The Runagates Club
Twelve stories comprise John Buchan's last collection of short stories, a classic of British interwar short fiction first published in 1928 now part of the Handheld Press Fantasy Classics.
Buchan's most popular character Richard Hannay battles an ancient curse in South Africa in `The Green Wildebeest' and Edward Leithen tags along in an assassins' war in `Sing a Song of Sixpence'. The Runagates Club features First World War spy and code-cracking thrillers `The Loathly Opposite' and `Dr Lartius'; tales of supernatural possession in deepest Wales, comfortable Oxfordshire and the House of Commons, in `The Wind in the Portico', Fullcircle' and `"Tendebant Manus"'; and stories of survival in the far North and in Depression-era Canada with `Skule Skerry' and `Ship to Tarshish'. There is farce too, in `The Frying-Pan and the Fire' and `"Divus" Johnston', and the riotous journalistic romp of `The Last Crusade' is the last word on fake news, for all eras.
What makes The Runagates Club special is that Buchan designed it as a showcase to bring together the best of his magazine fiction. He repurposed these stories with new beginnings, framing them as after-dinner stories told over the port in a late 1920s private gentleman's dining-club. This is interwar storytelling at its very best, with a critical introduction by Kate Macdonald, a leading authority on Buchan’s writing.
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John Buchan
John Buchan (1875-1940) was a prolific author of adventure fiction, such as The Thirty-Nine Steps, and a Unionist politician who became the 15th Governor General of Canada in 1935. He also served as a private secretary in South Africa, a barrister, a journalist, and a director of information during the First World War.
Handheld Fantasy Classics
Handheld Fantasy Classics consists of four books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
