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3rd out of 5 books
—
9 voters
Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy
by
Al Sarrantonio ,
Elizabeth A. Lynn , Dennis L. McKiernan (Goodreads Author) , Joyce Carol Oates , Tim Powers , P.D. Cacek , Elizabeth Hand , Larry Niven
,
more…
The fantasy publishing event of the year-from the award-winning editor of Redshift...This daring, all-new anthology showcases some of the genre's biggest names and best newcomers-and sets the standard for fantasy in the twenty-first century. Includes new stories by Neil Gaiman, Harry Turtledove, and more.
Hardcover, 592 pages
Published
June 1st 2004
by Roc Hardcover
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Editor Sarrantonio asked some more of the best sf and fantasy writers to create their own "dangerous visions"--he actually issued a challenge to them to come up with the best fantasy story each of them has ever written without restrictions of any kind. Big names like Orson Scott Card, Neil Gaiman, Harry Turtledove, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Silverberg, Charles de Lint, Thomas M. Disch, and Gene Wolfe obliged, as did still-rising stars such as Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Jeffrey Ford, and Terry Bisson.
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The short story is a fantastic piece of literature. Rather than expounding on minute, unnecessary details, the short story author must get across his tale in only a few short pages. This tome of fantasy fiction brings in well-known and well-respected names of the genre, allowing them to truly shine. Robert Silverberg looks at the emotional and physical power struggle between a sorcerer and her apprentice. Kit Reed shows us a miniaturized family surviving the apocalypse and living inside a crocod...more
Denric Valdoria, the seventh of Roca and Eldrinson's children, has come to the planet of Sandstorm with the plan of opening a school. Aware of the privileges his status gives him, he has a need to give something back to society, rather than take up an academic position in a high level university somewhere.
The story opens with him running, desperately, with demons chasing him. He has accidently strayed into the city of Never-Haven where everything is curved and to draw a straight line is to draw...more
The story opens with him running, desperately, with demons chasing him. He has accidently strayed into the city of Never-Haven where everything is curved and to draw a straight line is to draw...more
Considering the authors involved and the stated concept (complete with reference to the Dangerous Visions anthologies), I expected a little more. There are some stories worth reading; others that fall flat; and very little that really pushes the envelope of fantasy.
Some of the stories have (generally short and not super graphic) sex scenes so I suppose that's supposed to be the boundary pushing. And there are a couple of interesting experiments -- Gene Wolf's novelette “Golden City Far” that clo...more
Some of the stories have (generally short and not super graphic) sex scenes so I suppose that's supposed to be the boundary pushing. And there are a couple of interesting experiments -- Gene Wolf's novelette “Golden City Far” that clo...more
I didn't realize how much variety fell under the category of fantasy fiction. I haven't read too much like this before; usually when I think of fantasy I think of knights and dragons and Lord of the Rings, even though I've never read anything like that; but overall I enjoyed it. It was a little difficult at times to wrap my head around some of the stories when I'd just finished ones that were completely different. I recommend people read a book called "Zombies vs. Unicorns," it's also a book of...more
Listened to Gene Wolfe's "Golden City Far" on PodCastle (http://podcastle.org/2012/03/20/podca...). Bill, especially as read by Kane Lynch, is an endearingly unsure geeky teenager with flashes of pure bravado. I love how he just accepts how the strange world of his dreams starts to bleed into his "real" life. I would like to see him reach the Golden City.
A collection of short stories by amazing authors. Read a retelling of Rapunzel by Dennis McKiernan.
I gave the book 3 stars but that really is an average of all the stories in the book. I personally am a swords and magic type of fantasy lover which isn't the main focus of this book (which I'm sure contributed to the lower rating than most reviewers). There were also quite a few stories that had sex as a main focus of the plot. However, there were some stories that I liked quite a bit as well. If you like the type of fantasy where weird symbolic things happen then this would be a good book to r...more
A very cool fantasy collection. My favourite was the one about the trucks.
mixed bag, some good stories, some that are really confusing at the end.
An excellent collection of fantasy stories. Like the last one, though, there were a few that got bogged down in the death/ghost/afterlife genre. But the beauty of an anthology is that, if you're not entranced with one story, you can skip right along to the next.
Jul 24, 2011
Natalie
added it
There are a few really great stories in this collection, but it hit and miss.
I'd call this a 3.5 star read, but not quite 4. There were some really excellent stories in here - written by Jeffrey Ford, Joe Lansdale, Patricia McKillip, Elizabeth Hand, and P.D. Cacek for example - but not enough of them for me to rate it higher. There were several perfectly serviceable stories in here, although I am not much of a fan of traditional sword & sorcery high fantasy.
Finally done! I've never read a short story compilation before. This book was given to me by a redditor and he gave me his personal copy because he couldn't find it in stores. So I felt obligated to read it. And I'm glad I did. I didn't like all of the stories but some were really good. I think it gave me a sampling of various fantasy/scifi writers that I can check out!
This is an excellent book of short stories. One of the best fantasy anthologies of the decade, in my humble opinion. With the exception of maybe one or two stories which wound up as mere exercise in idea, most of these are wildly imaginative and extremely well written. Most especially Golden City Far by Gene Wolfe, which if you are a Wolfe fan in an instant must read.
(Rated more as 3.5-3.6 stars) Here is another interesting mix bag of anthology fantasy. Some of my favorites were by Silverberg, Asaro, de Lint, Hoffman, Gaiman, and Wolfe. Some ended rather ambiguously which made me lower my ratings on those certain tales.
This is one of the best collections of Fantasy short stories that I have read in a while.
May 17, 2013
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Al Sarrantonio (born May 25, 1952, in New York City) is an American horror and science fiction author who has published, over the past thirty years, more than forty books and sixty short stories. He has also edited numerous anthologies and has been called “a master anthologist” by Booklist.
Wikipedia entry: Al Sarrantonio
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Apr 09, 2013 03:32pm