Customer Reviews

Fantasy Hall of Fame

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Contents:
Trouble with Water - H. L. Gold
Nothing in the Rules - L. Sprague de Camp
Fruit of Knowledge - C. L. Moore
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius - Jorge Luis Borges
The Compleat Werewolf - Anthony Boucher
The Small Assassin - Ray Bradbury
The Lottery - Shirley Jackson
Our Fair City - Robert A. Heinlein
There Shall Be No Darkness - James Blish
The Loom of Darkness - Jack Vance
The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles - Margaret St. Clair
The Silken-Swift - Theodore Sturgeon
The Golem - Avram Davidson
Operation Afreet - Poul Anderson
That Hell-Bound Train - Robert Bloch
The Bazaar of the Bizarre - Fritz Leiber
Come Lady Death - Peter S. Beagle
The Drowned Giant - J. G. Ballard
Narrow Valley - R. A. Lafferty
Faith of Our Fathers - Philip K. Dick
The Ghost of a Model T - Clifford D. Simak
The Demoness - Tanith Lee
Jeffty Is Five - Harlan Ellison
The Detective of Dreams - Gene Wolfe
Unicorn Variations - Roger Zelazny
Basileus - Robert Silverberg
The Jaguar Hunter - Lucius Shepard
Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight - Ursula K. Le Guin
Bears Discover Fire - Terry Bisson
Tower of Babylon - Ted Chiang

Most are classics. Some of them are otherwise hard to find. This book has again to be reprinted.
Highlights:
Trouble with Water - H. L. Gold
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius - Jorge Luis Borges
That Hell-Bound Train - Robert Bloch
The Bazaar of the Bizarre - Fritz Leiber
And many more. Classic writers; the best of these writers.
If you can find it, buy it immediately.
Too bad there is only one story of each writer. I would love to have seen more of Tanith Lee. Her short stories are_very_hard to come by.
I think this is the best F anthology ever printed. These are multi-functional stories; elements of H too. Very good atmosphere. Fritz Leiber story will......you. Leiber is so good!
Happy hunting!

"The Fantasy Hall of Fame" fills an enormous hole in the fantasy world. While many of the best works in the genre are short stories, short stories rarely stay in print for long. This anthology presents the finest tales ever written in the genre; with rare exception, almost any reader's favorites can be found here. Robert Silverberg hasn't done many anthologies in recent years, but he used to put out one every year, and he hasn't lost his touch. Any young reader of fantasy novels looking for a new chunk of his favorite reading material will be ecstatic; any long-time reader will be overjoyed to greet old friends once more. The list of stories included is too long to be included here (which in itself is a good sign!), but my favorites include Robert Bloch's "That Hell-Bound Train" and Anthony Boucher's "Compleat Werewolf." A first-rate collection!

Each and everyone of these stories is a landmark. If you are a fantasy reader, Its the best place to investigate the roots of almost each and everyone of your beloved stories. If you are a beginner, there isnt a better place to start your exploration in this field!

These listings are confusing two different Robert Silverberg anthologies that both have the same title. The 1990s "Fantasy Hall of Fame" contains selections voted on by SWFA, but the 1983 "The Fantasy Hall of Fame," with the pink flower on the hardcover dust jacket, is a totally different anthology. It was edited by Silverberg and Martin H. Greenberg. It features many of the same classic authors as the 1990s one, but different stories.

The table of contents for the 1983 "The Fantasy Hall of Fame" is:

The Masque of the Red Death, by Edgar Allan Poe
An Inhabitant of Carcosa, by Ambrose Bierce
The Sword of Welleran, by Lord Dunsany
The Women of the Wood, by A. Merritt
The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan, by Clark Ashton Smith
The Valley of the Worm, by Robert E. Howard
Black God's Kiss, by C. L. Moore
The Silver Key, by H. P. Lovecraft
Nothing in the Rules, by L. Sprague de Camp
A Gnome There Was, by Henry Kuttner
Snulbug, by Anthony Boucher
The Words of Guru, by C. M. Kornbluth
Homecoming, by Ray Bradbury
Mazirian the Magician, by Jack Vance
O Ugly Bird!, by Manly Wade Wellman
The Silken Swift, by Theodore Sturgeon
The Golem, by Avram Davidson
That Hell-Bound Train, by Robert Bloch
Kings in Darkness, by Michael Moorcock
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes, by Harlan Ellison
Gonna Roll the Bones, by Fritz Leiber
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, by Ursula K. Le Guin

These authors include many classic names from the early days of the genre, including Howard, Smith, Lovecraft, and Moore and her husband Kuttner. Several of these stories perfectly epitomize their authors, particularly the racing plot of the Vance story, the antihero adventure of Moorcock's Elric story, and the dry humor and dark consequences in Smith's tale. However, many of the others offer an odd mix of these classic authors' lesser-known works. The Howard contribution is not a Conan tale, and the Leiber story is not a Fafhrd and Grey Mouser tale--both of them are contemporary fantasy and not even sword & sorcery, the genre in which those authors earned their fame.

The 1983 "The Fantasy Hall of Fame" is an excellent way to experience a wide variety of classic authors, but only some of the selections are the classic tales these authors are known for.

The reputations of some of these stories and that of their authors may have waned in the 26 years since this anthology was published. None of the stories are bad though a few aren't that special. The stories were selected in a manner similar to the Silverberg edited The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One. Attendees of the World Fantasy Convention chose stories to honor that were published before the convention begin doing their annual awards.

The stories are arranged chronologically, and the first is Edgar Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" (1842). This classic tale of a plague, mysterious colors, and death coming to a cloister of aristocrats is the grandfather of all those far future tales of decadents on a dying Earth. Poe influenced the prose and poems of Clark Ashton Smith, but the influence isn't very evident in the latter's "The Weird of Avoosl Withoqquan" (1932). It's a story of an avaricious man who hears an ominous prophecy from a beggar he snubs. Smith's Zothique series, very definitely a series of far future decadence, is not represented here directly, but it's certainly echoed in Jack Vance's "Mazirian the Magician" (1950), part of Vance's Dying Earth series. In a story full of Vance's exuberant palette of colors and exquisitely named magic, a sorcerer determines to possess a woman who has avoided him.

Of course, Poe was not just an inspiration but an idol to Smith's friend, H. P. Lovecraft. He is represented here by "The Silver Key" (1937). It's an odd choice, perhaps dictated by its length. There is nothing wrong with the story. Featuring Lovecraft's alter ego Randolph Carter, it's Lovecraft's most autobiographical work. Carter, a man in his thirties, goes on a quest to find his way back to the world of dreams - and its innocence - that he knew as a child. There are many better Lovecraft stories though. Lord Dunsany was an influence on Lovecraft's dream tales, and he's represented here by "The Sword of Welleran" (1908). A wry tale of a city no longer defended by its legends and full of humor and despair and perverse emotion. Dunsany's oddly syntaxed voice is probably still unique in fantasy. A lesser influence on Lovecraft was Ambrose Bierce. He shows up here with "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" (1886), a short, eerie tale of life after death in a far future land.

Representing Robert E. Howard is the fine "Valley of the Worm" (1934). A tale of reincarnation and of the ur-dragon slaying, its style is strong and exciting though delicate modern sensitivities will cringe at the asides on racial evolution. Howard stands near the beginning of the sword and sorcery sub-genre here also represented by Michael Moorcock's Elric story "Kings in Darkness" (1962). It's an ok story, but I suspect the voters thought they should have at least one Elric story. However, the fascination with the doomed Elric comes through many novels and stories and Elric seems a pale character (no pun intended) here.

Wonderfully exotic, charged with a dark eroticism, and seemingly composed of equal parts Lovecraft, Howard, and Smith, C. L. Moore's "Black God's Kiss" (1934) may start and end in medieval France, but it goes to some strange places in between. It is the first in her Jirel of Joiry series.

Another series character making an appearance here, in a rather unexceptional story, is Manly Wade Wellman's John the Balladeer. In "Oh Ugly Bird!" (1951), John confronts a backwoods bully and the buzzard like creature he shares a bond with." As with the Elric story, I suspect voters thought they needed to have at least one story with a particular character.

Several stories represent the nuts-and-bolts, logic intense fantasy published by the legendary, if short-lived, Unknown magazine . L. Sprague de Camp's "Nothing in the Rules" (1939) details the legal wrangling necessary to get a mermaid into a swim meet. It's an adequate story. Better is the delightfully mean-spirited "A Gnome There Was" (1941) which turns its patronizing, trust fund, union organizing protagonist into a hard rock mining gnome. Anthony Boucher's "Snulbug" (1941) shows how it's really not that useful having tomorrow's newspaper. It isn't a great story though, just a passable exercise in logic.

