PAIN, Barry (Eric Odell)

(1864-1928)

   UK writer best known for the supernatural tales assembled in volumes like Stories in the Dark (coll 1901), and for humorous fiction in which he uneasily condescended to the lower orders. He frequently made superficial use of sf devices and motifs - e.g., the IMMORTALITY of the protagonist of Robinson Crusoe's Return (1906; rev vt The Return and Supperizing Reception of Robinson Crusoe of York, Parrot-Tamer 1921)facilitates the making of a number of satirical points about modern England - and occasionally a tale depends on these devices. An Exchange ofSouls (1911) posits a scientific rationale for the said exchange. The title story of The New Gulliver and Other Stories (coll 1913) takes its hero to a futuristic UTOPIA in Ultima Thule.

   JC

   Other works: In a Canadian Canoe (coll 1891); Stories and Interludes (coll 1892); The One Before (1902); Three Fantasies (coll 1904); The Diary of a Baby: Being a Free Record of the Unconscious Thought of Rosalys Ysolde Smith Aged One Year (1907); The Shadow of the Unseen (1907) with James BLYTH; Here and Hereafter (coll 1911); Stories in Grey (coll 1911); Going Home: Being the Fantastical Romance of the Girl with Angel Eyes and the Man who Had Wings (1921); Short Stories of To-day and Yesterday (coll 1928).