно как опыт взаимодействия с тамошними сурками, вполне узнаваем. И Radiance Кэтрин Валенте вполне возможно выросло из "Лунных призраков 1870-х".
Чудесные, часто забавные, иногда трогательные, порой трагичные истории без которых ваше знание о мире фантастики и фэнтези уже не будет полным.
Видишь, какая я хитренькая: о чем ты ни спросить, у меня уже ответ готов.
February 29, 2024
FINISHED FINALLY!!!!!
I have been "currently reading" this book for well over a year---started reading a paper copy that I got for my father for Christmas 2022, then got it on Kindle after I wrapped it up.
I was sitting at 53% for most of 2023 and decided I have got to finish this book before I add another one.
So I settled in to reading some Lafferty in the morning and in the evening for the last couple of weeks.
Boy Howdy, there just isn't anything like it.
You really have to be willing to let go of all your preconceived notions of what storytelling is---he doesn't follow any of the rules. I can imagine the experience of trying to read these stories being absolutely maddening to someone who isn't willing to take the trust fall, to enter with total abandon and just let these weird worlds suck you in.
Often, you can go for paragraphs or pages in a total WTF?? fog, and then he'll drop a little hilarious fourth wall breaking aside, or a genius bit of philosophical wisdom that makes it all worthwhile. Inscrutable.
Reading Lafferty is like a good trip or an ultimately interesting fever dream. However confusing and weird things seem in the moment, I guarantee something will stick with you long after you've finished.
I have been "currently reading" this book for well over a year---started reading a paper copy that I got for my father for Christmas 2022, then got it on Kindle after I wrapped it up.
I was sitting at 53% for most of 2023 and decided I have got to finish this book before I add another one.
So I settled in to reading some Lafferty in the morning and in the evening for the last couple of weeks.
Boy Howdy, there just isn't anything like it.
You really have to be willing to let go of all your preconceived notions of what storytelling is---he doesn't follow any of the rules. I can imagine the experience of trying to read these stories being absolutely maddening to someone who isn't willing to take the trust fall, to enter with total abandon and just let these weird worlds suck you in.
Often, you can go for paragraphs or pages in a total WTF?? fog, and then he'll drop a little hilarious fourth wall breaking aside, or a genius bit of philosophical wisdom that makes it all worthwhile. Inscrutable.
Reading Lafferty is like a good trip or an ultimately interesting fever dream. However confusing and weird things seem in the moment, I guarantee something will stick with you long after you've finished.
August 14, 2020
Holy CHRIST, I am now a true believer. No mere mortal could have penned such glory, nay, the word "glory" is insufficient to describe what I have just read. My life had hitherto been a dull grey, but I had not known it until today, when, baptised in the divine light and wondrous colours, my eyes and heart and soul were opened fully, and I was saved.
6/5 Slow Tuesday Night
The collection of short stories starts off with this magnificently marvelous masterpiece of mayflylike mayhem, and already, I am left reeling. Is this just the author's one worthy work? Or is this actually a prelude to perfection? I am reminded of The Great Gatsby, but I hesitate to make such a comparison.
6/5 Narrow Valley
A preposterous premise and a potpourri of punchy one-liners gives this one its pep. This is what I wished the Douglas Adams' and Terry Pratchett's would be like.
4/5 Nor Limestone Islands
This starts off with a standout performance by the protagonist, but ends relatively tamer.
5/5 Interurban Queen
This is the opposite: a wholesome and decent start into an absolutely outrageous end.
5/5 Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne
I found this oft-quoted short story 5/5 at best. Now normally, 5/5 would be the peak of perfection, but not when you've already been spoiled by other gems of Lafferty's.
52/5 In Our Block
Oh GOD, my entire life has led up to this moment, and it can only go downhill from here.
Also, I have been asked to tell everybody that there's a smoothie public stenographer here who types letters good. And I absolutely adore her and everyone else in this story. ❤️
5/5 Ride a Tin Can
This is a stomach-churning story, and as I was reading it, "It's Doc Gerbil's World" kept playing in my head.
5/5 Nine Hundred Grandmothers
A delightful shaggy dog story.
3/5 Land of the Great Horses
Another oft-quoted short story, but I found this one middling, and not just by Lafferty's standards.
5/5 Eurema's Dam
Yes! We are back in the business of being brilliant, baby!
Also, should I feel concerned that I empathise with the protagonist?
2/5 Selenium Ghosts of the Eighteen Seventies
Eh, maybe not yet.
4/5 The Primary Education of the Camiroi
I like the premise, but not so much the delivery for this one.
13/5 Continued on Next Rock
❤️!
I own the land, as far as can be
I own the skies, and I own the seas
Since eons long distant, for eternity
But none of them matter, if you aren't with me
(Continued in next short story...)
6/5 Sky
You are the sun that scorches the sky
You are the sparks that dance in my eyes
You are the wind that soars through the sky
You are the wings that make my heart fly
You are my drug and you are my high
6/5 Cliffs That Laughed
4/5 Seven-Day Terror
Again, I like the premise, but not so much the delivery for this one.
4/5 Boomer Flats
This is a heartwarming story, but it starts off really slowly.
6/5 Old Foot Forgot
This is a haunting story about the destruction of self, with a (heh) happy ending.
5/5 The World as Will and Wallpaper
This is another stomach-churning story.
5/5 Funnyfingers
This is a heartwrenching story through and through.
4/5 Thieving Bear Planet
This is... I don't even know what this is.
5/5 Days of Grass, Days of Straw
You are the earth, firm under my feet
I am the grasses and I am the weeds
You are the lightning that makes my heart beat
For you I hunger, with you I'm replete
I forgot to tell you that Cliffs That Laughed is a hilarious story.
