Technical Slip: Collected Stories

by John Wyndham

A delightfully bizzare short story collection from the brilliant mind of John Wyndham, whom Stephen King called “the best writer of science fiction that England has ever produced.”

Take a journey into the extraordinary mind of one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant—and neglected—science fiction and horror writers, with fifteen stories that are bound to get under your skin.

Wyndham was a master of marrying the bizzare with the banal--taking everyday situations and adding a touch of the fantastic to shock and delight. A man on his deathbed is given the opportunity to re-live his life; a Welsh couple receives a mysterious egg from their son traveling abroad; a woman who writes a novel based on her vivid dreams discovers she isn't the only one experiencing them; a scientist seeks to create "the Perfect Creature"; a London commuter train becomes more and more packed, seemingly headed straight to hell...and more!

These stories are perfect for fans of cozy horror, and for the first time are being published along with Wyndham's classic murder mystery novella The Curse of the Burdens.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, Dragons, Crime

336 pages, Paperback

First published August 20, 2024

About the author

John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris was the son of a barrister. After trying a number of careers, including farming, law, commercial art and advertising, he started writing short stories in 1925. After serving in the civil Service and the Army during the war, he went back to writing. Adopting the name John Wyndham, he started writing a form of science fiction that he called 'logical fantasy'. As well as The Day of the Triffids, he wrote The Kraken Wakes, The Chrysalids, The Midwich Cuckoos (filmed as Village of the Damned) and The Seeds of Time.

Reviews

[LIsa Noell "Rocking the chutzpah!" · Rating 3 out of 5]

My thanks to Random House, a dead guy and Netgalley.
These aren't bad stories..heck, some "a few" are pretty damned good.
They are dated. I try not to put a "date" on stories. Mostly because I'm also dated. "How rude!"
Still, I. did manage to find a few.goodies here.

[Books_the_Magical_Fruit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here you will find sixteen of John Wyndham’s short stories, with a novella tacked onto the end. I enjoyed most of the short stories, and they are definitely worth reading…but man, that novella. I was decidedly not a fan. It felt much, much longer than only a novella, and not in a good way. I found myself struggling to get through it and wishing that Wyndham would just get to the point already. I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally finished it.

However, I did enjoy others. Some of my favorites were: “Chinese Puzzle”, “How Do I Do?”, “Una”, “The Wheel” and “More Spinned Against”.

Note: Wyndham’s writing is (obviously) dated. As in, 1940s-50s white male views. It’s especially annoying in the aforementioned novella, “The Curse of the Burdens”, in which the character Rose Ivory is described in a most patronizing manner, over and over again.

Ultimately, I give this collection a 3.5. Do I think Wyndham shows his mastery of the murder mystery genre in his novella showcased here? No, no I do not.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House - Modern Library for an eARC. All opinions are mine alone.

[Dakota · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting collection of short stories! Some stories were better than others, but I would definitely recommend this collection to readers looking for a short foray into the genre. There were some genuinely creepy moments that I appreciated!

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of stories by John Wyndham, better known for his SFF novels that involve ordinary people being thrown into extraordinary situations, some of which can be found in these stories. The stories range from the mildly fantastic to truly fantastic, with one murder mystery at the end. Some stories are dated, but others would not look out of place in a current-day anthology.

- Technical Slip: a dying man is offered a chance to live a whole new life. Only, there is a technical slip that must be resolved after the offer is accepted.

- A Present from Brunswick: a mother receives an unusual musical instrument from her son. Upon playing, it has an effect on others that results in the repeat of a fairy tale.

- Chinese Puzzle: a family in Wales receives a foreign egg sent by their son from China. When it hatches, it reveals itself to be an unusual creature that becomes a local curiosity. Only, one person does not believe what it is and sets out to disprove it, setting up a confrontation that would have an unexpected resolution when yet another creature appears.

- Esmeralda: the star of a flea circus would get caught up in a love triangle in a circus.

- How Do I Do?: after a break-up, a woman impulsively visits a fortune-teller. But what she reveals about the woman's future would turn into an unexpected trip and a meeting with a person she would least expect to meet.

