Roald Dahl: Collected Stories

Roald Dahl: Collected Stories

File:RoaldDahlCollectedStories.jpg First edition
Author	Roald Dahl Jeremy Treglown (editor)
Country	United Kingdom & United States
Language	English
Series	Everyman's Library
Genre	Short story Anthology, Science fiction, Mystery, Dark comedy
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	Sep 07, 2006 (UK) Oct 17, 2006 (US)
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	888
ISBN	1-84159-300-1
OCLC	70060186

Roald Dahl: Collected Stories is a hardcover edition of short-stories by Roald Dahl for adults. It was published in the US in October 2006 by Random House as part of the Everyman Library. The present volume includes for the first time all the stories in chronological order as established by Dahl's biographer, Jeremy Treglown, in consultation with the Dahl estate. A few of the short stories were not published chronologically in book form, but appeared later, collected in More Tales of the Unexpected (1980). The collection contains all of the short stories published in the following collections:

• Over To You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying (1946)
• Someone Like You (1953)
• Kiss Kiss (1959)
• Switch Bitch (1974)
• More Tales of the Unexpected (1980)

Table of Contents

Introduction by Jeremy Treglown

Select Bibliography

Chronology

• From Over To You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying (1946)
  • An African Story
  • Only This
  • Katina
  • Beware of the Dog
  • They Shall Not Grow Old
  • Someone Like You
  • Death of an Old Old Man
  • Madame Rosette
  • A Piece of Cake
  • Yesterday Was Beautiful
• From Someone Like You (1953)
  • Nunc Dimittis (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • Skin (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • Man from the South (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • The Soldier
  • The Sound Machine
  • Mr Botibol (also published in More Tales of the Unexpected)
  • Vengeance Is Mine Inc. (also published in More Tales of the Unexpected)
  • The Wish
  • Poison
  • Taste (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • Dip in the Pool (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • The Great Automatic Grammatizator
  • Claud’s Dog:
  • The Ratcatcher
  • Rummins
  • Mr Hoddy
  • Mr Feasey
  • My Lady Love, My Dove (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • Neck (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • Lamb to Slaughter (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • Galloping Foxley (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
• From Kiss Kiss (1959)
  • Edward the Conqueror (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • The Way Up to Heaven (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • William and Mary (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • Parson’s Pleasure (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • Georgy Porgy
  • Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • Royal Jelly (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • The Champion of the World
  • Genesis and Catastrophe
  • Pig
  • The Landlady (also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
• From Switch Bitch (1974)
  • The Visitor
  • The Last Act
  • The Great Switcheroo
  • The Butler (also published in More Tales of the Unexpected)
  • Bitch
• Others
  • Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life (first published in 1974 issue of The Daily Telegraph, also published in "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: The Country Stories of Roald Dahl")
  • The Hitchhiker (first published in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More also published in Tales of the Unexpected)
  • The Umbrella Man (first published in More Tales of the Unexpected)
  • The Bookseller (first published in 1987 issue of Playboy)
  • The Surgeon (first published in 1988 issue of Playboy)

Appendix: Dates of Composition and First Publication

Other Short Stories

There are other works that are arguably short stories, which are not included in this volume. The two halves of Two Fables were excluded by request of Felicity Dahl for unknown reasons.

• From The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More (1977)
  • The Boy Who Talked with Animals (children's short story)
  • The Mildenhall Treasure (non-fiction short story)
  • The Swan
  • The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
  • Lucky Break
• Two Fables (1986)
  • Princess and the Poacher
  • Princess Mammalia

When the stories were next compiled, in 2012's two-volume The Complete Short Stories (an expansion/amendment of Collected Stories), the above seven stories were finally included, slotted chronologically into place, this time in publication rather than composition order. This brought Two Fables back into print for the first time in over 25 years and finally married his complete 1980s adult output. Jeremy Treglown's introductory essay was replaced by short pieces by authors Anthony Horowitz and Charlie Higson.

• The website RoaldDahlFans.com has details of five other short stories not collected in book form.
  • Shot Down Over Libya (semi-biographical story. An earlier version of "A Piece of Cake" from Over to You. First published in the August 1, 1942 issue of The Saturday Evening Post)
  • The Sword (first published in the July 1943 issue of Atlantic Monthly)
  • Smoked Cheese (first published in the November 1945 issue of Atlantic Monthly)
  • In the Ruins (first published in a 1964 issue of King)
  • The Upsidedown Mice (a modification of Smoked Cheese, published in the Puffin Annual, No. 1 (1974))