6/5 Slow Tuesday Night
The collection of short stories starts off with this magnificently marvelous masterpiece of mayflylike mayhem, and already, I am left reeling. Is this just the author's one worthy work? Or is this actually a prelude to perfection? I am reminded of The Great Gatsby, but I hesitate to make such a comparison.
6/5 Narrow Valley
A preposterous premise and a potpourri of punchy one-liners gives this one its pep. This is what I wished the Douglas Adams' and Terry Pratchett's would be like.
4/5 Nor Limestone Islands
This starts off with a standout performance by the protagonist, but ends relatively tamer.
5/5 Interurban Queen
This is the opposite: a wholesome and decent start into an absolutely outrageous end.
5/5 Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne
I found this oft-quoted short story 5/5 at best. Now normally, 5/5 would be the peak of perfection, but not when you've already been spoiled by other gems of Lafferty's.
52/5 In Our Block
Oh GOD, my entire life has led up to this moment, and it can only go downhill from here.
Also, I have been asked to tell everybody that there's a smoothie public stenographer here who types letters good. And I absolutely adore her and everyone else in this story. ❤️
5/5 Ride a Tin Can
This is a stomach-churning story, and as I was reading it, "It's Doc Gerbil's World" kept playing in my head.
5/5 Nine Hundred Grandmothers
A delightful shaggy dog story.
3/5 Land of the Great Horses
Another oft-quoted short story, but I found this one middling, and not just by Lafferty's standards.
5/5 Eurema's Dam
Yes! We are back in the business of being brilliant, baby!
Also, should I feel concerned that I empathise with the protagonist?
2/5 Selenium Ghosts of the Eighteen Seventies
Eh, maybe not yet.
4/5 The Primary Education of the Camiroi
I like the premise, but not so much the delivery for this one.
13/5 Continued on Next Rock
❤️!
I own the land, as far as can be
I own the skies, and I own the seas
Since eons long distant, for eternity
But none of them matter, if you aren't with me
(Continued in next short story...)
6/5 Sky
You are the sun that scorches the sky
You are the sparks that dance in my eyes
You are the wind that soars through the sky
You are the wings that make my heart fly
You are my drug and you are my high
6/5 Cliffs That Laughed
4/5 Seven-Day Terror
Again, I like the premise, but not so much the delivery for this one.
4/5 Boomer Flats
This is a heartwarming story, but it starts off really slowly.
6/5 Old Foot Forgot
This is a haunting story about the destruction of self, with a (heh) happy ending.
5/5 The World as Will and Wallpaper
This is another stomach-churning story.
5/5 Funnyfingers
This is a heartwrenching story through and through.
4/5 Thieving Bear Planet
This is... I don't even know what this is.
5/5 Days of Grass, Days of Straw
You are the earth, firm under my feet
I am the grasses and I am the weeds
You are the lightning that makes my heart beat
For you I hunger, with you I'm replete
I forgot to tell you that Cliffs That Laughed is a hilarious story.
March 5, 2021
This book is amazing! Now let me explain why I rated it with 1 star.
The introductions should all have been afterwords. This is very likely going to be the book to introduce newcomers to Lafferty's writing and as such what a terrible idea to include an intro to all of the stories, most of which have MAJOR SPOILERS! There is one intro where the writer literally gives away the ending - and by that I mean in his intro are the last few lines of the story! What a boneheaded idea on the part of the editors of this collection. I got this as a gift for my brother to introduce him to a favorite author of mine and I'm going to have to explain that he should read each intro only after he's read the story first.
Also, 8 out of the 22 stories were already collected in Nine Hundred Grandmothers (the first ever Lafferty anthology which I read after discovering his work in Dangerous Visions - a story that is also reprinted here). There were very few stories new to me since I have devoured a few anthologies of Lafferty stories already. It kind of makes sense because this is supposed to be the Best Of, but I hoped there would be a few not already anthologized. No such luck.
I will say the stories are incredible and the book would have been worthy of 5 stars from me but maybe a low rating will alert prospective newbies to Lafferty to go straight to the stories themselves and only read intros after each one! Oh, and savor these stories! They're better if you take a little time to let each one sink in.
The introductions should all have been afterwords. This is very likely going to be the book to introduce newcomers to Lafferty's writing and as such what a terrible idea to include an intro to all of the stories, most of which have MAJOR SPOILERS! There is one intro where the writer literally gives away the ending - and by that I mean in his intro are the last few lines of the story! What a boneheaded idea on the part of the editors of this collection. I got this as a gift for my brother to introduce him to a favorite author of mine and I'm going to have to explain that he should read each intro only after he's read the story first.
Also, 8 out of the 22 stories were already collected in Nine Hundred Grandmothers (the first ever Lafferty anthology which I read after discovering his work in Dangerous Visions - a story that is also reprinted here). There were very few stories new to me since I have devoured a few anthologies of Lafferty stories already. It kind of makes sense because this is supposed to be the Best Of, but I hoped there would be a few not already anthologized. No such luck.
I will say the stories are incredible and the book would have been worthy of 5 stars from me but maybe a low rating will alert prospective newbies to Lafferty to go straight to the stories themselves and only read intros after each one! Oh, and savor these stories! They're better if you take a little time to let each one sink in.
July 29, 2019
R A Lafferty’s SF is at times poetic, mad, and a wild ride of ideas, and often all three at once. You think you are following one particularly intriguing idea to its conclusion when suddenly you find yourself thinking WTF is he doing now. I must confess that I often find his novels too much for me as he has too many pages available for such mischief making but this short story collection was ideal - just enough sheer inventive madness without it frying my brain.
December 25, 2019
This collection (along with Nine Hundred Grandmothers) is a pretty good introduction to RA Lafferty for the uninitiated, and the introductions by Gaiman, Vandermeer and others are appreciated and make it a special for fans.