- Una: a story of a spotting of unusual animals in a town, which leads two members of an animal rights group to a laboratory. There, they find unusual sights, including one named Una, who takes a liking to one of the animal rights persons, with rather hilarious, and ponderous, results.

- Affair of the Heart: two people have been meeting at a restaurant on the same day for many years. One is a woman who, when young, married a soldier who died during the war. The other was the soldier's companion, who every year asks her to marry him now. But this year, the woman's "No" to the companion would take a different meaning when a person, skilled in the art of reading the lips of others, decodes what her "No" really means.

- Confidence Trick: during an underground train journey, a small group of people suddenly find themselves making a journey to a different underground area. Things look grim until one of the members states his disbelief. Later on, that disbelief would go on to create even more trouble.

- The Wheel: a young boy horrifies a family when he creates a work of the Devil. His grandfather would explain what to him what he did, what may now happen, and how the future might be.

- Look Natural, Please!: a groom wonders why studio photographs of wedding couples always have a fixed smile. Convinced he can do better, he sets up his own photo studio with his own ideas on portrait photography to wide acclaim. But as the years past, others now question his style.

- Perforce to Dream: a new author submits her first novel, only to learn that another has also submitted a similar story. The story came to her in a dream, and apparently it was the same for the other author. The mystery deepens when a play is announced that is also similar. Only when a crisis occurs at the play is the mystery resolved.

- Reservation Deferred: a young girl is dying and is looking forward to going to heaven. Then one day, she is visited by a ghost and asks the ghost how heaven is like. Sadly, the ghost's descriptions of heaven don't match her expectations.

- Heaven Scent: a chemist discovers a scent that turns any woman in a heavenly presence to any males who smell it. But his unnoticed secretary would have other plans for it.

- More Spinned Against: the wife of a man who is fascinated by spiders discovers an unusual spider in his collection, which is revealed to be Arachne, the mythical mortal turned into a spider by Athena. Arachne makes a deal with the wife for freedom for a day. But what she does with the freedom would upturn the wife's world.

- Jizzle: a talented monkey is discovered by a man who works at a circus. He puts the monkey to work, making him wealthy. But the man's wife is displeased with the monkey, and things turn ugly when the monkey uses her talent to turn the wife away. The man then sells the monkey away, but his troubles are not over when the monkey makes use of her talent for revenge on him.

- The Curse of the Burdens: a family and their house live under an apparent curse, which causes each member of the family to die under strange circumstances, until only one man is left. Then, the man disappears, and a search is conducted by his fiancée. But the trail may lead through the fiancée's father and involved others who are investigating the murders and his disappearance.

[Jay Gabler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks Random House for the free book. This creepy new compilation showcases John Wyndham’s dark, witty stories — think classic “Twilight Zone,” with a twisty murder mystery novella thrown in.

[Silver Screen Videos · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I attended Saturday horror matinees at a local theater as a pre-teen, few movies actually creeped me out. Years later, I learned that two of the scary few, “Day of the Triffids” and “Village of the Damned,” were based on works by the same English author, John Wyndham. Although I enjoyed the movies, I never read the books they were based on. (“Village of the Damned” and its sequel, “Children of the Damned,” were based on Wyndham’s novel, “The Midwich Cuckoos.”) I assumed he was a typical sci-fi/horror writer of the era. However, I recently read “Technical Slip,” a re-issue of some of Wyndham’s short stories. These stories are darkly humorous, often with twist endings worthy of “The Twilight Zone” or “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” As in any collection, some are better than others, but fans of these types of stories will have a lot of fun.

First, some explanation about the collection. “Technical Slip” includes 15 short stories and novelettes that were originally published in 1954 under the title “Jizzle” (one story in the collection, as is “Technical Slip”). Wyndham wrote these stories between 1945 and 1954, with many appearing in “Argosy” and other American magazines. During the 1950s, Wyndham also wrote “Triffids,” “Cuckoos,” and the other novels for which he is best remembered today. The publishers of the current volume added Wyndham’s first published work, “The Curse of the Burdens,” written in 1927 (when the author was 24) under the pen name John B. Harris. (Wyndham’s birth name was John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris. The 1954 short story collection titled “Jizzle” is long out of print, as is “Burdens,” originally issued as a pulp paperback (and now in the public domain).

