Happy Endings: 15 Stories by the Masters of the Macabre

by Damon Knight (editor)

Thurber, J. The greatest man in the world.
Dahl, R. The way up to heaven.
Nash, O. The purist.
Farmer, P. J. Father's in the basement.
Maugham, W. S. Miss Thompson.
Kanin, G. The damnedest thing.
Collier, J. De mortuis.
Saki. Tobermory.
Runyon, D. Undertaker song.
Rice, J. The idol of the flies.
Branson, R. The red-headed murderess.
Atkinson, H. The language of flowers.
Johnson, N. Ashes to ashes.
Babel, I. A letter.
Reed, K. Winter.

Genres: Horror

205 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Damon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, and critic.
Knight's first professional sale was a cartoon drawing to a science-fiction magazine, Amazing Stories. His first story, "Resilience", was published in 1941. He is best known as the author of "To Serve Man", which was adapted for The Twilight Zone. He was a recipient of the Hugo Award, founder of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), cofounder of the National Fantasy Fan Federation, cofounder of the Milford Writer's Workshop, and cofounder of the Clarion Writers Workshop. Knight lived in Eugene, Oregon, with his wife Kate Wilhelm.

Reviews

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of course, that's "happy endings" in the Hitchcock sense... ;)

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

15 stories about how happy someone (or something) is when the main character dies. How could I resist? It's a great idea for an anthology and I'm surprised it hasn't been done more often. Fifteen turned out to be just the right number of stories to present because it hasn't worn out its welcome.



The stories (from 1921 to 1972) are fairly short (no novellas here). It's like reading Twilight Zone episodes. Keep in mind that the deaths make characters happy -- not necessarily you. I didn't like the talking cat story and so that's why this gets four stars instead of five. That story did not make me happy.



Selections:

* "Introduction" by Our Editor.
* "The Greatest Man in the World" by James Thurber.
* "The Way Up to Heaven" by Roald Dahl.
* "The Purist" by Ogden Nash.
* "Father's In the Basement" by Philip Jose Farmer.
* "Miss Thompson" by W. Somerset Maugham.
* "The Damnedest Thing" by Garson Kanin.
* "De Mortest" by John Collier.
* "Tobermory" by Saki/H. H. Munro.
* "Undertaker Song" by Damon Runyan.
* "The Idol of the Flies" by Jane Rice.
* "The Red-Headed Murdress" by Robert Branson.
* "The Language of Flowers" by Hugh Atkinson.
* "Ashes to Ashes" by Nunnally Johnson.
* "A Letter" by Isaac Babel.
* "Winter" by Kit Reed.