Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

A triumph of homage… 5 stars

A collection of short stories linked by subject matter and style rather than through the characters, this is a wonderful homage to the science fiction of the late 19th/early 20th century. There are nine stories in all, and I gave six of them five stars, two got four, and only the last story in the book, which I freely admit I didn’t understand, let it down a little for me at the end. But not enough to spoil my overall enjoyment – some of these stories are brilliant and the quality of the writing is superb.

I love early science fiction, books from the colonial era, and stories set in fog-bound, sooty old London, and Mason manages to tick all those boxes in this slim collection, so I think it’s fair to say I was destined to love it. It could all have gone horribly wrong though if he’d got the style wrong or dragged in accidental anachronisms. Fortunately, he does an amazing job at catching just the right tone, and I could imagine HG Wells and the lads nodding enthusiastically over his shoulder while he was writing. That’s not to say the stories feel old-fashioned or dated, though. Mason looks at the subjects he chooses with a modern eye, but includes those observations so subtly it becomes part of the style. So the anachronisms that are there are quite intentional and disguised so beautifully that they’re barely noticeable, except in the way that they make the subject matter resonate with a modern reader. In short, what I’m attempting – badly – to say is that there’s no need to have read any early science fiction to enjoy the stories – they work twice, as a homage as I’ve said, but as a fully relevant modern collection too.

Here’s a flavour of a few of the stories I loved most:

The Ecstasy of Alfred Russell Wallace – Wallace is a collector of bugs and birds and animals, which he sends home for the many scientists studying such things. During a fever, he has an epiphany and realises that living things evolve to survive. He writes to a scientist he knows vaguely – Charles Darwin – and waits for a reply. And waits. And waits. And gradually he begins to doubt himself, and to doubt the scientific community, fearing they will take his idea for their own since he isn’t one of them and doesn’t deserve recognition. This reads so much like a true story I looked it up, and Wallace did indeed exist, although his real story seems to be rather different than the story Mason gives us. It’s truly excellent, full of insight into how the scientific world worked in that era.

On Growing Ferns and Other Plants in Glass Cases in the Midst of the Smoke of London (Phew! He likes his long titles!) - This is the story of an asthmatic child and his anxious mother, and the lengths to which she will go to save his life. Mason gives a superb depiction of nineteenth century sooty London, industrialized and choking. Also of medicine, at a time when the treatment was often worse than the disease. It has a wonderful science fiction element to it which I won’t explain for fear of spoilers, but it’s a fabulous story that brought the tears to my eyes at the end.

The Line Agent Pascal – a story set in colonial Brazil. Pascal is one of the agents who live along the communications line that crosses the country, each many, many miles from the next along. Every morning, a signal is sent from head office and each agent confirms in turn that the line is working. But one day, one of the agents doesn’t respond. This is a great character study of Pascal, a man who struggles to fit in with other people, so his solitary posting suits him perfectly despite the dangers lurking in the forest around his station. But he has grown to think of the other men along the line as some kind of friends despite never having met them. The colonial setting is great, with the feeling of loneliness and constant danger from nature or the displaced indigenous people. Worthy of Conrad, and in fact reminded me not a little of the setting in his story, An Outpost of Progress, though the story (and the continent!) is entirely different.

On the Cause of Winds and Waves, &c. - The story of a female aéronaute – a balloonist – whose exploits have made her famous. But when one day she sees an odd rift in the sky she discovers that her gender and class mean that the scientific community not only don’t take her seriously but actually ridicule and humiliate her. So she sets out to prove her story true, taking along a witness. Another science fiction one, but with a delightful quirk that takes it into the realms of metafiction.

So plenty of variety linked, as I said at the beginning, by style, subject matter and wonderful writing. A great collection – highly recommended.

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Mantle at Pan Macmillan.

This is a wonderful collection of amazing stories, remarkable and magnificent in colour and detail. The reader is wholly transported amongst the rich prose and can become lost in the ebb and flow of the text.

I highly recommend this collection from Daniel Mason.

I don't often read short stories - I often feel that they aren't satisfying enough and that a novel would be better at exploring the characters in depth - but this collection really made me change my mind. The short stories in this collection all work together; most take place in Victorian times (but not all) and the characters are all... trying to achieve something - explore, discover - or have their sense of self questioned (the war re-enactor, the Doctor Service possessed by a double). I found that despite the breviety of the short stories, you do get a sense of the character and feel a connection to them, and you feel empathy for them - and there is some magic even in the most mundane. The eponymous short story was actually my least favourite, but I will remember the other ones for a while - especially Agent Pascal in Argentina, and Uncle Teddy.

