I received an Advance Readers Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
This is an eccentric and stylistic collection of short stories. All but one have a historical setting and the voice and style of story-telling feels like they could have been written a hundred years ago too. The majority of them also centre around the natural world, whether that’s a telegraph operator in the remote jungle or a daring female balloonist. Along with this, the stories have a very physical feeling, evoking the reader’s senses.
The opening story “Death of the Pugilist, or the Famous Battle of Jacob Burke & Blindman McGraw” is a Regency-era tale of a working class young man who rises to fame as a boxer. Mason doesn’t shy away from the violence and dirt of this time and situation, instead focusing on the gritty details that highlight the inhumanity of those surrounding this young man. Physically powerful but at the mercy of others, young Burke is perhaps as much of a victim as those he battles into submission.
Many of the other stories are set around a similar time, including “On Growing Ferns and Other Plants in Glass Cases, In The Midst of the Smoke of London”, a story where the literal air around the characters is what is destroys them, particular a young child whose mother is desperate to save him.
“The Miraculous Discovery of Psammetichus I” is set in Ancient Egypt but fits in with the other stories with his historical tone and its focus of Psammetichus’ search to understand the world around him. This is a recurring theme throughout the stories – the struggle of humans versus nature. Their desire to conquer and their inability to do so. Throughout the collection, characters come up against their own shortcomings or lack of power over the natural world.
The one story that doesn’t seem to fit is “For the Union Dead”, which stands out for both its modern day setting and its first person narration. While the story is fine on its own, it feels out of place in this collection. At the same time, the title story of this collection has both of these features and yet fits in seamlessly, featuring an insane narrator, obsessed with cataloguing the world on God’s behalf.
This is the first I’ve read from Daniel Mason and while overall I enjoyed these stories, I’m not sure his style and voice would be sustainable at a novel length. That said, he has written novels so perhaps he does know what he’s doing.
Karissa Reads Books 
This collection sounds confusing. The title and the story about the air hurting people sounds science fiction, but then it has a regency style of writing. I’m not sure this book would be a good fit for me; I’d always want something different.
Yes, it definitely has that feel of old-fashioned science fiction in many of the stories. Kind of a Jules Verne style. I would have liked more variety in the stories too since they kind of all blur together. Except for the one story that does stand out but then just feels odd lumped in with the rest. Overall, I mostly enjoyed the book but I think it has kind of a narrow audience.
This sounds really interesting! The title and cover are so striking too.
That’s definitely what drew me in!
I have a review copy of this one so am sorry it didn’t work too well for you. However the vintage style and sci-fi feel of it sound like my kind of thing, so I’m still hopeful…
I think there’s a good chance you might like this better than I did. Don’t let me turn you off of it!
Gosh I’m trying to think, but I’ve never really come across a collection of short stories all taking place in history, like far ago history, so for that reason the book’s premise sounds unique, but it doesn’t seem like it was really pulled off…
You’re right, I can’t think of a collection like that either. I’m not a huge fan of the style he’s emulating here but for someone who is, they might enjoy this more.
I love the cover of this one. For some reason, though, it made me think this would be a collection of sci-fi stories (a la Ted Chiang), but it seems like it’s set in the regency era, with one sci-fi story and one modern one—definitely very different from most collections I’ve seen! The theme of human vs nature is interesting, though admittedly not something I’m usually drawn to. I’m glad to see you’ve enjoyed it, though.
They are sort of sci-fi in an old fashioned way. Kind of reminiscent of Jules Verne though they’re more about the natural world than science fiction. I think people who read that kind of older book might enjoy this collection.
[…] A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth – Daniel Mason […]