The Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley

by Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), Marion Zimmer Bradley

Note: Republished in slightly different form in 1993, under the title Jamie and Other Stories: The Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley. That version contains a new introduction by Bradley and one additional story.

1 • Centaurus Changeling • (1954)
50 • The Climbing Wave • (1955)
121 • Exiles of Tomorrow • (1955)
128 • Death Between the Stars • (1956)
146 • Bird of Prey • (1957)
181 • The Wind People • (1959)
199 • The Wild One • (1960)
215 • Treason of the Blood • (1962)
231 • The Jewel of Arwen • (1973)
241 • The Day of the Butterflies • (1976)
253 • Hero's Moon • (1976)
277 • The Engine • (1977)
283 • The Secret of the Blue Star • (1979)
303 • To Keep the Oath • (1979)
331 • Elbow Room • (1980)
349 • Blood Will Tell • (1980)

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Science Fiction Fantasy

367 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Martin Harry Greenberg was an American academic and speculative fiction anthologist. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. In addition, he was a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel.

For the 1950s anthologist and publisher of Gnome Press, see Martin Greenberg.

Reviews

[Pietro Giovani · Rating 3 out of 5]

In genere non apprezzo molto le raccolte di racconti, ma di recente ho scoperto di essere stato molto sfortunato, in passato. Scrivere bene un racconto non è facile, perché in meno spazio vanno espresse idee, concetti, bisogna sviluppare una storia e poi riuscire anche a chiuderla. Scrivendo mille pagine un autore potrebbe fare mille giri e rigiri senza mai approdare a nulla, facendosi scudo con la voluminosità. Con un racconto questo non è possibile.
Così ho acquistato questa raccolta di Marion Zimmer Bradley mentre aspettavo un cliente, più per la curiosità di leggere un'autrice di fantascienza che perché l'avessi mai sentita nominare, e mi sono trovato sorpreso. I primi due racconti sono buoni o addirittura molto buoni e rispettano i canoni generali della fantascienza. Avrei qualche appunto da fare a traduttore e redattore, ma sono minuzie e, ad ogni modo, qui stiamo parlando delle storie.
Poi sono cominciati i fantasy.
A quanto pare questa autrice scrive "il genere fantastico", senza particolari confini. E questo mi starebbe benissimo, mi piacciono sia fantascienza e sottogeneri che il fantasy, anche se di quest'ultimo apprezzo maggiormente quello classico. Il problema è il dislivello pazzesco tra un genere e l'altro.
Mentre Bradley scrive racconti di fantascienza in media buoni, con idee sicuramente interessanti - anche considerando che è nata nel 1930, bisogna sempre tenere conto del periodo in cui è vissuto uno scrittore o scrittrice - i suoi racconti "fantastici" sono terribili. Banali, tutti incentrati sulla sessualità della protagonista, ripetitivi, legati un immaginario della femme fatale così maschilista da farmi dubitare che possano essere stati scritti da una donna. Assolutamente terribili. Non nego, a un certo punto, di averne saltate intere pagine o addirittura interi racconti dopo aver letto solo una o due facciate, da tale era il sentimento di ripulsa che mi ispiravano. Inspiegabile, considerando invece il livello infinitamente superiore dei racconti di fantascienza.
Consiglio quindi questa raccolta? No. Ho dato tre stelle di voto per giustizia a quelli che sono oggettivamente dei buoni lavori, ma se fosse possibile consigliere a tutti di acquistare soltanto romanzi o raccolte di racconti di quest'autrice di genere fantascientifico, lasciando stare totalmente il fantasy. Soltanto il suo racconto basato su Darkover, una saga di successo dell'autrice, benché fantasy a tema fantascientifico, si salva. Tutti gli altri sono, a vari livelli, deludenti sotto molti aspetti.

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book from the shelf in front of a local bookstore. The bookstore people put all the books they can't/don't want to try to sell on that shelf and anybody can take anything they want.

I only knew Marion Zimmer Bradley as the author of The Mists of Avalon, so I was intrigued to learn she had written a whole lot more than that. There were several books by her on the free shelf, but I decided to go with this one.

