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Oliver Onions
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George Oliver Onions was born on 13 November 1873 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK, of humble parents. He studied art for three years in London at the National Arts Training Schools (now the Royal College of Art). His interests were motoring and science; and he was also an amateur boxer as a young man. On 1909, he married the also writer Berta Ruck (1878-1978), and they had two sons, Arthur (b. 1912) and William (b. 1913). On 1918, legally changed his name to George Oliver, but continued to publish under the name Oliver Onions. He died on 9 April 1961 in Aberystwyth, Wales.
Originally trained as a commercial artist, Oliver worked as a designer of posters and books, and as a magazine illustrator during the Boer War. Encouraged by the American writer Gelett Burgess, he began writing fiction. The first editions of Oliver Onions's novels were published with dust jackets bearing full-colour illustrations painted by himself. He wrote detective fiction, social comedy, historical fiction and romance novels. But, he is best known for his supernatural and fantasy short-stories and is regarded by many as one of the twentieth century masters of the genre. Interestingly, he was a great pragmatist and did not believe in ghosts or occult agencies of any sort. It is therefore testament to his writing skills that he so convincingly conveys supernatural atmosphere and events.
Full Series List in Order
Robert Gandelyn
1 - Arras of Youth (Jan-1949)2 - Poor Man's Tapestry (Jan-1946)
Whom God Hath Sundered
1 - In Accordance With the Evidence (Jan-1913)2 - The Debit Account (Jan-1913)
3 - The Story of Louie (Jan-1913)
Book List in Order: 53 titles
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The Compleat Bachelor
- Jan-1901
- / Contemporary Romance
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"Do you know, Butterfield," Bassishaw said, "I don't know how you get along--that is--get along, you know--as you do." The remark didn't seem particularly illuminating, but he had been silent for ten minutes, and this appeared to be the result of his...
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The Drakestone
- Jan-1906
- / General Fiction
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My tale is drawing to an end, since there is but one Yewdale left in it; but so extraordinary a thing was now to come to pass, and one that so truly might be called the Act of God, that, piecing together certain things I saw, others that were told me...
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Back O' the Moon
- Feb-1906
- / General Fiction
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THE first thing that the new parson noticed, as he rode up the narrow, precipitous street late in the October afternoon, was that the muffled knock-knocking that proceeded from the houses ceased as he ascended; and the next was that he had never in h...
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The Beckoning Fair One
- Jan-1911
- / Horror
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"Miles ahead of the average ghost-story" -- Sunday Times. A novelist retreats to an abandoned house in the heart of London, where he becomes enthralled by an 18th-century spirit -- and where his contact with the outside world gradually diminishes...
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Io = The Lost Thrysus
- Jan-1911
- / Science Fiction / Fantasy
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George Oliver Onions was a 20th century British writer. Onions published over 40 novels and short story collections. Before becoming a writer Onions was a commercial artist. His first edition novels had full color paintings painted by him on their du...
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Widdershins
- Jan-1911
- / General Fiction
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A collection of eight marvellous stories of the supernatural. The stories are: The Beckoning Fair One, Phantas, Rooum, Benlian, Io, The Accident, The Cigarette Case, & Hic Jacket. Excerpt: ...off!" he ordered me. "I'll send for you again when I wa...
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The Accident
- 1911
- / Science Fiction / Fantasy
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Eh? he said. "I say, Romarin, don't let's go grave-digging among memories merely for the sake of making conversation. Yours may be pleasant, but I'm not in the habit of wasting much time over mine. Might as well be making new ones. . . . I'll drink w...
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The Cigarette Case
- 1911
- / Science Fiction / Fantasy
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George Oliver Onions was a 20th century British writer. Onions published over 40 novels and short story collections. Before becoming a writer Onions was a commercial artist. His first edition novels had full color paintings painted by him on their du...
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Hic Jacket
- 1911
- / Science Fiction / Fantasy
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George Oliver Onions was a 20th century British writer. Onions published over 40 novels and short story collections. Before becoming a writer Onions was a commercial artist. His first edition novels had full color paintings painted by him on their du...
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The Story of Ragged Robyn
- Jan-1912
- / Epic Fantasy
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It is the late seventeenth century and thirteen-year-old Robyn is biding time on his farm in the Lincolnshire fens. One day returning through the mist with a pack of smuggled spirits he is waylaid by bandits, a gang ruled by the dreadful Queen of Hol...
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The Debit Account
- Jan-1913
- / Historical
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British writer Oliver Onions rose to literary acclaim on the strength of his ability to craft lyrical, uncanny stories of horror. That gift is on full display in the strange and beautiful novel The Debit Account, which is the second book in the Whom ...
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In Accordance With the Evidence
- Jan-1913
- / Suspense
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Pitman sshorthand. I was surprised to find I remembered as much of it as I do, for I dropped it suddenly when A rdiie Merridew died, and Archie sclear, high-pitched voice was the last that ever dictated to me for speed, while I myself have not dictat...
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The Story of Louie
- Jan-1913
- / General Fiction
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Excerpt: ...the Almanack de Gotha and Modern Society; these were always to hand; but The Licensed Victuallers' Gazette, which he took in the way of business, was kept out of Louie's way. Mr. Mackie he would have torn from limb to limb. Far more royal...
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A Crooked Mile
- Jan-1914
- / General Fiction
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Popular novel, first published in 1914. According to Wikipedia: "George Oliver Onions (13 November 1873 â€" 9 April 1961) was a significant English novelist who published over forty novels and story collections. Originally trained as a commercial ar...
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Gray Youth
- Jan-1914
- / Contemporary Romance
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The Story of a Very Modern Courtship and a Very Modern Marriage... Excerpt: ... "II. FATTT QTj' UNE PORTE" NOW that Cosimo was back in town again for the second time (he had stayed a week the first time, and had then departed again for Christmas, ...
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Mushroom Town
- Jan-1914
- / General Fiction
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English artist and author George Oliver Onions is credited as one of the most important figures in the development of the psychological thriller. In the classic novel Mushroom Town, Onions puts his keen eye for detail to work in a loving portrait of ...
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A Case in Camera
- Jan-1920
- / Mystery
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The tale I am setting out to tell has to do with the killing, on a May morning of the year 1919, of one young man by another who claimed, and still claims, to have been his friend. The circumstances were singular -- perhaps even unique; the consequen...
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The Tower of Oblivion
- Jan-1921
- / General Fiction
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I think it is Edgar Allan Poe who says that while a plain thing may on occasion be told with a certain amount of elaboration of style, one that is unusual in its very nature is best related in the simplest terms possible. I shall adopt the second of ...
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The Hand of Kornelius Voyt
- Jan-1939
- / Horror
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When Peter Byles's father dies shortly before the boy's thirteenth birthday, the young orphan is sent to live at the Victorian Gothic mansion of his father's friend, Dr. Kornelius Voyt. Peter arrives at the dreary house, surprised to find that he see...
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The Dead of Night
- Sep-2010
- / General Fiction
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Introduction by David Stuart Davies. Oliver Onions is unique in the realms of ghost story writers in that his tales are so far ranging in their background and substance that they are not easily categorised. His stories are powerfully charged explorat...