David Copperfield's Beyond Imagination [Mass Market Paperback]

David Copperfield (Editor), Janet Berliner (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1997

Like its triumphant predecessor, the first volume in David Copperfield's ongoing collection of his favorite writers, this is far more than just a book:it is a dazzling miracle show in which unique literary talents are displayed with the incomparable showmanship of the world's most acclaimed illusionist.In a truly remarkable publishing event,some of today's most celebrated authors have been summoned onstage and have been asked to perform their own special wizardry for a legendary performer's millions of dedicated fans.

David Copperfield, considered by both his colleagues and his vast audience to be the greatest stage illusionist of all time, understands the passion and power of fantastic literature, and he knows how to present it to its full advantage.For this latest collection, the authors he most admires have been invited to do what they do best - mystify and enrapture,dazzle and delight, conjure marvels and summon nightmares in a spectacular display of all new, all original stories.

Copperfield's second invitation-onlyvolume includes such masters of literarylegerdemain as Neil Gaimon, Peter S. Beagle, Anne McCaffrey,Tad Williams, Greg Bear, Katherine Dunn, and the grand illusionist himself.Each arrives on stage with an original story written especially for this spectacular presentation.Here, in the realms ofBeyond Imagination, you will meet the girl who made the magician disappear...the alien who conquered Las Vegas...the sorcerer who was too good at sorcery.Here you will find oil from a corpse that leads to love or insanity...the 12th-century city that appears once a year in downtown Chicago...the secret voodoo activities in modern San Francisco.

All these wonders and more are brought to life with fascinating flourishes and inimitable style in this critically and popularly acclaimed new series.Each story and each author is introduced by David Copperfield himself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

There's a modicum of magic to be found in this second anthology (after Tales of the Impossible) from master prestidigitator Copperfield and Berliner. The stories are mostly second-rate entries from first-rate authors, and sweet if unsubstantial pieces from others. The best avoid any reliance on hocus-pocus, focusing instead on the magic of the human condition. Katharine Dunn's "The Allies" is a slight but nicely written tale of adolescent angst, family dysfunction and otherworldly craziness. Robyn Carr's "Natasha's Bedroom" is a softly sentimental fantasy about a widowed painter's relationship with her art. Karen Joy Fowler's "The Queen of Hearts and Swords," about racism and perception in San Francisco in the middle of the 19th century, lacks the sharp focus of Fowler's finest work but still intrigues. Enjoyable if predictable, Peter S. Beagle's "The Magician of Karakosk" recounts the predicaments of a sorcerer entrapped by his own prodigious skills. In Greg Bear's "The Fall of the House of Escher," the author takes a conjurer into a future so far-flung that all substance seems mirage. Seeing what humanity has become, the magician "pitied them. They had lived lives of illusion without wonder...." By contrast, this anthology about the wonder of illusion, though it may lack heft, presents enough razzle with sufficient dazzle to win not pity but modest praise.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This is Copperfield's second anthology of stories by 18 "writers of the fantastic." As with the illusionist's first anthology, David Copperfield's Tales of the Impossible (LJ 10/15/95), this collection deals primarily with some aspect of magic or illusion, with stories by some of the most popular authors in the fantasy, horror, and sf genres. Unfortunately, the collection is uneven, with few redeeming examples. One outstanding sf entry by Greg Bear, "The Fall of the House of Escher," concerns a magician who is "reborn" into a future society whose inhabitants have abandoned the corporeal form. Other notable examples include Charles de Lint's "The Invisible," Edward Bryant's "Disallusion," and stories by Neil Gaiman, Katherine Dunn, and Steve Resnic Tem. Recommended only for large public libraries.?John Noel, Tennessee Tech Univ., Cookeville
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (Mm); Reprint edition (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061054933
• ISBN-13: 978-0061054938
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,311 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Be Amazed, April 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: David Copperfield's Beyond Imagination (Hardcover)

This book you sweep you off your feet and take you into another world. If you think his illusions are good, wait to you read this book. Prepare to be amazed