Short Fiction Mercer, Harold: The Foolish Gondola and other stories, v1, 10 June 2024

[Pulpmeister]

This is the fifth and final collection of short fiction by Harold Mercer. containing some 40 short stories, including several from the "Mrs Parsely" series set in a Sydney boarding house in the 20s and 30s. It includes the first short story he ever had published, as long ago as 1900.

I know I said the 4th volume was the last, but diligent search of newspapers and magazines turned up this collection. Sometime in the 30s or 40s he wrote his own obituary, really reminiscences of his life and times, and it is included here as the final story.

And at this very late stage I have just noticed that 2 of the stories have appeared before. C'est la vie!

1: "The Flowers That Boom in the Spring"
2: Planchette
3: The Glory of France
4: Blue Blood
5: The Blessed Baby
6: Grievance
7: The Hold-Up
8: Stranded
9: Not Unwarranted
10: Sentimentalists
11: Clothes
12: Her Ruin
13: The Mind of Ah Foo.
14: The Nursery Handicap
15: The Foolish Gondola
16: The Gay Lottery
17: The Pretenders
18: The Search for the Bonzer Tart
19: Costs
20: Ingratitude.
21: Picking-up
22: The Release
23: Dr. Jenkins and Mr. 'Ides
24: Necessity After The Fact
25: The Barrackers
26: Twin Souls
27: The Dogs of War
28: The Infernal Triangle
29: The Immigration of Souls
30: Limited Debility
31: Artistic Expression
32: At the Cross-Roads
332: Vortical Language
34: Dirty Pieces of Silver
35: Human Nature Is Not Inflammable
36: The Panthon Cat
37: A Fatal Vaccination
38: The Mailed Fish
39: A Regular Punch-Us Pirate
40: The Illimitation Contest
41: “With Self-Clipped Wings"

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