The Patrick Hamilton Appreciation Society discussion

Here's something that GoodReads member Robert thought might be of interest to some of us here at The Patrick Hamilton Appreciation Society.



Gerald Kersh

Robert doesn't participate in forums, however he invited me to highlight this information to the group....



The Secret Masters (aka "The Great Wash")

Robert noticed that someone mentioned Mr Gerald Kersh on The Patrick Hamilton Appreciation Society discussion boards.

Robert states, "I've been a ginormous Kersh fan for a long time. I've only have a couple to get, and a signed copy, and I'll be one happy man. A friend of his once looked up my diminutive name in Partridge's Slang (Bob) and found a reference to 'bob' (as in head-butting someone in the belly) in a Kersh book, The Secret Masters ("The Great Wash" outside the US). In "The Great Wash", Kersh has deliberately placed Partridge's Slang on a character's shelf."

Here's the information on the GoodReads page for "The Secret Masters" (aka "The Great Wash")...

Brilliant Suspense Novel--About a few Men who Wanted the World for Themselves Kersh's classic about unlikely investigators into the diabolical schemes of men beyond the law. First published 1953.

Robert adds, "I'd also recommend Barbara Tuchman's The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War 1890-1914, which I'm reading with a due sense of awe and delight, for the same and different reasons."

Brilliant. Thanks Robert.

I also notice that the wonderful people at London Books have reissued Night and the City by Gerald Kersh with an introduction by John King. From the section on the London Books "Night and the City" page, this is the John King introduction:

For generations raised in the fading post-First World War suburbs of London, the older circles of red-brick terraces and tenements had – and to an extent still have – a near-mythical status. Greater London is built along futuristic Fritz Lang highways, smooth arterial roads heading out to the satellite towns, straight tarmac cutting through huge estates of semi-detached youth, a brave new world that helped create the mods and skinheads in the 1960s, the boot boys and punks in the Seventies, at the same time preserving the Teds and rockers well past their Fifties heyday. These interzones were where the worker’s dream came true, but the glamour remained further back inside London, in the streets our parents and grandparents left behind.

Growing up in the Seventies, it was football and music and sometimes markets that pulled us towards this older London, a chance to mingle with the ghosts of ancestors we hardly knew existed. Cut-glass boozers tugged us inside, into fading gin palaces where men and women drank and enjoyed their music – through the fingers of a piano player hammering out Knee’s Up Mother Brown or Shout For Joy, to the vinyl of a jukebox filled with Eddie Cochran, The Who, Sham 69. It was very different to today’s sterile gastro-pubs and characterless theme bars, where a hundred years of tradition can be erased with the swipe of a yuppie’s credit card.

England was still littered with bombed-out buildings, doodlebugs and V2 rockets something we heard about first-hand, daily war films and documentaries reinforcing our imagery. The Blitz seemed very real to us, the dirty walls of Old London reflecting the bravery of tougher times, as if the bricks were scorched by terror and relief. Television added a parade of post-war geezers to my impression of London – the Steptoe totters of Shepherd’s Bush and the cockney rebel Alf Garnett in the Sixties and Seventies; Jack Regan cleaning up the streets as Harold Steptoe and Alf began to fade; Arthur Daley and Terry McCann dodging their way through Fulham in the Eighties, Del Boy doing it for South London well into the Nineties. These boys were loveable rogues, but they also reflected the pride of a fading London in their humour, slang and outspoken views. They had codes of behaviour, a firm morality limiting their law-breaking.

Experience and storytelling merged, so for me West London was represented by the Uxbridge Road and The Shed at Chelsea, The Clash and The Sex Pistols, the Westway and the Chiswick Flyover, The Ruts and The Lurkers, Southall curries and the pubs of Fulham, Hammersmith and Brentford. North London was Camden Town and The Electric Ballroom, Irish fiddles and the nutty sound of Madness, Finsbury Park muggers and running battles on the Seven Sisters Road. The East End, meanwhile, was the daddy of London legend, the oldest corner of Old London. It was the Blitz Spirit and Jack The Ripper, West Ham dockers meets Fagin’s under-fives, cockles and mussels on Petticoat Lane, Jewish tailors and The Last Resort skinhead shop. I didn’t know South London at all, vague impressions of Brixton reggae, Millwall aggro and the fumes from Frankie Frazer’s car battery drifting across the river.

Then there was Soho, where all these Londons merged.

I first saw Soho in the late Seventies. In my teenage mind it was famous for punk, peepshows and Kray Twins fruit machines, but once there it was obviously worth much more. The buildings were stacked close and shut out the sun, dim alleyways connecting the narrow streets, a Dickensian flavour dominating the bright lights and gangster trim. Time warped, the Artful Dodger mutating into Johnny Rotten in a mash-up of drunk film men and walk-up brothels, the strip clubs fronted by speed-skinny women in PVC mini-skirts, sex shops staffed by scruffy herberts in NHS specs, middle-aged hard men showing off velvet-collared Crombies and some serious mutton chops as they guarded blank doors.

Soho had pubs and eccentrics galore, a sleazy postcard sauce and an air of villainy, and yet it felt safe somehow, with none of the casual violence of the suburbs or inner cities. It was said to be past its best, trading on a reputation that was never made clear, but which seemed to revolve around a cosmopolitan mix of vice and creativity. Journalists and artists had their special hang-outs, presented the bohemian case, but Soho’s image had to go back further than the Swinging Sixties. It was a mystery. Twenty years later, in the mid-Nineties, I came across a book that brought this lost world to life.