Overall, I liked this one, although I found it irritating that even in future societies that were supposed to be advanced, the narrator of stories referred to women as girls. Maybe publishers back then wouldn't print stories about women. Or maybe even as a feminist, Bradley was still a product of her day.

My favorite story in this collection were "Secret of the Blue Star. "I did not see that ending coming." I was also surprised by the ending of "Treason of the Blood."

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of these stories are quite interesting, but I quickly got sick of reading about women who only wanted to have babies with their important space husbands (or women who were too weak to make decisions and were described as overly emotional and ridiculous, or women who were one-dimensional throw-aways next to their interstellar space boyfriends, etc.) The male characters are not much better. They are all quick to anger, cruel, and close-minded. I was really hoping for more well-rounded characters, especially coming from an author who refers to herself as a feminist and introduces the book by talking about the Women's Liberation movement.

The story ideas are fairly novel, but the characters are very dated. I don't think these stories hold up well at all.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apart from an informative 'Introduction' describing the origins of some of the stories, this collection contains the following works~
1. Centaurus Changeling;
2. The Climbing Wave;
3. Exiles of Tomorrow;
4. Death Between the Stars;
5. Bird of Prey;
6. The Wind People;
7. The Wild One;
8. Treason of the Blood;
9. The Day of the Butterflies;
10. Hero's Moon;
11. The Engine;
12. The Secret of the Blue Star;
13. To Keep the Oath;
14. Elbow Room;
15. Blood Will Tell.
The shorter works are clever, especially 'Exiles of Tomorrow'. Longer works have some strong ideas at their centre, but are marred by their women acting desperately to become mothers. Hardcore Stereotypical square-jawed male characters dominate all proceedings, although some very interesting myth emerges from some of the tales.
Overall, a very dated and non-essential, but good collection.

[andrew y · Rating 2 out of 5]

Knowing the insanity this woman had going on in her life during the decades she wrote all these stories, the themes and ideas that developed are a fascinating further insight as they tie very obviously into her real life.
She was married to a criminal and enabled his crimes and allegedly committed terrible crimes of her own - I do not support the woman or her legacy. Knowing what we know now I think it is intriguing to view artistic work through the lens of actual reality.
There is nothing else even remotely redeeming about these stories though.

[Freyja · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of various short stories, both of Darkover and not. Some have been published elsewhere. They span from science fiction to fantasy. Anyone who has followed the Sword and Sorceress series will recognize the authors.

[Benny Leoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://ioamoilibrieleserietv.blogspo...

[Alessia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I racconti della Bradley, come i suoi romanzi, sono pieni di messaggi nascosti. Peccato che non tutti riescano a coinvolgere, ma nel complesso una raccolta abbastanza notevole.

[Denise Elwyn McKenzie · Rating 1 out of 5]

D.N.F.

Got to about to 6 pages to go of the second story. I just didn't care. Absolutely nothing was happening.

[Calvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some I liked some I didn't, others I wanted more of...

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best part was author's introduction with her
early life and how she got into writing. Very nice collection of her early stuff.

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This consists of 16 stories by Marion Zimmer Bradley published from 1954 to 1980. I wish there had been some introduction to the stories, but there's nothing but the brief description in the back cover that tells us her "work is difficult to categorize" being a blend of fantasy and science fiction, and usually dealing with social and gender issues. I will say that one thing that strikes me about these stories is that the more "soft science" focus means her stories don't date as badly as most science fiction stories do after a decade or so.

I recently read anthologies of Isaac Asimov's and Vernor Vinge's short stories--and this suffers by comparison. With Asimov I remembered many of the stories decades after I first read them--some when I was a child--just from the title. Some of those stories are rightly thought of as the best in the genre, once read they're unforgettable. And though Asimov tends to be more cerebral, more an author of ideas over character, sometimes he can pack an emotional wallop. Vernor is a lesser talent in comparison--perhaps a bit more stylistically sophisticated than Asimov--but he has a few stories that are standouts too--that I can remember just from the title several years later. I can think of other great science fiction masters of the short story: Arthur C. Clarke, C.L. Moore, Ray Bradbury.

