Friday, August 30, 2013

FFB: Some key (and fat) fantasy-fiction anthologies: THE BOOK OF FANTASY (edited by Borges, Ocampo, Bioy Casares), A TREASURY OF MODERN FANTASY (ed. Greenberg, Carr), BLACK WATER (ed. Manguel), THE FANTASY HALL OF FAME (ed. Silverberg from SFFWA and from World Fantasy Convention polling), THE TREASURY OF THE FANTASTIC (ed. Sandner, Weisman)

If one was to want to know what fantasy fiction was about, the books detailed below would be an excellent start; even in their individual and certainly collective vastness, they wouldn't be a comprehensive education in themselves, but they would give the theoretical innocent reader more perspective than most fantasy-fiction fans or casual readers of magical realism currently share, I suspect. Bill Crider drew our attention to the most recent of these fat anthologies a couple of weeks ago, and (correctly) particularly recommended Peter Beagle's introduction, which makes the telling point, deftly and with wit (as one would expect from Beagle) that fantasy fiction is where you find it, which is to say, not hemmed in by the sigh-fie shelves of a bookstore nor library, nor solely the fairytale and/or surreal expression of any given era's avant-garde, nor the exclusive province of comics nor other media akin to literature that have their prose expressions as well. However, despite presumably reading Beagle's quiet dismantling of the notion of meaningful distinctions between kinds of fantasy fiction as art (as opposed to business commodity), the editors of this fine volume of mostly core chestnuts of fantasy traditions (of fiction and poetry published in English before 1923, anyway), can still intend their reference to having collected "mainstream and genre writers" in their volume to be taken seriously...when none of the writers collected are even remotely definable as "genre" writers with the weak exceptions (weakness in the exceptions, not in their work) of M. R. James and Algernon Blackwood, who did specialize in fantasticated work. Look at the writers included in their table of contents. But this pernicious fantasy, that there is a meaningful Us and Them of Mainstream and Genre, with the Mainstream usually intuited as being whatever is beyond the confines of Genre, seems to persist to one degree or another among so many otherwise sane people that they often think I
kid them when I note that nothing escapes genre (the sui generis is a very rare thing indeed, and usually has imitators creating a genre around it, if any good at all), and that there is nothing that is truly "mainstream" about art, and never has been (there is no unified Mainstream audience, for example, simply a disparate and often poorly-served and -informed audience that will take in what they are presented with or made aware of, with greater or lesser degrees of enthusiasm, depending on any number of factors). There are some genres which are more distinct than others, but since art is an amorphous business, there are very few genres which are not so porous as to be at best approximations of sets, however much insisted upon as the True Writ of or by one or another in-group. In short, for examples, Richard Bach and Karen Russell and Fritz Leiber have all mostly published fantasy, and what differentiates them mostly is that Bach writes badly, Russell well, and Leiber, though with less acclaim over the decades of his career from as many privileged quarters than Russell and with far less commercial success than Bach, wrote it brilliantly at his best and in ways that opened new pathways for other writers to explore to much greater degree than nearly anyone else in the last century, in English-language literature. Which doesn't mean that Leiber didn't also write some utterly trivial material, if little as trivial as nearly everything by Bach.

In any case, all the fiction (and some poetry and other bits and pieces) gathered in the assemblies indexed below have somewhat shifting sets of influences, while sharing much of their appeal and approach, and initial and secondary inspiration by the works of myth and metaphor that many literate people are allowed to enjoy. It is telling how each of the books was assembled, not solely from the taste of the editors (with the arguable exception of the first, the book assembled by Borges and his friends), but also from to some degree of an attempt to represent work from sets divided by these self-imposed notions of what Is and Is Not Recognized as true literary art...when the only sensible approach is to gather the best work one can and let the art make its own case...of course, getting the sane readers also afflicted with their Genre/Non-Genre divides (and, usually as a consequence, Genre and Non-Genre expectations) to actually take the art presented on its own terms is also a challenge.  A challenge that is not overcome easily when, for example, the Carroll and Graf edition of The Book of Fantasy shows signs of W.W. Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw" being translated back from the Spanish(!) of the anthology's initial publication rather than simply reprinted in its original English text...a staggering result and display of ignorance and hostility to the work that can
only be seen as the ultimate result of attempting to pretend that literature should be treated according to how it's labelled rather than by its innate quality. Further evidence of the arrogance of the publishers, if not also the editors, is the recurrent use of the definite article in the titles of the volumes below...with the exception of the Carr/Greenberg first edition, not a one is An Anthology, but rather The compilation, as if mutually exclusive and capable of setting the definitions all by themselves...perhaps they fear to show weakness in the marketplace...what reader worth their salt will dally with a mere An Assortment, when there is The Gold Standard right over here?

