Fancies and Goodnights

Fancies and Goodnights
First edition cover
AuthorJohn Collier (fiction writer)
Cover artistMargot Tomes
LanguageEnglish
GenreSpeculative fictioncrime
PublisherDoubleday Books
Publication date
1951
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages364
OCLC1310633

Fancies and Goodnights is a collection of fantasies and murder stories by John Collier, first published by Doubleday Books in hardcover in 1951. A paperback edition followed from Bantam Books in 1953, and it has been repeatedly reprinted over more than five decades, most recently in the New York Review Books Classics line, with an introduction by Ray Bradbury. A truncated British edition, omitting roughly one-quarter of the stories, was published under the title Of Demons and Darkness.[1]

The collection is viewed as a classic of its genre. It won the International Fantasy Award for fiction in 1952,[2] as well as an Edgar Award for "outstanding contribution to the mystery short story."[3] It compiles most of the stories from Collier's prior collections as well as seventeen previously uncollected stories, several original to the volume. Collier reportedly rewrote many of his early stories prior to book publication.[4]

  1. ^ ISFDB bibliography
  2. ^ Locus Index to SF Awards
  3. ^ Anthony Boucher, "Criminals at Large", The New York Times Book Review, May 11, 1952, p.25
  4. ^ Everett F. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Literature, Kent State University Press, 1983, p.118