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Reggie Oliver is one of the finest practioners of that strange & illusive art of writing 'strange' tales. They can be classified as horror, ghostly, grotesque, eerie etc. But they are supremely well-written, witty, and unashamedly erudite. This collection is no exception.Among its contents, the following works thrilled me most~1. A Donkey at the Mysteries;2. Tawny;3. The Devil's Funeral;4. Baskerville's Midgets;5. The Game of Bear (with M.R. James);6. The Endless Corridor;7. The Vampyre Trap (an...
I comment on each story in this thread:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...My ratings of the stories average out to 3.5, thus rounding up to 4 stars.
The "Madder Mysteries" portion that kicks off the book isn't exactly Oliver at his strongest ("Baskerville's Midgets" aside) but things really pick up with the newer 7 stories that populate the rest of the collection. "The Final Stage," "The Endless Corridor," "The Vampyre Trap" and "Porson's Piece" in particular were quite enjoyable.
Bowled over by my first encounter with Reggie Oliver. This short story collection is all killer and no filler. He’s absolutely the heir to M.R. James and Aickman, but there’s much more to these tales than strange or weird fiction. Oliver has such a distinctive English (as in British) voice; a cultured literary style, a lightness of tone, effortless use of wit and humour, an understated elegance, reminiscent of W. Somerset Maugham. As a reader, one just slips effortlessly into each story. Among t...
this may be the weirdest collection of short stories that i read so far, thirteen of which i read eleven, the shortest is six pages long, the longest twenty six. these stories are written in a classical ans elegant style of English prose that allows neo space for the popular writing. this being why i enjoyed reading them.
Reggie Oliver is very much the heir to a tradition of British weird writing that is unapologetically subtle, intelligent (even highbrow) and, in its frequent recourse to pastiche and imitation, M.R. Jamesian. Like Walter De La Mare, Elizabeth Bowen, and Robert Aickman, he's never afraid to make his readers put their shoulder to the interpretive wheel. He also offers pleasing variety in terms of setting, moving between centuries as well as crossing geographical and cultural boundaries. I'll confe...
This hardcover is numbered 18 of 400 printed and is signed by Reggie Oliver.From the Authors Note - "In 2009 'Ex Occidente Press' published a collection of my stories and some other pieces called "Madder Mysteries" it is now impossible to get hold of."Contains: From Madder Mysteries: 001 "A Donkey at the Mysteries"024 - ‘The Head"043 - "Tawny"053 - ‘The Devil’s Funeral"080 - "Baskerville’s Midgets"099 - ‘The Game of Bear" (with M.R. James) And more:115 - ‘The Final Stage"146 - ‘The Endless Corri...
Ah, Space Pilgrim, a new* Reggie Oliver. This one composed of thirteen stories, six previously published under Madder Mysteries** (composing about 40% of the total volume size) and seven written since Holidays from Hell. Most of those were printed elsewhere, first, usually in a themed collection. Two seem to be unique to this collection (and another, "The Final Stage", has previously existed in a different form). This means, depending on your collecting habits and reading habits, you stand a cha...
✭✭✭½“A Donkey at the Mysteries” (2008) ✭✭✭✭“The Head” (2009) ✭✭✭½“Tawny” (2009) ✭✭✭½“The Devil’s Funeral” (2009) ✭✭✭½“Baskerville’s Midgets” (2009) ✭✭✭✭ “The Game of Bear” (2009) ✭✭✭✭“The Final Stage” (previous version titled: “An Actor’s Nightmare”) (2017/2018 rev.) ✭✭“The Endless Corridor” (2017) ✭✭✭½“The Vampyre Trap” (2017) ✭✭✭“The Ballet of Dr. Caligari” (2016) ✭✭✭✭“Love and Death” (2017) ✭✭✭✭“Porson’s Piece” (2018) ✭✭✭✭“Lady with a Rose” (2018) ✭✭✭All stories by Reggie Oliver, except “The
THE FINAL STAGE“Even if you believe it to be a fantasy and completely untrue, you must believe that I believe it,…”A tour de force combined with a coup de théâtre, an unmissable Reggie Oliver work that is as effectively nightmarish as his ‘Flowers of the Sea’ story, and just as obliquely meaningful to our existence and closeness to madness. The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.Above is one of its observations at the time of the