In any case, the books below, as they overlap slightly and are, of course, uniformly uneven in the quality of their selections, are all worthy of attention and, as mentioned, can be broadening, particularly when taken together, to (however incompletely) suggest how diversely the field of fantasy fiction can be harvested in short form and excerpt. You could do worse. Most readers who restrict themselves to "realistic" fiction
only or to solely to novels already have.

This week, the list of links to reviews is being assembled by Evan Lewis, at his blog.

Indices from the Locus Indices and ISFDB:

The Book of Fantasy ed. Jorge Luís BorgesAdolfo Bioy Casares & Silvina Ocampo (Viking 0-670-82393-7, Jan ’89 [Dec ’88], $19.95, 384pp, hc) Fantasy anthology of 81 stories, story fragments, and anecdotes. This is its first English-language appearance (though many of the stories were written in English) and contains the contents of the second revised edition (Argentina 1976) plus a new introduction by Ursula K. Le Guin.
and its later variant title (slightly abridged):
Masters of Fantasy ed. Terry Carr & Martin H. Greenberg (Galahad 0-883-65786-4, Aug ’92 [Sep ’92], $9.98, 512pp, hc, cover by Henri Rousseau) Anthology of 31 fantasy stories, an abridged version of A Treasury of Modern Fantasy (Avon 1981). “Longtooth” by Edgar Pangborn and “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” by Richard Cowper have been omitted. This is an instant remainder edition.
  • xi · Introduction · Terry Carr & Martin H. Greenberg · in
  • 1 · The Rats in the Walls · H. P. Lovecraft · ss Weird Tales Mar ’24
  • 19 · The Woman of the Wood · A. Merritt · nv Weird Tales Aug ’26
  • 45 · Trouble with Water · Horace L. Gold · ss Unknown Mar ’39
  • 63 · Thirteen O’Clock [as by Cecil Corwin; Peter Packer] · C. M. Kornbluth · nv Stirring Science Stories Feb ’41
  • 85 · The Coming of the White Worm · Clark Ashton Smith · ss Stirring Science Stories Apr ’41
  • 97 · Yesterday Was Monday · Theodore Sturgeon · ss Unknown Jun ’41
  • 113 · They Bite · Anthony Boucher · ss Unknown Aug ’43
  • 123 · Call Him Demon [as by Keith Hammond] · Henry Kuttner · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Fll ’46
  • 145 · Daemon · C. L. Moore · ss Famous Fantastic Mysteries Oct ’46
  • 165 · The Black Ferris · Ray Bradbury · ss Weird Tales May ’48
  • 173 · Displaced Person · Eric Frank Russell · vi Weird Tales Sep ’48
  • 177 · Our Fair City · Robert A. Heinlein · ss Weird Tales Jan ’49
  • 193 · Come and Go Mad · Fredric Brown · nv Weird Tales Jul ’49
  • 227 · There Shall Be No Darkness · James Blish · nv Thrilling Wonder Stories Apr ’50
  • 259 · The Loom of Darkness [“Liane the Wayfarer”; Dying Earth] · Jack Vance · ss The Dying Earth, Hillman, 1950
  • 269 · The Rag Thing [as by David Grinnell] · Donald A. Wollheim · ss F&SF Oct ’51
  • 275 · Sail On! Sail On! · Philip José Farmer · ss Startling Stories Dec ’52
  • 285 · One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts · Shirley Jackson · ss F&SF Jan ’55
  • 295 · That Hell-Bound Train · Robert Bloch · ss F&SF Sep ’58
  • 307 · Nine Yards of Other Cloth [John] · Manly Wade Wellman · ss F&SF Nov ’58
  • 323 · The Montavarde Camera · Avram Davidson · ss F&SF May ’59
  • 335 · Man Overboard · John Collier · nv Argosy (UK) Jan ’60
  • 355 · My Dear Emily · Joanna Russ · nv F&SF Jul ’62
  • 375 · Descending · Thomas M. Disch · ss Fantastic Jul ’64
  • 387 · Four Ghosts in Hamlet · Fritz Leiber · nv F&SF Jan ’65
  • 417 · Divine Madness · Roger Zelazny · ss Magazine of Horror Sum ’66