June 26, 2025
First impressions: a good friend has been recommending Lafferty for years, and I'm glad to have finally explored the scope of his work. I'll do a full ranked list later, but overall, this was a great time: Lafferty loved big ideas and creative use of language in a way that makes it clear how much fun he was having coming up with names of people and places, or just simple vocabulary turned around in new ways. It's only held back from five stars by a few stories that really didn't work for me and some occasionally odd or shallow writing on the female characters-- not bad by the standards of the 1960s-1970s when these were written, and there are several clever young girls who absolutely work, but some of the grown-women situations are uncomfortable or fall into lazier tropes. I'll try more of his work in the future (I hear good things about the Nine Hundred Grandmothers collection), though, and there's a lot to enjoy here. RTC.
December 26, 2021
R. A. Lafferty was always a unique voice in science fiction and fantasy -- it's often hard to pin down which sub-genre he fits in, because he is unique -- writing stories that make you feel differently about reality, myth, and time. This relatively new collection includes his most famous works (but oddly, not his Hugo winner), and reminds me of how wonderfully he could make me wonder. There are no other works like "Narrow Valley", "Nine Hundred Grandmothers", "Days of Grass, Days of Straw"; nothing that breaks my heart in quite the same way as "Funnyfingers", and little ever written as powerful to read (and re-read) as "Continued on the Next Rock".
Read them. Maybe don't try to puzzle them out as much as feel them, almost like a tone poem in music. Love them. Some of these stories will stay with you forever.
I read this new volume in part to remember conversations I had with Beverly over the years; she was deeply adoring of Lafferty's fiction. Reading these stories, sometimes again, sometimes for my first time, was like returning to those early discussions of our mutual love for science fiction done well.
Each of the stories is introduced by a now-more-famous SFF author, telling you why they love the story, and how Lafferty influenced their writing. Neil Gaiman writes the overall introduction as well as the introduction to "In Our Block". These are worth reading because they are good writers, and because they show the influence Lafferty had on science fiction. But they're not the reason to buy the book.
I will admit that one drawback to a "Best Of" collection by Lafferty is that I found it impossible to just sit and read story after story back-to-back. It's not that they are too much alike, for they are all different, and have only a few sort-of-might-have-been repeating characters. It's that each Lafferty story is such a unique experience that reading two back-to-back was too much like being tossed on waves out-of-plane with one another. I found it was better to read one, and then read something else, returning to the Lafferty when I once again had come to believe I understand reality. And be once again disabused of that notion. I've never before been so relieved by the standard disclaimer that these events are "products of the author's imagination".
I thank the Locus Foundation for putting these works back into print. It will have an honored spot on my shelf, and will give me an occasional reason to once again dip in and remember the joy of singing to my beloved that "You are the brightness of serpents. You are the passion of mesquite bushes on fire with lightning. You are the serenity of toads."
Read them. Maybe don't try to puzzle them out as much as feel them, almost like a tone poem in music. Love them. Some of these stories will stay with you forever.
I read this new volume in part to remember conversations I had with Beverly over the years; she was deeply adoring of Lafferty's fiction. Reading these stories, sometimes again, sometimes for my first time, was like returning to those early discussions of our mutual love for science fiction done well.
Each of the stories is introduced by a now-more-famous SFF author, telling you why they love the story, and how Lafferty influenced their writing. Neil Gaiman writes the overall introduction as well as the introduction to "In Our Block". These are worth reading because they are good writers, and because they show the influence Lafferty had on science fiction. But they're not the reason to buy the book.
I will admit that one drawback to a "Best Of" collection by Lafferty is that I found it impossible to just sit and read story after story back-to-back. It's not that they are too much alike, for they are all different, and have only a few sort-of-might-have-been repeating characters. It's that each Lafferty story is such a unique experience that reading two back-to-back was too much like being tossed on waves out-of-plane with one another. I found it was better to read one, and then read something else, returning to the Lafferty when I once again had come to believe I understand reality. And be once again disabused of that notion. I've never before been so relieved by the standard disclaimer that these events are "products of the author's imagination".
I thank the Locus Foundation for putting these works back into print. It will have an honored spot on my shelf, and will give me an occasional reason to once again dip in and remember the joy of singing to my beloved that "You are the brightness of serpents. You are the passion of mesquite bushes on fire with lightning. You are the serenity of toads."
November 23, 2021
Издание было бы куда лучше, ограничься редактор только коротким предисловием Нила Геймана и каким-нибудь литературоведческим послесловием. К сожалению, Лафферти — всё ещё подзабытый "писатель для писателей", и издатели решили не рисковать, начав книгу с десяти страниц хвалебных цитат и сопроводив каждый рассказ предисловием от разной степени известности и мастерства — но зато современных — писателей. Большинству из них почти нечего сказать и они только разными словами уверяют читателя в уникальности Лафферти и иногда спойлерят сюжет. Сами же рассказы прекрасны, и радостно, что были изданы по-русски хотя бы так.
Что до уникальности Р.А. Лафферти, он действительно не похож на современных ему или теперешних писателей-фантастов и необыкновенно хорош, но интуитивно ли, сознательно ли продолжает традицию романтической иронии в духе рассказов Огюста Вилье де Лиль-Адана (Villiers de L'Isle Adam), также не чуждого научной фантастике.
Что до уникальности Р.А. Лафферти, он действительно не похож на современных ему или теперешних писателей-фантастов и необыкновенно хорош, но интуитивно ли, сознательно ли продолжает традицию романтической иронии в духе рассказов Огюста Вилье де Лиль-Адана (Villiers de L'Isle Adam), также не чуждого научной фантастике.
October 28, 2020
I feel like the wallflower at a great party here, but I'm not feeling the love. Ordinarily, l like nothing better than off-beat stories, with bizarre and unexpected twist and turns. Quirky is my middle name, or would be, if my middle initial were "Q." But story after story, I read the fulsome praise from some of the great names of science fiction and fantasy, and then started reading the story itself and ... meh.