I was walking down from The Blue Posts on Berwick Street, heading for Chinatown, the fruit-and-veg market dismantled for the night, the record shops shuttered, continued along Strippers Row, coming out the other side and ducking into a discount bookshop, the upstairs dealing in cult fiction and glossy art books, the downstairs peddling porn. Scanning the shelves through an eight-pint haze, a title clicked. Wasn’t Night And The City the name of that old black-and-white film starring Richard Widmark, the one set in the clubs and wreckage of post-war London, a charged merging of wide boys, crooks and a great old wrestler who wants to keep fighting? But if so, what was Robert De Niro doing on the cover? And who was the author? Gerald Kersh? Never heard of him.

Luckily I dipped into the text. The effect was instant. The writing was strong and stylish, the locations familiar yet exotic, the prose pounding in from the pavements outside, slang easily shifting into sharp observation. I bought the book, enjoyed my chow mien and, within days, was a Kersh fan, his writing showing that maybe there was a world of London fiction I’d missed. Robert De Niro was explained – the book had been turned into a film twice.

Night And The City was a revelation. Later I would discover the likes of Fowlers End, The Angel And The Cuckoo and Prelude To A Certain Midnight. And other forgotten London authors. Men such as James Curtis, Alexander Baron, Frank Norman. Cult books by Robert Westerby, Mark Benney, John Sommerfield. Others had been on their trail for years – Nick Robinson, Iain Sinclair, Chris Petit – but I didn’t care. Better late than never.

It was clear that Night And The City ranked near the fiction of Alan Sillitoe, the only English author I knew who wrote about everyday people in a familiar language. Sillitoe’s novels had themselves been a discovery years earlier, and while he came from a different background to my favourite English author, George Orwell, the two men obviously shared the same humanity. Sillitoe’s novels added a first-hand knowledge of the working world, the fact he often wrote about his native Nottingham unimportant as the language and warmth and defiance connected. From my first brush with Sillitoe I was hooked. The same happened with Gerald Kersh.

Night And The City is set in the Soho of legend, itself a focus for the glitz of the West End. The book recreates a trail of pubs and clubs and Italian-run cafes from back in the days when a bowl of spaghetti was still exotic. Kersh knew this world and his sentences shine bright, his locations peopled by a nutty bunch of fluorescent characters with nuttier more fluorescent names – Anna Siberia, Figler, Phil Nosseross, the Black Strangler. They drink and plot in Bagrag’s Cellar, Saxophone Joe’s, The International Political Club.

Kersh’s creations are flamboyant and believable, the novel’s central character going by the name of Harry Fabian, a cockney wide boy who puts on a fake American accent and talks big, forever trying to impress but too often failing to convince. He is a small-time crook who throws away the money he has, desperate for some sort of recognition. He is also physically frail and from a poor background, the Dodger or Rotten in a flash suit. He is a vulnerable, Dickensian-like character. He is also a ponce.

The term ‘ponce’ was taken seriously when the novel was written. It was a term of abuse, even for the likes of Harry. Language changes, but it’s interesting reading a book such as Night And The City to see how much slang is still in use. Kids learn from their parents and grandparents as much as their peers, maybe more so, though the teenage-rebellion industry would never admit this truth. Slang dips and rises, changes emphasis, word-play something that Kersh and a small number of his contemporaries relished.

Today, the pimp has replaced the ponce, the term introduced via rappers and their corporate managers. Living off women has been glorified, yet a ponce or pimp remains among the lowest forms of lowlife. This term ‘lowlife’, meanwhile, is another interesting one, and was applied to a genre of fiction that seems to centre around Soho. The description does the writing itself and the social observations it makes a disservice, while there is probably a hidden edge to the term. Is the Marquis De Sade considered ‘lowlife’ fiction, or is this a double-edged insult for working-class fiction? Especially when it is written by someone from outside the establishment? And when the style used breaks their rules?

Applying the first meaning, Night And The City, and other so-called lowlife novels, offer an uncensored glimpse of a vanished London. The descriptions and observations are probably impossible to find elsewhere, the same role covered in later decades by criminal and hooligan memoirs, and, to an extent, by modern films and television series.

For much of the novel there’s something likeable about Harry Fabian, his vulnerability possibly the result of his poor upbringing, but his dealings with Mr Clark challenge any sympathy the reader feels, show the depths to which he will sink in his pursuit of a pound note. He crosses a couple of lines, and in the end it’s personality not background that make Fabian what he is, the regular appearances of Bert the costermonger emphasising the fact. The final twist in the tale drills the message further home. This is an important element of the book. Bert is a decent, hard-working man with a lot more courage than Harry. He is the book’s working-class champion.

Harry Fabian has no morals and no backbone, but Gerald Kersh clearly has both. He doesn’t lay down the law like so many authors of the past but coaxes the reader along, plays his cards carefully, ultimately delivering a condemnation of greed and materialism.

Learning about Kersh’s life is a bonus and adds to the novel. The researcher and editor Paul Duncan has been piecing together his story over the years, and much of the available information is due to his hard work. Gerald Kersh was one of the chaps, knew the pubs and characters of the West End, the lay of the land further into the suburbs. His movements make me feel closer to his work, as if I was destined to find that copy of Night And The City. He drank in the Fitzroy Tavern, a pub used by Fabian Of The Yard and the likes of George Orwell and Julian Maclaren-Ross, somewhere I’ve known for a quarter of a century; he has connections with the Uxbridge Road which I know well; his roaming knowledge of Soho and its pubs means he probably used some of my favourites – The Ship, The Blue Posts, The Lamb And Flag. His younger years further out in Metroland offer a tentative link with the mental high roads of JG Ballard, the suburbs and M25 badlands another personal interest.

