Dead of Night

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Christmas Spirits: Ghost Stories of the Festive Season

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The Ghost Ship: Stories of the Phantom "Flying Dutchman"

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Great Irish Tales of Fantasy

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Restless Bones (An Armada original)

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Knights of Madness

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Woody Allen, Peter S. Beagle, Ray Bradbury, Spike Milligan, Terry Pratchett, Peter Sellers, Mark Twain, Orson Welles... and 16 more sensational scribes expose the wacky side of Camelot, the Holy Grail, and other tourist traps, in this outrageous collection of outlandish tales of chivalry and chicanery. Here is the very best in fantasy humor. Really. No kidding.

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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

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Customer Reviews

Sci-fi madness tickles the funny bone.
This is an anthology from the best in the business. Covering all topics from Medieval knights to chickens crossing the road, this book will have you in stitches. Featuring names like Ray Bradbury, Orsen Wells, Woody Allen and Peter Sellers, Knights of Madness is a read you won't want to miss.

2000-09-04 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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great collection
Knights of Madness is aptly named. The twenty-four stories in this volume, from some of the maddest minds in not only literature, but entertainment, are divided into three parts, "Flights of Fantasy: stories of the absurd," "The Muddled Ages: tales of heroic times," and "Malice in Blunderland: cases of crime." However they're billed, such luminaries as Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Mark Twain, Orson Welles, A. A. Milne, Woody Allen, G. K. Chesterton, and Peter Sellers, provide phenomenally entertaining fare with such topics as how to make love to a werewolf, yet another look at why the chicken crossed the road, a medieval romance from one of the greatest minds in literature. These stories that range from the merely hilarious to the absolutely stunningly brilliant, remind us of how much fun it is to read.

Congratulations to Peter Haining and to Ace for putting together this excellent collection.

Rickey R. Mallory

2000-04-30 | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 5

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what a great idea!
This is a terrific collection of 24 pieces from the leading humorists of our times. This eclectic mix will introduce you to worlds you never dreamed, insane situations and wacky perspectives which is just what we all need. I couldn't put it down and read it deep into the night.......

2000-04-28 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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