Rating: 
Summary: Ian Myles Slater on: A Complete Reprint
Review: "Fancies and Goodnights" is a superb selection of John Collier's short stories: the enthusiastic reviews on Amazon are a good measure of the response of many readers to his mixture of whimsy, satire, understatement, ingenious concepts, and very polite English bemusement -- with the first half of the twentieth century in general, and New York and Hollywood in particular.
I am adding this review to the chorus of praise because there is some possible bibliographical confusion (as an earlier reviewer briefly warned).
The title "Fancies and Goodnights" has been used for two related collections, one a shorter version of the other. The 1951 version, of which this "New York Review Books" edition is a complete reprinting, contained fifty stories. This is far and away the better of the two. It has been reprinted before; I have a copy of a "Bantam Giant" mass-market paperback from 1953.
A shorter edition, with only thirty-two of the stories, has also been published under the same title. A copy of this shorter "Fancies and Goodnights" I have on hand is an edition issued in the old Time Reading Program Special Edition series (1965). It includes much praise of Collier by Fred Hoyle (then at the height of his fame as an astronomer/cosmologist/novelist), but no notice (so far as I can see) that it was not the full version, and that a reader who knew the older form could search it in vain for a remembered story. Copies of this "revised edition" dated at least as late as 1980 are available.
I am not sure if the Time Reading Program edition was the first short-text version. I once did a library search for copies, twenty-some years ago, and I believe that I found at least one other such cut edition, from a different publisher, with the same reduced selection.
If you have one of these shorter versions, and are happy with it, you will almost certainly want the extra material available in the full version; some of the eighteen additional stories, at least, will be a real treat. If you are ordering a used copy, even if the publisher is not Time Life Books, you should try to compare the length to other editions.
To add to the complications, forty-one of these fifty stories were included, with some others not in "Fancies," in the collection "The Best of John Collier" (Pocket Books paperback, 1975). The six added stories *may* make that volume an attractive acquisition to a Collier fan, despite the extensive overlap; and if you already have a copy, you *might* want to consider a full copy of "Fancies and Goodnights."
However, "The Best ..." was itself a cut version of a larger volume!
"The John Collier Reader," a long-out-of-print omnibus, included, in addition to the forty-seven short stories found in "The Best...," two chapters from "Defy the Foul Fiend, or, The Misadventures of a Heart" (1934), and a complete text of another of Collier's novels, "His Monkey Wife, or, Married to a Chimp " (1930).
See what I mean about confusion?
(Unlike "Defy the Foul Fiend," "His Monkey Wife" is currently in print, also as a New York Review Book. The adventures of an educated chimpanzee who attempts to look after her feckless Englishman, it is, depending on your point of view, an attack on men, or on women, or on marriage, with just a touch of satire on the Empire. For many of those who react to it strongly, it is either offensive but very funny, or just offensive. There are those who find it too funny to be offensive. I don't find it *successful* enough to have a strong opinion against it... or for it. It seems to me to contain a brilliant shorter work stretched beyond its limits.)
It is great to have "Fancies and Goodnights" back in print. For John Collier's fans -- or at least the fans of his short fiction -- there is an unmet need for a really comprehensive collection of his stories. In a more ideal world -- perhaps one arranged by one of Collier's polished fiends or bewildered angels -- a large, and non-overlapping, collection of additional Collier stories would be available as well.
Rating:
Summary: This is one of my all-time favorite books
Review: Having lost my only copy of Fancies and Goodnights, I now wish that I had had the foresight to memorize some of my favorite stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the Well-adjusted, Energetic and Ambitious
Review: Here is the first line of the first story in John Collier's "Fancies and Goodnights.""Franklin Fletcher dreamed of luxury in the form of tiger-skins and beautiful women. He was prepared, at a pinch, to forego the tiger-skins." It's a representative beginning. A typical Collier hero is a young man with big dreams, beaten down by poverty and respectability. He longs for seashores and good champagne, but one wonders whether he ever actually has a date (perhaps he wonders himself). His powers are the powers of the weak: sneakiness, sometimes with the aid of the supernatural. The supernatural, as any reader knows, is not always reliable: Franklin Fletcher's tale ends on a note of grisly comedy. The best comparison I can think of is Saki, laced by Gissing and with just a dash of Poe. These Collier stories were hugely popular among people whom I held in high regard back when I was in college in the 50s. I can't say I entirely liked them - the stories. The snarkiness was entertaining, but unsettling: probably it hit too close to home. Rereading them after nearly half a century, it's easy to see why one would want to put them back in print. They have plenty of intrinsic merit. But I think they have a side-benefit, perhaps unintended: I think they are a bracing reminder of the 50s and what one (read: I) might have hated about them. Try this: "In Hell, as in other places we know of, conditions are damnably disagreeable. Well-adjusted, energetic, and ambitious devils take this very much in their stride. They expect to improve their lot and ultimately to become fiends of distinction." That was fine if your deviltry was "well-adjusted, energetic and ambitious." Otherwise you had to settle for smaller consolations, one of which, surely, would have been the stories of John Collier. Reading these stories, then, may be a kind of nostalgia trip. It may not always seem like a nostalgia trip one wants to take, but as Jane Austen says, one may love a place even if one has suffered there. And in any event, Collier is surely good company along the way.