Kersh led a full life away from London and the West End of course. He was respected for his short stories and articles as well as his

Gerald Kersh

And here is A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF GERALD KERSH By Paul Duncan. It's from the London Books author page about Gerald Kersh


Gerald Kersh Wikipedia page

Gerald Kersh fan page

I've just ordered a copy of The Angel and the Cuckoo by Gerald Kersh from my local library. Hurrah. I'll report back when I've read it.

Paul Auster, Ian McEwan and Don DeLillo all know that the city is a place of absurdity, and each of them have played with the form of their novels to accentuate and clarify the absurdities that city-dwellers face on a daily basis. Yet before any of them had their first novel published Gerald Kersh had written his last masterpiece The Angel And The Cuckoo. This is a novel of London that cuts back and forth in time through the Depression years between the two World Wars, following artists, criminals, lovers, singers, conmen, film producers, writers and other lowlifes as they each follow their singular obsessions.

There are three love stories, all connected by Steve Zobrany, proprietor of The Angel And The Cuckoo, a café in a hidden courtyard at one end of Carnaby Street. Through Zobrany we meet film producer Gèza Cseh, the sublime Alma, artist without an art Tom Henceforth, omnipotent criminal mastermind Perp, and many others. Kersh shows that each of them carries the seeds of corruption, and what they do with these desires will define them for the rest of their lives. All this, and the book is as funny as hell.

Also just splashed out on...


Dead Look On by Gerald Kersh
Men Without Bones by Gerald Kersh

And ordered this from the library..

Fowler's End by Gerald Kersh

It's a Gerald Kersh world.

That John King intro above really has sold him to me - along with Robert's ringing endorsement.

'Night And The City' was a great read and, in a rare instance of alignment, the filmed version was equally good and I can recommend it with confidence if you've not seen it already.

Mark wrote: "'Night And The City' was a great read and, in a rare instance of alignment, the filmed version was equally good and I can recommend it with confidence if you've not seen it already."

Thanks Mark. But which film version are you recommending?

The 1950 version directed by Jules Dassin. With Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers, Hugh Marlowe.

OR

The 1992 version directed by Irwin Winkler. With Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange, Cliff Gorman, Alan King.

I've not seen either. I cannot work out how though, as I love cinema and have seen lots and lots of films.

I'd not been aware of the later version... I was referring to the Dassin version, which is right up there alongside his 'Rififi.' I'm not sure if you get The Criterion Collection in the UK, but if you do, their dvd [or blue ray or whatever] is THEE definitive version in terms of digital mastering and scholarly bonus bits.

Now then...

...do I get this for £7...



or this for £14...



Hmmm. I don't have Blu ray and am not that fussed about mastering or extras. But the second one, in case you can't see the images, also has 'Where the Sidewalk Ends', 'Whirlpool' , and 'Fallen Angel', along with 'Night and the City'.

This is costing me a fortune. Think I'll just get the film - unless someone tells me different in the next few hours.

I'll sit this conversation out, owing to the fact that when it comes to Film Noir, I firmly believe that too much ain't enough! Besides, I'm already feeling guilt for contributing to your financial strain by recommending so many books!

The Dassin film is fantastic. Rent or buy it. But you must see it. And the novel is great!

Thanks Tosh and Mark. I will definitely be reading the book and watching the film.

"Too much Noir is never enough"

That would make a great epitaph. It's a sentiment that I agree with too.

*Off to check my bank balance*

Jamie wrote: "I read 'Prelude to a Certain Midnight' which I bought I the strength of the title. This is a strange little book but one I'll read again. Recommended for any Patrick Hamilton fans."

Thanks Jamie. I'll add Prelude to a Certain Midnight to my ever growing "to read" list.

Mark wrote: "I'd not been aware of the later version... I was referring to the Dassin version, which is right up there alongside his 'Rififi.' I'm not sure if you get The Criterion Collection in the UK, but if ..."

Ha! Kersh used to tell people he was the best paid writer in the world - because the film folk bought the rights to his book and only used two words - the title!

This arrived yesterday...



A 1960 edition published by WDL Books Ltd of London. Originally 2/6 if anyone else remembers pre-decimilisation UK currency.

This arrived yesterday...



"The Dead Look On" by Gerald Kersh - it doesn't even exist on GoodReads. Looks like I'm going to have to add it.

Nigeyb wrote: "Looks like I'm going to have to add it. "

Kersh fans of the world can rest easy...



The Dead Look On by Gerald Kersh

...we have our GoodReads entry.

I also now got my library copy of...



The Angel and the Cuckoo by Gerald Kersh

I feel a Kersh fest coming on. So many other books to read too though.

I am now underway with...



The Angel and the Cuckoo by Gerald Kersh

...my first book by Gerald Kersh. The introduction has really whetted my appetite and raised my expectations.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Biographer Paul Duncan says that in a strange way, it was precisely because Gerald Kersh sold so many books and was so successful during the war years – at one point he had four books in the top ten best selling list – that he wasn’t as feted as he could have been by his peers.

“He was taken a little for granted,” says Duncan.

“I can’t help but compare Kersh to how we look at Stephen King today – always rolling out a best seller.”

The Angel and the Cuckoo, his last novel, is classic Kersh. Brilliantly written, it shows off his many talents.

There are self-composed ditties throughout, snatches of made up, popular songs from the period, all drawn from his imagination. The characters, their voices, show an ear for everyday conversation, and for eavesdropping, too.

"To read Kersh is to stand at the bar of a 1930s pub and listen to the banter."

Sound familiar Hamilton appreciators?

I enjoyed the Paul Duncan introduction in the London Books edition of The Angel and the Cuckoo by Gerald Kersh that I felt compelled to splash out £3 on my own copy of...



