The Doll Story MEGAPACK ®. Frances Hodgson Burnett
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Megapack
The Second E.F. Benson Megapack
The Cthulhu Mythos Megapack
The Ghost Story Megapack
The Second Ghost Story Megapack
The Third Ghost Story Megapack
The Horror Megapack
The M.R. James Megapack
The Macabre Megapack
The Second Macabre Megapack
The Mummy Megapack
The Vampire Megapack
The Werewolf Megapack
WESTERNS
The B.M. Bower Megapack
The Max Brand Megapack
The Buffalo Bill Megapack
The Cowboy Megapack
The Zane Grey Megapack
The Western Megapack
The Second Western Megapack
The Wizard of Oz Megapack
YOUNG ADULT
The Boys’ Adventure Megapack
The Dan Carter, Cub Scout Megapack
The G.A. Henty Megapack
The Penny Parker Megapack
The Pinocchio Megapack
The Rover Boys Megapack
The Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Megapack
The Tom Swift Megapack
AUTHOR MEGAPACKS
The Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The Edward Bellamy Megapack
The B.M. Bower Megapack
The E.F. Benson Megapack
The Second E.F. Benson Megapack
The Max Brand Megapack
The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack
The Wilkie Collins Megapack
The Ray Cummings Megapack
The Guy de Maupassant Megapack
The Philip K. Dick Megapack
The Jacques Futrelle Megapack
The Randall Garrett Megapack
The Second Randall Garrett Megapack
The Anna Katharine Green Megapack
The Zane Grey Megapack
The Dashiell Hammett Megapack
The M.R. James Megapack
The Selma Lagerlof Megapack
The Murray Leinster Megapack
The Second Murray Leinster Megapack
The George Barr McCutcheon Megapack
The Talbot Mundy Megapack
The Andre Norton Megapack
The H. Beam Piper Megapack
The Mack Reynolds Megapack
The Rafael Sabatini Megapack
The Saki Megapack
The Robert Sheckley Megapack
OTHER COLLECTIONS YOU MAY ENJOY
The Great Book of Wonder, by Lord Dunsany (it should have been called “The Lord Dunsany Megapack”)
The Wildside Book of Fantasy
The Wildside Book of Science Fiction
Yondering: The First Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
To the Stars—And Beyond! The Second Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
Once Upon a Future: The Third Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
Whodunit?—The First Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories
More Whodunits—The Second Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories
X is for Xmas: Christmas Mysteries
INTRODUCTION: HELLO, DOLLY! by Robert Reginald
Dolls—those cute and cuddly replicas of minature children that have been hugged and cherished to distraction by generations of young people (and their elders). Dolls come in many forms, including nutcrackers, teddy bears, voodoo dolls, talking dolls (real and fictional), and sexy dolls (the images, not real women)—and have been constructed from all kinds of materials. They’ve also been dressed both elaborately and simply (or not at all!) over the past two centuries, using a wide variety of fabrics and styles.
So it’s not surprising that creative writers have responded to the devotion that many children maintain for dolls, producing fictional accounts that have thrilled the fans and readers of each new generation. This anthology includes twenty-five stories, six poems, and one play relating to dolls. Some are classics—Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess always ranks near the top on readers’ lists of their favorite doll tales—while others are less well known.
Other classic tales include “Nutcracker and the King of Mice,” by E. T. A. Hoffmann (the inspiration for Tchaikovsky’s great work); “Dolly and I,” by Oliver Optic; “The Doll and Her Friends,” by Julia Maitland; “The Dolls’ Journey from Minnesota to Maine,” by Louisa May Alcott; “Raggedy Ann Stories,” by Johnny Gruelle; and “Racketty-Packetty House,” also by Burnett. More recent stories include “The Doll,” by Edmund Glasby; “The Doll’s Ghost,” by F. Marion Crawford; “The Doll,” by Vernon Lee; “The Dybbuk Dolls,” by Jack Dann; “Smothered Dolls,” by A. R. Morlan; “Lukundoo,” by Edward Lucas White; “The Man Who Wasn’t Nice to Pumpkin Head Dolls,” by Darrell Schweitzer; “Tiny Doll-Face,” by Marilyn “Mattie” Brahen; “Doll,” by Don Webb; “Mrs. Corter Makes Up Her Mind,” by August Derleth; and “The Doll,” by Barry Pain.
There’s something here for everyone—good writing, great reading, and just plain fun!
—Robert Reginald & Mary Wickizer Burgess, 17 Aug. 2013
NUTCRACKER AND THE KING OF MICE, by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Translated by Major Alex. Ewing
CHRISTMAS EVE
On the 24th of December Dr. Stahlbaum’s children were not allowed, on any pretext whatever, at any time of all that day, to go into the small drawing-room, much less into the best drawing-room into which it opened. Fritz and Marie were sitting cowered together in a corner of the back parlor when the evening twilight fell, and they began to feel terribly eerie. Seeing that no candles were brought, as was generally the case on Christmas Eve, Fritz, whispering in a mysterious fashion, confided to his young sister (who was just seven) that he had heard rattlings and rustlings going on all day, since early morning, inside the forbidden rooms, as well as distant hammerings. Further, that a short time ago a little dark-looking man had gone slipping and creeping across the floor with a big box under his arm, though he was well aware that this little man was no other than Godpapa Drosselmeier. At this news Marie clapped her little hands for gladness, and cried:
‘Oh! I do wonder what pretty things Godpapa Drosselmeier has been making for us this time!’
Godpapa Drosselmeier was anything but a nice-looking man. He was little and lean, with a great many wrinkles on his face, a big patch of black plaster where his right eye ought to have been, and not a hair on his head; which was why he wore a fine white wig, made of glass, and a very beautiful work of art. But he was a very, very clever man, who even knew and understood all about clocks and watches, and could make them himself. So that when one of the beautiful clocks that were in Dr. Stahlbaum’s house was out of sorts, and couldn’t sing, Godpapa Drosselmeier would come, take off his glass periwig