#482 in our old book database. Not rated.

Did not finish, because they are stories and i am doling them out as they are so much fun. Always dark takes on common folks- usually with a murder or two thrown in in a light hearted way. Example: 1st story (i think). Man is visited by 2 friends in a quiet town. They wonder where the wife is... strange that she is gone in the circs - he is digging the basement in an odd way (why?) and is evasive. Friends chat with him more or less forgiving him for murdering the wife because she is a notorious philanderer all about town casting great shame on the husband man. Finally they leave and the wife returns. The man casually invites the wife downstairs - to the basement - to show her something..... the end. Pretty delicious and so it goes - packed with witty murders and misanthropy. ( )

Another book from 1951, but these short stories were mostly written a decade or two earlier. They now appear in a kindle version in two volumes. I read the 32 stories in volume 1. John Collier was British born but lived for a time in Hollywood where he earned his living as a screenwriter for film and television, but he had success as a short story writer with many of these stories being published in the New Yorker.

The stories could be classed as entertainments with many of them having elements of fancy. Some of them were adapted for the television series Alfred Hitchcock presents and they would have been equally at home in The Twilight Zone. They are generally well written with Collier showing his screenwriting skills by introducing his scenarios quickly and effectively. Several of the best stories are crime dramas for example The Touch of Nutmeg Makes it. In this story two friends working in a research library befriend a newcomer from out of town, he is difficult to get to know but eventually opens up to reveal that he has recently been acquitted in a big murder trial; he tells his new friends it was a particularly frenzied murderous attack and they cannot believe that there new friend would be capable of such a crime, he invites them up to his apartment and mixes some drinks......

About half way through the collection I came across Great Possibilities and things began to get a little weirder; stuffed animals coming to life. Then there is Gavin O'Leary which is a story about a performing flea called Gavin O'Leary and Thus I Refute Beelzy which is a story of a child's imaginary friend coming horribly to life. This vein continues with Special Delivery where a shy young man falls in love with a mannequin in a Department store; Green Thoughts tells of a man eating plant that holds its victims still half alive within itself and we seem to have spilled over into Alien territory. There are a couple more crime stories before the final story The Chaser where a loving celebrity couple have acquired just one potion of eternal youth, which one of them should use it?

The stories are clever rather than being emotional portraits and they all work towards an interesting ending, which does not always feature a plot twist, but can leave the reader to make up his own mind how it might end. The dialogue is handled well enough and these scenarios take place in America, England and France; all places familiar to the author. I suppose the stories may seem a little old fashioned now, with many of them familiar to television audiences, but I found them amusing to read and so 3.5 stars. ( )

A few pages into this book, I was ready to declare Collier my new favorite writer. He has the delicious wit and dizzyingly addictive enthusiasm of Bradbury at his short best; his way with a phrase is positively Wildeian; when his endings are heat, they're really great.

But after a dozen or so stories, I started to think this collection is a bit less than the sum of its parts. Collier's stories concern the same general types of characters: young men with youthful obsessions, primed for an ironic education. Where Bradbury switches between gothic horror, southern pastoral nostalgia, and goofy comedy, Collier glides on more evenly. That makes his voice that much more recognizable, but it deflates this particular book as a whole.

This may just be a first-read impression, though. There's so much to like here—the extremely short form, the unforgettable phrases, the instantly classic twists—that despite its flaws, 'Fancies and Goodnights' is a story collection made to fall in love with. ( )

not every story is great but mostly humourous and quirky ( )