April 17, 2021
Настоятельно рекомендую все предисловия читать как послесловия - так гораздо лучше, да и без спойлеров.
Я не знала про Лафферти ничего. Но теперь мне кажется, этот человек прибыл из параллельного измерения и застрял здесь, тоскуя по своему миру. Иначе как объяснить тот факт, что 45-летний электрик начинает сочинять фантастику?
Я не знала про Лафферти ничего. Но теперь мне кажется, этот человек прибыл из параллельного измерения и застрял здесь, тоскуя по своему миру. Иначе как объяснить тот факт, что 45-летний электрик начинает сочинять фантастику?
July 12, 2022
I have been searching for Lafferty for a while, him being an important inspiration for some of my literary heroes. I have flicked through countless old sci fi paperback collections in bookshop cellars looking for his name. Well, delighted was I to find this new collection of works from him!
Reading his stories is like reaching your hand into a mystical river to try and catch slippery magical rainbow fish.
Reading his stories is like reaching your hand into a mystical river to try and catch slippery magical rainbow fish.
September 2, 2021
One of the best authors of short stories you've never heard of, Lafferty has a rare ebullience alongside the primary tone(s) of each work that makes them very fun to read.
Narrow Valley
A proper tall tale is an interaction between the teller and the listener that grows organically in the telling. Obviously impossible in the written form, but The Narrow Valley comes as close as anything can. The best way to describe this story is "good-natured".
Nor Limestone Islands
Starting with a literal denotation of lapidary, the text then begins an extended metaphor with writing. From there, the tale continues as a mosaic so absurdly random that one has no choice by to follow it through, hoping to see the overall pattern emerge.
Interurban Queen
Utopian visions are rarer than dystopian, possibly because we live in a world that makes them difficult to believe. This tale is set in one world, near opposite ours because we live in the world where the individualism enabled and represented by automobiles frustrated the idyllic life that rail could have delivered.
A Slow Tuesday Night
A satire of the increasing pace of American life, this story is now hauntingly topical (forty odd years after being written) in our current age of instantaneous internet and consultants selling "three order of magnitude" (1000x) productivity increases by following this system or that lean thinking method.
In Our Block
Stories this absurd usually come off as slapstick or mere frippery, but here all the elements hint at (but never reveal) something much more profound with theme's of immigration, fitting in, and hometowns changing.
Ride a Tin Can
The world is built slowly with a few strokes of detail until the reader understands the full horror of situation, but it's written so gently as to undermine our sadness or our anger leaving us bereft.
Nine Hundred Grandmothers
We, as the readers, are definitely not in on the joke. But we desperately want to be.
Land of the Great Horses
Interesting plays on language and landscape draw the reader in and then Lafferty upends the tale they expected into something else entirely.
Eurema's Dam
This story long precedes the modern debates about AI and whether innovation is the de facto good we have been conditioned to believe it is, but it deftly anticipates those debates. Also, it's charming.
Selenium Ghosts of the Eighteen Seventies
Indescribable, so I won't try.
The Primary Education of the Camiroi
Gleeful in its excess, this tale is even less credible than most in this collection. It uses that nonsensical nature to skillfully skewer the assumptions of our own education system.
Continued on Next Rock
An impossible rock deposition, incredulous archeologists, and a disgusting (but oddly compelling) love poem make this surreal piece memorable and incomprehensible.
Sky
What Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas could have been if it were more poetic, more profound, and more tripped out.
Cliffs That Laughed
A tale about tales in which the narrator and storyteller are the focus, not the actual characters in the story. And wait, I forgot to tell you about eating the plants.
Seven-Day Terror
The premise that adults can't be trusted with some of the things children can is not new, but rarely is it framed this delightfully.
Boomer Flats
Which people are strange, and which are not depends heavily on your point of view. Lafferty helps us see some very unusual people as normal.
Old Foot Forgot
The richness of utterly alien worldbuilding that is contained in a few simple pages is nothing short of astonishing.
The World As Will and Wallpaper
Seemingly silly this story slowly reveals a sly horror underneath with echoes of soylent and Big Brother before dissolving into a dour Schopenhauer-esque diktat on the sameness of existence.
Funnyfingers
A mess of modern, ancient, and timeless, a sad and strange tale even by the standards of this collection, but the sadness is very gentle and deep.
Thieving Bear Planet
People go to an alien planet and discover that the only threats are what they brought with them. It's so common a concept that this piece would be a trope except that it's so freaking weird.
Days of Grass, Days of Straw
Somewhere between nonsense and a world you desperately wish was true, Lafferty's tale of striving against God in fear and laughter is a great ending piece for the collection.
Narrow Valley
A proper tall tale is an interaction between the teller and the listener that grows organically in the telling. Obviously impossible in the written form, but The Narrow Valley comes as close as anything can. The best way to describe this story is "good-natured".
Nor Limestone Islands
Starting with a literal denotation of lapidary, the text then begins an extended metaphor with writing. From there, the tale continues as a mosaic so absurdly random that one has no choice by to follow it through, hoping to see the overall pattern emerge.
Interurban Queen
Utopian visions are rarer than dystopian, possibly because we live in a world that makes them difficult to believe. This tale is set in one world, near opposite ours because we live in the world where the individualism enabled and represented by automobiles frustrated the idyllic life that rail could have delivered.
A Slow Tuesday Night
A satire of the increasing pace of American life, this story is now hauntingly topical (forty odd years after being written) in our current age of instantaneous internet and consultants selling "three order of magnitude" (1000x) productivity increases by following this system or that lean thinking method.
In Our Block
Stories this absurd usually come off as slapstick or mere frippery, but here all the elements hint at (but never reveal) something much more profound with theme's of immigration, fitting in, and hometowns changing.
