This ingenious anthology posits that fantasy fiction is on a new path: series novels that chronicle epic adventures have been joined by tales where mythology, fairy tales, and archetypes are fully re-imagined into a new modern literature. Anthologist and author Peter S. Beagle represents both the traditional and the new, having written the introduction to The Lord of the Rings as well as the inventive fantasy novel, The Last Unicorn. In this exciting, canonic volume, Beagle showcases gifted writers who began to rediscover older fantasy classics and to redefine fantasy in their own unique voices. Innovative authors in this anthology include Robert Holdstock, Gregory Maguire, Neal Gaiman, Francesca Lia Block, Steven Millhauser, and others who have lead the way to expanding imaginative frontiers. From the depths of an dangerous English forest to the staircase at the edge of the world, on a caffeinated journey to the empire of ice cream to the maze in the Barnum museum, you'll discover the wonder of favorite childhood tales made modern and fresh once again.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Disparaging the commodification of fantasy, Beagle (The Last Unicorn) uses 19 stories and two essays to demonstrate that unique works of imagination are still appearing on both sides of the ostensible "separation of fantasy from actual literature." The all-star cast includes genre powerhouses (Maureen F. McHugh, Terry Bisson), mainstream favorites (Yann Martel, T.C. Boyle), and incorrigible line-straddlers (Jonathan Lethem, Stephen Millhauser). Concluding essays by Ursula Le Guin and David Hartwell can seem strident in their condemnation of "nostalgic, conservative, pastoral, and optimistic" epic fantasy. But in tales like Millhauser's "The Barnum Museum," which itself encapsulates the entire discussion of how to view the literature of the fantastic, there is a sense of frivolity and freedom that permits this anthology to "elude the mundane, and to achieve... beauty and exaltation."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Beagle proves that he is as good an editor as he is a writer, with this anthology of modern fantasy short fiction. All 17 stories eschew all or most of the conventions of commercial fantasy (defined as beginning with Terry Brooks’Sword of Shannara, 1983). Much of this is due to the fact that the 5,000-word quest tale is a form not yet perfected (as Lynn Abbey pointed out some years ago). But it is also due to the limited number of authors who can draw on the traditional mythic and folkloric roots of fantasy as a defense against a dark world, and arrange the results in a form intelligible to modern readers. Stephen King and T. C. Boyle have done it here; so have the late Octavia Butler, Terry Bisson, Robert Holdstock (of the classic Mythago Universe), Jonathan Lethen (a master of darkness), Patricia McKillip (with perhaps the broadest range among contemporary fantasists), and Francesca Lia Block (undeservedly obscure). Start reading and expect to enjoy. --Roland Green
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is simply the best collection of reprint stories this year. It's worth the price simply to read Octavia Butler's 'Book Of Martha', but there isn't a weak story here. The tales collected just go from strength to strength. Some stories, such as the King, Gaiman, & Holstock selections were old friends but there were many I'd never read before and some I'd come close to forgetting. I was also particularly impressed with the Ford, Beagle and McHugh tales.
It's also extremely nice that most of the stories are fairly recent. The oldest copyright is 1977 but most of the stories appeared in the last ten years.
Sometimes you come across an anthology that gives every evidence of changing the way you think about something. A door opens that's perhaps always been there but it's one you've never explored. I've had that experience several times in my life--with such anthologies as Dangerous Visions, Dark Forces, 666 and others, and with single author story collections such as Sturgeon Is Alive And Well; The October Country, Mirror Kingdoms, Slippage, etc. This is one of those books. Thoughtful, elegant and satisfying.
You owe it to yourself to read this and then pass it along. It would make a great Christmas gift for someone you care about.
It's also extremely nice that most of the stories are fairly recent. The oldest copyright is 1977 but most of the stories appeared in the last ten years.
Sometimes you come across an anthology that gives every evidence of changing the way you think about something. A door opens that's perhaps always been there but it's one you've never explored. I've had that experience several times in my life--with such anthologies as Dangerous Visions, Dark Forces, 666 and others, and with single author story collections such as Sturgeon Is Alive And Well; The October Country, Mirror Kingdoms, Slippage, etc. This is one of those books. Thoughtful, elegant and satisfying.
You owe it to yourself to read this and then pass it along. It would make a great Christmas gift for someone you care about.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Aili
Format:Paperback
Peter S. Beagle's compendium of stories is a major critical statement on fantasy as a genre. Beagle has put together this collection by some of the best contemporary fantasy writers to prove, and to encourage, the existence of excellent fantasy that doesn't imitate Tolkien.