Short stories are generally not my thing; character development tends to be stunted, plots suffer from being abbreviated and they are generally unsatisfactory overall. This is not so on any level with this collection. I discovered Daniel Mason a couple of years ago through his novel ‘Winter Soldier’. That was one of the best books I read in 2018 and this, although very different, is likely to hold a similar position for me this year.

This is the type of book that (other than possibly Borges) nobody writes; it is a wonderful book, beautifully lyrical, gripping, surprising and very much in the voice(s) of the author. This collection (billed as short stories) takes a possible moment of history (I have no idea of the extent of the facts contained in each story) and plausibly weaves a lyrical textile of near-perfection, speaking of the truth and value of human endeavour. Each story is entirely different in style and form and bares no direct relation to the others so don’t get hung up on trying to find a hidden character or link between them; treat them as standalone pieces. Having said that, the final ‘story’ (unlike anything I have ever read) allows some sort of understanding of interconnectedness between the individual pieces of writing that make up this collection, but certainly does not present a neat resolution.

As I am making patently clear, I do not have the words to convey the perfection of the expression of emotion and truths contained in this book or the vision involved in the creation of this collection. Maybe I should stop here: this is a genuinely stunning, lyrical achievement of prose. And they are great stories. Wonderful.

An interesting collection of short stories set in Victorian times, with a wide variety of protagonists. Some were surreal, like a woman taking a mysterious balloon ride, and some seemed very well researched, like the scientists who came up with the theory of evolution in parallel with Darwin. I enjoyed them all, and found them well written.

This title toes the fine line between the bizarre and sublime, there's no other way to put it. A collection of short stories matched with images, it is a matter of personal philosophy whether you can find links between them all.

Looking at the science of humanity via this multitude of examples, this book is one that will make you wonder what exactly it is that you're reading, while turning the pages to take more in. It is by far one of the more unusual books I have read, but that is not a bad thing; it's books like this that keep the literary world fresh and unique, bursting with something new to say at every turn.

A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth is quite difficult to review because there isn't anything comparable to it. The way it is written, the way it is structured, even the short story set up itself are all entirely individual.

If you are looking for something refreshingly different, ready to blow your eyes wide open, and keep you thinking long after the book has closed, this is very much the book for you.

A registry of my passage upon the earth, the clue to the unravelling of this collection of short stories is held within the title. I found it somewhat difficult to comprehend this weird grouping of unrelated events and happenings. What is the connection between a sailor, a boxer, a balloonist, a linesman on a busy lonely railroad in South America? The final story and in particular the final image go some way to helping a confused reader make sense and arrive at some logical conclusions on the authors intentions. Many thanks to netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review, on a difficult read, and that is what I have written.

It is almost unheard of me to award 5 stars to a short story collection, but Daniel Mason's marvellous 9 stories deserve every star, each a gem in my view, and so beautifully written. If, in these anxious times, you have been finding it hard to concentrate, then I would suggest that these stories are the perfect solution. Mason provides a breathtakingly disparate set of locations and immersive subject matter, managing to capture my attention, bewitch, surprise and satisfy. Without giving too much away, the stories include a balloonist, a 19th century bare knuckle fighter, a insect collector in search of a new species, a mother willing to do anything for her son amidst the dreaded smoky pollution of Victorian times, a doctor suffering from memory lapses where it appears a significantly better him emerges, a obsessive data collector and a immigrant willing to go to extreme lengths to prove just how super patriotic they are.

If you are normally wary of reading short stories, I think it would be more than worthwhile to make an exception in this case, I don't think you will regret it. There is the offbeat, the challenging, much wit, humour, compassion, sensitivity, and the original and moving. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Pan Macmillan for an ARC.

This collection of short stories by the author of The Winter Soldier, Daniel Mason, is an absolute gem. There are nine stories, all in some way reflective of the effects of science and discovery on human life, all to some extent historical fiction based on real life events. The first in the collection, Death of the pugilist, is a no holds barred account of a famous bare knuckle boxing match in the early 1800s, full of brutality and violence, but pathos and sensitivity too. The ecstasy of Alfred Russel Wallace, focuses on the life of a ‘bug-collector’ who wanders the world classifying insects and independently of Darwin (and to Darwin’s chagrin) proposes evolutionary theory before the publication of The Origin of Species. Some of the stories are very moving – I especially enjoyed On growing ferns and other plants in glass cases, which tells the story of how far a mother will go to try to save her asthmatic son from the pollution of Victorian London. The author has this story on his website and I recommend you read it there. You will want to read all the other stories afterwards! Other stories are extremely funny: The second Doctor Service and On the causes of Winds and Waves. The title story on the Brazilian artist Arthur Bispo Do Rosario is hugely inventive and provides an uplifting finish to the collection.

This is bravura writing and quite the best collection of short stories I have read in years; there is not one which is not touched by brilliance.

This is a unique, unusual, collection of short stories. It‘s quite difficult to categorise; I would say mainly historical fiction (some based around real people) with a bit of magic thrown in.

I like HF, and magical realism isn‘t really my thing but I still enjoyed all of the stories in this book, although I preferred the more straightforward HF.

I don;t think I've ever read a collection of short stories like this before (they're usually much more modern fiction) so it was a really refreshing read.

A lyrical exploration of life on earth.

A series of marvellous and engrossing character studies, some being entirely fictional, while others are peopled by fictionalised historical characters.

Up first is Bristolian stevedore and pugilist, whose story, Death of the Pugilist, or The Famous Battle of Jacob Burke and Blindman McGraw, is told in short ‘rounds’.

Then we have naturalist and explorer Alfred Russel Wallace, in The Ecstasy of Alfred Russel Wallace, whose correspondence with Charles Darwin comes to an end after Wallace shares his theory on natural selection with the, now more famous, author of On the Origin of Species.

Other characters include a mother seeking a cure for her ailing son, finds inspiration in the Wardian case ('On Growing Ferns and Other Plants in Glass Cases, in the Midst of the Smoke of London'), a curious pharaoh conducting callous experiments ('The Miraculous Discovery of Psammetichus'), a solitary French stationmaster in Brazil ('The Line Agent Pascal'), a female balloonist who makes an extraordinary discovery ('On the Cause of Winds and Waves, &c.'), and the title metafictional story in homage to schizophrenic Brazilian found objects artist Arthur Bispo do Rosário.

Every story is captivating.

Mason’s lyrical prose is breathtaking. He maintains the sense of wonder throughout.

As a Bristolian lapsed plant taxonomist, who loves beautiful, immersive writing, I couldn't rid myself of the feeling that Mason had written these stories just for me. I was enraptured from first to last.

Sublime.

My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC.

This is a collection of nine short stories. Each one takes us into an episode in the life of an individual. In the first story, a bare-knuckle fighter prepares to meet a fearsome opponent. Then Alfred Russel Wallace (not a fictional character) comes up with a theory of evolution that he wants to share with Charles Darwin. There is the story of man who takes part in American civil war re-enactments, the story of Psammetichus I (another non-fictional character) and his search for knowledge. A woman seeks a cure for her son’s breathing difficulties, a doctor has episodes when he loses time and seems to be replaced by a better version of himself, a man lives in a remote cabin monitoring a communication line, a female aeronaut discovers something amazing in the sky.

The story I mention last is the eighth story and it introduces a meta-fictional concept into the mix. I won’t explain what that is because the fun comes from putting things together. Especially when the ninth and final story unfolds based on another non-fictional character (whose influence on the book is credited in the acknowledgments).

All the stories are beautifully written. Some of them might seem a bit incomplete, but that is, I think, part of their charm. They are snapshots of lives. Some catch your attention from the get-go and the opening story is a good example. Others seem to take longer but maybe hit harder. The story of the civil war re-enactments is in this category for me: as I was reading it it felt a bit light compared with the preceding stories, but then it pivots on a few sentences and becomes a very moving story.

Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, I read this book in a single day. It is not a long book, so that is not beyond the realms of possibility even in normal life. Sometimes I find that I need to approach short story collections more slowly than that with gaps between the individual stories, but here it all seems to flow well and pull you along.

Thoroughly enjoyable and recommended.

Each story in Mason's "A registry of my passage upon the earth" is a small masterpiece, written in a lyrical and delicate prose.

A Registry Of My Passage Upon The Earth by Daniel Mason

This is a collection of stories from a prize winning author, so, as you would expect they are beautifully written and polished. Tales vary in setting, from historical street boxing, evolutionary jungle explorers to a doctor who starts having periods of absence in which unbeknownst to him a better version appears.

Having recently seen so many brilliant and accomplished female led short story collections, it’s interesting to see different perspective that a man brings. However, your enjoyment will depend on your interest in the topic at hand. If you don’t like boxing for example, your mind won’t be changed.

For a short story collection I like the stories to have a twist that makes you reread them, or some unexpected wrinkle or event to make you think, and the story stay with you. Those moments were what was missing here, namely they were interesting, well written and for the most part, they just stop.

Anyone of them could make a beautiful novel, and this collection feels like trying these stories out for that purpose, rather than crafting a perfect nugget of a story.

This was excellent, but missing that ‘something’ to make it truly special.