Hughes, Rhys
Entry updated 26 February 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1966- ) Welsh author of a very large number of stories to date, his stated life's ambition being to create an interlocking sequence of 1000 tales, the whole to comprise a sequence now called Pandora's Bluff. In 2022 he announced completion of this project, with some stories yet to be published. Most of this work, beginning with "Cutting Back" for Peeping Tom in 1993, runs a gamut of the fantastic in literature from scattergun Fabulation to rigorous narrative designs of an Oulipo precision, most notably in the Club Story assemblage Engelbrecht Again! Being the Further Exploits of Engelbrecht [for full subtitle see Checklist] (coll of linked stories 2008), a Sequel by Other Hands to The Exploits of Engelbrecht (coll of linked stories 1950) by Maurice Richardson. The arguments that tie these multifarious takes together (see Alternate Cosmos; Perception; Cosmology) tend to be internal, autonomous, garishly gnomic; there is relatively little sf in his work to date, though The Crystal Cosmos (2007 chap) is a Space Opera in a state of flamboyant, aroused homage to the work of Ian Watson. His work as a whole is not reducible to good sense through the analytical tools used in this encyclopedia, but The Coandă Effect: A Corto Maltese Adventure (2010 Romania) – which describes aeronautical Inventions in Europe just before World War One, incorporating inter alia events connected with the iceberg that sank the Titanic – is unmistakably Steampunk, as are Twisthorn Bellow (2010), featuring a Golem steeped in a vat of nitroglycerin; The Abnormalities of Stringent Strange (2013), an Alternate Worlds tale set in a universe that in part resembles our own 1930s but in which Magic works, Canadians dominate North America, Strange himself is exaggeratedly simian (see Apes as Human), and Hitler won (see Hitler Wins). Captains Stupendous; Or, the Fantastical Family Faraway (2014) describes the adventures on land, sea and air of the three Faraway brothers; The Nostalgia That Never Was: 222 Apocryphal Incidents & Speculations (coll of linked vignettes 2018) is conceptually influenced by Karel Čapek's Apocryphal Stories (coll 1932; exp 1945) and Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities (1972).
Of Hughes's recent collections, the substantial Link Arms with Toads! (coll 2011) contains several tales into which sf elements are exorbitantly woven, including "The Mirror in the Looking Glass", about an AI built into a mirror whose nature it does not understand, causing it acute Paranoia when other creatures grimace strangely when they look at it. Of those authors who have influenced him (or whose works he has ransacked), some of those given entries here include Jorge Luis Borges, Dino Buzzati, Philip José Farmer, William Hope Hodgson, Stanisław Lem, Spike Milligan, Michael Moorcock, J B Morton, Vladimir Nabokov, Milorad Pavić, John Sladek and Jack Vance. [JC]
Rhys Henry Hughes
born Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales: 24 September 1966
works
series
Rhysop's Fables
- Rhysop's Fables (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2012) [coll: ebook: Rhysop's Fables: na/]
- Fables of Rhysop (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2012) [coll: ebook: rev vt of the above: with seven stories omitted and three added: Rhysop's Fables: na/]
- Rhysop's Return: 57 Varieties of Daftness (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2012) [coll: ebook: Rhysop's Fables: na/]
- Rhysop's Fables (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2012) [omni of the above plus Fables of Rhysop plus added story: illus/Chris Harrendence: pb/Rhys Hughes]
individual titles
- Eyelidiad (Huncote, Leicester: Tanjen, 1996) [pb/Alan Casey]
- The Percolated Stars: An Astro-Caffeine Romp in Three Cups Featuring Batavus Droogstoppel Merchant and Scientist and Bourgeois Monster: One Lump or Two? (Prague, Czech Republic: RazorBlade Press, 2003) [pb/Chris Nurse]
- Mister Gum; Or: The Possibly Phoney Profundity of Puerility (Leeds, West Yorkshire: Dog Horn Publishing, 2009) [pb/]
- Mister Gum; Or: The Possibly Phoney Profundity of Puerility (Leeds, West Yorkshire: Dog Horn Publishing, 2010) [exp of the above: pb/from Arcimboldo]