He's done a great job, choosing stellar stories by writers who deserve critical acclaim outside of "genre" fiction. In addition, the essays sandwiching them are important and valuable to any serious fantasy reader.
First, the stories. The opening foray, Ancestor Money by Maureen F. McHugh, hit me like a bus. I've been reading fantasy all my life and never dreamed I would find a story like this, so much of everything I love. The contributions by Millhauser, Gaiman, Lethem, Clarke, and Beagle himself are truly excellent pieces of writing: thought-provoking and entertaining.
But the story selection isn't perfect. A couple of the stories I found rather unimpressive, and a few more gave me mixed feelings since they weren't much to my preferred style. However--part of this is inevitable because of the variety in the fantasy genre that Beagle wanted to showcase. And I find that his emphasis on representing this beautiful variety is one of the most important aspects of the collection.
Last, the critical essays. For the most part they summarize the recent trend to focus on imitative "swords and sorcery" fantasy, which sells heavily, at the expense of other types of fantasy with literary merit. The essays are extremely harsh on a few different groups. Personally, I like a critic with a strong, clear opinion, and I like a critic who walks what he talks. These critics have both these qualities.
This is an important collection for fantasy. Fans of the genre should read it to discover non-traditional fantasy writers who are well worth reading. Readers traditionally not fans of fantasy should read it to see that fantasy isn't all swords and sorcery. Perhaps this book will be pivotal in bringing fantasy out of its rut, publishing more books like the acclaimed Hugo-winner Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Here's to hoping.
He's done a great job, choosing stellar stories by writers who deserve critical acclaim outside of "genre" fiction. In addition, the essays sandwiching them are important and valuable to any serious fantasy reader.
First, the stories. The opening foray, Ancestor Money by Maureen F. McHugh, hit me like a bus. I've been reading fantasy all my life and never dreamed I would find a story like this, so much of everything I love. The contributions by Millhauser, Gaiman, Lethem, Clarke, and Beagle himself are truly excellent pieces of writing: thought-provoking and entertaining.
But the story selection isn't perfect. A couple of the stories I found rather unimpressive, and a few more gave me mixed feelings since they weren't much to my preferred style. However--part of this is inevitable because of the variety in the fantasy genre that Beagle wanted to showcase. And I find that his emphasis on representing this beautiful variety is one of the most important aspects of the collection.
Last, the critical essays. For the most part they summarize the recent trend to focus on imitative "swords and sorcery" fantasy, which sells heavily, at the expense of other types of fantasy with literary merit. The essays are extremely harsh on a few different groups. Personally, I like a critic with a strong, clear opinion, and I like a critic who walks what he talks. These critics have both these qualities.
This is an important collection for fantasy. Fans of the genre should read it to discover non-traditional fantasy writers who are well worth reading. Readers traditionally not fans of fantasy should read it to see that fantasy isn't all swords and sorcery. Perhaps this book will be pivotal in bringing fantasy out of its rut, publishing more books like the acclaimed Hugo-winner Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Here's to hoping.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
To borrow an overused simile, a short story collection is like a box of chocolates. Each morsel is different, and you never know what you're going to get. If that is true, then The Secret History of Fantasy is like a box of the finest chocolates ever put together; I have never read such a well chosen collection. I particularly enjoyed Peter Beagle's thought provoking "Sleight of Hand" and Kij Johnson's inspiring "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss." Any fan of fantasy who hasn't read Steven Millhauser's "The Barnum Museum" is missing out. And despite the fact that I feel that sometimes Neil Gaiman should come with a warning label, his "Snow, Glass, Apples" was an excellent story while still being profoundly disturbing, two things Gaiman excels at combining.
Most of the time short stories leave me feeling unfulfilled and longing for more at the end of the story. With these stories I felt satisfied at the end of each story, my mind full of new images, content to sit for awhile and think about all the things that could be. And that, I think, is the mark of truly good fantasy.
Most of the time short stories leave me feeling unfulfilled and longing for more at the end of the story. With these stories I felt satisfied at the end of each story, my mind full of new images, content to sit for awhile and think about all the things that could be. And that, I think, is the mark of truly good fantasy.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Too Surreal for Me
The writing was good, but the stories themselves were far too surreal for me - not what I consider fantasy at all.
Published on March 19, 2011 by Lalaith
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Fantasy purists' anthology - No magic, melodrama or SciFi
Loved it! A refreshing anthology of pure fantasy without magic, melodrama or SciFi.
Especially loved the sweet and wonder-inspiring "MRS. Read more
Especially loved the sweet and wonder-inspiring "MRS. Read more
Published on February 9, 2011 by laurenpie
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