[Mithfânion]

I definitely enjoyed the Hobb story. I really wish I could get my hands on the Voyager special edition to read the other short that she did in this setting.

The Inheritance, as it is called, is very good. I initially thought that a particular element of that story (made of wizardwood) would be an important link to the new Tawny man trilogy, but it now turns out that it wasn't. Still, very good.

[JohnH]

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[Hobbit]

John - the book didn't have a title, though Amazon.co.uk refer to it as 'Voyager 5 Celebration'. It was published to celebrate 5 years of Voyager, I think. The deal at the time was that you bought certain books and got this free. There were only 3000 produced, and it is short - the total number of pages are 118, and there are other authors in there as well - Kim Stanley Robinson, Juliet Marillier, Jan Siegel, Arthur C Clarke and Stephen Baxter.

Only in paperback. The ISBN is 0007612656, if it helps.

Here's a picture though:

here (http://home.worldonline.nl/~wjtimmer/collectorseditionhc250.GIF)

Hobbit

[Richardb]

Just finished reading Legends 2, and was dissapointed in a lot of it... however, I would pay the price again for the Hedge Knight story, and the Elderlings (George RR Martin and Robin Hobb respectively). Both were excellent. Was let down by Tad Williams, Anne McCaffrey (I could not figure that one out, but it felt vaguely like a lucid dream... it may have made sense at the time of writing, but not when it came time to read it), and Brooks. As to the rest, they were okay...

[JohnH]

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[Hobbit]

It makes a change for someone other than me to take a thread off-topic! :)

Thanks, John. Hope you enjoy the Hobb. The rest are more of a mixed bunch, though! :)

Hobbit

[JohnH]

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[Mithfânion]

I agree overall, though not on a few of the specifics.

As with Legends I, there's just too much filler here, too much truly unworthy stuff.

I'm afraid we'll always have to suffer a Silverberg Fantasy as long as he's editor. Which is a shame, because his SF is fine while his Fantasy decidedly isn't. I agree that if Tad Williams is going to contribute it ought to be a Shadowmarch/Osten Ard short story, Otherland doesn't fit in here. However that is unlikely to happen since Williams has his plate full with both the Shadowmarch novels scheduled to be published once a year and the fact that he has been planning an Osten Ard short story collection for years now, titled "A chronicle in Stone".

Needless to say that I disagree on Martin, his shorts are excellent but they lack the punch of his novels. Feist is way past his prime, but he or Eddings/Brooks/Jordan will always be in a collection like this. But Haydon? Might as well put a Dragonlance story in here. Or for that matter, Diana Gabaldon, who not just writes historical fiction, but primarily romantic historical fiction. She really has no place here. McCaffrey is filler.

In short, there's really very little to enjoy here, but this collection will always sells since there are rabid fans of some authors who just have to have that short story (I'm thinking Martin, Hobb, Brooks, Gaiman here).

What I'd like to see in such a collection is the following:

-Martin
-Hobb
-Donaldson
-Wolfe
-Erikson
-Mieville
-Jones
-Elliott/Wurts
-Kay
-McKillip/Marillier
-Bakker

A few of these could be substituted for others. But this is a diverse collection which gives a good overview of what Fantasy is capable of and also most of the current top authors are in here. However, Mieville and Erikson both do their short stories through PS publishing, Jordan isn't likely to participate any more, Williams is saving for his own collection and I think Donaldson is almost impossible as well. You could, if neccessary, replace those with new up-and-coming authors like Keyes, Berg and the aforementioned Marillier. Anyway, this is a list I could truly look forward to.

[ChrisW]

Mith, why do you keep adding Bakker to lists you make? He's written one book that's only published in Canada plus you have not even read him yet.:confused:

If I was to pick a Legends line up it would be:

Martin
Erikson
Rawn
Elliott
Jones
Carey
King
Fiest/Wurts(Empire story)
Goodkind
Gemmell
Burst

Now that line up has something for everyone.

[Mithfânion]

Because I'm very anxious to read something of his and a short story would be a great intro!

Brust and Carey would be interesting additions too, but I'd never want King in (again).