- Twisthorn Bellow (Burnaby, British Columbia: Atomic Fez Publishing, 2010) [pb/Steve Upham]
- The Coandă Effect: A Corto Maltese Adventure (Bucharest, Romania: Passport Levant, 2010) [hb/Hugo Pratt]
- Captains Stupendous; Or, the Fantastical Family Faraway (London: Telos Moonrise: Steampunk Visions, 2014) [fixup: exp of the above with two additional parts: pb/Martin Baines]
- The Abnormalities of Stringent Strange (London: Meteor House, 2013) [pb/Keith Howell]
- The Young Dictator (Limerick, Ireland: Pillar International Publishing, 2013) [pb/Emmet Jackson]
- Cloud Farming in Wales (no place given: Snuggly Books, 2017) [hb/Sergei Mikhaylovich Prokudin-Gorsky]
- The Honeymoon Gorillas (no place given: Bizarro Pulp Press/JournalStone, 2018) [fixup: pb/Matthew Revert]
- The Nostalgia That Never Was (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2019) [pb/]
- Students of Myself (Dartford, Kent: Elsewhen Press, 2021) [pb/]
- The World Beyond the Stairwell (no place given: Gibbon Moon Books, 2022) [first appeared in Journey Beyond Advice (coll 2002), see above: pb/]
collections and stories
- Worming the Harpy and Other Bitter Pills (Horam, East Sussex: Tartarus Press, 1995) [coll: hb/Ray Russell]
- Romance with Capsicum (And Other Piquant Assignations) (Driffield, East Yorkshire: Wyrd Press, 1995) [coll: chap: pb/Camile-Gabriel]
- Rawhead and Bloody Bones; And, Elusive Plato (Huncote, Leicester: Tanjen, 1998) [coll: two novellas: pb/Derek Gray]
- Rawhead and Bloody Bones (no place given: Prologue Books, 2012) [novella: ebook: cutting "Elusive Plato" above: na/]
- Elusive Plato (no place given: Prologue Books, 2012) [story: ebook: cutting: "Rawhead and Bloody Bones" above: na/]
- The Expanding Woman (Ely, Cambridgeshire: TTA Press, 2000) [story: chap: pb/]
- The Smell of Telescopes (Horam, East Sussex: Tartarus Press, 2000) [coll: hb/Ray Russell]
- Stories from a Lost Anthology (Leyburn, East Yorkshire: Tartarus Press, 2002) [coll: hb/Sherriffs]
- Journeys Beyond Advice (Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales: Sarob Press, 2002) [coll: hb/Justin Phillips]
- Nowhere Near Milkwood (Canton, Ohio: Prime Books, 2002) [coll: pb/Theo Badiu]
- The Skeleton of Contention: Short Stories of Absurdist Fiction (Swindon, Wiltshire: D-Press, 2004) [coll: chap: pb/Rabidwire]
- A New Universal History of Infamy (Tallahassee, Florida: The Ministry of Whimsy Press, 2004) [coll: hb/John Coulthart]
- A New Universal History of Infamy (Tallahassee, Florida: The Ministry of Whimsy Press, 2004) [coll: exp of the above: limited edition with an extra story: hb/John Coulthart]
- At the Molehills of Madness (Maesteg, Mid Glamorgan, Wales: Pendragon Press, 2006) [coll: pb/Ian Simmons]
- The Crystal Cosmos (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2007) [chap: hb/Tomislav Tikulin]
- Less Lonely Planet (Tales of Here, There, & Happenstance) (London: Humdrumming, 2008) [coll: hb/Lee Thompson]
- The Postmodern Mariner: A Short Book of Implausible Adventures Featuring Absurdities, Anachronisms, Exaggerations, Outrageous Puns, Pirates, Mythological Beings, Giant Cups of Tea and the Occasional Metafictional Trick: Mostly Narrated by Castor Jenkins & the Postmodern Mariner Himself (Abertysswg, Gwent, South Wales: Screaming Dreams, 2008) [coll: pb/Steve Upham]
- Engelbrecht Again! Being the Further Exploits of Engelbrecht: Abstracted from the Secret Chronicles of the Surrealist Sportsman's Club by A N Other: Hidden on the Orders of the Ruling Committee But Dug Up Again by Rhys Hughes and Authenticated at Perilous Emotional Cost by a Selection of Mythological Beasts Including Harpies, Unicorns, Manticores, Zaratans, Vainglorious Chimeras, the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary and a Squonk (New Kent, Virginia: Dead Letter Press, 2008) [coll of linked stories: illus/hb/Keith Minnion]
- The Long Chin of the Law (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2009) [coll: ebook: na/J J Grandville]
- The Astral Disruptor: (A Magic Realism Story) (no place given [US]: 40kBooks/Kindle, 2010) [story: ebook: na/]
- Better the Devil (no place given [US]: Better Generation Next Publisher/Kindle, 2011) [ebook: na/]
