- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (Dec 6 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312874928
- ISBN-13: 978-0312874926
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 14 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 295 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,358,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This wonderfully eclectic and literate collection assembles most of the late author's short SF and fantasy not already reprinted in The Avram Davidson Treasury (1998), edited by Robert Silverberg and Grania Davis. The only well-known piece here is "What Strange Stars and Skies," a reworking of the Lady Bountiful legend with a slight Yiddish accent. The rest is still a virtual cross-section of the work of one of the field's most undeservedly obscure geniuses. "Great Is Diana" brings to life (in several ways) the distinctly un-virginal Diana of the Ephesians. "The Singular Incident of the Dog on the Beach," a brief and delicious Sherlock Holmes pastiche, mentions neither the great detective nor his medical sidekick by name. The Samuel of "One Morning with Samuel, Dorothy, and William" is none other than Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the romantic poet, and we see what really happened when that unexpected visitor from Porlock interrupted the composition of "Kubla Khan." Even when he addresses himself to what we would now call alternate history, as in "O Brave Old World!," the author's historical scholarship and command of the English language rapidly turn it into something rich and strange. One would hesitate to call this book essential for anyone except Davidson's faithful devotees, but for them it is absolutely essential.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.From Booklist
This collection of Davidson's short fiction is edited by two of his friends, scholars of his career, who, together with Davidson's longtime editor George Scithers, contribute brief afterwords to the selections. The editorial focus is on stories with historical settings. Some are fantasies; some, alternate histories (e.g., "O Brave Old World," which reworks the American Revolution); some, Sherlock Holmes pastiches (e.g., "The Singular Incident of the Dog on the Beach"); and some, as one could expect from Davidson--try "El Vilvoy de las Islas"--unclassifiable. "Mickelrede" is a posthumous collaboration with Michael Swanwick, and "What Strange Stars and Skies" is one of Davidson's major achievements. Although definitely for Davidson completists--most of his major work was collected in The Avram Davidson Treasury (1998)--there really is no such thing as minor Davidson in the eyes of his devoted followers, who will demand shelf space for this beside its big companion. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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All morning long the bells had been ringing, those bells which had been for a while silenced so that the sound of them might instantly signal if enemy troops were to land. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
All morning long the bells had been ringing, those bells which had been for a while silenced so that the sound of them might instantly signal if enemy troops were to land. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent strange stories of a 19th century that never was,
By
This review is from: The Other Nineteenth Century (Hardcover)
The Other Nineteenth Century is the third recent hardcover collection of a selection of Avram Davidson's short fiction, after The Avram Davidson Treasury (1998) and The Investigations of Avram Davidson (1999). Needless to say this is very welcome -- perhaps a reissue of the complete Eszterhazy stories (rumoured to be in the works), and a first collection of the complete Limekiller stories, and maybe one more collection of excellent leftover pieces would be nice. This collection is theoretically of stories set in some version or other of the 19th Century, though a few stories are actually set in the 20th Century, and one or two may be set in the 18th or earlier. But no point quibbling. The collection is marvelous. It displays Davidson's trademark wonderfully discursive prose, and his autodidact-style erudition, and his deep interest in the nooks and crannies of history. The stories span pretty much Davidson's whole career. Among the best: "What Strange Stars and Skies", about a virtuous do-gooder woman ministering to people in the slums of London who runs afoul of "that unspeakably evil Eurasian, Motilal Smith". "The Lineaments of Gratified Desire" aka "The Price of a Charm", about a man in the early part of this century deciding whether to buy a love charm or a hunting charm -- with significant results. "The Montavarde Camera" is a spooky story about a man with a nagging wife who buys the title camera only to learn its terrible power. The rather late "Twenty-Three", in which we slowly learn the horrible secret of an old family. Another late story, "El Vilvoy de las Islas", about a strange man living on a remote South African island. One of the last (perhaps it was the last) Eszterhazy stories, "The Odd Old Bird", more of a jape than anyhing. "Dragon Skin Drum", a dark story about two American servicemen in China, and Mao's revolution, and the ignorance of Westerners. And so on, and so on ... excellent excellent stuff.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Down Another Path,
By NNNNN "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Other Nineteenth Century (Hardcover)
Avram Davidson has written in the fields of fantasy, science fiction, mystery (he wrote several Ellery Queen stories)and history. The short stories in THE OTHER NINETEENTH CENTURY bring fantasy and history together as the author imagines events and instances in the 19th century that got nudged onto a different path. Such things as the American Revolution being a bit too successful , who really killed Lizzie Borden's parents and why or dining on an extinct species. Davidson does not have to create some outlandish speculation to make his tales work. The beauty of them is that it just takes a little bump to come up with something different. In the end its really great fun and you'll be wishing there was more.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wishing for more,
By
This review is from: The Other Nineteenth Century (Hardcover)
Davidson's quirky stories are a delight to read and reread. Well worth the investment and a worthy supplement to The Avram Davidson Treasury & The Avram Davidson Investigations. One hopes that the Jake Limekiller stories will be collected soon and that an expanded volume of Adventures In Unhistory is next on the list of publication.
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