The World The Flesh The Devil

By Gerald Kersh

2006

First Published

4.60

Average Rating

300

Number of Pages

9H09M

Audio Length

Gerald Kersh was a prolific story-teller, who wrote long stories, short stories, dramatic stories, bizarre stories, scientific stories, supernatural stories, historical stories, and Biblical stories. His subjects covered almost every type of person you could imagine meeting: wrestlers and boxers, drunks and gamblers, poets and artists, vagabonds and kings, soldiers and reporters, freaks and geeks; and in the course of a writing career which spanned more than thirty years, ending with his death in 1968, he produced more than four hundred stories, none of which have been in print for almost forty years. For this first volume in Ash-Tree Press' series of The Fantastical Writings, editor Paul Duncan has selected twenty-five of Kersh's stories: two of the stories are collected here for the first time. With a seven page introduction by the editor. 500 copies printed. "settle back and enter the world of Gerald Kersh, where you will encounter the strong, long-living Corporal Cuckoo; the being who became known as 'The Brighton Monster'; the sad tale of Lalouette, the 'Queen of Pig Island'; the story of the final days of Ambrose Bierce; the madness of Dr Pelikan, who warns of the impending death of his colleague Dr Ox; and many, many more".

Avg Rating

4.60

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

60%

4 STARS

40%

3 STARS

2 STARS

1 STARS

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Author

Gerald Kersh

Author · 13 books

Gerald Kersh was born in Teddington-on-Thames, near London, and, like so many writers, quit school to take on a series of jobs—salesman, baker, fish-and-chips cook, nightclub bouncer, freelance newspaper reporter and at the same time was writing his first two novels. In 1937, his third published novel, Night and the City, hurled him into the front ranks of young British writers. Twenty novels later Kersh created his personal masterpiece, Fowler's End, regarded by many as one of the outstanding novels of the century. He also, throughout his long career, wrote more than 400 short stories and over 1,000 articles. Once a professional wrestler, Kersh also fought with the Coldstream Guards in World War II. His account of infantry training They Die With Their Boots Clean (1941), became an instant best-seller during that war. After traveling over much of the world, he became an American citizen, living quietly in Cragsmoor, in a remote section of the Shawangunk Mountains in New York State. He died in Kingston, NY, in 1968. (Biography compiled from "Nightmares & Damnations" and Fantastic Fiction.)