- Better the Devil: Revised Edition (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2013) [omni: ebook: exp vt of the above: containing various chapbooks: na/]
- The Phantom Festival: (A Descent into the Hell of Music History) (no place given [US]: 40kBooks/Kindle, 2011) [story: ebook: na/]
- The Brothel Keeper: Stories of Sexual and Spiritual Tension (Whitby, North Yorkshire: Gray Friar Press, 2011) [coll: hb/Gary Fry]
- Link Arms with Toads! (London: Chômu Press, 2011) [coll: pb/Torso Vertical]
- The Polo Match (no place given [US]: 40kBooks/Kindle, 2011) [story: ebook: na/]
- Tellmenow Isitsöornot (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2011) [coll: ebook: na/]
- Flash in the Pantheon (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2011) [coll: ebook: na/]
- Young Tales of the Old Cosmos (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2011) [coll: ebook: na/]
- The World Idiot and Other Absurdlings (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2011) [coll: ebook: na/]
- Sangria in the Sangraal (Bucharest, Romania: Passport Levant, 2011) [coll: hb/]
- Tucked Away in Aragon (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2012) [coll: ebook: vt of the above: na/]
- Facets of Faraway (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2012) as Rhys H Hughes [coll: ebook: na/]
- The Mermaid Variations (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2012) [coll: ebook: na/]
- The Sticky Situations of Zwicky Fingers (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2012) [coll: ebook: na/]
- Ten Tributes to Calvino (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2012) [coll: ebook: Italo Calvino: na/]
- The Further Fangs of Suet Pudding (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2012) [novella: ebook: na/Gonzalo Caneda]
- The Truth Spinner: The Complete Adventures of Castor Jenkins (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2012) [coll: pb/]
- Tallest Stories (London: Eibonvale Press, 2013) [coll: hb/David Rix]
- The Just Not So Stories (no place given: theExaggeratedpress, 2013) [coll: pb/Chris Harrendence]
- More Than a Feline: Cat Tales Poems (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2013) [coll: pb/]
- The Gloomy Seahorse: Poems (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2013) [poetry: coll: chap: pb/Adele Whittle]
- Bone Idle in the Charnel House: A Collection of Weird Stories (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2014) [coll: pb/Mike Dubisch]
- Bottled Love Story (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2014) [novella: ebook: na/Rhys Hughes]
- Lunar Tickle (Leeds, Yorkshire: Dog Horn Publishing, 2014) [coll: pb/]
- Thirty Tributes to Calvino (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2015) [coll: pb/Brankica Bozinovska]
- Orpheus on the Underground and Other Stories (Leyburn, East Yorkshire: Tartarus Press, 2015) [coll: illus/hb/Chris Harrendence]
- Mirrors in the Deluge: A Collection of 32 Stories (Dartford, Kent: Elsewhen Press, 2015) [coll: pb/Alison Buck]
- The Million Word Storybook: Female Edition (Swansea, Wales: The Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2015) [coll: containing 365 stories, all but 26 identical with the Male Edition of this title, see below: na/Gonzalo Canedo]
- The Million Word Storybook: Male Edition (Swansea, Wales: The Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2015) [coll: containing 365 stories, all but 26 identical with the Female Edition of this title, see above: na/Gonzalo Canedo]
- Brutal Pantomimes (Shaftesbury, Dorset: Egaeus Press, 2016) [coll: hb/from František Tichȳ]
- The Seashell Contract (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2017) [coll: pb/]
- Salty Kiss Island: Fantastika Romantique (London: Immanion Press, 2017) [coll: pb/Daniell Lainton]
- Yule Do Nicely: A Weird and Ghostly Advent Calendar (and Stocking Too) (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2017) [coll: chap: pb/]
- World Muses (Bucharest, Romania: Ex Occidente Press/Mount Abraxas, 2017) [coll of linked stories: hb/]
- World Muses (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2017) [coll: exp of above: pb/Kwame Devonish]
- How Many Times?: Experimental Fictions (London: Eibonvale Press, 2018) [coll: chap: hb/David Rix]
