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The Idol of the Flies
As many readers know, we lost of one our greats when Jane Rice passed away in early March. For the last two years, Ms. Rice had been working with editors Stefan Dziemianowicz and Jim Rockhill on the preparation of a volume that would collect all of her weird and macabre tales in one massive tome. While we are bitterly disappointed that Ms. Rice was unable to see the finished book, we believe it is one that she would have been well pleased with.
The Idol of the Flies is a massive retrospective of Jane Rice's sixty-year career in weird fiction. From her earliest stories for John Campbell's Unknown Worlds, through the 1950's tales written for Charm and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science-Fiction, to the recent novelette "The Sixth Dog", all of Ms. Rice's macabre fiction is collected in this book. Editors Stefan Dziemianowicz and Jim Rockhill have done a splendid job of tracking down stories from a wide variety of sources. Ms. Rice herself did revisions on several pieces to restore previously excised supernatural elements.
Rumor has long been rampant of "missing" Jane Rice stories written for Campell's Unknown Worlds. We're pleased to report that those stories have been found and while not restored exactly to their original form, they now represent the author's preferred version.
CONTENTS:
Introduction [Stefan R. Dziemianowicz]
The Idol of the Flies
The Crest of the Wave
The Golden Bridle
The Dream
The Elixir
The Forbidden Trail
The House
Magician’s Dinner
Pobby
The Refugee
The Cats
The Mystery of the Lion Window
The Crossroads
The Misfits
The Last Straw
The Loolies Are Here [First appeared under the pseudonym Allison Rice]
A Difficult Subject
The Rainbow Gold
The White Pony
The Willow Tree
The Sixth Dog
The Stalkers
Afterword [Jim Rockhill]
The Idol of the Flies is a massive retrospective of Jane Rice's sixty-year career in weird fiction. From her earliest stories for John Campbell's Unknown Worlds, through the 1950's tales written for Charm and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science-Fiction, to the recent novelette "The Sixth Dog", all of Ms. Rice's macabre fiction is collected in this book. Editors Stefan Dziemianowicz and Jim Rockhill have done a splendid job of tracking down stories from a wide variety of sources. Ms. Rice herself did revisions on several pieces to restore previously excised supernatural elements.
Rumor has long been rampant of "missing" Jane Rice stories written for Campell's Unknown Worlds. We're pleased to report that those stories have been found and while not restored exactly to their original form, they now represent the author's preferred version.
CONTENTS:
Introduction [Stefan R. Dziemianowicz]
The Idol of the Flies
The Crest of the Wave
The Golden Bridle
The Dream
The Elixir
The Forbidden Trail
The House
Magician’s Dinner
Pobby
The Refugee
The Cats
The Mystery of the Lion Window
The Crossroads
The Misfits
The Last Straw
The Loolies Are Here [First appeared under the pseudonym Allison Rice]
A Difficult Subject
The Rainbow Gold
The White Pony
The Willow Tree
The Sixth Dog
The Stalkers
Afterword [Jim Rockhill]
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
372 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
2 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Jane Dixon Rice
13 books1 followerAlso published as Allison Rice when collaborating with Ruth Allison.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 24, 2012
Jane Rice, like numerous other authors who had left a large wake in the pulpy waters in 1940-s & 50-s, is almost forgotten today. The present volume under review, like other ‘Midnight House’ volumes, had sought to rectify the situation by bringing back her supernatural & other fantastic (I use the term to describe genre as well as an adjective) works. The stories have been presented chronologically as well according to the genres which show the different stages of her writing, to meet the changing demands of the market. Since they made different kinds of impressions upon me, I am separating them into Parts A, B, C etc.
The contents are: -
(*) Introduction by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, that provides biographical information as well as a snapshot of her literary career.
PART-A: Supernatural tales in the 1940-s
1. The Idol of the Flies: a remarkable story that deals with a taboo subject (cruel & criminalistics child) and provides for a delicious comeuppance for the deserving party.
2. The Crest of the Wave: a noirish take on “revenge-from-beyond-the-grave” theme, amongst the seamier citizens of Manhattan.
3. The Golden Bridle: a fantasy without any sweet ending,
4. The Dream: this theme would be revisited by Basil Copper in his “The Janissaries of Emillion”, but this story is simply superb in its construction, gentle touches of humour, the nerve-wrecking build up, and climax.
5. The Elixir: a tremendously funny story of witchcraft, time-travel and party crashing.
6. The Forbidden Trail: the ABSOLUTELY BEST Zombie story that I have ever read. Period.
7. The House: was it paranoia, delusion, or actually a curse upon the incumbents being materialised through the residence?
8. Magician’s Dinner: Once again, Rice’s sense of humour makes this story of supernatural “assistance” more delicious than most stuff that I have recently read.
