Mr. George and Other Odd Persons by August Derleth

Mr. George and Other Odd Persons Reviews

• 
  X

  3 1/2 stars maybe, but it's a collection and as such is hard to judge as I liked some stories more than others. The stories were largely predictable, especially after the first few, but nicely written.
• 
  Jeff Hobbs

  Read so far:
  
  *Mr. George --
  Parrington's pool --
  A gentleman from Prague --
  *The man on B-17 --
  Blessed are the meek --
  Mara --
  *The blue spectacles --
  *Alannah --
  Dead man's shoes --
  The Tsantsa in the parlor --
  Balu --
  *The extra passenger --
  The wind in the lilacs --
  *Miss Esperson --
  *The night train to Lost Valley --
  Bishop's gambit --
  Mrs. Manifold --
• 
  Aaron

  Solid stories of spooky scoundrels getting their comeuppance. None are standouts, but also, none are bad.
• 
  Michael

  This was a long time coming. I bought When Graveyards Yawn in 1978 and have just got a round to reading it (2014). Whilst my life hasn't been impoverished by its previous absence, Derleth's collection of ghost stories is still a good one.
  
  There aren't any overtly gruesome shocks, hints and suggestions being more Derelth's style, dictated, no doubt, by the mores of the time in which he was writing - the 1940s - and there is nothing of the cosmic horror of his literary hero, H.P. Lovecraft. What there is is a set of atmospheric stories dealing mainly with returns from "the other side". There is usually some malevolence, though often against a deservingly unpleasant victim. Endangered children, in particular, seem to be protected by the shades of the departed in Derleth's world, although youth is no guarantee of escape from a spectral slaying.
  
  The first story, Mr George is probably the best of the bunch, but it's not a downhill ride from there, as there are plenty of other interesting tales. I liked the narrator's voice in The Man on B-17, told by the driver of a locomotive who seems oblivious to the supernatural element of his story, evident to the reader.
  
  Dead Man's Shoes is an interesting WWI revenge story involving haunted boots, and The Tsantsa in the Parlour is a very well done supernatural murder plot.
  
  I wasn't so keen on Parrington's Pool, which gave me more information on fly fishing than I felt I was in need of, but all of the other stories had something to commend them.
  
  I think that my 9p investment 36 years ago has repaid itself.
• 
  Frank

  I've been reading these stories on and off for a few weeks now and have finally come to the end of this great collection. Not only were these some great tales of the supernatural and ghost stories, most of them were also very nostalgic taking place around the turn of the 20th century in small towns or villages. I found them all to be very enjoyable. As others have mentioned, many of these tales could have been episodes of The Twilight Zone. In fact, Mr. George was indeed adapted for television but not for Twilight Zone. It was made into an episode of
  Boris Karloff's Thriller. Thriller was a great anthology series from the early 60s and I remember several of the episodes scaring me half to death when I was a kid. In fact some of Derleth's stories were made into several thrillers. Overall, I highly recommend this one and I will be reading more of Derleth!
• 
  Jade

  I loved this book! I am a big fan of Lovecraft and of course he and Derleth are often linked so I decided to try out this book of short stories. I was really charmed! Kind of like a cross between Capote (at his more creepy level) and Rod Serling. Very elegant and wonderful stories. He seems to have a penchant for child/revenge stories which I must admit I have a weakness for. Many of these stories would have made great Twilight Zone episodes. My one complaint is the racial stereotyping seen through out. One of my favorite stories "Balu" about a special black cat has much offensive stereotyping despite being a really fascinating story--and frankly it was not necessary to the story. I know these were written in a different time but it does trouble the reader. (at least this one...)Otherwise, no complaints--beautifully written and fun to read at that!
• 
  Carlos

  This is a collection of horror stories that Derleth wrote for Weird Tales in the '40s. Fairly high quality pulp horror, though Derleth does have the unfortunate habit of recycling plots, with tales of posthomous revenge making up at least half the stories in this collection. Another prevalent element is that of loneliness, often that of a child who has lost an important parental figure. Derleth paints this quite skillfuly, so the air of sadness it lends to those stories feels more like a personal touch than a recylced trope. Only a story or two really achieve something novel enough to place them above quality pulp horror.
• 
  Robin

  This collection of horror short stories was one of my dad's books, which I've seen on the bookshelves all my life, and finally got around to trying.
  
  Read 'Mr. George' and 'Parrington's Pool', and started 'Mrs. Manifold', but just couldn't finish it, as I was frankly ... bored.