- The Early Bird Catches the Worm but the Wise Worm Stays in Bed (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2018) [coll: pb/Brankica Bozinovska]
- The Nostalgia That Never Was: 222 Apocryphal Incidents & Speculations (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2018) [coll of linked vignettes: pb/uncredited]
- Mombasa Madrigal and Other African Escapades (São Paulo, Brazil: Raphus Press, 2019) [coll: hb/Alcebiades Diniz]
- Slap-on-the-Wrist Stories (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2019) [coll: pb/from Michelangelo]
- Arms Against a Sea (and Other Troubles) (São Paulo, Brazil: Raphus Press, 2019) [coll: chap: hb/Alcebiades Diniz]
- Arms Against a Sea and Other Troubles (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2019) [coll: exp vt of the above: pb/uncredited]
- Facets of Faraway (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2020) [coll: pb/]
- Crepuscularks and Phantomimes: Gothic, Ghostly and Lovecraftian Tales in the Ironic Mode (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2020) [coll: pb/Selwyn Rodda]
- The Dangerous Strangeness: Fifteen One-Act Plays (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2020) [plays: coll: pb/Selwyn Rodda]
- Carrying Women Across Rivers: Poems (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2020) [poetry: coll: pb/Adele Whittle]
- Corybantic Fulgours: Ekphrastic Ditties for Daft Doodles (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2020) [poetry: coll: chap: illus/pb/Rhys Hughes]
- The Meandering Knight (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2020) [poetry: coll of linked poems: pb/]
- A Rhys Hughes Sampler: (Selected Weird Stories 1993-2020) (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2020) [coll: pb/]
- The Pilgrim's Regress: The Don Cosquillas Tales (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2021) [coll: pb/]
- Weirdly Out West (no place given: Black Scat Books, 2021) [coll: Westerns: pb/N Conquest]
- My Rabbit's Shadow Looks Like a Hand (no place given: Ebbonvale Press, 2021) [novelette: chap: hb/]
- Bunny Queue and Others (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2021) [poetry: coll: chap: pb/]
- Cthulhu Wants You! (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2021) [coll: Cthulhu Mythos: pb/]
- The Knees of Kionga (Bucharest, Romania: Mount Abraxas Press, 2021) [novella: chap: pb/]
- Utopia in Trouble (São Paulo, Brazil: Raphus Press, 2021) [coll: chap: hb/Alcebiades Diniz]
- The Seven Deadly Sinbads (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2021) [coll of linked stories: pb/]
- My Little Halloween Book (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2021) [coll: chap: pb/]
- Ynch Short of the Yard: Rather Rude Detective Stories (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2021) [coll: ebook: na/]
- Mathematical Ghost Stories: Five Jamesian OuLiPo Fictions (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2022) [coll: chap: Oulipo: pb/Rhys Hughes]
- Get a Room!: Quirky Lustful Poetry (no place given: Gibbon Moon Books, 2022) [poetry: coll: chap: pb/]
- The Ghost Loser: The Misadventures of Clumsy Carnacki (no place given: Gibbon Moon Books, 2022) [coll: pb/]
- Three Novellas: The Darktree Wheel; The Impossible Inferno; The Swine Taster (no place given: Gibbon Moon Books, 2022) [coll: pb/]
- Comfy Rascals: Short Fictions (no place given: Gibbon Moon Books, 2022) [coll: pb/]
- The Senile Pagodas (Lakewood, Colorado: Centipede Press, 2022) [coll: hb/]
- Five Hundred Mini-Sagas (no place given: Gibbon Moon Books, 2022) [coll: pb/Rhys Hughes]
- Yee-Haw: Weirdly Western Poems (no place given: Gibbon Moon Books, 2022) [poetry: coll: pb/Rhys Hughes]
- The Graphologist and Other Stories (Bucharest, Romania: Mount Abraxas Press, 2023) [coll: chap: pb/]
- In Praise of Ridicule (Swindon, Wiltshire: D-Press, 2003) [poetry: coll: chap: pb/Carole Humphreys]
works as editor
- The Ironic Fantastic #1 (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2013) [anth: ebook: na/]
- Wuxing Lyrical: Playful Poems Based on Chinese Mythology (Swansea, Wales: Gloomy Seahorse Press, 2022) [anth: ebook: na/]
links
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