As Corey Mesler stated, here at GR, "A fine quick overview. I learned a lot and now have an extensive list of obscure noir novels I want to read."

What's not to love?

And whilst I wax lyrical about all things Kersh, I should add that the enigmatic Robert has mentioned to me that his route into Kersh was via Harlan Ellison.

Harlan Ellison: Stalking the nightmare


Who is Harlan Ellison?

Author. Essayist. Screenwriter and television scenarist. Lecturer. Political activist. Film reviewer. Conversationalist. Movie and TV critic. Rabble rouser.

What has Ellison written/done that I've read/seen/heard of?

If you're a "Star Trek" enthusiast, you know of "City on the Edge of Forever," the episode in which Kirk falls in love with Joan Collins.

If you've read 1960s- and 1970s-era science fiction and fantasy, you may have come across the short stories "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman," "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream," "The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World" or "A Boy and His Dog," or the anthologies "Dangerous Visions" and "Again, Dangerous Visions."

If you're an "Outer Limits" fan, you probably remember the episodes "Soldier" and "Demon with a Glass Hand."

If you're a bad-movie buff, you may have seen "The Oscar," for which Ellison wrote the screenplay

If you're an aficionado of low-budget indie flicks, you might have come across "A Boy and His Dog," based on a novella written by Ellison.

If you watch TV talk shows, you may have seen Ellison on "Politically Incorrect" or one of Tom Snyder's chat fests.

If you follow Internet and copyright issues, you probably know about Ellison's lawsuit against America Online and others over illegal distribution of his stories online.

Harlan Ellison: Plenty more FAQs right here including those two above

Nigeyb wrote: "I am now underway with...



The Angel and the Cuckoo by Gerald Kersh

I'll let you know how it goes."

So far, so wonderful. I am very, very impressed. I'm only about 50 pages but this is unusual and original, and very well written. It's more early 20th Century London underbelly stuff, which in itself ticks all my boxes, however when it's done this inventively then it transcends any genre. Perhaps I'm getting carried away. Watch this space.

Another update about The Angel and the Cuckoo by Gerald Kersh

I am really loving this book. I'm almost halfway through. Intoxicatingly good.

Now then, as a passionate fellow, and now completely smitten by Gerald Kersh, I have discovered three new 2013 GK reissues from the fine people at Faber...

The Best of Gerald Kersh

'[Gerald Kersh] is a story-teller of an almost vanished kind - though the proper description is perhaps a teller of 'rattling good yarns'... He is fascinated by the grotesque and the bizarre, by the misfits of life, the angry, the down-and-outs and the damned. A girl of eight commits a murder. Some circus freaks are shipwrecked on an island. A chess champion walks in his sleep and destroys the games he has so carefully planned...' TLS 'Beneath his talented lightness and fantasy, Gerald Kersh is a serious man... [He] has the ability... to create a world which is not realistic and which is yet entirely credible and convincing on its own fantastic terms.' New York Times 'Mr Kersh tells a story; as such, rather better than anybody else.' Pamela Hansford Johnson, Telegraph

Sergeant Nelson of the Guards

Night and the City (1938) made Gerald Kersh's reputation, but it was as a war novelist that he reached a wide readership in 1942, via a pair of books about British army recruits, led by Sergeant Bill Nelson, preparing to see service in France. This Faber Finds edition collects both books.'[They Die With Their Boots Clean] is a picture of life in the raw in the Coldstream Guards, with all itsrigorous discipline, its humour and comradeship.' TLS[In The Nine Lives Of Bill Nelson] the conversations are terse, ferociously slangy, full of hyperbole and outrageous wit, often irresistibly funny.' TLS[Kersh] has sure magic in taking us through the training of raw recruits... Each man's story is briefly and dramatically told, the episodes are vigorous, and Nelson holds the centre of the stage, as he leads the battered troops over 63 miles of French territory to Dunkirk...' Kirkus Reviews

The Horrible Dummy and Other Stories

'It is a quality of flamboyant vigour in Mr Kersh that wins attention first of all for his fiction, and more especially, perhaps, for his occasional short story. When his flamboyant energy of sentiment and language comes off he achieves an effect of genuine distinction; at his surest, that is, he is a short story writer of a strongly individual and rewarding kind... the best and cleverest [of the 23 stories in this volume] tells with excellent economy of a ventriloquist's dummy which was inhabited, or so it seemed, by the spirit of the ventriloquist's murdered father... 'The Drunk And The Blind', the sketch of an old, battered and mentally ruined boxer, is done with a telling and slightly brutal power. 'The Devil That Troubled The Chess-Board'... is another sound thing in a vein of the slightly macabre.' Times Literary Supplement (1944)

...all due to be published on 17th October 2013.

That there's your Autumn reading sorted out right there. Let joy be unconfined.

I loved The Angel and the Cuckoo. I'll post a proper review soon. Splendid stuff though. Thanks for the recommendation.

The Angel and the Cuckoo by Gerald Kersh

Nigeyb wrote: "I loved The Angel and the Cuckoo. I'll post a proper review soon. Splendid stuff though. Thanks for the recommendation."

Here's a few thoughts.

My first book by Gerald Kersh. This edition of The Angel and the Cuckoo is published by London Books who, as you may well know, are a hallmark of quality writing. London Books describes itself as "an independent publisher which aims to bring old and new fiction together in a tradition that is original in its subject matter, style and social concerns. We believe that the marginalised fiction of the past can be as relevant and exciting today as when it was first published, and our classic reprints will reflect the language and politics of tougher eras, while our new fiction will focus on emerging authors with something to say and a novel way of getting their messages across."

