Anthologies

[Eventine]

I'm starting this thread to discuss the various anthologies floating around. They are a great way to explore new authors and get a quick fix of short stories. Obviously there are the very well known such as Legends. Can anyone recommend any others? Or point out anything dreadful?

Two collections that I've had for a few years now, and I'd recommend (even if they are a little hot and cold) are Dreaming Down Under volumes 1 and 2. They are collections of short stories by Australian authors (Fantasy and SF) and have a decent variety of stories by a few well known and a lot of not-so-well known authors. I got the first as a gift when I was laid up in hospital a few years back adn enjoyed it enough to buy the second, which I enjoyed just as much (and without the aid of morphine this time )

Two that have caught my eye recently that I haven't yet purchased are McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales and Firebirds (a Fantasy and SF anthology by YA authors).
I'll definitely purchase McSweeneys when it comes out in soft cover (although it is a good looking hardcover and could be worth the splurge), but I'm not sure of the publishing status of Firebirds. Apparently it ships from the US to Australia, but it seems locally available by UK Amazon??????


So, can anyone point out anything else worth taking a look at?

[AuntiePam]

McSweeney's has a hardcover? I bought the paperback a long time ago, didn't know there was a hardcover. I thought that collection was a bit mixed, but to be fair, I didn't read all the stories. I read about half, and only one or two were standouts.

I like the Datlow/Winding Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthologies -- I think there's a thread going about these books.

Most of my anthologies are horror. I have Legends I and II, and am really looking forward to the responses you get here, so I can put some more on my wish list.

[Iskaral Pust]

Here's a site that might interest you, it's crammed full of short stories. Here

[AuntiePam]

Iskaral, thank you -- great site, I could spend months there. Better warm up the printer.

[Rob B]

Nalo Hopkinson, Mojo: Conjure Stories is an excellent anthology of Caribbean influenced magic/voodoo stories.

The Years Best Fantasy Hartwell has been editing for the past couple of years is really good.

[Mithfânion]

The only one I'm familiar with is the yearly entry from Datlow & Wildling and that has never really attracted my interest.

Both the Legends anthologies stand high above the rest of the field, even if they too have a lot of weak stories.

I would though recommend a tremendously good Sci-Fi collection which isn't overly heavy on the SF, it is called "Stories of your life and others" by Ted Chiang. Praised all around.

[Eventine]

While browsing one of the specialist Australian online shops (www.galaxybooks.com.au for those interested) I discovered an anthology section.
I found a few interesting ones:
Cities: Very Best of Fantasy Comes to Town (4 novellas, including stories by Moorcock and Mieville)
Leviathan Volume Three (edited by Jeff Vandermeer, includes stories by Moorcock and Jeffrey Ford)
Lord of the Fantastic: Stories in Honor of Roger Zelazny (Around 20 stories in Honour of Roger Zelazny)

Any comments?

[AuntiePam]

Eventine, sounds like some good reading, all three of them.

Who are the writers "honoring" Zelazny?

[Iskaral Pust]

Amazon.co.uk:
Roger Zelazny (1937-1995) was a magnificently inventive fantasy writer. He wrote about time, imagination, morality, philosophy, religion, politics, and storytelling. Lord of the Fantastic is a worthy tribute to his multifaceted genius.
Greenberg, a legendary editor of fantasy anthologies, has collected 22 short stories from some of the best writers working today. Walter Jon Williams writes an achingly sad tale of love, loss, and memory; Robert Silverberg a funny tale of what happens when mythic godslayers outlive their opponents. Gregory Benford mixes space opera with astrophysics in a frenetic chase across the galaxy; Steven Brust's lone gambler goes up against an alien in a very high-stakes card game. And Jack Haldeman tells of a trouble-making fairy who's enjoying exile running a bait and beer shop somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Most authors include a reminiscence of Zelazny in a brief afterword; the introduction and final piece are stories about Roger from two collaborators, Fred Saberhagen and Gerald Hausman. This collection of well-written, thought-provoking tales will inspire old and new fans to read and reread his works. --Nona Vero, Amazon.com

I assume they meant Joe Haldeman rather than Jack, still sounds like quite a nice list.
It also reminded me of an anthology I have called After the King which are stories in honour of Tolkien. From what I remember it was a fairly mixed bag, but generally quite enjoyable stories.

[Mithfânion]

Cities: Very Best of Fantasy Comes to Town (4 novellas, including stories by Moorcock and Mieville)
Leviathan Volume Three (edited by Jeff Vandermeer, includes stories by Moorcock and Jeffrey Ford)



Note that these are both Urban Fantasy, which may or may not be to your taste.

[Eventine]

It's very much to my taste, so no problems there!

[Rob B]

Randy M's thread about single author collections made me think of this one again.

One anthology I read this year was The Locus Awards : Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Charles N. Brown, Jonathan Strahan. As the title implies, the stories here were pulled from the last 30 years and there are a lot of excellent stories by writers such as Harlan Ellison, Octavia Butler, Ted Chiang and Neil Gaiman.

[Randy M.]

Current anthologies are a bit thin on the ground at my house, but I'd gladly recommend a couple of older anthologies:
Black Water and
Black Water 2 (also went by another title I can't recall)

Both are edited by Alberto Manguel, and they are subtitled "The Anthology of Fantastic Literature." The contents reads like a Who's Who of world lit.: Wells, Bradbury, Isak Dinesen, Elizabeth Bowen, Kafka, Italo Calvino, Alex Comfort (yup, that Alex Comfort), Kipling, Tennessee Williams, Edith Wharton, Joseph Conrad, Philip MacDonald, Howard Fast, Guntar Grass, Pushkin, MaxBeerbohm ("Enoch Soames" is one of the great fantasy short stories) ...

You can find the contents at the Locus website:
http://www.locusmag.com/index/b326.html#A4551.4

I won't pretend I've read them from cover to cover, but they are great books to dip into now and again, and there is a fair range of types of fantasy, though so far as I can see, not the epic/heroic variety.


Randy M.

[Lowlander]

Some of my favorites :

-Fantasy Hall of Fame (Edited by Robert Silverberg)
-Modern Classics of Fantasy (Edited by Gardner Dozois)
-Masterpieces of Fantasy & Enchantment & Masterpieces
of Fantasy & Wonder (both edited by David Hartwell)
-Mammoth Book of Short Fantasy Novels (Edited by Isaac
Asimov !)
-Young Magicians (edited by Lin Carter)
-Swords against Darkness series (edited by A. Offutt)
-Fantastic Imagination I & II (Edited by Robert Boyer)
-Firebirds (YA) (edited by Sharyn November)
-Year's Best Fantasy : published in the 70's & 80's by
DAW and edited by Lin Carter and Arthur Saha
-Faery tales series (edited by Datlow & Windling)

[James Barclay]

And next year (though I don't know when), Daw books in association with Tekno Books (or the other way round, blimey this world is complicated for me today), a themed anthology called 'Army of the Fantastic' should be out. Short stories by authors big and small based on the premise of fantasy elements replacing conventional weapons and warfare. (Y'know, dragons as bombers etc).

I've got a story in it which is why I know about it. Hopefully that doesn;t make this an ad. If it does, the post will surely be removed...

NOM