9. Pobby: writers should be very careful about what they write, esp. if their characters & events turn out to be real!
10. The Refugee: if you think that you have read all the possible ‘type’-s of werewolf stories, then this is the chance to change that opinion. Read this story, and be totally awed by the audacity of the author (almost the same brevity had been shown by Bob Leman in his “The Pilgrimage of Clifford M.”, although his subject as well as tone was different).
11. The Cats: the genius of the author can be appreciated from this tale where, even while making us smile with all the funny & relaxing touches being expressed through the voice of the narrator, she makes us more & more scared as we start to visualise what exactly is happening in the empty house.
12. A Difficult Subject: can husband-wife banter be funny as well as scary? You bet!
PART-B: Fantasy (and nominally Science Fiction) in 1960-s
13. The Loolies Are Here: a delightful story, told from the perspective of a hassled housewife.
14. The Rainbow Gold: fantasies can be genuinely funny, and this one is an example.
15. The White Pony: a sombre & moody piece.
16. The Willow Tree: this story is pretty difficult to classify, since it mixes in a lot of ingredients: time-travel (and paradox caused by that), ghosts, and an ambiguous ending.
PART-C: Darker stuff of 1980-s
17. The Mystery of the Lion Window: the sordid saga of an ‘aristocratic’ family (question that would never be answered: why didn’t Rice bring back Daniel Zysik, the creator of Peabody the detective, to solve a few more mysteries?).
18. The Crossroads: a grim and devastating story of loss, without any retribution for the perpetrators.
19. The Misfits: was this a funny story that became dark, or a dark story that showed a few funny flashes because Rice’s superb sense of humour could not be suppressed?
20. The Last Straw: peaceful & serene life in the country can actually hide lots of turbulence underneath, and once they are unleashed…….
21. The Stalkers: the author gets punished for all the injustice that she had inflicted upon the different characters that she had created over time, but this theme had been handled with a lot more finesse in “Pobby”.
PART-D: Last Flash
22. The Sixth Dog: this story brightens up the collection before it finishes. With its mixture of fantasy, comic touches, and all the indications of a horrifying truth being glossed over by other things, this is Jane Rice at her best. Too bad that the market hadn’t allowed her to produce such exquisite pieces at a greater frequency after the 1940-s!
(*) Afterword by Jim Rockhill provides vital bibliographical information, and also echoes some of the laments that any reader of this book would have expressed (as I have done above).
Highly recommended.
The contents are: -
(*) Introduction by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, that provides biographical information as well as a snapshot of her literary career.
PART-A: Supernatural tales in the 1940-s
1. The Idol of the Flies: a remarkable story that deals with a taboo subject (cruel & criminalistics child) and provides for a delicious comeuppance for the deserving party.
2. The Crest of the Wave: a noirish take on “revenge-from-beyond-the-grave” theme, amongst the seamier citizens of Manhattan.
3. The Golden Bridle: a fantasy without any sweet ending,
4. The Dream: this theme would be revisited by Basil Copper in his “The Janissaries of Emillion”, but this story is simply superb in its construction, gentle touches of humour, the nerve-wrecking build up, and climax.
5. The Elixir: a tremendously funny story of witchcraft, time-travel and party crashing.
6. The Forbidden Trail: the ABSOLUTELY BEST Zombie story that I have ever read. Period.
7. The House: was it paranoia, delusion, or actually a curse upon the incumbents being materialised through the residence?
8. Magician’s Dinner: Once again, Rice’s sense of humour makes this story of supernatural “assistance” more delicious than most stuff that I have recently read.
9. Pobby: writers should be very careful about what they write, esp. if their characters & events turn out to be real!
10. The Refugee: if you think that you have read all the possible ‘type’-s of werewolf stories, then this is the chance to change that opinion. Read this story, and be totally awed by the audacity of the author (almost the same brevity had been shown by Bob Leman in his “The Pilgrimage of Clifford M.”, although his subject as well as tone was different).
11. The Cats: the genius of the author can be appreciated from this tale where, even while making us smile with all the funny & relaxing touches being expressed through the voice of the narrator, she makes us more & more scared as we start to visualise what exactly is happening in the empty house.
12. A Difficult Subject: can husband-wife banter be funny as well as scary? You bet!
PART-B: Fantasy (and nominally Science Fiction) in 1960-s
13. The Loolies Are Here: a delightful story, told from the perspective of a hassled housewife.
14. The Rainbow Gold: fantasies can be genuinely funny, and this one is an example.
15. The White Pony: a sombre & moody piece.
16. The Willow Tree: this story is pretty difficult to classify, since it mixes in a lot of ingredients: time-travel (and paradox caused by that), ghosts, and an ambiguous ending.
PART-C: Darker stuff of 1980-s
17. The Mystery of the Lion Window: the sordid saga of an ‘aristocratic’ family (question that would never be answered: why didn’t Rice bring back Daniel Zysik, the creator of Peabody the detective, to solve a few more mysteries?).