My appetite was well and truly whetted by Paul Duncan's informative introduction. It appears that many of Gerald Kersh's stories feature the grotesque and the bizarre, and frequently include characters from the fringes. This London novel travels through the 1930s depression, and the two World Wars, and it following artists, criminals, lovers, singers, conmen, film producers, writers and other lowlifes as they each follow their singular obsessions.

Steve Zobrany is the owner of The Angel And The Cuckoo café off Carnaby Street. Through Zobrany we meet the book's other key characters: the film producer Gèza Cseh, Alma Zobrany (Steve's wife), Tom Henceforth (a performance artist of sorts), and most memorably Perp the omnipotent criminal mastermind. To say any more is to ruin the book's pleasure, suffice to say that it is an imaginative and kaleidoscopic ride through a half imagined, half remembered London that is both plausible and pleasingly surreal.

In his day, Gerald Kersh was a best selling author who, at one point, had four books in the top ten best selling list. I can quite see why. I've already started on my second Kersh (Fowler's End). I suspect it's the beginning of another literary love affair.

I am now really enjoying the first 50 pages or so of Fowler's End. Another Kersh winner?

Nigeyb wrote: "I am now really enjoying the first 50 pages or so of Fowler's End. Another Kersh winner?"

In answer to my own question, the answer is a resounding yes. I love this book. About one third left to go.

I've just finished Fowlers End by Gerald Kersh...

Fowlers End is in London's outer suburbia and is quite possibly one of the most hellish places imaginable (geographically in the Edmonton/Ponders End area): a steel tube factory, a glass factory, the smokiest railway terminal in London, and a hideous chemical plant. It is in Fowlers End that Sam Yudenow, the proprietor of the Pantheon cinema, employs Daniel Laverock who, despite a ferocious appearance, is an educated middle class family failure, to manage the place.

The story is told from Daniel Laverock's point of view. That said, there really isn't much of a story and the book is filled with dialogue, particularly from the memorable Sam Yudenow, whose mangled cockney yiddish is peppered with eclectic cliches, aphorisms, sayings etc. that have to be read to be believed. The extent to which you might enjoy this book will depend upon your tolerance for pages of this stuff. I thought it was amusing and readable.

There are numerous other colourful and distinctive characters that populate the tale: Copper Baldwin (another Cinema employee), Godbolt (Yudenow’s business rival and nemesis), June Whistler (Laverock’s girlfriend), the Greek brother and sister, Costas and Kyra, who run Yudenow’s cafe, and many more. All of them are idiosyncratic, well drawn, and funny.

This is the second book I have read by Gerald Kersh (the first was "The Angel and The Cuckoo") and I enjoyed both. Both books extensively feature London and, in both, Kersh evokes a version of the city that I recognise. A London of ordinary people trying to survive in a harsh environment.

Set in the 1930s, and published in 1958, I'd say if you like books about London, particularly those set in the interwar period about ordinary working people, then this is well worth a read.

I've started reading Gerald Kersh's 'Men Without Bones'. A collection of 22 short stories. The few I've read so far are all very different to each other and refreshingly different and,… is 'quirky' the right word. I really like collections of short stories like these, that with each one could be made into a movie.

I have the same cover copy as the one above, although the price on mine is 3s/9d. I paid 1 dollar 50 cents. Published 1960, still in ok condition.

Greg wrote: I've started reading Gerald Kersh's 'Men Without Bones'

Excellent. Thanks Greg. Your initial thoughts sound very promising too. I must move this up my to read pile. Kersh has yet to put a foot wrong. Another great recommendation from the fine, astute and reliable people here at The Patrick Hamilton Appreciation Society.

Nigeyb wrote: "I have discovered three new 2013 Gerald Kersh reissues from the fine people at Faber...

The Best of Gerald Kersh

'[Gerald Kersh] is a story-teller of an almost vanished kind - though the proper description is perhaps a teller of 'rattling good yarns'... He is fascinated by the grotesque and the bizarre, by the misfits of life, the angry, the down-and-outs and the damned. A girl of eight commits a murder. Some circus freaks are shipwrecked on an island. A chess champion walks in his sleep and destroys the games he has so carefully planned...' TLS 'Beneath his talented lightness and fantasy, Gerald Kersh is a serious man... [He] has the ability... to create a world which is not realistic and which is yet entirely credible and convincing on its own fantastic terms.' New York Times 'Mr Kersh tells a story; as such, rather better than anybody else.' Pamela Hansford Johnson, Telegraph

Sergeant Nelson of the Guards

Night and the City (1938) made Gerald Kersh's reputation, but it was as a war novelist that he reached a wide readership in 1942, via a pair of books about British army recruits, led by Sergeant Bill Nelson, preparing to see service in France. This Faber Finds edition collects both books.'[They Die With Their Boots Clean] is a picture of life in the raw in the Coldstream Guards, with all itsrigorous discipline, its humour and comradeship.' TLS[In The Nine Lives Of Bill Nelson] the conversations are terse, ferociously slangy, full of hyperbole and outrageous wit, often irresistibly funny.' TLS[Kersh] has sure magic in taking us through the training of raw recruits... Each man's story is briefly and dramatically told, the episodes are vigorous, and Nelson holds the centre of the stage, as he leads the battered troops over 63 miles of French territory to Dunkirk...' Kirkus Reviews

The Horrible Dummy and Other Stories

'It is a quality of flamboyant vigour in Mr Kersh that wins attention first of all for his fiction, and more especially, perhaps, for his occasional short story. When his flamboyant energy of sentiment and language comes off he achieves an effect of genuine distinction; at his surest, that is, he is a short story writer of a strongly individual and rewarding kind... the best and cleverest [of the 23 stories in this volume] tells with excellent economy of a ventriloquist's dummy which was inhabited, or so it seemed, by the spirit of the ventriloquist's murdered father... 'The Drunk And The Blind', the sketch of an old, battered and mentally ruined boxer, is done with a telling and slightly brutal power. 'The Devil That Troubled The Chess-Board'... is another sound thing in a vein of the slightly macabre.' Times Literary Supplement (1944)

...all due to be published on 17th October 2013."

