Collected Works Runyon, Damon: A to Izzard Omnibus (collected short fiction). v2. 11 Apr 2017

[GrannyGrump]

A to Izzard
By Alfred Damon Runyan (1880–1946)
264 short stories and sketches, with a Primer of Runyonese, Glossary, Bibliography, and Index of Titles.

The contents of this book were first published 1907 ~ 1946.
The text of this book is in the public domain in countries where copyright is “Life+70” or less.

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Alfred Damon Runyan (re-christened “Runyon” through a printer’s error early in his career) was an American sports writer, journalist, and short story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. He spun humorous and sentimental tales of gamblers, hustlers, actors, and gangsters, in his distinctive vernacular style known as “Runyonese”: a mixture of formal speech and colorful slang, almost always in present tense, and always devoid of contractions.

Runyon’s fictional world is perhaps best known today through the musical Guys and Dolls (based on “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown” and “Blood Pressure”); the movie Lady for a Day, remade as Pocketful of Miracles (based on “Madame La Gimp”); and the movie that made Shirley Temple a star: Little Miss Marker, and its remakes.

(—Extracted and adapted from Wikipedia.)

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Runyon’s short fiction appears in numerous collections (15 titles during his lifetime, and at least a dozen more posthumously), with many of the pieces being recycled multiple times.

A to Izzard is my own compilation. This collection includes all the Broadway stories, presented in chronological order. Some stories from other “series” may be missing, due to unavailability of source material. This is the first appearance in any collection for the “Grandpap Mugg” and “Chelsea McBride” pieces.
An “anonymous scribe” from MobileRead has generously provided a primer and glossary for translation of Runyonese (which I had the impudence to expand slightly).

Spoiler:

Ralph Sir Edward, actually. He didn't want credit, but I have to tell somebody, so you will keep the secret, won't you?

I have added a bibliography of Runyon’s work, and an index of titles.

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You will find here stories and sketches full of humor, nostalgia, sharp satire, cynical noir, and much more. If you are only familiar with the "Broadway" stories, you owe it to yourself to give a peek to Runyon's other works as well.

Happy reading!

EDIT: I have just uploaded version 2, with some text corrections, and added Primer and Glossary generously provided by an “anonymous scribe” from MobileRead.
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[GrannyGrump]

I have just uploaded version 2 of the book, with some text corrections, a few layout changes, and the addition of a Primer and a Glossary for the translation of Runyonese. These were genererously provided by an “anonymous scribe” from MobileRead.