Humor Pain, Barry: Nature’s Next Moves. v1. 17 Dec 2022

[GrannyGrump]

Purportedly by “Archibald Damstruther,” the fictional creation of Pain, who is himself credited as “editor” of these pieces, this is a six-part set of loosely connected fantasies, cousin to the wacky invention story popular at the time.

Pain’s variation on the theme is to speculate about fantastic (and funny) directions in which biological evolution might steer plants and animals—and people—to produce new improved versions of existing species (e.g., a third arm for people, or a writing tree that helps authors. As one might expect, the writing is droll and amusing.

I don’t think these have ever been collected before. Hope you enjoy them!

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Barry Eric Odell Pain (28 Sep. 1864 – 05 May 1928) was an English journalist, poet, humorist and writer. During his lifetime, he was perhaps best known as a writer of parody and lightly humorous stories, but now is also noted for his tales touched with fantasy, horror, and the supernatural. He also wrote stories of mystery and suspense. His humor has been characterized by some modern critics as “a surreal forerunner to Monty Python.”

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The contents of this collection were first serialized in Pearson’s Magazine, January through June, 1900. This book is in the public domain where copyright is “Life+90” or less, and in the USA.
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