  • 425 · Narrow Valley · R. A. Lafferty · ss F&SF Sep ’66
  • 437 · Timothy [Anita] · Keith Roberts · ss sf Impulse Sep ’66
  • 449 · Through a Glass—Darkly · Zenna Henderson · nv F&SF Oct ’70
  • 471 · Jeffty Is Five · Harlan Ellison · ss F&SF Jul ’77
  • 489 · Within the Walls of Tyre · Michael Bishop · nv Weirdbook #13 ’78
Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature ed. Alberto Manguel (Picador 0-330-28141-0, 1983 [Feb ’84], £4.95, 967pp, tp) Anthology of 72 stories and excerpts, from “literary” fantasists (including Bradbury and Le Guin as well as Poe, Kafka, Calvino, etc.[and Howard Fast, more a popular than critical success as a fiction writer and an occasional fantasy/sf hand; Brian Moore arguably likewise, if with more critical support, and certainly Alex Comfort as well...--TM] A 1983 book — not seen till 1984.
  • xvi · Foreword · Alberto Manguel · fw
  • 1 · House Taken Over · Julio Cortázar · ss End of the Game and Other Stories, Random House, 1967
  • 7 · How Love Came to Professor Guildea [“The Man Who Was Beloved”] · Robert S. Hichens · na Pearson’s Magazine Oct, 1897
  • 49 · Climax for a Ghost Story · I. A. Ireland · vi, 1919
  • 50 · The Mysteries of the Joy Rio · Tennessee Williams · ss, 1954
  • 62 · Pomegranate Seed · Edith Wharton · nv The Saturday Evening Post Apr 25 ’31
  • 92 · Venetian Masks · Adolfo Bioy Casares; trans. by Alberto Manguel · ss *
  • 110 · The Wish House · Rudyard Kipling · ss Maclean’s Oct 15 ’24
  • 127 · The Playground · Ray Bradbury · ss Esquire Oct ’53
  • 141 · Importance · Manuel Mujica Lainez · ss, 1978
  • 144 · Enoch Soames · Max Beerbohm · nv The Century May ’16
  • 171 · A Visitor from Down Under · L. P. Hartley · ss The Ghost-Book, ed. Cynthia Asquith, London: Hutchinson, 1926
  • 188 · Laura · Saki · ss Beasts and Super-Beasts, John Lane, 1914
  • 193 · An Injustice Revealed · Anon. · ss
  • 198 · A Little Place Off the Edgware Road · Graham Greene · ss Nineteen Stories, Heinemann, 1947
  • 204 · From “A School Story” · M. R. James · ex More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, Arnold, 1911
  • 206 · The Signalman · Charles Dickens · ss All the Year Round Christmas, 1866
  • 219 · The Tall Woman · Pedro Antonio de Alarcón · nv
  • 235 · A Scent of Mimosa · Francis King · ss The Times Anthology of Ghost Stories, Anon., London: Cape, 1975
  • 249 · Death and the Gardener [from Le Grand Ecart] · Jean Cocteau · ex, 1923
  • 250 · Lord Mountdrago [“Doctor and Patient”] · W. Somerset Maugham · nv The International Feb ’39
  • 273 · The Sick Gentleman’s Last Visit · Giovanni Papini · ss The Blind Pilot, 1907
  • 279 · Insomnia [1956] · Virgilio Pinera · vi
  • 280 · The Storm [“Frritt-Flacc”] · Jules Verne · ss; Le Figaro Illustre December 1884.
  • 287 · A Dream (from The Arabian Nights Entertainments) · Anon. · vi
  • 289 · The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar · Edgar Allan Poe · ss American Whig Review Dec, 1845
  • 299 · Split Second · Daphne du Maurier · nv The Apple Tree, London: Gollancz, 1952
  • 345 · August 25, 1983 · Jorge Luís Borges · ss, 1982
  • 351 · How Wang-Fo Was Saved · Marguerite Yourcenar · ss; in Nouvelles Orientales, 1963.
  • 361 · From “Peter and Rosa” · Isak Dinesen · ex Winter’s Tales, Putnam, 1942
  • 363 · Tattoo · Junichiro Tanizaki · ss, 1910
  • 371 · John Duffy’s Brother · Flann O’Brien · ss Story Jul/Aug ’41
  • 377 · Lady into Fox · David Garnett · na New York: Knopf, 1923
  • 430 · Father’s Last Escape · Bruno Schulz · ss Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass, 1937
  • 435 · A Man by the Name of Ziegler · Hermann Hesse · ss, 1954