18. The Crossroads: a grim and devastating story of loss, without any retribution for the perpetrators.
19. The Misfits: was this a funny story that became dark, or a dark story that showed a few funny flashes because Rice’s superb sense of humour could not be suppressed?
20. The Last Straw: peaceful & serene life in the country can actually hide lots of turbulence underneath, and once they are unleashed…….
21. The Stalkers: the author gets punished for all the injustice that she had inflicted upon the different characters that she had created over time, but this theme had been handled with a lot more finesse in “Pobby”.
PART-D: Last Flash
22. The Sixth Dog: this story brightens up the collection before it finishes. With its mixture of fantasy, comic touches, and all the indications of a horrifying truth being glossed over by other things, this is Jane Rice at her best. Too bad that the market hadn’t allowed her to produce such exquisite pieces at a greater frequency after the 1940-s!
(*) Afterword by Jim Rockhill provides vital bibliographical information, and also echoes some of the laments that any reader of this book would have expressed (as I have done above).
Highly recommended.
July 17, 2025
This story happened to be in a compilation of short horror stories by different authors I had bought some months ago. According to what I've read, finding a printed copy of this story is quite rare, so I suppose I got really lucky.
It is genuinely creepy, I loved it. It is fascinating to know that it was written in 1942 because when I read the title, I immediately thought of ''Lord of the Flies'' by William Golding, so I thought this story's title was inspired by it, but that's not the case since this was written 12 years before Golding's book. Interestingly enough, both stories deal with children who do cruel things.
The writing is very unique, especially the one used to describe Pruitt's thoughts. He is just pure evil. There's no sad background or anything, he was genuinely born like that, even being happy when his parents died.
The part where the deity shows up was terrifying, the description of the face, the shadows, just incredibly immersive. How he kept asking Pruitt the questions gave me chills.
The ending was fitting and deserving, I was honestly so pleased with this story. It is certainly the best one I've read so far in this compilation book that has stories by other authors such as Robert Bloch, Joseph Payne Brennan and Ray Bradbury.
It is genuinely creepy, I loved it. It is fascinating to know that it was written in 1942 because when I read the title, I immediately thought of ''Lord of the Flies'' by William Golding, so I thought this story's title was inspired by it, but that's not the case since this was written 12 years before Golding's book. Interestingly enough, both stories deal with children who do cruel things.
The writing is very unique, especially the one used to describe Pruitt's thoughts. He is just pure evil. There's no sad background or anything, he was genuinely born like that, even being happy when his parents died.
The part where the deity shows up was terrifying, the description of the face, the shadows, just incredibly immersive. How he kept asking Pruitt the questions gave me chills.
The ending was fitting and deserving, I was honestly so pleased with this story. It is certainly the best one I've read so far in this compilation book that has stories by other authors such as Robert Bloch, Joseph Payne Brennan and Ray Bradbury.
March 17, 2024
Un niño cruel y pestilente invoca demonios por diversión ¿Quién no adora a los niños malévolos?
Fría, repugnante y perversa. No, no hablo de la industria pop, hablo de la trama de esta mórbida historia de un pequeño niño y sus inofensivos amigos imaginarios: Demonios sedientos de sangre. La historia es bastante corta pero concisa, transmite una tensión densa como agua estancada, es refrescante ver a un niño ser un villano vil y despreciable sin el menor rastro de bondad en su ser.
Pruitt es un niño francamente demoníaco, adorador de idolos diabólicos, carente de empatía, un psicópata en desarrollo, un asesino de animales y el pequeño líder de un culto, es perfecto.
Si El Ídolo De Las Moscas fuese adaptado en alguna producción cinematográfica, no dudo que se volvería una opción predilecta para los fans de las obras de culto.
Esta historia fue publicada originalmente en 1942 por la revista Unknown Worlds, y luego reeditado por Alfred Hitchcock en la antología "Historias Que Mi Madre Nunca Me Contó".
Fría, repugnante y perversa. No, no hablo de la industria pop, hablo de la trama de esta mórbida historia de un pequeño niño y sus inofensivos amigos imaginarios: Demonios sedientos de sangre. La historia es bastante corta pero concisa, transmite una tensión densa como agua estancada, es refrescante ver a un niño ser un villano vil y despreciable sin el menor rastro de bondad en su ser.
Pruitt es un niño francamente demoníaco, adorador de idolos diabólicos, carente de empatía, un psicópata en desarrollo, un asesino de animales y el pequeño líder de un culto, es perfecto.
Si El Ídolo De Las Moscas fuese adaptado en alguna producción cinematográfica, no dudo que se volvería una opción predilecta para los fans de las obras de culto.
Esta historia fue publicada originalmente en 1942 por la revista Unknown Worlds, y luego reeditado por Alfred Hitchcock en la antología "Historias Que Mi Madre Nunca Me Contó".
June 24, 2024
Entertaining pulpy and weird
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews