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Johnny Pye and the Fool-Killer

Stephen Vincent Benét

First published April 1938
Type Short Fiction
Length Novelette

"In SVB's second famous fantasy tale, <i>Johnny Pye & the Fool-Killer</i> [...], Pye outwits <u>Death</u> the Fool-Killer by refusing to accept an offer of <u>Immortality</u>." (underscore represents cross-reference, linked online) --SFE: <i>Encyclopedia of Fantasy</i> (1997), biographical entry by John Clute

  • The Encyclopedia of Fantasy gives title "Johnny Pye & the Fool-Killer", with ampersand and hyphen, which matches the three 1938/1939 chapbooks.
  • Originally published in US weekly The Saturday Evening Post, September 18, 1937.
  • Published in monthly The Saturday Evening Post, Sep 1987 and Oct 1987. (as "Johnny Pye and the Fool-Killer" --UNZ.org, thumbnail image) (two parts with word-counts 4713 and 3664 --TheFreeLibrary.com and Trove.NLA.gov.au respectively; sum 8377 words)
  • Collected in:   Post Stories of 1937 (Little, Brown; 1938)   O. Henry Memorial Award, Prize Stories of 1938 (Doubleday, Doran; 1938)

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
April 1938 Cover Penguin Parade 2 Penguin Books Anthology 13
June 1938 Johnny Pye & the Fool-Killer Countryman Press Chapbook
August 1938 Johnny Pye & the Fool-Killer Farrar & Rinehart Chapbook
1939 Cover Tales Before Midnight Farrar & Rinehart Collection 21
March 1939 Johnny Pye & the Fool-Killer William Heinemann Chapbook
1942 Cover Selected Works of Stephen Vincent Benét Farrar & Rinehart Collection 90|2090
June 1942 Cover Selected Works of Stephen Vincent Benét: Volume Two, Prose Farrar & Rinehart Collection 90
1943 Cover The Short Stories of Stephen Vincent Benét - A Selection Editions for the Armed Services Collection
1943 Cover Twenty-Five Short Stories Sun Dial Press Collection
December 1946 Cover The Stephen Vincent Benét Pocket Book Pocket Books Collection 34
May 1953 Cover Fantastic, May-June 1953 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company MAGAZINE 141
1961 Cover A Pocket Book of Modern American Short Stories Washington Square Press Anthology 1
August 1967 Cover The Devil and Daniel Webster and Other Stories Archway / Washington Square Press Collection 67
April 1969 The Devil and Daniel Webster and Other Stories Archway / Washington Square Press Collection 67