And there's even more being published on 21 November 2013...

The Implacable Hunter

The Song of the Flea

The Thousand Deaths of Mr Small

Truly there are heady days for the Gerald Kersh cognoscenti.

Blimey, Faber are really going for it. I suppose I'm a cynic, but I suppose they're out of copyright now. Pity.

I'll be snaffling them for the introductions if nothing else.

Some of Kersh's collections are so damn thin they could be collected in themselves!

Jamie wrote: "I read 'Prelude to a certain midnight' which I bought I the strength of the title. This is a strange little book but one I'll read again. Recommended for any Patrick Hamilton fans."

I recently received an old Penguin copy of this one in the post from Robert, and plan on tucking into it in the very near soon. Really looking forward to it, although I know it'll inevitably lead to spending piles of money on additional Kersh titles.

Mark wrote: "I recently received an old Penguin copy of Prelude to a Certain Midnight in the post from Robert, and plan on tucking into it in the very near soon. Really looking forward to it, although I know it'll inevitably lead to spending piles of money on additional Kersh titles."

Please keep us informed Mark. I've been very impressed by my forays into the world of Gerald Kersh.

Nigeyb, at the back of Kersh's Men Without Bones, there are some pages promoting other authors and titles.

Bond of the Flesh
Check out some of Rosamond Marshall's other titles.
Celeste

Charles Einstein

Greg wrote: "Nigeyb, at the back of Kersh's Men Without Bones, there are some pages promoting other authors and titles.."

Excellent. Some of those look very promising Greg.



Meanwhile, in one of those curiously pleasing and serendipitous coincidences, I noticed today on the Faber Finds blog, an article by another TPHAS favourite, Cathi Unsworth about none other than Gerald Kersh.

Faber state, "Cathi is a vociferous admirer of Kersh’s work and we’re pleased to set down her thoughts on the great man".....

“It was Derek Raymond who first told me about Gerald Kersh and how he considered him to be the master chronicler of London’s lowlife. It took me a long time to track him down, his lost prints were even harder to lift from the second hand shops of the Nineties than those of Raymond’s other forgotten forebear, Patrick Hamilton. But boy, was it worth the rummage..."

More here...

Cathi Unsworth on Gerald Kersh: ‘Crackling with neon, lipstick, sweat and fear… master of the night

Now then who the heck is Derek Raymond?



According to his Wikipedia page, he is credited with being a founder of British noir. Looks like the start of another literary love affair. I'm confident a few of you will be stunned this writer has passed me by, but he has, however a read of his Wikipedia page convinces me that he is another writer I need to explore. I'll set up a dedicated thread for him.



Back to Gerald Kersh A fine piece by David Collard in the TLS last month made note of the current revived interest in the writings of the remarkable Gerald Kersh

....and....

Gerald Kersh: champion yarn-spinner, superior word-crafter, and scholar of human follies

Like Mark (see above), I think my next foray into the world of Kersh will be Prelude to a Certain Midnight.

Nigeyb wrote: "Like Mark (see above), I think my next foray into the world of Kersh will be Prelude to a Certain Midnight."



I've ordered a copy.

I notice London Books are going to be publishing an edition soon - according to their website. Talking of which, here's Paul Duncan...

I have learnt there is a sizeable number of people who think that they are the only ones who read Kersh. You can always spot a Kersh reader - they have this inner light, this twinkle in their eye, that says 'If only you knew what I know.' They know about Kersh. It's their secret. The world is foolish and chooses to ignore him. Bad luck for the world. Good luck for us.

Nigeyb wrote: "Greg wrote: "Nigeyb, at the back of Kersh's Men Without Bones, there are some pages promoting other authors and titles.."

Excellent. Some of those look very promising Greg.



Meanwhile, in one o..."

Thanks Nigeyb for the link: champion yarn spinner. I like your review of Fowler's End.
The books that Anthony Burgess judges as among the best of the century, Fowlers End and The Implacable Hunter, coming from Burgess is high praise indeed.

The more stories I read in Men Without Bones, the more bewildering it is how Kersh could have gone out of print and become so little known. Kersh was prolific and his work consistently strong.

I've just read The Hack, about two old writers commiserating about writing for the theatre.

All the stories are so unique. Gratitude, and The Guardian, and One Case In A Million, Men Without Bones, Femme Fatale.

Greg wrote: "Thanks Nigeyb for the link: champion yarn spinner. I like your review of Fowler's End."

My pleasure.

Greg wrote: "The more stories I read in Men Without Bones, the more bewildering it is how Kersh could have gone out of print and become so little known. Kersh was prolific and his work consistently strong. "

That's my impression too. A situation not dissimilar to that of Patrick Hamilton.

The books that get studied at school seem to be those that acquire and retain "classic" status.

Still, it's gratifying to see Hamilton, Kersh, and many others getting revived and rediscovered.

I note that brother Cyril Kersh, a Fleet Street editor, also wrote several novels - though some if not all were intended to be humorous. With titles like The Shepherd's Bush Connection and The Soho Summer Of Mr. Green, they are clearly London-based and might be of interest. I shall keep my eyes open in the dustier sections of second-hand bookshops...

Peter wrote: "I note that brother Cyril Kersh, a Fleet Street editor, also wrote several novels.. I shall keep my eyes open in the dustier sections of second-hand bookshops... "

Thanks Peter. I would be very interested to know what Cyril's books are like. I notice there's a few for sale on Amazon. Click here.