The short stories in the current collection are much better than “Burdens.” Most would be considered fantasy, with heavy doses of the supernatural. The author shows a dark sense of humor in almost all the stories, but, ironically, those that are the most comic are the weakest. My favorite story was “More Spinned Against.” As the title suggests, the story involves spiders or, more precisely, one particular spider. The main character, Lydia Charters, is a middle-aged housewife married to a man whose passion in life is collecting spiders. His latest acquisition is most unusual. As soon as I read about the hubby’s hobby, I knew the story wouldn’t end well, and it didn’t. However, the twist ending completely surprised me.

Another bizarre fantasy is “A Present from Brunswick.” The titular present is a recorder (a flutelike instrument) that a small-town woman receives from her son. When she plays it, the town’s reaction leads everyone to believe the recorder initially came from another small village, Hamelin, hundreds of years earlier. The current collection’s title story, “Technical Slip,” is a high-tech variation on the classic theme of selling one’s soul to the devil. Here, Satan isn’t interested in souls, but, instead, the lion’s share of the money wealthy dying people like Robert Finnerson accumulated over the years. In return, Finnerson goes back to his youth. As anyone who has read this type of story knows, things don’t work out how Finnerson hoped. But they also don’t work out the way the devil intended, since a technical slip occurred in granting Finnerson’s last wish.

Two of the better stories in “Technical Slip” have no fantasy elements in them. “The Wheel” is a cautionary science fiction tale in which a primitive society considers the wheel the world’s most evil object. As readers discover, the reason for that belief is quite logical. “Affair of the Heart” is a highly unusual romance. A man and woman have dined at the same French restaurant on the same date for over thirty years. This year, something shockingly different occurs. I can’t reveal any more details without spoiling the ending, but I could easily visualize this as an episode of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” “Jizzle” was adapted into a Hitchcock episode, although the story changed significantly. The title creature is a monkey who can create detailed artwork from scratch. However, the monkey’s creations prove to be rather embarrassing (or worse) for its models.

“The Curse of the Burdens” is the longest work in the collection, taking up one-third of the book. It’s a traditional mystery involving the suspicious deaths of two members of the Burden family, which owned a sizable country estate. The story jumps between characters a lot and is hard to follow at times. The eventual solution to the mystery isn’t very interesting either. Wyndham never acknowledged “Burdens” as his work during his lifetime, and it’s easy to see why. The book is a work of an author who’s still learning his craft. Wyndham then wrote (but never published) several mysteries after “Burdens” before turning to science fiction in the early 1930s. Based on “Burdens,” he made the right decision.

I liked about three-quarters of the short stories in the collection, with the others being worthy efforts rather than complete failures. “The Curse of the Burdens” is by far the weakest selection in the book and is worthwhile for Wyndham completists only. The other stories provide a wide variety of entertainment, surprises, and a few chuckles. Fans of the 1940s and 50s pulp magazines will enjoy these selections from one of the better authors in the genre.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.

[Simms · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had understood John Wyndham's reputation as being an early writer of science fiction, and while that may be true, the Stephen King blurb on this book (well, depending on your edition I suppose) is telling: these are definitely horror stories, aside from the tacked on thriller novella The Curse of the Burdens. In fact, Wyndham's influence on Stephen King is really quite clear - these stories feel like nothing so much as Stephen King short fiction, or I suppose it must be the other way around, except decades older and British. Sort of a Ray Bradbury feeling, as well (not surprising, as so many King stories also feel quite indebted to Bradbury). Quite enjoyable! But I do see why they republished this without using the original title of Jizzle, in 2024.

The Curse of the Burdens is quite forgettable, by comparison. I do find its inclusion interesting, as the Wikipedia article for Wyndham claims that it is often attributed to him but that there is no evidence he wrote it. There's no citation for that counterclaim. One wonders if Modern Library has different evidence that he did in fact write it? Surely the executors of Wyndham's literary estate, if such a thing exists, would have a say in the compilation of a new collection, but then again Burdens (from 1927) likely entered public domain in 2023 so perhaps they could just do what they wanted with it. Modern Library! Explain yourself!

Thanks to NetGalley and Modern Library for the ARC.

