Some Angry Angel: A Mid-Century Faerie Tale

The cover of the 1960 first edition published by McGraw-Hill

The cover of the 1978 Ballantine Books paperback edition.

Some Angry Angel, published in 1960, was Richard Condon's third novel and gave impetus to the growing, though relatively short-lived "Condon cult" of that era. Written with all of the panache, stylistic tricks, and mannerisms that characterize all his works, it was not, however, one of his more typical political thrillers such as its immediate predecessor, the far better-known Manchurian Candidate. Although Condon is still remembered today for a number of more action-oriented books such as Candidate, Winter Kills, and the Prizzi series, Some Angry Angel has long since been forgotten. Its full name is Some Angry Angel: A Mid-Century Faerie Tale.

Title

The title, as is the case in five of Condon's first six books, is derived from the first line of a typical bit of Condonian doggerel that supposedly comes from a fictitious Keener's Manual mentioned in many of his earlier novels:

Some angry angel,

Bleared by Bach and too inbred,

Climbed out of bed,

And, glancing downward,

Threw a rock

Which struck an earthbound peacock's head.

The peacock fell.

The peacock's yell,

Outraged by such treason,

Cried out to know why it,

Out of billions,

Should be hit,

And instantly invented a reason.

The verse is found in two places: as an epigraph on a blank page five pages after the title page and two pages before the beginning of the text; and, on page 275, as the closing words or coda of the book.

See also

• Crime fiction/Catalog of prominent writers