Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #521031 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 244 pages

Review
British comedian's debut collection of weird urban fantasies. .Set in contemporary London or in the English countryside, these dozen urban pieces from Dyson, a member of the comedy duo League of Gentlemen seen here on cable (Comedy Central), are reminiscent of the short fiction published in the American pulp magazines "Weird Tales "and "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction "(and dramatized on TV in "Twilight Zone "and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"). In "City Deep," one of three stories included here that have been published previously, a miserable claustrophobe reluctantly takes the London Underground, only to discover that the train he's riding is filled with denizens of a frightful world below his own. "Love in the Time of Molyneux" describes a shy, one-armed misanthrope who permits himself to be seduced by a sexy avenging angel; what the angel wants is to teach the misanthrope's conceited, womanizing roommate that he's not the Messiah. Similar revenge scenarios deliver supernatural justice on a fatuous magician in "We Who Walk Through Walls" and on a pompous art instructor in "A Slate Roof in the Rain." Not all the twist endings are downbeat: another shy fellow, after stumbling on a fortunetelling ATM that dispenses advice to the lovelorn, works up the courage to confess his love to his girlfriend. Another social misfit visits an Asian bordello in "All in the Telling," the gem that closes the collection, in order to enjoy an eerie congruence between sex and storytelling. .Quirky, erotic, vaguely sinister explorations of mostly lonely outsiders who find their secret expectations fulfilled by sudden, inexplicable events.. (Kirkus Reviews)

OBSERVER
'A striking debut. His stories nestle in the little vacant chink
between Roald Dahl and Borges'

DAILY EXPRESS
'Darkly surreal humour . . . seemingly innocent scenarios that
veer into deep weirdness'

Customer Reviews

Not bad, not bad at all
I really enjoyed this book. Dyson, who co-writes The League of Gentlemen, shows the same kind of dark and twisted humour that help make the BBC2 comedy one of the best things on the box. I'd recomend this book to anyone who possesses the ability to read, and to anyone else, get someone to read it too you.

Weird but so good!
I'm not usually one for short stories, but the write-up on Amazon prompted me to buy this book. I definitely don't regret it! I got into each story easily and was soon caught up in the strange, rather twisted, events within each one. Most of them left me feeling slightly unnerved, but satisfied at the turn of events and the conclusion. For anyone who likes something a little bit different, a little on the weird side, I'd certainly recommend "Never Trust a Rabbit".

differently refreshing
I got this book, like many others, because of the 'League of Gentlemen' connection. I didn't know what to expect, but when I started I couldn't stop. Read the whole thing on a Saturday. The stories are very different from each other, and Jeremy Dyson has an uncanny knack of making you imagine the whole thing in your head. Right down to the clothes the characters wear. He has a great way of telling stories, and these will leave you sometimes smiling to yourself, and sometimes feeling alone. That is the sign of a good book, and this one has all the right ingredients. Get this book and you will soon understand what feelings a great author can arouse. Well worth the money. Very very dark and very very deep. Enjoy. I did.