  • 440 · The Argentine Ant [1952] · Italo Calvino; trans. by Archibald Colquhoun · nv Adam, One Afternoon, Colliro, 1957
  • 470 · The Lady on the Grey · John Collier · ss New Yorker Jun 16 ’51
  • 478 · The Queen of Spades [1834] · Alexander Sergeievitch Pushkin; trans. by Rosemary Edmonds · nv
  • 503 · Of a Promise Kept · Lafcadio Hearn · ss A Japanese Miscellany, Little, Brown, 1901
  • 507 · The Wizard Postponed [from The Book of Examples of Count Lucanor, adapt. 1935] · Juan ManuelJorge Luís Borges, adapt.; trans. by Norman Thomas di Giovanni · ss A Universal History of Infamy, Allen Lane, 1973
  • 511 · The Monkey’s Paw · W. W. Jacobs · ss Harper’s Monthly Sep ’02
  • 522 · The Bottle Imp · Robert Louis Stevenson · nv New York Herald Feb 8-Mar 1, 1891
  • 550 · The Rocking-Horse Winner · D. H. Lawrence · ss The Ghost-Book, ed. Cynthia Asquith, London: Hutchinson, 1926
  • 565 · Certain Distant Suns · Joanne Greenburg · ss High Crimes and Misdemeanors, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1979
  • 582 · The Third Bank of the River · João Guimarães Rosa · ss, 1967
  • 588 · Home · Hilaire Belloc · ss
  • 596 · The Door in the Wall · H. G. Wells · ss The Daily Chronicle Jul 14 ’06
  • 612 · The Friends · Silvina Ocampo · ss, 1982
  • 619 · Et in Sempiternum Pereant · Charles Williams · ss The London Mercury Dec ’35
  • 629 · The Captives of Longjumeau · Léon Bloy · ss, 1967
  • 634 · The Visit to the Museum · Vladimir Nabokov · ss, 1958
  • 644 · “Autumn Mountain” · Ryunosuke Akutagawa · ss
  • 652 · The Sight · Brian Moore · ss Irish Ghost Stories, ed. Joseph Hone, Hamish Hamilton, 1977
  • 670 · Clorinda · André Pieyre de Mandiargues · ss, 1979
  • 675 · The Pagan Rabbi · Cynthia Ozick · nv The Hudson Review, 1966
  • 704 · The Fisherman and His Soul · Oscar Wilde · nv The House of Pomegranates, 1891
  • 735 · The Bureau d’Echange de Maux · Lord Dunsany · ss The Smart Set Jan ’15
  • 740 · The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas · Ursula K. Le Guin · ss New Dimensions 3, ed. Robert Silverberg, Nelson Doubleday, 1973
  • 748 · In the Penal Colony · Franz Kafka · nv; Kurt Wolff Verlag, May ’19.
  • 774 · A Dog in Durer’s Etching “The Knight, Death and The Devil” · Marco Denevi · ss, 1968
  • 782 · The Large Ant · Howard Fast · ss Fantastic Universe Feb ’60
  • 792 · The Lemmings · Alex Comfort · ss
  • 800 · The Grey Ones · J. B. Priestley · ss Lilliput Apr-May ’53
  • 816 · The Feather Pillow · Horacio Quiroga · ss, 1907
  • 820 · Seaton’s Aunt · Walter de la Mare · nv The London Mercury Apr ’22
  • 849 · The Friends of the Friends [“The Way It Came”] · Henry James · nv Chap Book May, 1896
  • 874 · The Travelling Companion · Hans Christian Andersen · ss, 1835
  • 891 · The Curfew Tolls · Stephen Vincent Benét · ss The Saturday Evening Post Oct 5 ’35
  • 907 · The State of Grace · Marcel Aymé · ss Across Paris and Other Stories, Paris, 1947; F&SF Dec ’59
  • 919 · The Story of a Panic · E. M. Forster · nv Independent Review Mar ’04
  • 940 · An Invitation to the Hunt · George Hitchcock · ss San Francisco Review Mar ’60
  • 950 · From the “American Notebooks” · Nathaniel Hawthorne · ex, 1868
  • 952 · The Dream · O. Henry · ss Cosmopolitan Sep ’10; completed by Cosmopolitan editor.
  • 956 · The Authors · Misc. · bg
The Fantasy Hall of Fame ed. Robert Silverberg (HarperPrism 0-06-105215-9, Mar ’98 [Feb ’98], $14.00, 562pp, tp) Anthology of 30 fantasy stories from 1939 to 1990, chosen by SFWA members. Introduction by Silverberg; individual story introductions by Martin H. Greenberg.
