The good wit of bad manners, elegantly spiced with irony and deftly controlled malice, has made Saki stories small, perfect gems of the English language. Here for the first time, are the collected writings of Saki--including all of his short stories ("Reginald", "Reginald in Russia", "The Chronicles of Clovis", "Beasts and Super-Beasts" "The Toys of Peace", and "The Square Egg"), his three novels (THE UNBEARABLE BASSINGTON, WHEN WILLIAM CAME and THE WESTMINSTER ALICE), and three plays (THE DEATHTRAP, KARL-LUDWIG'S WINDOW and THE WATCHED POT. You are invited to meet once again Clovis, Reginald, the Unbearable Bassington, and the other memorable characters etched so superbly by the pen of H.H. Munro. "In all literature, he was the first to employ successfully a wildly outrageous premise in order to make a serious point. I love that. And today the best of his stories are still better than the best of just about every other writer around."--Roald Dahl. Introduction by Noel Coward.(less)

    In the pared-down style that has since become his hallmark, Carver showed us how humour and tragedy dwelt in the hearts of ordinary people, and won a readership that grew with every subsequent brilliant collection of stories, poems and essays that appeared in the last eleven years of his life.

    Found in a Champagne Bottle · ss Status, 1968 · Fondly Fahrenheit · nv F&SF Aug ’54 · Comment on “Fondly Fahrenheit” · ar · The Four-Hour Fugue · ss Analog Jun ’74 · The Men Who Murdered Mohammed · ss F&SF Oct ’58 · Disappearing Act · ss Star Science Fiction Stories #2, ed. Frederik Pohl, Ballantine, 1953 · Hell Is Forever · na Unknown Aug ’42· Adam and No Eve · ss Astounding Sep ’41 · Time Is the Traitor · nv F&SF Sep ’53 · Oddy and Id [“The Devil’s Invention”] · ss Astounding Aug ’50 · Hobson’s Choice · ss F&SF Aug ’52 · Star Light, Star Bright · ss F&SF Jul ’53 · They Don’t Make Life Like They Used To · nv F&SF Oct ’63 · Of Time and Third Avenue · ss F&SF Oct ’51 · Isaac Asimov · iv Publishers Weekly Apr 17 ’72 · The Pi Man · ss Star Light, Star Bright, Berkley/Putnam, 1976; revised from F&SF Oct ’59. · Something Up There Likes Me · nv Astounding, ed. Harry Harrison, Random, 1973 · My Affair with Science Fiction · ar Nova 4, ed. Harry Harrison, Walker, 1974

    Winner of the 1975 Hugo Award for Best Novella.Other short stories in this collection:With morning comes mistfallThe second kind of lonelinessOverrideDark, dark were the tunnelsThe heroFtaRun to starlightThe exit to San BretaSlide show