Магьоснически свят

by Margaret Weis (Editor), Ursula K. Le Guin, Fritz Leiber

„Магьоснически свят“ е антология с разкази и новели на всепризнати американски майстори в жанра фентъзи. Историите в сборника открояват характерното в натюрела на всеки писател, а заедно с това демонстрират и изумителното изобилие от догадки и представи за световете на магията. Разказите са обединени от идеята за изненадващата, но неумолима зависимост на живота ни от законите на магичното.

Неизчерпаемото въображение, шеметните преходи във времето и пространството, умело развитата фабула и лекият диалог превръщат тези истории в един „групов“ шедьовър в жанра фентъзи, който се чете задъхано и с нарастващ интерес.


Съдържание:

За какво може да послужи един стъклен кинжал? – Лари Нивън – стр.5
Принцесата и Мечока – Орсън Скот Кард – стр.50
Призоваването – Катрин Курц – стр.84
Каквато е – Робърт Силвърбърг – стр.98
Алхимикът и вещицата – Кристофър Сташеф – стр.117
Панаирът на свирачите – Мерседес Лаки – стр.153
Магьоснически свят – Андре Нортън – стр.174
Невероятният номер на Джеролдо – Реймънд Е. Фи – стр.233
Уилоу – К. Дж. Чери – стр.243
Ваканцията – Рей Бредбъри – стр.267
Магьосникът Мазириан – Джак Ванс – стр.276
Базарът на чудесата – Фриц Лейбър – стр.295
Даровете на богинята – Мелани Роун – стр.325
Преследвача – Марион Зимър Брадли – стр.339
Кутията за всичко – Зена Хендерсън – стр.357
Синът на Белия кон – Грег Беър – стр.372
Armaja Das – Джо Холдеман – стр.395
CREATEPDO – Ф. Пол Уилсън – стр.417
Думата за освобождаване – Урсула К. Ле Гуин – стр.445
Последният защитник на Камелот – Роджър Зелазни (прев. Светлана Комогорова — Комо, Силвия Вълкова) – стр.453

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction

480 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Margaret Edith Weis is an American fantasy and science fiction author of dozens of novels and short stories. At TSR, Inc., she teamed with Tracy Hickman to create the Dragonlance role-playing game (RPG) world. She is founding CEO and owner of Sovereign Press, Inc and Margaret Weis Productions, licensing several popular television and movie franchises to make RPG series in addition to their own.
In 1999, Pyramid magazine named Weis one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons, saying she and Hickman are "basically responsible for the entire gaming fiction genre". In 2002, she was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame in part for Dragonlance.

Reviews

[Kostas Papadatos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oι -Ιστορίες μαγείας και φαντασίας- είναι μια διασκεδαστικότατη συλλογή διηγημάτων που συνέλεξε η αγαπημένη μου Margaret Weis, διάσημη για την συγγραφή της σειράς Dragonlance (αγαπώ).
Το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο περιέχει μερικές από τις πιο όμορφες ιστορίες που έχω διαβάσει, οι μέτριες στιγμές του (οι οποίες δεν είναι πολλές) είναι υποφερτές.
Αξίζει να διαβαστεί, όπου το πετύχετε <<τσιμπήστε το>>.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Много приятен сборник, направо ме доядя, че съм го изпуснал навремето. Имаше много приятни нови за мен истории, а трите, които бях чел преди, отново затвърдиха впечатленията. Е, имаше и някое друго разочарование, но то е нормално, не може всичко да е отлично, когато имаш сборник с двадесет заглавия.

А ето и какво съдържа въпросният сборник и как го възприех. Поне два от разказите са част от цикли, не е трудно да се открие кои.

За какво може да послужи един стъклен кинжал? – Лари Нивън – 5/5
Принцесата и Мечока – Орсън Скот Кард – 5/5
Призоваването – Катрин Курц – 3/5
Каквато е – Робърт Силвърбърг – 4,5/5
Алхимикът и вещицата – Кристофър Сташеф – 4,5/5
Панаирът на свирачите – Мерседес Лаки – 3/5
Магьоснически свят – Андре Нортън – 4,5/5
Невероятният номер на Джеролдо – Реймънд Фийст – 4/5
Уилоу – К. Дж. Чери – 4/5
Ваканцията – Рей Бредбъри – 3,5/5
Магьосникът Мазириан – Джак Ванс – 4,5/5
Базарът на чудесата – Фриц Лейбър – 4,5/5
Даровете на богинята – Мелани Роун – 4/5
Преследвача – Марион Зимър Брадли – 4/5
Кутията за всичко – Зена Хендерсън – 4,5/5
Синът на Белия кон – Грег Беър – 3,5/5
Armaja Das – Джо Холдеман – 1/5
CREATEPDO – Ф. Пол Уилсън – 2,5/5
Думата за освобождаване – Урсула К. Ле Гуин – 3,5/5
Последният защитник на Камелот – Роджър Зелазни – 5/5

[Maria Papadaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Δυστυχώς απο τις ιστοριούλες που έχει μέσα το βιβλίο, μόνο δυο τρεις μου άρεσαν.