Ride a Tin Can
The world is built slowly with a few strokes of detail until the reader understands the full horror of situation, but it's written so gently as to undermine our sadness or our anger leaving us bereft.
Nine Hundred Grandmothers
We, as the readers, are definitely not in on the joke. But we desperately want to be.
Land of the Great Horses
Interesting plays on language and landscape draw the reader in and then Lafferty upends the tale they expected into something else entirely.
Eurema's Dam
This story long precedes the modern debates about AI and whether innovation is the de facto good we have been conditioned to believe it is, but it deftly anticipates those debates. Also, it's charming.
Selenium Ghosts of the Eighteen Seventies
Indescribable, so I won't try.
The Primary Education of the Camiroi
Gleeful in its excess, this tale is even less credible than most in this collection. It uses that nonsensical nature to skillfully skewer the assumptions of our own education system.
Continued on Next Rock
An impossible rock deposition, incredulous archeologists, and a disgusting (but oddly compelling) love poem make this surreal piece memorable and incomprehensible.
Sky
What Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas could have been if it were more poetic, more profound, and more tripped out.
Cliffs That Laughed
A tale about tales in which the narrator and storyteller are the focus, not the actual characters in the story. And wait, I forgot to tell you about eating the plants.
Seven-Day Terror
The premise that adults can't be trusted with some of the things children can is not new, but rarely is it framed this delightfully.
Boomer Flats
Which people are strange, and which are not depends heavily on your point of view. Lafferty helps us see some very unusual people as normal.
Old Foot Forgot
The richness of utterly alien worldbuilding that is contained in a few simple pages is nothing short of astonishing.
The World As Will and Wallpaper
Seemingly silly this story slowly reveals a sly horror underneath with echoes of soylent and Big Brother before dissolving into a dour Schopenhauer-esque diktat on the sameness of existence.
Funnyfingers
A mess of modern, ancient, and timeless, a sad and strange tale even by the standards of this collection, but the sadness is very gentle and deep.
Thieving Bear Planet
People go to an alien planet and discover that the only threats are what they brought with them. It's so common a concept that this piece would be a trope except that it's so freaking weird.
Days of Grass, Days of Straw
Somewhere between nonsense and a world you desperately wish was true, Lafferty's tale of striving against God in fear and laughter is a great ending piece for the collection.
September 10, 2021
Lafferty, R. A. The Best of R. A. Lafferty. Edited by Jonathan Strahan. Tor, 2019.
R. A. Lafferty, 1914-2002, wrote most of his science fiction between 1960 and 1980. During the 1960s, he worked fulltime as an electrical engineer, but his career literary output was prodigious: 32 novels and 200 short stories. He won Hugo nominations for his first novel and for three of his short stories. The agent who manages his literary estate still holds a cache of unpublished manuscripts.
Each of the stories in this collection is introduced by a major writer who has been influenced by him. The list includes Neil Gaiman, John Scalzi, Connie Willis, and Samuel R. Delany, and other well-established writers in the field. They are unanimous in saying that he is a “writer’s writer.” Most are grateful for his influence, but Delany, who began writing about the same time Lafferty did, seems miffed to be so often compared with him. Faulkner had a similar reaction to being compared to James Joyce. As much as other writers admired his work, I bet Lafferty had a lot of rejection slips from editors who did not know what to make of him. His prose style displays a wry, understated sense of humor. It combines a colloquial working-class slang with occasional words that can send readers to the dictionary to check the etymology. His narrative structures are tightly compressed but often have double or triple twists that spin the reader’s head around. There are echoes of fables and folktales from several cultures. The combination often reminds me of such diverse writers as Kurt Vonnegut, Roger Zelazny, Cordwainer Smith, Flannery O’Connor, and John Barth. Lafferty’s bio makes his education seem spotty, but he knew history, languages, science, philosophy, and plains Indian culture. His symbolism is never straightforward and his humor is often undercut by pessimism as characters find that wrestling with the gods is dangerous and that the universe is a much stranger place than they imagined.
Let me discuss just one of the stories—and, warning, I cannot do it without spoilers, and I cannot do it justice. “Sky” begins with a man coming up out of a mine to sell some skydivers some sky. It should bother us a little that one of the skydivers is named Icarus, and one of them seems to be herself almost lighter than air. Their pilot takes them up to a high altitude and they begin to inject, smoke, and snort the sky they bought from the man in the mine. They go higher, talking like hippies on an acid trip that gives them the sense that they are immortal and exist outside time. And maybe they do, and maybe they don’t. Some of the skydivers have chutes. Some don’t. Maybe that matters. Maybe not. And there are more twists to come.
I have not read Lafferty for years, and that is a failing I intend to remedy. This collection of excellent short stories Is a good route back into his work. Lafferty was a unique talent. 5 stars.
R. A. Lafferty, 1914-2002, wrote most of his science fiction between 1960 and 1980. During the 1960s, he worked fulltime as an electrical engineer, but his career literary output was prodigious: 32 novels and 200 short stories. He won Hugo nominations for his first novel and for three of his short stories. The agent who manages his literary estate still holds a cache of unpublished manuscripts.
Each of the stories in this collection is introduced by a major writer who has been influenced by him. The list includes Neil Gaiman, John Scalzi, Connie Willis, and Samuel R. Delany, and other well-established writers in the field. They are unanimous in saying that he is a “writer’s writer.” Most are grateful for his influence, but Delany, who began writing about the same time Lafferty did, seems miffed to be so often compared with him. Faulkner had a similar reaction to being compared to James Joyce. As much as other writers admired his work, I bet Lafferty had a lot of rejection slips from editors who did not know what to make of him. His prose style displays a wry, understated sense of humor. It combines a colloquial working-class slang with occasional words that can send readers to the dictionary to check the etymology. His narrative structures are tightly compressed but often have double or triple twists that spin the reader’s head around. There are echoes of fables and folktales from several cultures. The combination often reminds me of such diverse writers as Kurt Vonnegut, Roger Zelazny, Cordwainer Smith, Flannery O’Connor, and John Barth. Lafferty’s bio makes his education seem spotty, but he knew history, languages, science, philosophy, and plains Indian culture. His symbolism is never straightforward and his humor is often undercut by pessimism as characters find that wrestling with the gods is dangerous and that the universe is a much stranger place than they imagined.
