Book Description

In a career spanning over 50 years, Morley Roberts wrote hundreds of short stories and was one of the most successful operators in the Victorian-Edwardian literary marketplace. His remarkable imagination and willingness to experiment resulted in tales of sailors on the high seas, adventurers in the Australian bush, cowboys in the wild west, saloon society in frontier towns, tramps on the railroad, miners in the mountains of British Columbia, farmers on the South African veld, and writers in men’s clubs. Whatever the setting, Roberts evokes the dangers and challenges his characters face. With an eye for detail and an unerring skill in capturing the vernacular of the desperate characters he portrays, Roberts leads the reader into vividly-drawn masculine worlds. Markus Neacey acknowledges Roberts’s special contribution to the British short story by selecting the best examples from his extensive work. This edition includes: Critical introductionExtensive explanatory footnotesAuthor biographySuggestions for further readingSelection of contemporary reviewsExtracts from Roberts's interviews with The IdlerExtracts from Roberts's A Tramp's Note-bookThe full text of Roberts's lecture, The Sea in Fiction