[Richard Joya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually liked "what good is a glass dagger."

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average rating: 2.85. A mix-bag anthologies with some stories better than others.

"What Good is a Glass Dagger" by Larry Niven: Convoluted, disjointed and unreadable. (1 star)

"The Princess and the Bear" by Orson Scott Card: I like Card's work almost in spite of myself. Despite his bigoted worldview, he's a good storyteller. (3 stars)

"The Summoning" by Katherine Kurtz: I've never read Kurtz's work before. While it's clear that she's a compelling storyteller, this fantasy piece set using the dawn of the U.S. Revolutionary War doesn't quite connect. (2 stars)

"As Is" by Robert Silverberg: Fantastic, wonderful whimsy from a grand master. (5 stars)

"The Alchemist and the Witch" by Chirstopher Stasheff: My first encounter with Stasheff's work as well. He handles colonial fantasy better than Kurtz, but this story isn't quite a home run either. (3 stars)

"Fiddler Fair" by Mercedes Lackey: Almost a prototype for Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind. If Rothfuss read this, he was definitely influenced by it. Lackey casts some magic of her own by making you care about her main character well before this tender little tale is done. (5 stars)

"Wizard's World" by Andre Norton: Norton seems like a wonderful writer — her story, the longest in the anthology, kept me interested throughout — but her reach exceeds her grasp here. There's not enough time for her to do the worldbuilding necessary to make "Wizard's World" coherent. This would have worked better as a full-length novel. (2 stars)

"Geroldo's Incredible Trick" by Raymond E. Feist: Short, punchy with a nice twist ending that emulates the titular character's sleight-of-hand skills. (4 stars)

"Willow" by C.J. Cherryh: A short story has precious little time to grab and hold a reader's attention. After ten pages of tightly packed overwrought prose, this one failed to do so. (1 star)

"The Vacation" by Ray Bradbury: I'm not sure what to make of this story except that it doesn't fit thematically with the rest of the anthology. Ray Bradbury isn't listed on the front cover, so "The Vacation" wasn't included as a selling tactic. Strange... (2 stars)

"Mazirian the Magician" by Jack Vance: An anti-heroic main character with no redeeming qualities who gets his comeuppance at the end doesn't really make for a good story... (2 stars)

"The Bazaar of the Bizarre" by Fritz Leiber: A wonderful Gray Mouser and Fafhrd story that couples together wonderful characters and a fun plot. (5 stars)

"The Lady's Gifts" by Melanie Rawn: Nicely crafted fantasy modeled after a Greek myth. (3 stars)

"The Walker Behind" by Marion Zimmer Bradley: Nice world building and atmosphere unfortunately conclude with an unsatisfying ending. (2 stars)

"The Anything Box" by Zenna Henderson: More literary fiction than fantasy, but a wonderful meditation on imagination. (3 stars)

"The White Horse Child" by Greg Bear: Another meditation on imagination and storytelling, but Henderson's story is far better. (2 stars)

"Armaja Das" by Joe Haldeman: I imagine this story was a bit more novel when it was originally published in 1976. Still, a neat -- if dated -- blend of cyberpunk-fantasy. (3 stars)

"ROVPD/CAVEE/EFI" by F. Paul Wilson: Great piece from the creator of Repairman Jack. (4 stars)

"The Word of Unbinding" by Ursula K. Le Guin: This story was the primary reason that I bought the book. A neat little foundational story for the building of Earthsea. Not quite as spectacular as, say, "The Finder" or "The Bones of the Earth," but a must-have for Earthsea completists. (3 stars)

"The Last Defender of Camelot" by Roger Zelazny: I'm not a big fan of stories than expand on the Arthurian mythos — they just strike me as overdone. While somewhat unconventional, I never felt there were any stakes in Zelazny's story. (2 stars)

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read many an anthology of fantasy short stories and can say this is not a great collection. Though only a couple of them are actually bad (Katherine Kurtz's rather dreadful "the summoning" and "the Lady's gifts" by Melanie Rawn - the latter for being no more than a well known myth in a pointless adaptation), the problem is the rest rarely go above the "ok - not great" level. Several decent sword & sorcery stories with an occasional good idea. F.Paul Wilson's, Roger Zelazny's and Fritz Leiber's stuff kind of stand out, but I've read better (and more in number) stories in anthologies containing just 5-6 titles.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wide mix of stories, some excellent, and some not quite. Ursula le Guin is my hands-down favorite.

[Iva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Reminded me why I love fantasy so much.

[Stefanos V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Απολαυστικές, διαφορετικές ιστορίες που σε βυθίζουν σε διαφορετικούς κόσμους. Ότι πρέπει για τους λάτρεις του είδους.