  • vii · Introduction · Robert Silverberg · in
  • 1 · Trouble with Water · H. L. Gold · ss Unknown Mar ’39
  • 21 · Nothing in the Rules · L. Sprague de Camp · nv Unknown Jul ’39
  • 47 · Fruit of Knowledge · C. L. Moore · nv Unknown Oct ’40
  • 77 · Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius [1941] · Jorge Luís Borges · ss Labyrinths, New Directions, 1962
  • 91 · The Compleat Werewolf [Fergus O’Breen] · Anthony Boucher · na Unknown Apr ’42
  • 137 · The Small Assassin · Ray Bradbury · ss Dime Mystery Magazine Nov ’46
  • 153 · The Lottery · Shirley Jackson · ss New Yorker Jun 26 ’48
  • 161 · Our Fair City · Robert A. Heinlein · ss Weird Tales Jan ’49
  • 177 · There Shall Be No Darkness · James Blish · nv Thrilling Wonder Stories Apr ’50
  • 211 · The Loom of Darkness [“Liane the Wayfarer”; Dying Earth] · Jack Vance · ss The Dying Earth, Hillman, 1950
  • 221 · The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles [as by Idris Seabright] · Margaret St. Clair · ss F&SF Oct ’51
  • 225 · The Silken-Swift · Theodore Sturgeon · nv F&SF Nov ’53
  • 243 · The Golem · Avram Davidson · ss F&SF Mar ’55
  • 249 · Operation Afreet [Steven MatuchekGinny Greylock] · Poul Anderson · nv F&SF Sep ’56
  • 277 · That Hell-Bound Train · Robert Bloch · ss F&SF Sep ’58
  • 289 · Bazaar of the Bizarre [Fafhrd & Gray Mouser] · Fritz Leiber · nv Fantastic Aug ’63
  • 311 · Come Lady Death · Peter S. Beagle · ss Atlantic Monthly Sep ’63
  • 327 · The Drowned Giant · J. G. Ballard · ss The Terminal Beach, London: Gollancz, 1964
  • 337 · Narrow Valley · R. A. Lafferty · ss F&SF Sep ’66
  • 349 · Faith of Our Fathers · Philip K. Dick · nv Dangerous Visions, ed. Harlan Ellison, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967
  • 379 · The Ghost of a Model T · Clifford D. Simak · nv Epoch, ed. Roger Elwood & Robert Silverberg, Berkley, 1975
  • 393 · The Demoness · Tanith Lee · ss The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories #2, ed. Lin Carter, DAW, 1976
  • 405 · Jeffty Is Five · Harlan Ellison · ss F&SF Jul ’77
  • 423 · The Detective of Dreams · Gene Wolfe · nv Dark Forces, ed. Kirby McCauley, Viking, 1980
  • 439 · Unicorn Variations · Roger Zelazny · nv IASFM Apr 13 ’81
  • 461 · Basileus · Robert Silverberg · ss The Best of Omni Science Fiction, No. 5, ed. Don Myrus, Omni, 1983
  • 477 · The Jaguar Hunter · Lucius Shepard · nv F&SF May ’85
  • 501 · Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight · Ursula K. Le Guin · nv Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences, Capra Press, 1987
  • 527 · Bears Discover Fire · Terry Bisson · ss IASFM Aug ’90
  • 537 · Tower of Babylon · Ted Chiang · nv Omni Nov ’90
...not to be confused with the 1983 anthology from Silverberg and Greenberg (and drawn from a poll of attendees of a World Fantasy Convention):
The Treasury of the Fantastic: Romanticism to Early Twentieth Century Literature ed. David Sandner & Jacob Weisman (North Atlantic/Frog/Tachyon Publications 1-58394-030-8, Feb 2001, $27.50, 747pp, hc, cover by Michael Dashow) Anthology of 46 stories and poems, by authors ranging from Coleridge, Byron, and Keats through Virginia Woolf and Algernon Blackwood. Foreword by Peter S. Beagle.
  • ix · Foreword · Peter S. Beagle · fw
  • 1 · Kubla Khan [written 1797] · Samuel Taylor Coleridge · pm, 1816
  • 5 · Darkness · Lord Byron · pm, 1816
  • 8 · La Belle Dame Sans Merci · John Keats · pm Indicator May 10, 1820
  • 11 · The Legend of Sleepy Hollow · Washington Irving · nv The Sketch Book, 1819