The one and only review on Amazon states: Minnie Ashe At War by Cyril Kersh 25 Aug 2011

A superb sequel to Aggravations Of Minnie Ashe. Cyril Kersh at his humorous,observant best. Was prompted to buy every one of his books and was not disappointed. Such a shame that he died before he could become more widely known. Recommended for a light read with lots of amusing and poignant touches.

Just finished Prelude to a Certain Midnight in a 1953 Penguin “Mystery and Crime” edition. It must have unsettled the regular readers of green Penguins since, although there is a murder, a detective, and a murderer, it is not a whodunnit - the real mystery being why Asta Thundersley slapped Catchy, which is ultimately resolved in a quite devastating way. The novel is (mainly) set in the London of 1935 or thereabouts and Kersh has fun caricaturing the regulars of the Bar Bacchus, with a few descriptions which had me cackling. One faded beauty has eyes that look like “a couple of cockroaches desperately swimming in two saucers of boiled rhubarb”. Oof. Another regular, an earnest Christian, has a project to modernize and dramatize the whole Bible, his rendition of Peter’s denial of Christ including: “This bastard with the beard was with that God-damn Radical agitator.” – “Who, me? Honest to God de dame’s screwy! I was not!” – “Why, you lying son of a bitch, you were so!” etc.

Not all humour, however. There is some quite unsettling (even uncanny) prose, particularly in the description of the derelict house in which the rape and murder of a young Jewish girl – a far nastier crime than I anticipated – took place.

Prelude to a Certain Midnight is not as realistic a slice of London life as Patrick Hamilton’s Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky – Kersh is too fond of caricature for that - and structurally it is distinctly loose at the seams. But it nonetheless struck me as a thoroughly original and distinctive work and one which I certainly enjoyed.

Many thanks to this thread, therefore. I doubt I would have discovered the works of Gerald Kersh without it.

Peter wrote: "Just finished Prelude to a Certain Midnight in a 1953 Penguin “Mystery and Crime” edition."

Splendid news Peter. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. My copy arrived a few days back and I will be reading it soon.

Peter wrote: "It must have unsettled the regular readers of green Penguins since, although there is a murder, a detective, and a murderer, it is not a whodunnit - the real mystery being why Asta Thundersley slapped Catchy, which is ultimately resolved in a quite devastating way."

I'm hooked already.

Peter wrote: "Prelude to a Certain Midnight is not as realistic a slice of London life as Patrick Hamilton’s Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky – Kersh is too fond of caricature for that - and structurally it is distinctly loose at the seams. But it nonetheless struck me as a thoroughly original and distinctive work and one which I certainly enjoyed."

Great news.

Peter wrote: "Many thanks to this thread, therefore. I doubt I would have discovered the works of Gerald Kersh without it."

I am very pleased to discover this thread inspired you to read one of his books. I will report back with my thoughts once I have read it.


Now then, I have not been idle on the Kersh front. I have just finished...



The Implacable Hunter - a vivid reimagining of Saint Paul's early years

Here's my GoodReads review...

I have only recently discovered the wonderful world of Gerald Kersh. Prior to this book I had only read two others, The Angel and the Cuckoo, and Fowlers End, both are filled with numerous colourful and distinctive characters, and some wonderful dialogue. Writer Paul Duncan, who is writing a biography of Gerald Kersh, stated "I have learnt there is a sizeable number of people who think that they are the only ones who read Kersh. You can always spot a Kersh reader - they have this inner light, this twinkle in their eye, that says 'If only you knew what I know.' They know about Kersh. It's their secret. The world is foolish and chooses to ignore him. Bad luck for the world. Good luck for us." Is that now changing? Perhaps there is a revival underway...

The Implacable Hunter is one of six titles that were republished by the wonderful Faber Finds imprint in October 2013 and November 2013. The others are The Best of Gerald Kersh, Sergeant Nelson of the Guards, The Horrible Dummy and Other Stories, The Song of the Flea, The Thousand Deaths of Mr Small, and this one, The Implacable Hunter. According to the London Books website, they will be republishing Prelude to a Certain Midnight too. Nightshade & Damnations was republished in April 2013 by Valancourt Books in the UK. Truly there are heady days for the Gerald Kersh cognoscenti. I hope his readers will expand with so many of his books being republished.

Unlike the other two books I have read by Gerald Kersh, The Implacable Hunter is not set in twentieth century London. Indeed it couldn't be further removed from that milieu. In this book Kersh attempts to gain a psychogical insight into the new testament figure of Saint Paul by reimagining his early years as Saul of Tarsus, the scourge of many Christians. The story is narrated by Diomed, a colonial Roman officer stationed at Tarsus, who becomes an increasingly worried friend and mentor to Saul.

Unlike my previous two books by Gerald Kersh, I found this book something of a struggle, and for that reason I would not recommend it to the first time reader. I was glad I stuck with it but ultimately was less enamoured by this book than the others I have read. That said, if you are interested in, or excited by, a vivid reimagining of Saint Paul's early years, then you will probably find much to love in this book. Anthony Burgess, in a 1961 review for the Yorkshire Post, was very fulsome in his praise. Either way, I would urge you to investigate Gerald Kersh and help the long overdue revival gain pace. 3/5

Finally treated myself to...




'Night And The City (1950) DVD

That's my Xmas viewing sorted out.

I've just tucked into the 1953 Penguin “Mystery and Crime” edition of 'Prelude To A Certain Midnight' -- courtesy of Mr Brokenmouth -- and am having a difficult time putting it down. I must admit, there's something immensely fucking satisfying about standing on an overly-crowded NYC subway train, during rush hour, reading a battered early 1950s paperback amongst the throngs of fellow commuters glued to their various e-readers.

