Hector Hugh Munro (December 18, 1870 – November 13, 1916), better known by the pen name Saki, was a British writer, whose witty and sometimes macabre stories satirized Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story and is often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. "The Open Window" may be his most famous, with a closing line ("Romance at short notice was her speciality") that has entered the lexicon.

In addition to his short stories (which were first published in newspapers, as was the custom of the time, and then collected into several volumes) he also wrote a full-length play, The Watched Pot, in collaboration with Charles Maude; two one-act plays; a historical study, The Rise of the Russian Empire, the only book published under his own name; a short novel, The Unbearable Bassington; the episodic The Westminster Alice (a Parliamentary parody of Alice in Wonderland), and When William Came, subtitled A Story of London Under the Hohenzollerns, an early alternate history. He was influenced by Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, and Kipling, and himself influenced A. A. Milne, Noël Coward, and P. G. Wodehouse.[1]

英國作傢沙奇(Saki)的小說以描述人生諷刺和殘酷麵，靈異，動物而聞名。人們說沙奇殘酷無情，此言不虛，作為一位諷刺作傢，殘酷無情也是不得已的，而且就連那種殘酷無情，也會讓讀者感到某種溫馨的人性，以及人麵對生活和命運的嚴格考驗。總之，沙奇的作品是用無情，幽默，哀愁，諷刺等烹調齣來的一道冷盤，到處可以感受到廚師的功力，五味俱全。

沙奇(Saki)的本名 是Hector Hugh Munro (1870 ~ 1916)，齣生於緬甸。他父親在那裡當警察。沙奇齣生不久即喪母，父親送他迴英國，在兩位姑媽的扶養及嚴厲管教下接受教育。第一次世界大戰爆發後，沙奇婉拒擔任軍官，而以誌願兵入伍，1916年11月13日在法國陣地英勇戰鬥，為英國光榮捐軀。

在綫閱讀本書

Saki is perhaps the most graceful spokesman for England's 'Golden Afternoon' - the slow and peaceful years before the First World War. Although, like so many of his generation, he died tragically young, in action on the Western Front, his reputation as a writer continued to grow long after his death. The stories are humorous, satiric, supernatural, and macabre, highly individual, full of eccentric wit and unconventional situations. With his great gift as a social satirist of his contemporaryupper-class Edwardian world, Saki is one of the few undisputed English masters of the short story.