Book Description
This new book of mine is a collection of 36 stories all featuring a character called Thornton Excelsior, a man who exists in many different places at many different times, and the plots of his exploits are driven by the logic of word-and-ideas association rather than empirical causation.
This is the kind of story I most enjoy writing, but unfortunately ‘paradoxical/philosophical fantasy’ is not a very popular ‘genre’.Ah well, I love it nonetheless!
He’s a member of the Eldritch Explorers’ Club.
In praise of Hughes:
“Imagine (if you dare) a whimsical marriage of Lord Dunsany and S.J. Perelman, and you have something approaching the tales of Rhys Hughes, filled with gaudy colour, slapstick, puns, fantastic creatures, and the occasional unexpected chill. Hughes’ world is a magical one – and his language if the most magical thing of all.” – Ted Klein, author of The Ceremonies
“The stories are essentially literature in its purest form – wonderfully rumbustuous, humorous, word-magical fantasies, liberally peppered with honest-to-goodness horror. They remind me of Lord Dunsany, John Barth, Jorge Luis Borges, Jack Vance, involving fabulous traditions of surrealism, fairy stories and piquant wit . . . Rhys Hughes’ book is one that I had dreamed of reading but never thought I’d be so lucky ever to do so in real life.” – Deathrealm
“Rhys Hughes is a very good writer . . . a fabulist whose sense of the absurd is peerless.” – Grotesque
“The overall tone is one of disturbing, occasionally shocking surrealism . . . fans and others who are looking for something significantly offbeat in supernatural fiction will be delighted with this, his first book.” – All Hallows
Contents:
- An Inconvenient Fruit
- The Maze
- Hatstands on Zanzibar
- The Porcelain Pig
- Mad March Stylist
- Tears of the Mutant Jesters
- The Paradoxical Pachyderms
- The Integers
- The Shrug
- The Longest Name
- The Esplanade
- The Rotten Otter
- The Ducks of Hazard
- Knight on a Bear Mountain
- The Cheeky Monkey
- The Melody Tree
- The Reversed Comma
- Black Ops
- The Burning Ears
- The Gates of Corn and Toffee
- Whether the Weatherman
- Note to Oneself
- Said the Spook
- The Notorious Unclemuncher
- Read All About It
- Putting Things Off
- The Parable of the Homeless Fable [1]
- The Canapés of Wrath
- The Plug
- The Queue
- Fossils
- The Heat Death of Mr Universe
- The Infringement
- The Television
- The Lock of Love
- Sheer Lunar Sea
- My Bearable Smugness
- Doom It Heavenwards [1]
The cover Artwork
It was created by Emmet Jackson, who also did the cover for his novel The Young Dictator.
Details Paperback
- First Edition: 1994
- Publisher: Dog Horn Publishing
OK folks. The limited edition of THE LUNAR TICKLE… This is how it works. Twenty people will be given the chance to be the main character in the book. Only twenty and no more. If you are interested, simply let me know. When I have twenty names the offer will close. I will create a version of the book in which each of the chosen twenty become the main character.
30.04.2014
External links
Notes
[1] The limited edition contains this two extra stories. The trade paperback won’t have The Parable of the Homeless Fable and Doom It Heavenwards.