[Book Club of One · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technical Slip: Collected Stories is by science fiction author John Wyndham best known for The Day of the Triffids. It is a republication of 1954's unfortunately named "Jizzle," (pronounced as Giselle) slightly reordered with an additional novella added ("The Curse of the Burdens.").

All of his four best known works follow a muse through different post apocalyptic scenarios, but his short fiction his much more varied. While mostly falling into fantastical or science fiction based plots, ("Curse of the Burdens" an outlier that is more of a mystery). The stories here are about individuals caught up in there own mindsets and either taught a lesson or left not much changed. Many of the plots play out like a classic episode of the Twilight Zone. Plots include a woman sees her future and questions whether or not to change, a dragon hatches and becomes a focal point in a small town's politics, the dangers of knowledge to the youth or a talented monkey who's gifts include fomenting jealousy.

Highly readable, and despite their age, light on racism or problematic plot structures. They feature both male and female protagonists, the latter more unusual for the time period when these were first published.

Recommended to readers of classic science fiction or those who enjoy short fiction.

I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technical Slip contains 14 excellent short stories and one tedious novella by the author of The Midwich Cuckoos, the basis of the Village of the Damned movies.

The stories vary from science fiction to fantasy and even to comedy. All would be excellent choices for Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Indeed, Jizzle, about a monkey a bit too good at drawing was selected to appear on the classic series. Each story has a twist or irony about it keeping the reader reading. The sole exception was the novella, which was overly long and just fizzled out at the end.

As the introduction mentions, there is a bit of casual racism included, mostly archaic, hurtful labels and stereotypes. The sexism is rampant throughout the stories too. Thank goodness we have evolved from those ideas now.

Overall, the short stories within Technical Slip are definitely worth the readers time. Just skip the novella. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Modern Library for providing me with a review copy.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Wyndham is one of my very favourite science fiction authors, and I have several of his short story collections. I don't enjoy his short work as much as his novels, but he has a handful of really outstanding stories - only one of them, "The Wheel," is collected here. Even then, I think my liking for "The Wheel" is because it is a clear dry run for The Chrysalids, which is one of my top three sci-fi novels of all time.

Included in this collection is one story of his I hadn't read before: "The Curse of the Burdens," which is less a speculative short than a straight mystery novella, very much in the mould of Agatha Christie. It was alright, but why it was shoehorned in with the speculative stories here I cannot imagine.

[Randi · Rating 3 out of 5]

So after reading The Day of the Triffids, I wanted to read more of John Wyndham's works, mostly out of curiosity. Since he is a product of his times, his portrayal of women isn't . . . great, but it's not offensive either. Some stories I found not so great, but I did enjoy quite a few of the stories, particularly the flea tamer haha, and I could see how a lot of the themes and tropes he worked on have evolved over the years, which is fun to see! In all, it was interesting to see how SFF has changed and yet not changed much since the 50's and 60's.

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who's typically not very keen on short stories, I didn't find myself disliking a single story told here. I found all of them to be really enjoyable in their own way. Some of them were an interesting retelling, or a delightful way to look at life and death. Some of them felt quite wholesome and warm, while a couple were really more creepy if you thought about it! Absolutely worth the read in my opinion.

[sydney]

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this arc to review

I don’t want to say too much about this one because I’m just not the right person for it. This just wasn’t for me but that doesn’t necessarily speak to the quality. I enjoyed the themes and the vibes of the stories there was just a disconnect between me and the writing. Others would definitely enjoy this more than I though.

[Belinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting set of short stories with some good ending twists. Some better than others. Some of the stories are harder to read as the vocabulary and wording seems to be from the early 1800s. The novella is a little long winded and hard to follow and not as good as the short stories. An okay read.

[Lisa Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed how clever and creative the stories were but I didn't always enjoy the presentation -- sometimes the stories had trouble keeping my attention. This is a fun collection for people who enjoy odd sci fi/horror. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

[Jillian Kron · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me I’m not a huge fan of English goofy humor and found this less unsettling or horror/sci fi filled than advertised. Well written not for me

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even my childhood adoration of all things John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (and assorted aliases thereof) couldn't quite overcome my sense that many of these stories are decidedly a bit cack.