  • 40 · Peter Rugg, the Missing Man · William Austin · nv New England Galaxy Sep 10, 1824
  • 69 · The Mysterious Bride [as by The Ettrick Shepherd] · James Hogg · ss Blackwood’s Dec, 1830
  • 84 · The Mortal Immortal · Mary Shelley · ss The Keepsake, 1834, 1833
  • 97 · Young Goodman Brown · Nathaniel Hawthorne · ss New England Magazine Apr, 1835
  • 110 · The Fall of the House of Usher · Edgar Allan Poe · ss Burton’s Gentlemen’s Magazine Sep, 1839
  • 128 · Morte d’Arthur · Alfred Tennyson, Lord · pm, 1842
  • 137 · Goblin Market [1859] · Christina Rossetti · pm The Goblin Market and Other Poems, 1862
  • 155 · Because I Could Not Stop for Death [c1863] · Emily Dickinson · pm
  • 157 · The Golden Key · George MacDonald · nv Dealings with the Fairies, Arthur Strahan, 1867
  • 183 · Carmilla [Martin Hesselius] · Sheridan Le Fanu · na The Dark Blue Dec, 1871 (+3)
  • 253 · Jabberwocky [from Through the Looking-Glass] · Lewis Carroll · pm London: Macmillan, 1871
  • 256 · The Ogre Courting · Juliana Horation Ewing · ss Aunt Judy’s Magazine, 1871
  • 261 · The Ghostly Rental · Henry James · nv Scribner’s Sep, 1876
  • 293 · The Dong with the Luminous Nose · Edward Lear · pm Laughable Lyrics, 1877
  • 297 · The New Mother · Lucy Lane Clifford · ss Anyhow Stories, Moral and Otherwise, Macmillan and Co., 1882
  • 318 · The Griffin and the Minor Canon · Frank R. Stockton · ss St. Nicholas Magazine Oct, 1885
  • 332 · The Happy Prince · Oscar Wilde · ss The Happy Prince and Other Tales, London: David Nutt, 1888
  • 341 · The Stolen Child · W. B. Yeats · pm The Irish Monthly Dec, 1886
  • 344 · An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge · Ambrose Bierce · ss San Francisco Examiner Jul 13, 1890
  • 354 · The Yellow Wallpaper · Charlotte Gilman · ss New England Magazine Jan, 1892
  • 371 · The Bottle Imp · Robert Louis Stevenson · nv New York Herald Feb 8-Mar 1, 1891
  • 400 · A Moth: Genus Unknown · H. G. Wells · ss Pall Mall Gazette Mar 28, 1895
  • 410 · Cassilda’s Song · Robert W. Chambers · pm The King in Yellow, New York & Chicago: F. Tennyson Neely, 1895
  • 411 · The Library Window · Margaret Oliphant · na Blackwood’s Jan, 1896
  • 451 · The True Lover · A. E. Housman · pm, 1896
  • 453 · The Blind God · Laurence Housman · ss Gods and Their Makers, London: John Lane, 1897
  • 460 · The Reluctant Dragon · Kenneth Grahame · nv Dream Days, London: John Lane, 1898
  • 481 · The Book of Beasts [Seven Dragons] · Edith Nesbit · ss The Strand Mar, 1899
  • 493 · The Monkey’s Paw · W. W. Jacobs · ss Harper’s Monthly Sep ’02
  • 504 · Casting the Runes · M. R. James · nv More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, Arnold, 1911
  • 525 · “They” · Rudyard Kipling · nv Scribner’s Aug ’04
  • 547 · The Sword of Welleran · Lord Dunsany · ss The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories, London: G. Allen, 1908
  • 561 · The Celestial Omnibus · E. M. Forster · ss Albany Review Jan ’08
  • 577 · The Eyes · Edith Wharton · ss Scribner’s Jun ’10
  • 596 · The Ghost Ship · Richard Middleton · ss The Century Apr ’12
  • 607 · The Listeners · Walter de la Mare · pm The Living Age Apr 29 ’11
  • 609 · Red-Peach-Blossom Inlet [as by Hankin Maggs] · Kenneth Morris · ss The Theosophical Path Oct ’16
  • 619 · The Mysterious Stranger · Mark Twain · na, 1916
  • 706 · Enoch Soames · Max Beerbohm · nv The Century May ’16
  • 734 · Climax for a Ghost Story · I. A. Ireland · vi, 1919
  • 735 · A Haunted House · Virginia Woolf · vi Monday or Tuesday, London: Hogarth Press, 1921
  • 738 · The Man Who Was Milligan · Algernon Blackwood · ss Pearson’s Magazine Nov ’23

