Thomas Loring &Co. Gerald Bullett

Gerald Bullett

Moments of Enchantment and Disenchantment

Selected supernatural tales

Gerald Bullett has evaded the attention of genre fans and scholars by hiding in plain sight. He is one of those Georgians, like John Masefield and Clemence Dane and Hugh Walpole, whose success, longevity and versatility have made him suspect to posterity. They are caught today in a no-man's-land between the elite and the masses, protected by neither the respectability of the canon nor the underground status of the cult. Though perhaps overvalued during their lifetimes, they have certainly been undervalued subsequently.

But the fact remains that Bullett, like these other Lost Georgians, had a deep interest in the supernatural and returned to it again and again throughout his career. He may not have branded himself as a genre author, but his work in the genre represents neither casual flirtation nor calculated exploitation, and he brings more skill and passion to such work than can be found in most of the formulaic material extruded by true-blue fantasy manufacturers such as Sax Rohmer Ltd and Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. All of his short story collections have fantastic material, not to mention his great -- and ineptly titled -- 1923 novel, Mr. Godly Beside Himself, which grew from a short story, "The Moment of Enchantment," included in this edition. The year after publishing this enchanting, quirky fantasia, he brought out a short story collection, The Baker’s Cart, that articulates as well as any other book of that decade the revulsion that hollowed out the European psyche after World War I. Enchantment and disenchantment, in fact, form the two poles of Bullett's world. As we travel from one to the other, we feel the fatigues and second winds of middle age, taste the distilled sweetness and bitter dregs of old age, and remember the peculiar ecstasies and horrors of childhood. He seldom strays into high society but otherwise draws his characters from all classes and backgrounds, all ages and both genders.

His style is neither showy nor curt. It is recognizably post-war and does without those asides and flourishes that clutter (or embroider) Victorian fiction: charming in their time but difficult to enjoy after the war made their largesse seem indecent, their self-confidence a cheap make-up smeared over self-deceit. But, while recognizably post-war, Bullet is certainly not post-modern. An ironic tone overlays his sincerity but never buries it. He aims his words with a precise control, a deceptive calmness that can hypnotize the cooperative reader, who will soon find himself admiring their polished surface even as he is swept along by the strong currents of the events they describe.

It is not quite accurate to say that Bullett deserves a re-evaluation, since he has not had a proper evaluation at all in the half-century since his death. Bringing together his short supernatural fiction in one book will help make such an evaluation possible -- one that we think will establish him in a secure and prominent place among British authors of supernatural fiction in that uneasy period between the two wars.

All of his short story collections, with one exception (TEN-MINUTE TALES, 1959) have become either elusive or downright scarce in any editions.

PLANNED CONTENTS:

· 27 supernatural, fantastic and macabre stories selected from his six collections

· critical introduction





			Publishers of 19th and early 20th century literature with an emphasis on the fantastic, the speculative, the unusual, the occult and the eldritch.

		F O R T H C O M I N G T I T L E S
		Gerald Bullett Moments of Enchantment and Disenchantment Selected supernatural tales Gerald Bullett has evaded the attention of genre fans and scholars by hiding in plain sight. He is one of those Georgians, like John Masefield and Clemence Dane and Hugh Walpole, whose success, longevity and versatility have made him suspect to posterity. They are caught today in a no-man's-land between the elite and the masses, protected by neither the respectability of the canon nor the underground status of the cult. Though perhaps overvalued during their lifetimes, they have certainly been undervalued subsequently. But the fact remains that Bullett, like these other Lost Georgians, had a deep interest in the supernatural and returned to it again and again throughout his career. He may not have branded himself as a genre author, but his work in the genre represents neither casual flirtation nor calculated exploitation, and he brings more skill and passion to such work than can be found in most of the formulaic material extruded by true-blue fantasy manufacturers such as Sax Rohmer Ltd and Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. All of his short story collections have fantastic material, not to mention his great -- and ineptly titled -- 1923 novel, Mr. Godly Beside Himself, which grew from a short story, "The Moment of Enchantment," included in this edition. The year after publishing this enchanting, quirky fantasia, he brought out a short story collection, The Baker’s Cart, that articulates as well as any other book of that decade the revulsion that hollowed out the European psyche after World War I. Enchantment and disenchantment, in fact, form the two poles of Bullett's world. As we travel from one to the other, we feel the fatigues and second winds of middle age, taste the distilled sweetness and bitter dregs of old age, and remember the peculiar ecstasies and horrors of childhood. He seldom strays into high society but otherwise draws his characters from all classes and backgrounds, all ages and both genders. His style is neither showy nor curt. It is recognizably post-war and does without those asides and flourishes that clutter (or embroider) Victorian fiction: charming in their time but difficult to enjoy after the war made their largesse seem indecent, their self-confidence a cheap make-up smeared over self-deceit. But, while recognizably post-war, Bullet is certainly not post-modern. An ironic tone overlays his sincerity but never buries it. He aims his words with a precise control, a deceptive calmness that can hypnotize the cooperative reader, who will soon find himself admiring their polished surface even as he is swept along by the strong currents of the events they describe. It is not quite accurate to say that Bullett deserves a re-evaluation, since he has not had a proper evaluation at all in the half-century since his death. Bringing together his short supernatural fiction in one book will help make such an evaluation possible -- one that we think will establish him in a secure and prominent place among British authors of supernatural fiction in that uneasy period between the two wars. All of his short story collections, with one exception (TEN-MINUTE TALES, 1959) have become either elusive or downright scarce in any editions. PLANNED CONTENTS: · 27 supernatural, fantastic and macabre stories selected from his six collections · critical introduction
	I Am the Man
	I Am the Man

N A V I G A T I O N
HOME IN PRINT Emma Frances Dawson AN ITINERANT HOUSE SUMMARY OF FORTHCOMING TITLES Bernard Capes LOST BAGGAGE H. Frankish DR. CUNLIFFE -- INVESTIGATOR Mary Ann Bird SPELL-BOUND Gerald Bullett ENCHANTMENT & DISENCHANTMENT “E. Thelmar” Illus. by Mahlon Blaine THE MANIAC Donald Armour SWEPT & GARNISHED Contact John Pinkney PO Box 15163 Portland, ME 04112 207-781-6080 pinkney@thomasloring.com Reserve your copy now. Contact us to reserve one or more copies of any forthcoming titles. No obligation and no advance payment necessary. Copyright Contents of this website © 2006 -- 2007 Robert T. Eldridge HOME