Robert Bloch's "That Hell-Bound Train"(1958) is a classic deal with the Devil. Here a man barters his soul for a watch which will extend the happiest moment of his life into eternity - if he actually recognizes that moment at the time. It's a wise look at the power and perils of aspirations.

Casinos are the setting for Harlan Ellison's "Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes" (1967) and Fritz Leiber's "Gonna Roll the Bones" (1967). And they are also about the eternal war between the sexes. In the Ellison story, the desperate needs of a man on his last dollar and a prostitute collide in a Vegas casino when a slot machine goes on a very improbable winning streak. It's full of Ellison's combination of studied detail and stylistic pyrotechnics but marred a bit by a vague ending. The Leiber tale has a master dice thrower in a craps game with the Devil. While I'm not as in love with this story as many, the ending, with its sting about marital politics and manipulations, is interesting.

Seemingly about the struggles between certain types of men and women is Theodore Sturgeon's "The Silken Swift" (1953). It's really just about this man, these two women, and a unicorn. If that sounds like the setup, despite the fairy tale like language, to a joke that's because it kind of is - a ribald, not very funny joke.

A. Merritt's reputation has not survived history very well. He used to have whole magazines devoted to printing his work. "The Women of the Wood" (1926) shows well why he was so popular. Despite its ending, this tale of a man caught up in a war between forest spirits and the men determined to eradicate them had some interesting moral ambiguity that undercut the sympathies of its hero.

Frankly, I'm not really sure what happened in C. M. Kornbluth's "The Words of Guru" (1941), but it's disturbing, a bit surreal, and seems to involve a child who just might destroy the world.

Ray Bradbury's "Homecoming" (1946) has a small, normal boy growing up in a clan of monsters, most of them vampires. Not measuring up, being the outsider - not to mention missing out on the family's usual long lifespans - are the subjects.

Avram Davidson's "The Golem" (1955) has an elderly Jewish couple confronted by an impertinent, threatening golem escaped from a local mad scientist. It's just the right length not to wear out the Jewish humor and has a very satisfying resolution.

Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" (1973) is a fable that not only self-consciously plays with what a fictional utopia should be like but the more important issue of how we face the tragedy of life, the circumstances natural law dictates to us. Is it foolish or noble to rebel?

A rather impressive collection of fantasy work, Only three of these stories I thought were average, and as such, this average 3.66.

Something of a historical overview, from the time of Poe and Bierce, through the Weird Tales Three and the pulp era, and on to the sixties and seventies, so a very useful sampling of authors for someone that is intersted in fantasy stories, or writers to check out.

Although this Hall of Fame is without Conan or Lankhmar is perhaps a little light on. Although the Leiber is a classic, there are better Howard stories that could have been included.

Definitely recommended, however.

Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Masque of the Red Death - Edgar Allan Poe
Fantasy Hall of Fame : An Inhabitant of Carcosa - Ambrose Bierce
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Sword of Welleran - Lord Dunsany
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Women of the Wood - A. Merritt
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan - Clark Ashton Smith
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Valley of the Worm - Robert E. Howard
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Black God's Kiss - C. L. Moore
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Silver Key - H. P. Lovecraft
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Nothing in the Rules - L. Sprague deCamp
Fantasy Hall of Fame : A Gnome There Was - Henry Kuttner
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Snulbug - Anthony Boucher
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Words of Guru - C. M. Kornbluth
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Homecoming - Ray Bradbury
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Mazirian the Magician - Jack Vance
Fantasy Hall of Fame : O Ugly Bird! - Manly Wade Wellman
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Silken-Swift - Theodore Sturgeon
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Golem - Avram Davidson
Fantasy Hall of Fame : That Hell-Bound Train - Robert Bloch
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Kings in Darkness - Michael Moorcock
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes - Harlan Ellison
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Gonna Roll the Bones - Fritz Leiber
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas - Ursula K. LeGuin

Bloody party.

3.5 out of 5

Death set in stone.

3.5 out of 5

Old hero ghost guides.

4 out of 5

Forest slayage.

3.5 out of 5

A beggar prophecies that man's greed will be his undoing. More to the point, some emeralds, and he meant it literally.

3 out of 5

Dragonslaying, Norse reincarnation style. Not quite to the standard of his other stories, I think.

