Improper Stories

Saki (H. H. Munro) - Improper Stories A collection of eighteen deliciously disturbing tales by Saki, the Edwardian master of the short story. Saki's sharp satire pierces the polite veneer of country house parties, hunting meets and evenings round the pianola. Wild beasts stampede through the drawing room, servants suffer murderous delusions and sinister children plot revenge on their elders. These witty, macabre and sometimes bizarre stories cut through the social conventions of the Edwardian upper classes. Stories: The Story-Teller The Open Window Sredni Vashtar The Penance The Lumber Room Hyacinth The Boar-Pig The Lull The Schartz-Metterklume Method The Quest Clovis on Parental Responsibilities Mrs. Packletide's Tiger The Hounds of Fate The Music on the Hill Esme The She-Wolf Laura Tobermory About the author: Saki, or Hector Hugh Munro, was born in 1870 in Burma, where his father was inspector general for the Burma police. After his mother’s death when he was two years old, he was sent to England to be brought up by his grandmother and aunts. He started his career as a journalist, and began to write short stories that were published as Reginald (1904), Reginald in Russia (1910), The Chronicles of Clovis (1911) and Beasts and Super-Beasts (1914). When the First World War broke out, although at forty-three he was officially too old to fight, he joined the Royal Fusiliers. He was killed by a German sniper near Beaumont-Hamel, France. Format: EPUB Length: 136 pages Published: 2010 by Daunt Books ISBN: 1907970169 A collection of eighteen deliciously disturbing tales by Saki, the Edwardian master of the short story. Saki’s sharp satire pierces the polite veneer of country house parties, hunting meets and evenings round the pianola. Wild beasts stampede through the drawing room, servants suffer murderous delusions and sinister children plot revenge on their elders. These witty, macabre and sometimes bizarre stories cut through the social conventions of the Edwardian upper classes. ‘Saki is like a perfect martini but with absinthe stirred in . . . heady, delicious and dangerous.’ - Stephen Fry ‘Saki is among those few writers, inspirational when read at an early age, who definitely retain their magic when revisited decades later.’ - Christopher Hitchens ‘These delicious, hilarious and yet surgical satires are amongst the finest short stories in the English language.’ - Alexei Sayle ‘I took it up to my bedroom, opened it casually and was unable to go to sleep until I had finished it.’ - Noël Coward 'Saki is like a perfect martini but with absinthe stirred in . . . heady, delicious and dangerous' Stephen Fry 'Saki is among those few writers, inspirational when read at an early age, who definitely retain their magic when revisited decades later' Christopher Hitchens 'These delicious, hilarious and yet surgical satires are amongst the finest short stories in the English language' Alexei Sayle Eighteen deliciously disturbing tales by Saki, the Edwardian master of the short story. Saki's sharp satire pierces the polite veneer of country house parties, hunting meets, and evenings round the pianola. Wild beasts stampede through the drawing room, servants suffer murderous delusions and sinister children plot revenge on their elders. These witty, macabre and sometimes bizarre stories cut through the social conventions of the Edwardian upper classes.