''Flamingoes in Orbit'' is a collection of short stories by
Philip Ridley
Philip Ridley (born 1957 in East London) is an English storyteller working in a wide range of artistic media.
As a visual artist he has been cited as a contemporary of the 'Young British Artists', and had his artwork exhibited internationally. ...
. It was first published in the United Kingdom by
Hamish Hamilton ltd in 1990. It was Ridley's third literary work for adults after his 1988 novella ''Crocodilia'' and his 1989 novel ''
In The Eyes of Mr Fury''.
In 2015 publisher
Valancourt Books
Valancourt Books is an independent American publishing house founded by James Jenkins and Ryan Cagle in 2005. The company specializes in "the rediscovery of rare, neglected, and out-of-print fiction," in particular gay titles and Gothic and horr ...
announced plans to republish ''Flamingoes in Orbit'', along with Ridley's previously published gay themed literature for adults. This new edition of the book was released on 26 June 2018.
Both versions of the book are significantly different, with many of the stories being rewritten and some renamed in the 2018 edition. The newer version of the book also adds two new stories to the collection but omits five stories from the first edition.
Stories
First edition
The first edition of the book is composed of thirteen short stories, with the title story first:
*''Flamingoes in Orbit''
*''The Turbulence of Butterfly Wings ''
*''Embracing Verdi''
*''Pins''
*''Towers of Belief''
*''What We Care to Remember''
*''The Fear of Hyacinths''
*''A Shoe Three Inches Big''
*''Leviathan''
*''What's Here''
*''Rattlesnake''
*''Go''
*''The Barbaric Continuity''
Fully revised edition (2018)
The 2018 edition of the book is composed of ten short stories:
*''The Tooth of Troy Flamingo'' (Originally named ''Flamingoes in Orbit'' in the first edition)
*''Pins''
*''A Shoe Three Inches Big''
*''The Fear of Hyacinths''
*''Embracing Verdi''
*''Alien Heart''
*''Towers of Belief''
*''Leviathan''
*''Another Story'' (Highly reworked version of ''The Barbaric Continuity'' from the first edition)
*''Wonderful Insect''
Previously published stories
Before the publication of the first edition of the collection two of Ridley's stories had already appeared in other anthologies. ''Embracing Verdi'' had appeared in the collection ''Oranges and lemons: stories by gay men'' (edited by
David Rees David or Dai Rees may refer to:
Entertainment
* David Rees (author) (1936–1993), British children's author
* Dave Rees (born 1969), American drummer for SNFU and Wheat Chiefs
* David Rees (cartoonist) (born 1972), American cartoonist and televis ...
and
Peter Robbins) in 1987
and ''Leviathan'' was featured in the collection ''20 Under 35: Original Stories by Britain's Best New Young Writers'' (edited by Peter Straus) in 1988.
For the 2018 edition two further stories were added to the collection that had been previously published. ''Alien Heart'' had been included in ''Projections 4½'' (edited by
John Boorman
Sir John Boorman (; born 18 January 1933) is a British film director, best known for feature films such as ''Point Blank'' (1967), ''Hell in the Pacific'' (1968), ''Deliverance'' (1972), ''Zardoz'' (1974), '' Exorcist II: The Heretic'' (1977), ...
and Walter Donohue) in 1995. ''Wonderful Insect'' has been reported to have been previously published elsewhere and a significant part of the story is featured in Ridley's semi-autobiographical prose ''Introduction'' of his second collection of plays for adults ''Philip Ridley Plays: 2'' which was published in 2009.
References
{{Reflist
Hamish Hamilton books
1990 short story collections
British short story collections
LGBT short story collections
Novels by Philip Ridley