D. R. Bensen (1927–1997)
Author of A Wodehouse Bestiary
About the Author
Series
Works by D. R. Bensen
Irene, good-night 2 copies
Early Years, The * 1 copy
Associated Works
Wodehouse on Wodehouse: "Bring on the Girls", "Performing Flea" and "Over Seventy" (1980) — Introduction, some editions — 145 copies, 2 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Bensen, Donald Roynald
- Other names
- Bensen, Don R.
Thatcher, Julia - Birthdate
- 1927-10-03
- Date of death
- 1997-10-19
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- literary agent (Scott Meredith)
editor (Pyramid Publications)
senior editor (Ballantine Books) - Organizations
- Mystery Writers of America
- Short biography
- In addition to Bensen's involvement with genre fiction, he edited books by P.G. Wodehouse.
======
D. R. Benson, known mainly as an editor, has also written a dozen books, many of them prudently published under a pseudonym. He lives with his wife, son, and cat in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, and harbors an extremely dirty dog.
[from And Having Writ . . . (1978)]
Bensen was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers the Black Widowers. Bensen himself was the model for the character Roger Halsted. Concerning the Black Widowers, he published a poem of the same name during 1977.
[from Wikipedia, 6/27/2021] - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- New York, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- Croton-on-Hudson, New York, USA
- Place of death
- Croton-on-Hudson, New York, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- New York, USA
Members
Reviews
A collection of miscellaneous P.G. Wodehouse stories, all of which feature animals in some capacity. Sometimes they're the main focus of the story -- there's even one that's from the POV of a dog -- and sometimes they're pretty peripheral. One of them, for instance, involves a racehorse that is much discussed (and much bet upon), but who never actually appears in person in the story.
I'd already read a few of these elsewhere, but one of the nice things about Wodehouse is that he's very show more re-readable, because you really don't read his stuff to be surprised by the plot. You read it for the fun, frothy silliness and the witty language, and those never get old. Although I suppose it is possible that a 330-page semi-random sampling of his stuff might be a little bit much to imbibe all at once. Still, this is a nice cross-sectional sampling of his work that I'd think might work fairly well as a first introduction, except that it's a bit obscure to seek out for that purpose. show less
I'd already read a few of these elsewhere, but one of the nice things about Wodehouse is that he's very show more re-readable, because you really don't read his stuff to be surprised by the plot. You read it for the fun, frothy silliness and the witty language, and those never get old. Although I suppose it is possible that a 330-page semi-random sampling of his stuff might be a little bit much to imbibe all at once. Still, this is a nice cross-sectional sampling of his work that I'd think might work fairly well as a first introduction, except that it's a bit obscure to seek out for that purpose. show less
This is very silly and probably, on the whole, no better than mediocre, but I absolutely loved it; there's an optimism to it that I found very satisfying.
Different people will appreciate different stories. Some are worth 5 stars, imo, others left me cold. Maybe if I were a fan of Lovecraft & Poe I'd enjoy more of them more. Still, def. glad I read it.
My favorites were laced with humor: 'Trouble with Water' and 'Armageddon.' The two others that were funny/ clever were 'Snulbug' and 'Mr. Jinx' - the latter including a nod to early feminists. I have seen the first three of those elsewhere.
'Doubled and Redoubled' by Malcolm Jameson is an show more interesting Time Travel story, a variation on the *Groundhog Day* motif. I probably would have enjoyed it more when it was a fresher idea. show less
My favorites were laced with humor: 'Trouble with Water' and 'Armageddon.' The two others that were funny/ clever were 'Snulbug' and 'Mr. Jinx' - the latter including a nod to early feminists. I have seen the first three of those elsewhere.
'Doubled and Redoubled' by Malcolm Jameson is an show more interesting Time Travel story, a variation on the *Groundhog Day* motif. I probably would have enjoyed it more when it was a fresher idea. show less
Some fun stories. I wish there were more with Jeeves and Wooster. But there were a number of other characters I hadn't read before so that was a plus.
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 19
- Also by
- 4
- Members
- 668
- Popularity
- #37,770
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 7
- ISBNs
- 28
- Languages
- 2