The Last Defender of Camelot [Mass Market Paperback]

Roger Zelazny (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1980

The Last Defender of Camelot is a new collection of classic Zelazny short stories, including: "He Who Shapes," the basis for his novel The Dream Master; "Damnation Alley," which was later fleshed out to full novel form; "Passion Play," Zelazny's first published work; and the title story, a robot tale of sorts that explains how Sir Launcelot survived the thousand years since the fall of Camelot. Here There be Dragons is the story of a small kingdom terrorized by dragons-or at least that's what the people living there have come to believe, since all the maps in the kingdom show that they're surrounded by dragons. And if all the maps agree on that point, then it must be true, mustn't it...?

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though SF "master of prose technique" and "paragon of the storytelling art" (in the introductory words of Robert Silverberg, himself a certified luminary) Roger Zelazny died in 1995, collections of his work appear on shelves with pleasing regularity. The Last Defender of Camelot, the fifth in the series of new Zelazny editions, offers readers 11 of what Silverberg has deemed his best stories, including "24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai," which earned him one of his six Hugos, and 1992's "Come Back to the Killing Ground, Alice, My Love," which has not been previously collected.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Roger Zelazny was a three-time Nebula Award and six-time Hugo Award-winning author of science fiction and fantasy classics, including the short stories "24 Views of Mount Fuji, by Hokusai," "Permafrost," and "Home is the Hangman." Zelazny was the bestselling author of the ten-volume Chronicles of Amber series of fantasy novels, as well as the novels Lord of Light, and Psychoshop (written with Alfred Bester). Zelazny's novel Damnation Alley served as the basis for the 1972 cult film of the same name, starring Jan Michael Vincent and George Peppard. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (December 1, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671417738
• ISBN-13: 978-0671417734
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,135,658 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A hacked version of the classic anthology, June 25, 2002

By 

H. Smith (austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Defender of Camelot (Paperback)

As a huge fan of the author and the original release of this brilliant short story collection, I am extremely disappointed in the new release. HUNT DOWN THE ORIGINAL. The new version omits all of Zelazny's forewords and, more damning, it actually omits some of the better stories found in the original collection. Silverburg mentions "Horsemen!" in the introduction, then the story is strangely absent. This is a travesty.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book of wonderful short stories, March 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Last Defender of Camelot (Paperback)

This is a great book of short stories that covers a whole range of subjects in fantasy and science fiction. The title story gives a hopeful continuation of the Arthur legend. The novelette, "And Now, for a Breath, I Tarry," is sheer poetry as it tells a Faustian tale using robots and computers instead of humans. It's definitely worth the time to find it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good new selection with an old title, November 17, 2003

By 

L. Stearns Newburg "LSN" (CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Defender of Camelot (Paperback)

This new collection of Zelazny stories, selected by Robert Silverberg, is a good one. It contains 3 of his stronger stories from earlier collections made by Zelazny himself: "For A Breath I Tarry," "The Last Defender of Camelot," and "24 Views of Mt. Fuji."

The book also contains several other worthy stories to create a collection that spans Zelazny's career. I suspect length issues caused the selection to be limited to only 11 stories. Still, as a long-time reader of Zelazny's work since the '60s, I think he would have been better represented if I Books could have made the collection bigger. New readers of Zelazny can't easily get a feeling for the magnitude of his accomplishments with such a small selection.

The absence of "He Who Shapes" and "Damnation Alley," for instance, is to be regretted. Still, the collection is good overall. New readers who wish to read more of Zelazny's work will simply need to scour 2nd hand bookstores.

Another, somewhat irksome problem is that the collection name, _The Last Defender of Camelot_, matches that of a collection that Zelazny published himself back in 1980. That collection was probably one of his 2 or 3 best, and it was also quite large. Giving this collection the same name seems an ill-considered choice, and it will result in some confusion that should have been avoided. Most regrettable, but oh, well. At least these stories are available again, and that is a plus.

Addendum 2011: The NESFA editions of the complete stories of Zelazny now satisfy the needs of people who want to read everything in the order that it was written in. Collections like this one are still useful for introducing readers to Zelazny's work.