Knights of Madness

Comic Tales of Fantasy #3

by Peter Haining (Editor)

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

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Humor, Anthologies, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

321 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Peter Alexander Haining was an English journalist, author and anthologist who lived and worked in Suffolk. Born in Enfield, Middlesex, he began his career as a reporter in Essex and then moved to London where he worked on a trade magazine before joining the publishing house of New English Library.

Haining achieved the position of Editorial Director before becoming a full time writer in the early Seventies. He edited a large number of anthologies, predominantly of horror and fantasy short stories, wrote non-fiction books on a variety of topics from the Channel Tunnel to Sweeney Todd and also used the pen names "Ric Alexander" and "Richard Peyton" on a number of crime story anthologies. In the Seventies he wrote three novels, including The Hero (1973), which was optioned for filming.

In two controversial books, Haining argued that Sweeney Todd was a real historical figure who committed his crimes around 1800, was tried in December 1801, and was hanged in January 1802. However, other researchers who have tried to verify his citations find nothing in these sources to back Haining's claims. A check of the website Old Bailey at for "Associated Records 1674-1834" for an alleged trial in December 1801 and hanging of Sweeney Todd for January 1802 show no reference; in fact the only murder trial for this period is that of a Governor/Lt Col. Joseph Wall who was hanged 28 January 1802 for killing a Benjamin Armstrong 10 July 1782 in "Goree" Africa and the discharge of a Humphrey White in January 1802. Strong reservations have also been expressed regarding the reliability of another of Haining's influential non-fiction works, The Legend and Bizarre Crimes of Spring Heeled Jack.
He wrote several reference books on Doctor Who, including the 20th anniversary special Doctor Who: A Celebration Two Decades Through Time and Space (1983), and also wrote the definitive study of Sherlock Holmes on the screen, The Television Sherlock Holmes (1991) and several other television tie-ins featuring famous literary characters, including Maigret, Poirot and James Bond. Peter Haining's most recent project was a series of World War Two stories based on extensive research and personal interviews: The Jail That Went To Sea (2003), The Mystery of Rommel's Gold (2004), Where The Eagle Landed (2004), The Chianti Raiders (2005) and The Banzai Hunters (2007).

He won the British Fantasy Awards Karl Edward Wagner Award in 2001.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knights of Madness edited by Peter Haining.

A collection of comedic fantasy short stories that started out well but petered out in quality towards the end. I think that 'comedy' stories tend to be unfunny word play or farcical, literary non sequiturs. Some might enjoy that kind of thing but it wasn't my style. I did like some of the stories like the one about chickens living on a roundabout in Holywood or a studen assassin's final practical exam.

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable collection of stories.

[Lizzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing mix. Light read.

[CALOY · Rating 4 out of 5]

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,

[Conor Mcvarnock · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories are all amusing enough but there are no real bangers. Still, many of these have been out of print out otherwise hard to find so well done for the preservation effort.

[Notme · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Paul Knighton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another diverse compilation selected by an editor with a long history of building such collections.

A great book to dip into as most stories are fairly brief.

As you can imagine, compilations are ideal for their giving you broad exposure to a great many authors, even if only some match your individual tastes. For me, I was glad of the new authors it brought to my attention to follow-up (as well as those to not, in some cases).

[Barbm1020 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of fantasy short stories, good, bad and indifferent.

[Karol · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Tanvir Muntasim · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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