Rating:
Summary: Not for the Well-adjusted, Energetic and Ambitious
Review: Here is the first line of the first story in John Collier's "Fancies and Goodnights." "Franklin Fletcher dreamed of luxury in the form of tiger-skins and beautiful women. He was prepared, at a pinch, to forego the tiger-skins." It's a representative beginning. A typical Collier hero is a young man with big dreams, beaten down by poverty and respectability. He longs for seashores and good champagne, but one wonders whether he ever actually has a date (perhaps he wonders himself). His powers are the powers of the weak: sneakiness, sometimes with the aid of the supernatural. The supernatural, as any reader knows, is not always reliable: Franklin Fletcher's tale ends on a note of grisly comedy. The best comparison I can think of is Saki, laced by Gissing and with just a dash of Poe. These Collier stories were hugely popular among people whom I held in high regard back when I was in college in the 50s. I can't say I entirely liked them - the stories. The snarkiness was entertaining, but unsettling: probably it hit too close to home. Rereading them after nearly half a century, it's easy to see why one would want to put them back in print. They have plenty of intrinsic merit. But I think they have a side-benefit, perhaps unintended: I think they are a bracing reminder of the 50s and what one (read: I) might have hated about them. Try this: "In Hell, as in other places we know of, conditions are damnably disagreeable. Well-adjusted, energetic, and ambitious devils take this very much in their stride. They expect to improve their lot and ultimately to become fiends of distinction." That was fine if your deviltry was "well-adjusted, energetic and ambitious." Otherwise you had to settle for smaller consolations, one of which, surely, would have been the stories of John Collier. Reading these stories, then, may be a kind of nostalgia trip. It may not always seem like a nostalgia trip one wants to take, but as Jane Austen says, one may love a place even if one has suffered there. And in any event, Collier is surely good company along the way.
Rating:
Summary: Not for the Well-adjusted, Energetic and Ambitious
Review: Here is the first line of the first story in John Collier's "Fancies and Goodnights." "Franklin Fletcher dreamed of luxury in the form of tiger-skins and beautiful women. He was prepared, at a pinch, to forego the tiger-skins." It's a representative beginning. A typical Collier hero is a young man with big dreams, beaten down by poverty and respectability. He longs for seashores and good champagne, but one wonders whether he ever actually has a date (perhaps he wonders himself). His powers are the powers of the weak: sneakiness, sometimes with the aid of the supernatural. The supernatural, as any reader knows, is not always reliable: Franklin Fletcher's tale ends on a note of grisly comedy. The best comparison I can think of is Saki, laced by Gissing and with just a dash of Poe. These Collier stories were hugely popular among people whom I held in high regard back when I was in college in the 50s. I can't say I entirely liked them - the stories. The snarkiness was entertaining, but unsettling: probably it hit too close to home. Rereading them after nearly half a century, it's easy to see why one would want to put them back in print. They have plenty of intrinsic merit. But I think they have a side-benefit, perhaps unintended: I think they are a bracing reminder of the 50s and what one (read: I) might have hated about them. Try this: "In Hell, as in other places we know of, conditions are damnably disagreeable. Well-adjusted, energetic, and ambitious devils take this very much in their stride. They expect to improve their lot and ultimately to become fiends of distinction." That was fine if your deviltry was "well-adjusted, energetic and ambitious." Otherwise you had to settle for smaller consolations, one of which, surely, would have been the stories of John Collier. Reading these stories, then, may be a kind of nostalgia trip. It may not always seem like a nostalgia trip one wants to take, but as Jane Austen says, one may love a place even if one has suffered there. And in any event, Collier is surely good company along the way.
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Summary: Out of Print? This is an Outrage!
Review: I have been looking replace my copy of this book for a couple of years. I can't believe this is out of print. Do publishers have no souls? I too have favorite stories from this collection that I have never forgotten. "Over Insurance" is a story that I take great pleasure in reading aloud to people and girlfriends, although I rarely make it through with a straight face, and "Green Thoughts" with that damdned orchid is just plain creepy. A delight for anyone who loves to read.
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Summary: A master of the short story
Review: I have seen John Collier grouped with Poe, O'Henry and Saki--to that list I would add Roald Dahl. Collier is a brilliant, subtle, and powerful writer of wicked little stories that take the reader by surprise. Clever, ingenious, and original are other words that come to mind. Collier himself said he had learned a great deal about writing from reading James Joyce--and we in turn can learn a great deal about some of the darker aspects of human nature (tinged with humor) from reading John Collier. Excellent.
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Summary: Don't lend this book to anyone if you want to keep it!
Review: I know from bitter experience, having done just that to a "friend" who proceeded to "lose" it. The stories, many of which feature a tongue-in-cheek use of supernatural or other fantastic elements, are generally of a somewhat cynical bent. Some, however, are actually quite moving, like one (the title of which I forget) about a lovable pyromaniac. Warning! There are at least two editions of this book, one of which has fewer stories. Be sure to get the full version. If you like Collier, you will also like Roald Dahl, Charles Beaumont, Stanley Ellin and Fredric Brown.
Rating:
Summary: Don't lend this book to anyone if you want to keep it!
Review: I know from bitter experience, having done just that to a "friend" who proceeded to "lose" it. The stories, many of which feature a tongue-in-cheek use of supernatural or other fantastic elements, are generally of a somewhat cynical bent. Some, however, are actually quite moving, like one (the title of which I forget) about a lovable pyromaniac. Warning! There are at least two editions of this book, one of which has fewer stories. Be sure to get the full version. If you like Collier, you will also like Roald Dahl, Charles Beaumont, Stanley Ellin and Fredric Brown.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not great. Dahl's better.
Review: I'm a big fan of Roald Dahl (his adult short stories, especially) and Dahl is what led me to this collection by John Collier. I liked it, but wasn't as bowled over as some of the other reviewers here. Dahl is a superior writer, with more imagination and wit. But if you're able to get your hands on a copy of this book -- I got mine at a used book store -- don't miss "The Chaser," an utterly fantastic short short that was made into a Twilight Zone episode of the same name.
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