Fearful Pleasures Explained

Fearful Pleasures
Author:	A. E. Coppard
Cover Artist:	Ronald Clyne
Country:	United States
Language:	English
Genre:	fantasy, horror short stories
Publisher:	Arkham House
Release Date:	1946
Media Type:	Print (hardback)
Pages:	xiii, 301 pp

Fearful Pleasures is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by author A. E. Coppard. It was released in 1946 and was the first collection of the author's stories to be published by Arkham House. It was published in an edition of 4,033 copies.

Contents

Fearful Pleasures contains the following tales:

1. "Foreword"
2. "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me"
3. "Clorinda Walks in Heaven"
4. "The Elixir of Youth"
5. "Simple Simon"
6. "Old Martin"
7. "The Bogie Man"
8. "Polly Morgan"
9. "The Gollan"
10. "The Post Office and the Serpent"
11. "Crotty"
12. "Shinkwin"
13. "Ahoy, Sailor Boy!"
14. "Gone Away"
15. "Rocky and the Bailiff"
16. "Ale Celestial"
17. "The Fair Young Willowy Tree"
18. "Father Raven"
19. "The Drum"
20. "Cheese"
21. "The Homeless One"
22. "The Kisstruck Bogie"
23. "The Tiger"
24. "The Gruesome Pit"

Reception

The New York Times reviewer Helen B. Parker praised Coppard's "great propensity for capturing with lucidity the folk speech of the British Isles", concluding that the collection contained "more than enough poetry of language. His is the rare, musical style that almost demands reading aloud".^[1]

References

• Book: Jaffery, Sheldon . Sheldon Jaffery

. Sheldon Jaffery . The Arkham House Companion . Mercer Island, WA . Starmont House, Inc.. 1989 . 1-55742-005-X. 19.

• Book: Chalker, Jack L. . Jack L. Chalker

. Jack L. Chalker . Mark Owings . The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998 . Westminster, MD and Baltimore . Mirage Press, Ltd. . 1998. 29.

• Book: Joshi, S.T. . S.T. Joshi

. S.T. Joshi . Sixty Years of Arkham House: A History and Bibliography . Sauk City, WI . Arkham House. 36–37 . 1999 . 0-87054-176-5.

• Book: Nielsen, Leon . Arkham House Books: A Collector's Guide . Jefferson, NC and London . McFarland & Company, Inc. . 2004 . 0-7864-1785-4. 59.

Notes and References

1. "Of Ghoulies and Ghosties", The New York Times Book Review, December 15, 1946