Wednesday Open Mike: A Writer's Writer (OT)

["Open Mike" is the often off-topic Editorial page of TOP, in which Yr. Hmbl. Ed. sometimes wanders into double, double toil and trouble. It appears on Wednesdays.]

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Things have slowed down here as I'm a bit under the weather. I don't feel bad, but I'm very tired—listless—and once again I've got the voice I always wanted...about two registers lower than my normal voice. As often happens when I get a "bug."  :-)

An off-topic placeholder: If you remember the TV shows "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Tales of the Unexpected," and "The Twilight Zone," or ever watch them on YouTube, you might be interested to know that one of the strongest influences on that style of storytelling was a writer from the UK named John Collier, who wrote short stories among other things. Fourteen episodes of those three television shows came from Collier's short stories.

Collier, who never graduated from college but was an admirer of both Swift and Joyce, came to the US from England in 1935 and landed in Hollywood. But he was hardly a typical Hollywood writer. An early screenplay that flopped nearly wrecked Katherine Hepburn's career, and his style marks him as "a category of one," playful yet wicked, with plentiful overtones of myth and fantasy. He began a minor literary tradition when he wrote an anonymous negative review of his own whimsical first book His Monkey Wife, which was about a man married to a chimpanzee. "From the classical standpoint his consciousness is too crammed for harmony," goes his self-assessment, "too neurasthenic for proportion, and his humor is too hysterical, too greedy, and too crude." That might work as a review of some of those old TV shows.

His quintessential book of stories is Fancies and Goodnights from 1951, which won the very first International Fantasy Award as well as an Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America. The book was famous for years and is still in print. (The subtitle of the first edition [pictured], is "TALES UNLIKE OTHER TALES," and the book cover got that right!) If you'd like to read the first story in the book online, a tale of a treacherous genie in a bottle, as a sample, you can read it at Esquire magazine's website. Although a written story, you'll find it as short and to the point as the 22 minutes of a half-hour TV show.

There are also more complete compendiums, The Best of John Collier and The John Collier Reader. (I could swear I bought the latter, but it has mysteriously vanished.)

Collier was a favorite of many writers, including Roald Dahl as well as Ray Bradbury, who wrote the introduction to the linked edition. Other than his books, Collier seems to have left little trace: there are few interviews and not many photos. His biographer said of him: "Collier saw humans, flawed but with potential, everywhere contaminated by narrow creeds, institutions, coteries, vanities, and careers."

Anyway, try Fancies and Goodnights. Perfect reading if you're just a bit sick!  ;-)

Mike

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

jerry: "My mother bought me Fancies and Goodnights when was in junior high in 1969. I just reread it about two years ago. Uniquely lovely and wicked little tales. Truly unforgettable to the youngster I was then."

Matthew Liggett: "I haven't read Collier, but I will definitely give him a shot, thanks. Your post immediately reminded me of Ben Loory's Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day. Some are bleak and most are surreal. They're very short—what's sometimes called micro-fiction."

Mike replies: Those look wonderful. Thanks back at you!

Comments

[robert e]

Feel better soon, Mike.

It looks like His Monkey Wife is also still in print, and unlike the other books is available as an ebook as well, along with Collier's screenplay for Milton's Paradise Lost. What a fascinating writer. Thanks for the reading recommendation!

[robert e]

Update: I'm happily wrong, sort of. It turns out all of Collier's short stories have been collected in two ebooks called Fancies and Goodnights Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. (These aren't listed on his Amazon author page, though, nor at the moment mentioned on the pages for any of his print books.)

https://www.amazon.com/Fancies-Goodnights-Vol-John-Collier-ebook/dp/B00854KX2S/

https://www.amazon.com/Fancies-Goodnights-Vol-John-Collier-ebook/dp/B00A6IJ4QM

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0087WN0NW/

Even better (for me), my local library system has copies of "Best of" and "Reader".

[KeithB]

I would say that Richard Matheson was just as much an influence on horror/suspense based anthology shows.

[I believe Matheson was one of the creators of "Twilight Zone," among many other accomplishments, is that right? --Mike]

[Sharon]

My favorite I'm sick books are the Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout. I read them all when I was laid up for a few months after back surgery.

[KeithB]

Not a creator, but one of the go-to writers. It was really Serling's baby. He [Matheson —Ed.] also wrote "Duel" the TV movie that Spielberg masterfully directed.

[MikeR]

I need to remember, the next time I have "the voice," (usually at the tail end of a cold), to record myself singing some basso profundo tunes.

"Many brave hearts are asleep in the deep so beware! Beware!" (Be - ee - ee - ee - waaaare)

I'd also borrow my wife's electronic tuning meter, to see if I really get down to about 16 cps.

One way to get a little pleasure out of feeling like crap.

[FrankB]

What a coincidence. I have lately been watching Mr Sci-Fi on YouTube and he speaks highly of Collier and others who wrote for the Twilight Zone, some of whom were mentored by Ray Bradbury. I was intrigued as I have not read them and you provided an easy link to buy it. One should not ignore a coincidence like that and I clicked the link and bought the book plus one by Matheson.
Here is a link to the story of how Ray Bradbury and Rod Serling had a falling out after Ray had steered Rod to study Collier and others. Ray had intended to be a regular writer on the Twilight Zone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bhvb8Tmi38

[Don McConnell]

Thanks for this tip Mike, I will seek out his work. Tales of the Unexpected and The Twilight Zone were teenage favourites of mine (I’m 53 now..). I must watch some of those episodes again!

[KeithB]

If you are interested in some of these older authors, Dr SkySull at Skulls in the Stars has many reviews as well as some interesting history of science stuff.

https://skullsinthestars.com

[Mark Rouleau]

I'd just like to say "The Chaser" is one of the great studies in writing economy. And I believe "Evening Primrose" was made into a Broadway musical(!).

Someone once described Collier as a writer who's stories you never remember the titles, but you could always describe them to your friends as "the one where …"

[Chris]

Some of Roald Dahl’s short stories made it into at least a UK version of ‘Tales of the Unexpected’.