6 comments:

  1. The sheer vast wonderfulness of it all- ta Todd!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Todd, there's plenty of great reading in those fantasy anthologies! I've read A TREASURY OF MODERN FANTASY, BLACK WATER, and THE FANTASY HALL OF FAME. I'll have to find the other two volumes I missed!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fantasy is probably my most disliked genre (maybe tied with romance), though I like it okay when it's more horror than fantasy, or more on the sci-fi side. I can't do elves, though. It looks like these collections have some stuff I'd like, but I'd have to do some skipping,

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sergio--there is no lack of good reading here, even when the editors are flying up their own backtracks in attempting to justify their intentions. (And then there are such more recent anthologies as Peter Beagle's own duo, the latter, devoted to "urban fantasy," in editorial collaboration with Joe R. Lansdale.)

    George--Ah, but did you read Both FANTASY HALLs OF FAME? I think the WFC volume compares very well with the theoretically more "sober" judgement of the writers' org selections...and, of course, BLACK WATER was followed by BLACK WATER 2 and other Manguels...even as Terry Carr's book was preceded by his NEW WORLDS OF FANTASY trio and his annual BOTY a decade later, which you reviewed at the time of publication...

    Kelly--well, there is some, but not much, twee material in the volumes under consideration here...not even too many noble or less-so elves in the Tolkien moral challenge mode, though a few from book to book. Almost all the protags in these stories are human beings, facing problems that are simply heightened by fantasticated metaphors employed...and plenty that is horror or horror-adjacent...(I flinch at "sci-fi" but we fogies of various ages who prefer the "sf" abbreviation are a thinning herd...)

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  5. Oh, and I HOPE the Viking edition of THE BOOK OF FANTASY didn't have the same text as the (UK text) employed by US-based, defunct Carroll & Graf in their paperback edition...riddled with typos where not insanely misconstrued (as noted in the text of the post).

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  6. Two that I'm not sorry I didn't add, though they are both solid work of anthologizing:
    Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment, Editors: David G. Hartwell, Kathryn Cramer (a bit too much focus on multiple entries from too few writers) and Treasures of Fantasy, Editors: Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman (about half brilliant and perhaps as much as half good to pedestrian work, but including some writers sadly missing from these other books).

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