''The Enquiries of Doctor Eszterhazy'' is a
collection
Collection or Collections may refer to:
* Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department
* Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service
* Collection agency, agency to collect cash
* Collectio ...
of
historical mystery
The historical mystery or historical whodunit is a subgenre of two literary genres, historical fiction and mystery fiction. These works are set in a time period considered historical from the author's perspective, and the central plot involves t ...
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
short stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
by
Avram Davidson
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jews ...
featuring his scholarly
detective
A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...
character Doctor Eszterhazy and set in an imaginary European country. It was first published in paperback by
Warner Books
Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publishing business to Hachett ...
in December 1975.
Its contents were later incorporated into the more comprehensive collection ''
The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy'' (1991), which included five additional Eszterhazy stories written later but set earlier.
Summary
The book collects eight novelettes and short stories by the author, some originally published in various speculative fiction magazines and others original to the collection, in addition to three maps by John E. Westfall illustrating the fictitious setting of Bella, capital of the equally fictitious empire of Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania, the empire itself, and its supposed position in the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
on the map of late 19th century
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. The maps show the country as neighboring such other fictional states as
Ruritania
Ruritania is a fictional country, originally located in central Europe as a setting for novels by Anthony Hope, such as ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1894). Nowadays the term connotes a quaint minor European country, or is used as a placeholder name f ...
and
Graustark
Graustark is a fictional country in Eastern Europe used as a setting for several novels by George Barr McCutcheon. Graustark's neighbors, which also figure in the stories, are Axphain to the north and Dawsbergen to the south.
Description
Gra ...
, and, in an apparent error, place the Pannonia division at the opposite end of the empire from the historical
Pannonia
Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...
.
Contents
*"Polly Charms, the Sleeping Woman" (from ''
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...
'', v. 48, no. 2, February 1975)
*"The Crown Jewels of Jerusalem, or The Tell-Tale Head" (from ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'', v. 49, no. 2, August 1975)
*"The Old Woman Who Lived with a Bear"
*"The Church of Saint Satan and Pandaemons" (from ''
Fantastic
The fantastic (french: le fantastique) is a subgenre of literary works characterized by the ambiguous presentation of seemingly supernatural forces.
Bulgarian-French structuralist literary critic Tzvetan Todorov originated the concept, characte ...
'', v. 25, no. 1, December 1975)
*"Milord Sir Smiht, the English Wizard"
*"The Case of the Mother-in-Law of Pearl" (from ''Fantastic'', v. 24, no. 6, October 1975)
*"The Ceaseless Stone" (from ''New Venture'' #3, Winter 1975)
*"The King's Shadow Has No Limits" (from ''
Whispers'' #8, December 1975)
Reception
The collection was reviewed by Frederick Patten in ''Delap's F & SF Review'', March 1976,
John Boardman in ''Amra'' v. 2, no. 65, April 1976,
Barry N. Malzberg
Barry Nathaniel Malzberg (born July 24, 1939) is an American writer and editor, most often of science fiction and fantasy.
Biography
Malzberg originated from a Jewish family and graduated from Syracuse University in 1960. He worked as an investi ...
in ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'', September 1976, and Steve Fahnestalk in ''New Venture'' #4, Summer 1976.
Awards
The collection won the 1976
World Fantasy Award for Best Collection
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
.
"Polly Charms, the Sleeping Woman" was nominated for the 1976 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, and placed tenth in the 1976 Locus Poll Award for Best Novelette.
Notes
1975 short story collections
Short story collections by Avram Davidson
Fantasy short story collections
World Fantasy Award-winning works
Mystery short story collections
{{1970s-story-collection-stub