The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy

By: Avram Davidson

Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld

Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Award-winning author, narrator, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman personally selected this book, and, using the tools of the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), cast the narrator and produced this work for his audiobook label, Neil Gaiman Presents.

A few words from Neil on The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy: "We picked the Eszterhazy stories for Neil Gaiman Presents because I wanted to convey the joy and delight of Avram Davidson's short stories. This is the first place all of the Eszterhazy stories have been collected together, including "The Odd, Old Bird", which was not part of the print edition of The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy, but could be found instead in the collection The Other Nineteenth Century. If you love fantasy, if you love alternate worlds, or if you just love good stories well-told, that's who Avram Davidson is - someone who knows a great deal more than you do and is damned if both of you aren't going to have a great time in Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania."

Avram Davidson (April 23, 1923 - May 8, 1993) was an American Jewish writer of fantasy fiction, science fiction, and crime fiction, as well as the author of many stories that do not fit into a genre niche. He won a Hugo Award and three World Fantasy Awards in the science fiction and fantasy genre, a World Fantasy Life Achievement award, and a Queen's Award and an Edgar Award in the mystery genre.

This invaluable collection of Avram Davidson's resonant, witty short stories describes some incidents in the career of many-times-Doctor Engelbert Eszterhazy, loyal subject of the Triune Monarchy of Scythia- Pannonia-Transbalkania, located in a 19th-century Europe whose political landscape will be, after a little reflection, familiar to most fantasy listeners. Enquire with Doctor Eszterhazy into curious matters: the lurley, the old woman who lived with a bear, gingerbread men, dancing goats, and more.

To hear more from Neil Gaiman on The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy, click here, or listen to the introduction at the beginning of the book itself.

Learn more about Neil Gaiman Presents and Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX).

©1991 Avram Davidson (P)2012 Wildside Press LLC

audible forced me to give it one star.

I was not going to give this one star, but audible forced me to give it one, before I could write a review.

Gaimen says in the introduction, that AD is smarter then most people. I believe he is pretty smart to write such drivel and have someone print it and people bought it.

Here is one of the big puns (there are no jokes) of the book. So and so wants to meet you incognito. Answer, Why would he want to meet me incognito, when he has never meet me cognito. TA Da.

I get tired of pretentious people saying pretentious things and we are suppose to feel stupid if we don't think they are funny. How many times have you been at a comedy club and the comedian gets on to the crowd for not laughing. Trying to say we are stupid because we don't laugh at his jokes. Dude, we get the joke, and your not funny.

This book is filled with lots of big made up words, kind of like you and your friends did in first grade.

The narrator is actually great and I hope to hear him read some good books

Incredible - but in the wrong order

These stories are a treasure but a mistake has been made in the way the book was published. This is no fault of Neil Gaiman or the Narrator who came along years after the book was published. Neil Gaiman should be applauded for supporting the amazing literature of Avram Davidson. For anyone who knows the world of Doctor Eszterhazy the issue might be missed. For those who are new to the world of Eszterhazy, I STRONGLY encourage you to start in the middle and not in the beginning of the book. Imagine starting the Chronicles of Narnia with Prince Caspian and not the Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe. That is how The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy has been designed and it's confusing and a shame.

Go in this order (the correct order) and you will fall in love with the world of Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania:

"Polly Charms, the Sleeping Woman"
"The Crown Jewels of Jerusalem, or The Tell-Tale Head"
"The Old Woman Who Lived with a Bear"
"The Church of Saint Satan and Pandaemons"
"Milord Sir Smiht, the English Wizard"
"The Case of the Mother-in-Law of Pearl"
"The Ceaseless Stone"
"The King's Shadow Has No Limits"

At this stage you can start back from the beginning of the book and you will truly enjoy the journey as it was meant to be.

I almost never leave a poor review, but...

Any additional comments?

I had high hopes for this, but the ridiculously complex names paired with a narrator who is a bit of a show-off for rapid-fire-reading-without-missing-a-syllable of needlessly complex vocabulary. There wasn't enough vocal distinction between characters to keep track of the story -- if there is a story. I feel vaguely ashamed that I cannot rise to the intellectual nerd club on this one (pout) because I usually take it as a point of pride of being in that club. And not being able to join in huzzahs on this one makes me vaguely ashamed and wondering if the shortcoming is my fault. But this one is just too...

Herrekk! The steam runabout, if you please!

I'm still trying to fix the geographic boundaries of the Triune Monarchy on the map (How does one cross from Little Byzantia into Austria without paying the Graustarker border toll, for instance?), but until I have all the kinks worked out of this most Balkan of polities (and let's be honest, that will take a very, very, ... very long time) I suspect I will, from time to time, feel compelled to return to the house at 33 Turkling St. for advice, and one hopes, segars [sic] and coversation over a glass of bull's blood wine!

Very Funny

Huge eructations, incognito rulers, superannuated hausfraus...I laughed all the way through this. I see now why so many people who are familiar with Avram Davidson's work are so keen to promote it and save it from oblivion. I wish there was more stuff like this around.

The narrator is truly excellent.

Brilliant Reading

To describe the "plots" would be impossible. But Neil Gaiman in the preface refers to the interview process for a reader, and I can only rave at the excellent choice. He can Read!
He can pronounce words correctly! Even foreign words! He can do intonations, semi-accents, and characterization. I am falling down in delight. And for this writing that is all absolutely necessary. Because Avram Davidson was a brilliant man, with an education seldom seen these days, and a very wry sense of humor/the ridiculous.

Only the 2nd time in 40 years

Any additional comments?

I have read &/or listened to more that 5000 books over the last 40 years. In all that time and with all those opportunities I have not finished only one title - until this book. For only the 2nd time in 40 years I did not finish a book that I had started. Believe me when I declare that I have had the urge to quit several other times, but managed to perservere. However, I just could not justify wasting any more time on a volume that provided no enjoyment or satisfaction. Actually, I did get some satisfaction by stopping the audio player. The producer's hype was terrific. The presenter did a very good job. The subject matter was geared to an intelligent 12 year old and left me cold. I wasted a credit and wish that there was some way to return it to Audible like an inedible meal at a restaurant.