Let me discuss just one of the stories—and, warning, I cannot do it without spoilers, and I cannot do it justice. “Sky” begins with a man coming up out of a mine to sell some skydivers some sky. It should bother us a little that one of the skydivers is named Icarus, and one of them seems to be herself almost lighter than air. Their pilot takes them up to a high altitude and they begin to inject, smoke, and snort the sky they bought from the man in the mine. They go higher, talking like hippies on an acid trip that gives them the sense that they are immortal and exist outside time. And maybe they do, and maybe they don’t. Some of the skydivers have chutes. Some don’t. Maybe that matters. Maybe not. And there are more twists to come.
I have not read Lafferty for years, and that is a failing I intend to remedy. This collection of excellent short stories Is a good route back into his work. Lafferty was a unique talent. 5 stars.
January 4, 2021
Bought as part of my SF Masterworks collection, this is an anthology of the author’s best short stories, each introduced by a prolific writer, all of whom were apparently inspired by Lafferty in one form or another.
I don't like to give up on a book, I really don't. But time is short and my to-read list is long...
You know the band Rush? They were once described to me as a musicians for musicians. Only those that had mastered an instrument would truly appreciate the complexity, intricacy and skill involved in their music. To my ears, it was unappealing.
I feel the same about Lafferty. The prose and the inherent whimsy are evidence of real skill, but skill does not necessarily equal appeal. The writers who introduce him have mastered their craft and can see the talent involved in the creations. For me, as a reader and consumer, I appreciate the effort but not the content.
Read the book though. I managed the first four stories before deciding to move on, and there were some very funny moments. Make your own mind up. The short stories are really quite short, so little effort is required. And your literary taste may be far more refined than my own!
I don't like to give up on a book, I really don't. But time is short and my to-read list is long...
You know the band Rush? They were once described to me as a musicians for musicians. Only those that had mastered an instrument would truly appreciate the complexity, intricacy and skill involved in their music. To my ears, it was unappealing.
I feel the same about Lafferty. The prose and the inherent whimsy are evidence of real skill, but skill does not necessarily equal appeal. The writers who introduce him have mastered their craft and can see the talent involved in the creations. For me, as a reader and consumer, I appreciate the effort but not the content.
Read the book though. I managed the first four stories before deciding to move on, and there were some very funny moments. Make your own mind up. The short stories are really quite short, so little effort is required. And your literary taste may be far more refined than my own!
February 14, 2021
R.A. Lafferty is one of those authors who other authors acknowledge as influential to them, but Lafferty was not one of the best known names in science fiction. He was unique, though, and is a pleasure to read today.
Each story in this collection is introduced by a different author, which provides context to how influential Lafferty was. To the extent that he has a generally known reputation, it's for humor and outlandish premises. But as with the stories of Howard Waldrop, Lafferty took his inspiration from myths, history and tall tales to weave a clever amalgamation of text. The more you understand his sources, the more you appreciate the deftness of his touch. Coming from Oklahoma, and having written a historical novel about the Native Americans of that place, he incorporated Native myth into some of his stories in ways that are only now being used by contemporary authors.
As one introducer noted, Lafferty was writing slipstream fiction before it had a name. Welcome to the slippery world of Raphael Aloysius Lafferty.
Each story in this collection is introduced by a different author, which provides context to how influential Lafferty was. To the extent that he has a generally known reputation, it's for humor and outlandish premises. But as with the stories of Howard Waldrop, Lafferty took his inspiration from myths, history and tall tales to weave a clever amalgamation of text. The more you understand his sources, the more you appreciate the deftness of his touch. Coming from Oklahoma, and having written a historical novel about the Native Americans of that place, he incorporated Native myth into some of his stories in ways that are only now being used by contemporary authors.
As one introducer noted, Lafferty was writing slipstream fiction before it had a name. Welcome to the slippery world of Raphael Aloysius Lafferty.
August 29, 2020
I've always been happy when I find a story by Lafferty in an anthology - his unique, American voice, his wildly imaginative worlds, and his humor are always welcome. Reading this collection was a case of diminishing returns for me, though - his wild imagination can slip into confusing dream logic or outright psychedelia, his purely comic stories often didn't work for me and, as the authors who introduce his works constantly remind you, he's a writer's writer (which often translates into stories that are admirably crafted, but left me as a reader pretty cold). But when he's good, usually with stories that are more sad than cute, he's a world-beater - "Ride in a Tin Can" and "The World as Will and Wallpaper" are genuinely upsetting, "Thieving Bear Planet" and "Nine Hundred Grandmothers" have images that will stay with me for a while, and "In Our Block" and "Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne" are just wonderful.
December 16, 2022
Enjoyable to some extent, but badly dated. Worth a reading, but not a second one.
September 23, 2020
R.A. Lafferty is rare among writers. He was immensely talented, producing dozens of wonderful short stories as well as a handful of good novels. Yet he had relatively little influence on other writers, at least in terms of style and characterization. You can't point to other writers and say they write like Lafferty, because nobody does. His deadpan, yet often wacky style (yes, in Lafferty's case, they can go together) is instantly recognizable and unique. Likewise, his shaggy dog style of storytelling, using in a number of his stories, is something nobody else seems to have mastered in the consistent fashion that Lafferty did.