Marion Zimmer Bradley doesn't belong in that company. I say that as a fan of hers, but I think she was best in the more expansive novel form, with more room for world-building and characterization--and what I love are her Darkover novels, not Mists of Avalon which she's famous for. And those, despite a fantasy feel, are science fiction. In fact, the stories I remembered best in this volume are her two Darkover stories, "To Keep the Oath" and "Blood Will Tell" and I suspect both are so memorable because I can put them in the context of the Darkover series, not because they stand alone. Both of those stories can be found in other places too. As can her Lythande story, "The Secret of the Blue Star," which can be found in Thieves' World or the anthology Lythande. There is, of all things, a Middle Earth Tolkien pastiche here, "The Jewel of Arwen." The copyright on Tolkien surely had not expired when that work was published, so its presence was odd. (I've read it was dropped from later editions of this book.)

Some of the stories not associated with any series were interesting certainly. It struck me reading "The Climbing Wave" and "The Day of the Butterflies" that in her way MZB is as anti-science and technology as C.S. Lewis. But then arguably so is the progenitor of the entire genre, Frankenstein--a cautionary tale of science. "Centaurus Changeling" reminded me of her Darkover tales in its clash between an advanced Terran empire and a seemingly less sophisticated "lost colony" as well as its use of psychic abilities and non-traditional relationships. And "Treason of the Blood" actually has an original approach to the vampire legend, and I didn't think at this point that was possible--though, characteristically, that too has a science-fiction gloss on it.

All in all, the book was an enjoyable, at times thought-provoking collection. Not impressive enough to put MZB among the science-fiction greats in short fiction, but I like these stories enough that it's keeping a place among my precious bookshelf space.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories spanning 1954-80. Science fiction and fantasy, including some Darkover and a couple of stories anthologized elsewhere. Themes are wide ranging: racism, gender bias, the dangers of technology. What is human vs what is alien is a focus for much of the sci-fi. Standouts include "The Climbing Wave," which is about a group returning to Earth from deep space to find technology hasn't advanced as they expected; "The Jewel of Arwen," which is set in the world of The Fellowship of the Ring, and "The Day of the Butterflies," about the exhaustion of the every day grind.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you read my review of "The Mists of Avalon" you can tell how much I have admired the writings of Marion Zimmer Bradley. This book along with "The Colors of Space," "The Planet Savers," and "The Year of the Big Thaw" were a trip down memory lane. Except for "The Year..." all these novellas/stories are excerpted from her Darkover series. I enjoyed refamiliarizing myself with these works I enjoyed in my late teens. I don't think they would have much meaning to folks who weren't familiar with the worlds she created in those novels.

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't usually read science fiction short stories but these were different and interesting. A couple were a bit too vague and open ended for me but there were also some real quality ones as well. I found myself becoming involved and wishing that the stories were longer - like novel length longer - I guess thats why I don't read short stories very often, I find myself wanting more and end up dissatisfied!

[Susan Fehr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the stories are thought provoking, some are entertaining and most are highly readable, but some I find disturbing (probably a good thing, as thats what sci-fi is supposed to do - make you look again at your world and perhaps change some things which you now see differently) and dont really want to read again.

All in all an interesting collection, even if in the future most worlds are patriarchies. Some things don't change...

[M— · Rating 1 out of 5]

/review to come
Crap. I could hardly stand to start reading some of these stories, let alone finish them all. And Zimmer Bradley is considered a feminist author? You have got to be kidding me.

[Amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Few people realise that MZB was a well-known science fiction author before she wrote the monolithic "Mists of Avalon". This collection is a satisfying introduction to her sci/fi short stories that definitely leaves one keen to explore her early work more thoroughly...

[Teresa Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this because there was an intro on each story that enlightened me about her life. It also made the stories richer as it let me know when the story was written (the stories were put in chronological order) and where she was at in her life when she wrote the story!

[Tbangers · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite science fiction book

[Milja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantasyverhalen. Ze eindigen allemaal slecht (tenminste, dat vermoed ik. Ik ben tot bijna de helft gekomen). Gloom and doom... jammer, want de settings en de verhaallijnen zijn fantasierijk.

[Elyn]

OK..not a big fan of short stories in general and I think MZB is much better in her Darkover series

[Snowfalcon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good cross-section of the shorter works of MZB. Recommended.

[bluetyson]

The Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley by Marion Zimmer Bradley (1988)