The Smell of Telescopes

The Smell of Telescopes is the title of a collection of short fiction by Welsh fantasy writer Rhys Hughes, first published in 2000 by Tartarus Press. The book features 26 interconnected short stories, subdivided into a number of story cycles that interact with each other and are resolved and justified by the final story.

A second edition of the book was published by Eibonvale Press in June 2008.

Michael Moorcock has rated The Smell of Telescopes as one of the ten most overlooked speculative fiction classics.^[1]

The contents of the book are as follows:

• The Banker Of Ingolstadt
• Ten Grim Bottles
• Spermaceti Whiskers
• The Blue Dwarf
• The Purloined Liver
• The Squonk Laughed
• Telegram Ma'am
• Depressurised Ghost Story
• Thanatology Spleen
• The Tell-Tale Nose
• A Girl Like A Doric Column
• The Orange Goat
• Nothing More Common
• Muscovado Lashes
• A Person Not In The Story
• Bridge Over Troubled Blood
• Burke And Rabbit
• The Yellow Imp
• Lanolin Brows
• The Haunted Womb
• Mister Humphrey's Clock's Inheritance
• There Was A Ghoul Dwelt By A Mosque
• The Purple Pastor
• The Hush Of Falling Houses
• The Sickness Of Satan
• Omophagia Ankles

References