[Rob B]

I read the first of the Alvin Maker books when I was about 12, and reading this story has got my interest back in them and now I'm tracking them down.
I went through a phase where it seemed I was reading something by OSC at least once a year, and often series at a time.

The Homecoming saga was very good, of course the Ender books were good, I really liked Enchantment, The Worthing Saga and though Wyrms was ok, too.

With the release of The Crystal City last year, TOR reissued the whole Alvin Maker series with a unified cover design. I like the series quite a bit having picked up two SFBC omibuses a few of years ago.

[Eventine]

With the release of The Crystal City last year, TOR reissued the whole Alvin Maker series with a unified cover design. I like the series quite a bit having picked up two SFBC omibuses a few of years ago.

I've seen those online, but I was hoping to see them in a bricks and mortar. I'll probably have to bite the bullet...

[Mithfânion]

I started this collection yesterday, my first story being Card's Yahzoo Queen. This was my introduction to Card and I have to say I found it incredibly dull. So dull in fact that I found myself skipping parts of it, which is doubly sad since this is a short story. His acclaim must come from the Ender SF series because this alternate history couldn't wet my appetite in the slightest.

Will continue my posting as I progress.

[FicusFan]

I just got my paperback from the UK, and I plan to start dipping in soon. Don't know if I will read it from cover to cover in one sitting.

[Mithfânion]

Read three more tales in the last few days.

1. Lord John and the Succubus by Diana Gabaldon

I have no idea what this story is doing in this collection. Not only is this supposed to be a Fantasy collection, it also purports to be a best of the best collection, a collection of "Legends" in their current field, as Silverberg puts in his intro. There's an idea behind Legends, at least so they say. It's strange that they manage to formulate that concept but then partially discard it.

The Gabaldon short story has no place here. I had the same questionmarks set with the Card story, which strikes me as alternative history but I suppose that one could be argued because there is magic at the fringes through the Makers.

Aside from that, the story itself was very poor, I couldn't even finish it. Like the Card story, 1 star out of 5.

2. The Majipoor story by Silverberg

Obviously we have to deal with the obligatory Silverberg entry here. Silverberg is known for his SF stories and his Majipoor books have garnered him ver little acclaim. From my first sample of him, this dreary little story of kidnapped prince, I can see why. 1 star out of 5.

3. Otherland by Williams

One of the most gifted writers of the genre today. But again, why is this story in this collection? Again, it is only marginally Fantasy and given the choice between putting this story in a Sci-fi anthology or a Fantasy anthology it seems blatant to me that it would go in the first one. Included here only because Williams is a big name, but Otherland is IMO not a Fantasy saga.

The story itself is the best of the four I've read sofar, which means absolutely nothing. One of the problems that Williams has in his writing is his verbosity. This is the primary reason why so many new readers fail to make it past "Dragonbone chair". It's in evidence here again. He talks too much and I don't care for the virtual world. All the technoterms emphasize even more that this story should have been in a different collection. 2 stars out of 5. I can't say it made me want to read Otherland.

I've deliberatly saved those writers whose work I think will appeal to me (Martin, Hobb, Gaiman, Feist) so I'm not judging this anthology yet. Will not be reading McCaffrey based on past experience though.

[Sir Stephen]

I picked this up in paperback a while ago. I've not read all the stories yet but I might come back and finnish it one day.

The ones I have read are...

GRRM's "sworn sword" (i think thats the title), was superb, the best of those I read. Loved every minute of it. Funny, clever, great characters and a duel in a river, who could ask for more?

Hobbs story was also excellent, especialy interesting if you've read liveship traders. Her writing and characterisation is just so good.

Cards "Yahzoo Queen" was pretty decent, good enough to make me start on the Alvin Maker books, which so far I'm about halfway through the series which is pretty decent so far.

Williams "Happiest dead boy" - Im with you Mithanion, why was this blatent SF story in there? But I'm not complaining, I found it quite good, although confusing since I've not read Otherland. Also it was pretty funny in parts but I probably wont read Otherland on the strength of this.

Terry Brooks "indomitable" - I skimmed through this for a cheap laugh and wasn't dissapointed, story involved a boy fantasizing about his lost mentor Garret Jaxx ,then he killed some lizard people with a sword. Then went home. Presumably to masturbate over memorys of Garret Jaxx.

Thats as far as I got, did I miss anything I shouldn't have?

[Mithfânion]

Well you could give the Gaiman entry a try, IMO mainly because it is set in his American Gods world (and not simply because it is a Gaiman story). I've just started on the Feist tale and just like the story he did for the previous Legends, I like this one as well. So those two, and possibly the Haydon entry which some have claim is much better than her series (which apparantly features a green ogre-like sidekick named "Achmed", for God's sake).

[Sir Stephen]

Well you could give the Gaiman entry a try, IMO mainly because it is set in his American Gods world

Thanks. I might give this a try, I'm not exactly familiar with his American Gods world though but it sounds original. Which is a good thing.

[estranghero]

Mith-- The Lord John entry is definitely not fantasy though since she's doing hell of a lot of sales on fantasy-readers due to her historical stuff, maybe that's why she was included. (No, haven't read her romance series yet.)

And is it me or am I the only to have a pet peeve to have an editor include one of his works in an anthology? (i.e. Silverberg)

Tad Williams' "Otherland" has always been an iffy thing about whether to peg it as SF or F. Though I admit I tend to veer in the SF field. (Beside, at least he's diversifying in including this instead of writing another MS&T story again.)

Sir Stephen-- The Terry Brooks is an interesting story in that I've read the background of that story: The Wishsong of Shannara. Sorry but your comment made me shake my head because at least I understood where Brooks was coming from.

[Mithfânion]

ES

And is it me or am I the only to have a pet peeve to have an editor include one of his works in an anthology? (i.e. Silverberg)

Well I don't necessarily object to that if the editor can deliver a tale on the par with his contributers.

However in the case of Silverberg, there is not one, but two reasons for his exclusion. Firstly, he isn't able to teel a Fantasy story on the level of the greatest of the genre. Secondly, this is supposed to be a collection of Legends in the field. That is the aim of the Legends concept, to gather the great from Fantasy and have readers have a taste of a story in their ongoing saga. Majipoor simply doesn't belong in the category of ASOIAF, Farseer, M,S&T etc (I'm sure someone will disagree but we're talking overall picture here).