3 out of 5

An escape from a captor leads Jirel basically into a Clark Ashton Smith story, and a passionate revenge.

4 out of 5

After opening the iron box and finding what was in it, no one can find Randolph Carter anymore.

4 out of 5

Mermaid ring-in doesn't quite make the seal of sobriety.

4 out of 5

Underground transformation organisation against the head egg man.

4 out of 5

Man a bit of a demon.

3.5 out of 5

Planet busting phoneme.

3.5 out of 5

I want to feel the wind beneath my wings. Or I'll cry.

3.5 out of 5

Spell use needs to be judicious.

4 out of 5

A good whack from a silver string axe leaves your big turkey ghost just a cold casserole.

3.5 out of 5

Virgin deception test, unicorn required.

3 out of 5

"I am not a human being!"

3.5 out of 5

Time-stop devil of a deal indecision.

4 out of 5

Too much royalty and dead things, but some reward.

3.5 out of 5

Maggie, I wish I had something to say to you. But you're dead.

3.5 out of 5

Dicing with Death.

4.5 out of 5

"Well we know where we're goin
But we dont know where we've been"

4 out of 5

A rather impressive collection of fantasy work, Only three of these stories I thought were average, and as such, this average 3.66.

Something of a historical overview, from the time of Poe and Bierce, through the Weird Tales Three and the pulp era, and on to the sixties and seventies, so a very useful sampling of authors for someone that is intersted in fantasy stories, or writers to check out.

Although this Hall of Fame is without Conan or Lankhmar is perhaps a little light on. Although the Leiber is a classic, there are better Howard stories that could have been included.

Definitely recommended, however.

Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Masque of the Red Death - Edgar Allan Poe
Fantasy Hall of Fame : An Inhabitant of Carcosa - Ambrose Bierce
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Sword of Welleran - Lord Dunsany
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Women of the Wood - A. Merritt
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan - Clark Ashton Smith
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Valley of the Worm - Robert E. Howard
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Black God's Kiss - C. L. Moore
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Silver Key - H. P. Lovecraft
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Nothing in the Rules - L. Sprague deCamp
Fantasy Hall of Fame : A Gnome There Was - Henry Kuttner
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Snulbug - Anthony Boucher
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Words of Guru - C. M. Kornbluth
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Homecoming - Ray Bradbury
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Mazirian the Magician - Jack Vance
Fantasy Hall of Fame : O Ugly Bird! - Manly Wade Wellman
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Silken-Swift - Theodore Sturgeon
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Golem - Avram Davidson
Fantasy Hall of Fame : That Hell-Bound Train - Robert Bloch
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Kings in Darkness - Michael Moorcock
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes - Harlan Ellison
Fantasy Hall of Fame : Gonna Roll the Bones - Fritz Leiber
Fantasy Hall of Fame : The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas - Ursula K. LeGuin

Bloody party.

3.5 out of 5

Death set in stone.

3.5 out of 5

Old hero ghost guides.

4 out of 5

Forest slayage.

3.5 out of 5

A beggar prophecies that man's greed will be his undoing. More to the point, some emeralds, and he meant it literally.

3 out of 5

Dragonslaying, Norse reincarnation style. Not quite to the standard of his other stories, I think.

3 out of 5

An escape from a captor leads Jirel basically into a Clark Ashton Smith story, and a passionate revenge.

4 out of 5

After opening the iron box and finding what was in it, no one can find Randolph Carter anymore.

4 out of 5

Mermaid ring-in doesn't quite make the seal of sobriety.

4 out of 5

Underground transformation organisation against the head egg man.

4 out of 5

Man a bit of a demon.

3.5 out of 5

Planet busting phoneme.

3.5 out of 5

I want to feel the wind beneath my wings. Or I'll cry.

3.5 out of 5

Spell use needs to be judicious.

4 out of 5

A good whack from a silver string axe leaves your big turkey ghost just a cold casserole.

3.5 out of 5

Virgin deception test, unicorn required.

3 out of 5

"I am not a human being!"

3.5 out of 5

Time-stop devil of a deal indecision.

4 out of 5

Too much royalty and dead things, but some reward.

3.5 out of 5

Maggie, I wish I had something to say to you. But you're dead.

3.5 out of 5

Dicing with Death.

4.5 out of 5

"Well we know where we're goin
But we dont know where we've been"

4 out of 5

4.5 out of 5