Anyhow, absolutely enjoying it so far.

Meanwhile, a copy of Kersh's 'Fowlers End' has just turned up in the post. No prize for guessing my latest literary obsession.

Mark wrote: "I've just tucked into the 1953 Penguin “Mystery and Crime” edition of 'Prelude To A Certain Midnight' -- courtesy of Mr Brokenmouth"

This is splendid news Mark. Mr Brokenmouth is indeed a marvellous man.

Mark wrote: "I must admit, there's something immensely fucking satisfying about standing on an overly-crowded NYC subway train, during rush hour, reading a battered early 1950s paperback amongst the throngs of fellow commuters glued to their various e-readers."

I can well imagine.

#oldschool

Mark wrote: "Meanwhile, a copy of Kersh's 'Fowlers End' has just turned up in the post. No prize for guessing my latest literary obsession."

Very interested in your thoughts Mark. My personal favourite is still The Angel and the Cuckoo.

Here's a question relating to my earlier post. Should I read Night and the City before watching the film? Or the other way round?

Mark wrote: "I must admit, there's something immensely satisfying about standing on an overly-crowded NYC subway train, during rush hour, reading a battered early 1950s paperback amongst the throngs of fellow commuters glued to their various e-readers. "

That conjures up such a great picture, Mark!

I saw the film long before reading the novel, and doing so didn't seem to hamper my enjoyment of either. So, yeah, I'm not sure that it really much matters in the case of 'Night & The City.'

I've filed 'The Angel & The Cuckoo' onto my Amazon UK Wish List, and will add it onto my next bulk purchase.

Nigey, Mark, I am sorry to intrude but this seems an opportune moment to wish you both the comps of the season and a prosperous and peaceful 2014.

If you were to choose btw film & book of night & city and they are to hand... i strongly recommend - start with the book. Two main reasons apart from chronological; Kersh commented that he was the best paid writer in london after he saw the film, as the only thing resembling his book was the title... and second, the book is rather wonderful and personal, while the film, apart from period charm and so on, cannot live up to the book (and seeing the film first will interfere with your internal 'first time read' imagination.

if there's a big gap btw seeing film & reading book it prolly doesnt matter so much i spose.

I've always enjoyed the Implacable Hunter, in context with Kershs huge number of brilliant short stories its not as much of a stretch. Even me mum liked it...

i've greatly enjoyed learning from you both this year: thank you so much.

Mark - maybe you could wear period grubby uk clothing with his battered period books... just for travelling to and from work. Drop the occasional ration book and have the carriage in an uproar as everyone hunts for it...

Lastly, its going to be 43Celsius here today, so i'm going to telepathically send you some heat...

hugs and mental images of birds falling out of the sky ready-cooked

Robert

Robert wrote: "Nigey, Mark, I am sorry to intrude..."


Your "intrusions" are very welcome. Please feel free to intrude more often.

Robert wrote: "..comps of the season..."

And to you too Robert.

Robert wrote: ".. I strongly recommend - start with the book..."

Very helpful. It is usually the best way. And in this particular instance..

Robert wrote: ".. the film, apart from period charm and so on, cannot live up to the book (and seeing the film first will interfere with your internal 'first time read' imagination...."

Thanks again. I shall of course report back.

Robert wrote: ".. Mark - maybe you could wear period grubby uk clothing with his battered period books... just for travelling to and from work. Drop the occasional ration book and have the carriage in an uproar as everyone hunts for it......."

Now that is inspired. Please follow through on this Mark and then furnish us with descriptions of what ensues.

Robert wrote: ".. it's going to be 43 Celsius here today......."

Impossible. I think you must be dreaming.

Just finished 'Prelude To A Certain Midnight' last night, and enjoyed it quite a lot... the characters' names alone were worth the cost of admission, and the humour and satire kept it rolling right along.

In particular, I loved the schizophrenic nature of the novel -- the chapters of "The Murderer's" internal dialogue completely jumped out and stood apart from the remainder of the novel, while still fitting in completely.

Many thanks once again to Robert for sending the book... I'm absolutely planning on scooping up stacks upon stacks of Kersh in the very near future!

CQM has recently read...





The Angel and the Cuckoo by Gerald Kersh

This is what CQM made of it (as posted on the "Review the last book you read " thread (he rated it 5 stars)...

Brilliant. Who can fail to be charmed by a book in which one character pronounces the name Henceforth as "Anusfart"?

Kersh seems a little unfocused sometimes, like he was maybe a little manic. One character takes precedence before something else catches Kersh's eye and he'll be off and telling us a different story. For all that though it holds together extremely well. You care about everyone in this book from good natured Steve Zobrany, proprietor of the Angel and the Cuckoo cafe, around whom everything hangs to Gaza Cseh the little Napoleon who cheats and lies his way to Hollywood.

Tom Henceforth, the artists apprentice turned novelist who doesn't write is, on the surface of it, a thoroughly unpleasant chap but like most of the characters in the book you can't help liking him.
It also contains a superbly throwaway murder scene, lazy, almost somnambulant much like the killer.

It's funny and sad and sadly funny and that's just how I like it.
As an aside, I was pleased to see the author Guy Boothby get a mention in the sequence where Tom Henceforth tries to convince Geza to make a film star out of Era Moon. It reminds me that in The Gorse Trilogy Hamilton refers a couple of times to an author (in a vaguely disparaging way if memory serves)who's name I cannot for the life of me remember.

My Mum has told me about this author in the past and said how she and her brother used to avidly read his books of gentlemen of the road and highwaymen. Anyone remember what his name was?