The Best of R.A. Lafferty collects 22 of his best stories, each introduced by knowledgeable writers, critics, or readers. It was complied by Jonathan Strahan, and features an overall introduction by Neil Gaiman. I won't try to review all the stories, but instead will pick just a few:
"Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne" nominally looks at an idea explored by other writers, most notably perhaps Ray Bradbury in "A Sound of Thunder": how things change if we make changes to the past. Lafferty takes this basic concept and makes it his own. A team of eminent scientists sends someone into the past to change events (specifically, to stop the break between Muslims and Christians that occurred when Charlemagne was ambushed in Spain) and bring about the Renaissance hundreds of years earlier. They take careful note of how things look in their now, convinced they can see any changes. They don't and thus keep trying to make changes, but we do see changes. But it's not just history that changes: the story itself does in radical ways. morphing from SF to mythical fantasy by the end.
"Eurema's Dam" takes the idea that invention happens because someone who is either slow or lazy invents things to get around problems. Albert does poorly in school: he can't write, can barely read, can't do math, and so on. But he can invent and create machines to do all this for him, and what he invents gets stranger and more complicated as the story proceeds
"Seven Day Terror" takes an idea from Lewis Padgett (Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore) -- advanced children with abilities far beyond those of adults -- and tells it in Lafferty style, with Lafferty characters. Young Clarence builds a "disappearer," a device that can make anything disappear. Soon fire hydrants, a neighborhood cat, doorknobs, and more vanish. The town is concerned, but Clarence and his siblings all take it as a matter of course. And all of this building insanity is again told in Lafferty's deadpan style.
And there are more great stories: "Nine Hundred Grandmothers," "Continued on Next Rock," "In Our Block," "Sky," "The World as Will and Wallpaper," and more. This is a great collection by a writer who deserves more attention.
The Best of R.A. Lafferty collects 22 of his best stories, each introduced by knowledgeable writers, critics, or readers. It was complied by Jonathan Strahan, and features an overall introduction by Neil Gaiman. I won't try to review all the stories, but instead will pick just a few:
"Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne" nominally looks at an idea explored by other writers, most notably perhaps Ray Bradbury in "A Sound of Thunder": how things change if we make changes to the past. Lafferty takes this basic concept and makes it his own. A team of eminent scientists sends someone into the past to change events (specifically, to stop the break between Muslims and Christians that occurred when Charlemagne was ambushed in Spain) and bring about the Renaissance hundreds of years earlier. They take careful note of how things look in their now, convinced they can see any changes. They don't and thus keep trying to make changes, but we do see changes. But it's not just history that changes: the story itself does in radical ways. morphing from SF to mythical fantasy by the end.
"Eurema's Dam" takes the idea that invention happens because someone who is either slow or lazy invents things to get around problems. Albert does poorly in school: he can't write, can barely read, can't do math, and so on. But he can invent and create machines to do all this for him, and what he invents gets stranger and more complicated as the story proceeds
"Seven Day Terror" takes an idea from Lewis Padgett (Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore) -- advanced children with abilities far beyond those of adults -- and tells it in Lafferty style, with Lafferty characters. Young Clarence builds a "disappearer," a device that can make anything disappear. Soon fire hydrants, a neighborhood cat, doorknobs, and more vanish. The town is concerned, but Clarence and his siblings all take it as a matter of course. And all of this building insanity is again told in Lafferty's deadpan style.
And there are more great stories: "Nine Hundred Grandmothers," "Continued on Next Rock," "In Our Block," "Sky," "The World as Will and Wallpaper," and more. This is a great collection by a writer who deserves more attention.
April 1, 2024
I had never heard of R. A. Lafferty before reading this and picked the book up on a whim. I appreciated the way that the book was designed and the introductions to each story were very useful for contextualising the work of Lafferty (although I found them more enjoyable to read after reading the story itself, rather than as introductions). For me, the anthology contextualised a lot of the style of authors like Neil Gaiman - which was interesting in its own right, but that was where the main enjoyment I found in this collection came from.
Lafferty's style is intentionally devoid of internal psychology and strong world-building (think: certain fairy-tales/myths) - I understand the point of this and at times I enjoyed the import of the stories but I did find that that meant it was missing a lot of the things I enjoy reading books for. This was particularly strong in terms of the lack of psychological depth of characters; it was very difficult to distinguish or care about characters. This has the effect of revealing the main philosophical/theological/social issue in isolated starkness - which was highly effective at times, but became repetitive and almost petulant.
Lafferty interrogates stereotypes of Native Americans in a lot of his stories and pokes fun at bigoted characters (and therefore readers who hold similar assumptions), however, in a lot of other ways, he perpetuates similar stereotypes of other groups. This is particularly strong in his references to Polynesia but also, to a lesser extent, women. Some of his female characters are fine, but many are simply child-like or there as love/sexual interests, which is positions that Lafferty never puts male characters in (in this anthology at least). This bias obviously comes to mind from my 21st century perspective, but for an author who is clearly trying to force the reader to be reflective and break down all social/psychological assumptions, this seems worth pointing out.
Some have praised Lafferty for his characters who are children and laud their precociousness and clarity, but to me, these were just like every other character in his work, except that their descriptions included their (usually very young for their dialogue) ages. Sure kids are a lot smarter than many adults give them credit for, but in trying illustrate their differing world perspective, Lafferty writes them either exactly the same as adults or makes them copies of various different alien/non-human characters from other stories. I don't think this is clever - making these characters children was of no benefit to the story and just seemed like a cheap way to disrupt reality/make things feel slightly off-kilter.
I enjoyed parts of this anthology, but had problems with others. I don't think I'll be going out of my way to find more Lafferty.
