‘A sort of American PG Wodehouse…fuelled by the supernatural, and lashings of alcohol and innuendo! And if that’s not recommendation enough ‘Stardust’, ‘Sandman’ and ‘American Gods’ author Neil Gaiman cites him as an influence.
James Thorne Smith (1892-1934) was a comic American writer of fantasy best known today for his Topper novels ’The Jovial Ghosts’ (filmed with Cary Grant as ‘Mr Topper’) and ‘Topper Takes A trip’. His books commonly involve sex, alcohol and supernatural transformations. They are also richly funny in plot and use/misuse of the English language. If you’ve never discovered him before then now’s the time…
There are sixteen titles in the Complete Thorne Smith series which comprises nine comic romps, a book of poetry, his crime novel ‘Did She Fall’, a forlorn romance ‘Dreams End’, collected short stories, a children’s fantasy ‘Lazy Bear Lane’ and the two Biltmore Oswald diary collections based on his complete unsuitability to serve in the US navy.
The only other known Thorne Smith title is now ‘The Passionate Witch’ completed after his death by Norman Matson which is copyright elsewhere for the foreseeable future.
While we wanted the ‘Complete Thorne Smith Series’ to replicate the content of the original books in new cover artwork there also seemed a strong case to merge his two Biltmore Oswald titles into a single volume as well.
APS BOOKS/APS PUBLICATIONS 