Knights of Madness by Peter Haining


Knights of Madness
Title : Knights of Madness
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 185723958X
ISBN-10 : 9781857239584
Language : English
Format Type : Mass Market Paperback
Number of Pages : 321
Publication : First published January 1, 1998

Following from his comic-fantasy anthologies The Wizards of Odd and The Flying Sorcerers, Peter Haining presents a third collection of oddities, now with a somewhat wider scope. Besides funny fantasy and SF, these 24 stories include absurdism, allegory, historical tomfoolery, and even offbeat crime fiction. They range from inevitable names like Terry Pratchett--here with an SF riff on the old mystery of why or how the chicken crossed the road--to unlikely ones like L. Frank Baum of Oz fame, who contributes a wholly uncomic murder story.

Jerome K. Jerome spoofs SF's utopian socialist futures, Robert Bloch introduces a Tuxedo of Invisibility into the lowlife world of Damon Runyon, Ray Bradbury is exuberantly funny about low-budget SF/horror movies, Peter Beagle explores the embarrassments of being a lady werewolf's boyfriend, Mark Twain deliberately paints his daft medieval-romance plot into a corner, John Kendrick Bangs invents a new and silly Munchausen adventure, and Gene Wolfe actually lives up to his splendid title "How I Lost the Second World War and Helped Turn Back the German Invasion." It's a wildly eclectic mix, whose famous names also include Woody Allen, G.K. Chesterton, Philip K. Dick, Mervyn Peake, Spike Milligan, A.A. Milne, Peter Sellers, and James Thurber.

Everyone has different views on what's funny and what isn't, and some of Haining's choices seem eccentric--but most readers should find enough chuckles in this plump anthology to make it well worth the price of admission. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk

Knights of Madness Reviews

  • Cheryl

    Not themed about knights. At least one was much more poignant than mad. Even using the broadest sense of 'speculative fiction' instead of fantasy, not all fit the genre. Many tales are not anthologized elsewhere because they're not worthy of being so, even those by some of my favorite classic humorists. Many are dated and sexist & otherwise stupid. I did learn that, apparently, the Luggage of Discworld gets married, so I'll have to look for that. Otherwise, I'm pretty much dissatisfied.

  • Sheri

    A very enjoyable collection of stories.

  • Lizzy

    rated 3.5 actually, but rounded up as some of the stories were very good! I enjoyed the introductions to each one almost as much as the stories themselves. TP's was a bit lame though.

  • RJC

    Amusing mix. Light read.

  • CALOY

    Great collection of short stories full of wit and humor through out. These book was able to deliver what it promised - a laugh-out-loud content. Some personal favorites were,

  • Notme

    I encountered an unexpected delay in getting Part 2 of Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy, and since I had this one on hand, I decided to give it a try. Honestly, once again I confirm my conviction that short stories are not my thing. Or maybe just this choice was not to inspired - I just took first thing to hand. Most of the stories in this anthology were out of print (with few notable exceptions, my favorite Terry Pratchett being one of the few) and for a good reason, in my opinion. Luckily it was not too long and therefore I was not stuck with it for more than a day. I stuck with it throughout - that's why 2 stars (in some cases sometimes even that is not possible), so it had some merit.

    And maybe it's just comparison to a book that I so thoroughly enjoyed as The Blade Itself does this anthology injustice...

  • Dolly

    Great compilation of strange stories, most filled with sardonic humor and ironic wit. Short, but compelling introduction for each story by Peter Haining which discusses some of the authors' best and best-known works. I will add some of these to my "to-read" list!

    I like the short story format, although it took me a long time to get through this book, since I usually only read one or two stories at a time.

  • Barbm1020

    THere's something for everybody in this collection of exceptional comic fantasy. I especially like "Hollywood Chickens" by Sir Terry Pratchett (also found in A Blink of the Screen) and "Three Months in a Balloon" by John Kendrick Bangs.

  • Andrew

    Another good collection, though some variance in quality of the stories. My favourites were Lila the Werewolf, The Little Man Who Wasn't All There, The Creation According to Spike Milligan, How I Lost the Second World War, Wot the Eye Don't See & The Dulwich Assassins

  • Karol

    Quite a good lecture. Most of the stories are really funny bot some of them are still worse than the others. All in all a good read.

  • David Melbie

    After getting into Pratchett, I was on a comic-fantasy kick. I loved it!

  • Tanvir Muntasim

    Mixed collection of stories, some hits and some misses. Stories by Woody Allen and Spike Mulligan are hilarious. Worth reading for tasting the diversity of the offering.

  • Laura

    Lots of really fun shorts in a mix of genres. There are several authors I want to check out after reading this!