Lafferty's style is intentionally devoid of internal psychology and strong world-building (think: certain fairy-tales/myths) - I understand the point of this and at times I enjoyed the import of the stories but I did find that that meant it was missing a lot of the things I enjoy reading books for. This was particularly strong in terms of the lack of psychological depth of characters; it was very difficult to distinguish or care about characters. This has the effect of revealing the main philosophical/theological/social issue in isolated starkness - which was highly effective at times, but became repetitive and almost petulant.
Lafferty interrogates stereotypes of Native Americans in a lot of his stories and pokes fun at bigoted characters (and therefore readers who hold similar assumptions), however, in a lot of other ways, he perpetuates similar stereotypes of other groups. This is particularly strong in his references to Polynesia but also, to a lesser extent, women. Some of his female characters are fine, but many are simply child-like or there as love/sexual interests, which is positions that Lafferty never puts male characters in (in this anthology at least). This bias obviously comes to mind from my 21st century perspective, but for an author who is clearly trying to force the reader to be reflective and break down all social/psychological assumptions, this seems worth pointing out.
Some have praised Lafferty for his characters who are children and laud their precociousness and clarity, but to me, these were just like every other character in his work, except that their descriptions included their (usually very young for their dialogue) ages. Sure kids are a lot smarter than many adults give them credit for, but in trying illustrate their differing world perspective, Lafferty writes them either exactly the same as adults or makes them copies of various different alien/non-human characters from other stories. I don't think this is clever - making these characters children was of no benefit to the story and just seemed like a cheap way to disrupt reality/make things feel slightly off-kilter.
I enjoyed parts of this anthology, but had problems with others. I don't think I'll be going out of my way to find more Lafferty.
March 25, 2021
The Tor Essentials line is a collection of SciFi and fantasy stories from the recent decades being republished for the readers of today.
Wow this book!! What a collection of odd, zany, funny and strange short stories that had me both laughing and contemplative at once. I'll be honest, I hadn't heard of this author before but I am a huge lover of SciFi and fantasy and was excited to read this collection!! This story collection has 22 short stories of R. A. Lafferty's more well known works. Each story is introduced by a well known person and I loved that. It made the stories personal but also helped a newbie like me get more acquainted with the author's works. I can tell he was well loved and respected as an author. His work is quite excellent. These stories made me laugh often and I'll even admit, they sometimes confused me too😂 but they were fun and had me hooked from start to finish. This was a great introduction to this author for me and I am looking forward to checking out his other works.
Wow this book!! What a collection of odd, zany, funny and strange short stories that had me both laughing and contemplative at once. I'll be honest, I hadn't heard of this author before but I am a huge lover of SciFi and fantasy and was excited to read this collection!! This story collection has 22 short stories of R. A. Lafferty's more well known works. Each story is introduced by a well known person and I loved that. It made the stories personal but also helped a newbie like me get more acquainted with the author's works. I can tell he was well loved and respected as an author. His work is quite excellent. These stories made me laugh often and I'll even admit, they sometimes confused me too😂 but they were fun and had me hooked from start to finish. This was a great introduction to this author for me and I am looking forward to checking out his other works.
August 6, 2022
Niestety DNF. Do każdego opowiadania jest załączona przedmowa dosyć znanych pisarzy (Gaiman, Silverberg, Kress, Sanswick, Ellison) i w prawie każdej przedmowie jest jeden element wspólny. Wszyscy piszą, że Lafferty jest klasykiem zapomnianym i moim zdaniem słusznie. Przeczytałem do 150 strony, w tym opowiadanie, które zostało nagrodzone Hugo, jedno które zostało nominacje do Nebuli i nie odnalazłem nic wartościowego. Jego opowiadaniom brakuje konsekwencji w przyjętej konwencji, nie ma w nich przekazu ani ciekawych wizji przyszłości. Jest dużo o wiele bardziej wartościowych klasyków SF niż Lafferty.
August 15, 2025
A blurb on the back of my copy says, "R.A. Lafferty was undoubtedly the finest writer of whatever it was that he did that ever there was." and I tend to agree.
I've never read any SF short stories that featured an intrepid explorer like Willy McGilly or such oddball scenarios as finding an alien race's 900th great grandmother. Perhaps you'd prefer a tale of skydivers high on sky or a limestone salesman who lives on a floating island above the midwest. I'd call these stories SF tall tales or folklore, which is certainly giving you the wrong impression. Rest assured you've never read anything even close to them, not in content or style, and it all works.
I've never read any SF short stories that featured an intrepid explorer like Willy McGilly or such oddball scenarios as finding an alien race's 900th great grandmother. Perhaps you'd prefer a tale of skydivers high on sky or a limestone salesman who lives on a floating island above the midwest. I'd call these stories SF tall tales or folklore, which is certainly giving you the wrong impression. Rest assured you've never read anything even close to them, not in content or style, and it all works.
June 13, 2019
nice bunch of stories! lafferty seems to be approaching things in a totally opposite way from most sci fi authors. he's all about bizarre metaphors and nonsense fortean theories and strange imagery over literalism which is just refreshing compared to guys who want to exposit about how ray guns work or whatever. some of the language has a sort of folksy tall tale vibe at times, and he seems to like giving his characters wacky names almost as much as pynchon does. overall nice book and it's funny how most of the forewords to the stories are just contemporary sci fi authors giving plot summaries and scratching their heads not knowing how he's able to write good.
June 30, 2024
A solid collection of stories from none other than SFF's most prolific weaver of tall-tales-- all with that funny and folksy, yet amicably bizarre flair that makes Lafferty one of the most solitary voices the genre has ever been bestowed with.
Favorites of the collection:
Ride a Tin Can
Nine Hundred Grandmothers
Eurema's Dam
Continued on Next Rock
The Primary Education of the Camiroi
Seven-day Terror
Favorites of the collection:
Ride a Tin Can
Nine Hundred Grandmothers
Eurema's Dam
Continued on Next Rock
The Primary Education of the Camiroi
Seven-day Terror
Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews