''The Great Victorian Collection'', published in 1975, is a
fantasy novel
Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fa ...
by
Northern Irish
Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...
-
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
Carmel, California
Carmel-by-the-Sea (), often simply called Carmel, is a city in Monterey County, California, United States, founded in 1902 and incorporated on October 31, 1916. Situated on the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel is known for its natural scenery and ric ...
, it tells the story of a man who dreams that the empty parking lot he can see from his hotel window has been transformed by the arrival of a collection of priceless
Victoriana
Victoriana is a term used to refer to material culture related to the Victorian period (1837–1901). It often refers to decorative objects, but can also describe a variety of artifacts from the era including graphic design, publications, pho ...
on display in a vast open-air market. When he awakes he finds that he can no longer distinguish the dream from reality.
The book won the 1975
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...
science fiction author
This is a list of noted science-fiction authors (in alphabetical order):
A
*Dafydd ab Hugh (born 1960)
*Alexander Abasheli (1884–1954)
*Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838–1926)
*Kōbō Abe (1924–1993)
* Robert Abernathy (1924–1990)
*Dan Abn ...
and poet
Thomas M. Disch
Thomas Michael Disch (February 2, 1940 – July 4, 2008) was an American science fiction author and poet. He won the Hugo Award for Best Related Book – previously called "Best Non-Fiction Book" – in 1999, and he had two other Hugo nomination ...
included ''The Great Victorian Collection'' in his list of "modern classic" fantasy novels.Disch, Thomas M. "13 Great Works of Fantasy from the Last 13 Years", in ''
Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine
''Twilight Zone'' literature is an umbrella term for the many books and comic books which concern or adapt ''The Twilight Zone'' television series.
Comics
Gold Key Comics published a long-running ''Twilight Zone'' comic that featured the likene ...
'', July–August 1983.TZ Publications, Inc. (p. 61)