Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment

by David G. Hartwell (Editor, Contributor), Kathryn Cramer (Editor), Ursula K. Le Guin (Contributor)

Here are 44 compelling tales of the fantastic--many never before anthologized--by such classic writers as L. Frank Baum and Charles Dickens through today's finest writers, including Ursula K. Le Guin, Joanna Russ and Michael Moorcock.

Contents

xi • Introduction (Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment) • (1988) • essay by David G. Hartwell
3 • The Rule of Names • [Earthsea Cycle] • (1964) • shortstory by Ursula K. Le Guin
13 • The Magic Fishbone • (1868) • shortstory by Charles Dickens
23 • The Goddess on the Street Corner • (1953) • shortstory by Margaret St. Clair
31 • Feathertop: A Moralized Legend • (1854) • shortstory by Nathaniel Hawthorne (variant of Feathertop 1846)
49 • The Root and the Ring • (1954) • novelette by Wyman Guin
70 • The Green Magician • [Incomplete Enchanter • 5] • (1954) • novella by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt
128 • Our Fair City • (1949) • shortstory by Robert A. Heinlein
149 • The Man Who Could Not See Devils • (1970) • shortstory by Joanna Russ
162 • A New Arabian Night's Entertainment • (1785) • shortstory by Horace Walpole
166 • The King and His Three Daughters • (1785) • shortstory by Horace Walpole
169 • The Dice-Box: A Fairy Tale • (1785) • shortstory by Horace Walpole
173 • The Peach in Brandy: A Milesian Tale • (1785) • shortstory by Horace Walpole
176 • Mi Li: A Chinese Fairy Tale • (1785) • shortstory by Horace Walpole
182 • A True Love Story • (1785) • shortstory by Horace Walpole
185 • The Bird's Nest • (1967) • shortstory by Horace Walpole
189 • Bird of Prey • (1941) • shortstory by John Collier
197 • The Detective of Dreams • (1980) • novelette by Gene Wolfe
214 • The Bee-Man of Orn • (1887) • shortstory by Frank R. Stockton
224 • The Red Hawk • (1983) • novelette by Elizabeth A. Lynn
252 • The Canvasser's Tale • (1876) • shortstory by Mark Twain
261 • The Silken-Swift . . . • (1953) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon (variant of The Silken-Swift)
280 • The New Mother • (1882) • shortstory by Lucy Clifford
291 • Mr. Lupescu • (1945) • shortstory by Anthony Boucher
296 • The King of the Cats • (1929) • shortstory by Stephen Vincent Benét
310 • Uncle Einar • [The Elliott Family] • (1947) • shortstory by Ray Bradbury
318 • Space-Time for Springers • [Gummitch the Cat] • (1958) • shortstory by Fritz Leiber
330 • Great is Diana • (1958) • shortstory by Avram Davidson
339 • The Last of the Huggermuggers: A Giant Story • (1856) • novella by Christopher Pearse Cranch
368 • Tobermory • (1909) • shortstory by Saki
375 • The King of the Elves • (1953) • novelette by Philip K. Dick
397 • The Glass Dog • (1901) • shortstory by L. Frank Baum
405 • The Queen of Quok • (1901) • shortstory by L. Frank Baum
413 • The Magic Bonbons • (1901) • shortstory by L. Frank Baum
419 • The Dummy That Lived • (1901) • shortstory by L. Frank Baum
426 • The Tale of Dragons and Dreamers • [Neveryon] • (1979) • novelette by Samuel R. Delany
455 • from Phantasmion • (1837) • shortstory by Sara Coleridge
465 • The Sapphire Necklace • (1930) • shortstory by Kenneth Morris
473 • The Regent of the North • (1915) • shortstory by Kenneth Morris
483 • The Eyeless Dragons: A Chinese Story • (1915) • shortstory by Kenneth Morris
491 • Elric at the End of Time • [Tales from the End of Time • 5] • (1981) • novelette by Michael Moorcock
532 • Lindenborg Pool • (1856) • shortstory by William Morris
540 • The Moon Pool • [Walter Goodwin] • (1918) • novella by A. Merritt
580 • The Sword of Welleran • (1908) • shortstory by Lord Dunsany
593 • Operation Afreet • [Operation Chaos] • (1956) • novelette by Poul Anderson

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

638 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1988

About the author

David Geddes Hartwell was an American editor of science fiction and fantasy. He worked for Signet (1971-1973), Berkley Putnam (1973-1978), Pocket (where he founded the Timescape imprint, 1978-1983, and created the Pocket Books Star Trek publishing line), and Tor (where he spearheaded Tor's Canadian publishing initiative, and was also influential in bringing many Australian writers to the US market, 1984-date), and has published numerous anthologies. He chaired the board of directors of the World Fantasy Convention and, with Gordon Van Gelder, was the administrator of the Philip K. Dick Award. He held a Ph.D. in comparative medieval literature.

He lived in Pleasantville, New York with his wife Kathryn Cramer and their two children.

Reviews

[Kalin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A generally enjoyable compilation, although I found many of the older pieces to be--well, past their prime. ;)

A few words about/from my favorites:

https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is literally a who's who of famous authors: Le Guin, Baum, Bradbury, Twain, Dickens, Dunsany, Moorcock, Morris, Delaney, Saki, Hawthorne, etc., etc., etc. Some very good stories here.
Covers the period from the 1800's up through the 1980's.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up.

I found this book at a used book shop and based on the table of contents, snapped it up. It contains short stories by most all of the big names in fantasy that I've heard of but have never gotten around to reading (Delaney, Le Guin, Russ), some I've heard of (Baum, Stockton), many I had not heard of at all, and some names I associated with Sci Fi (Dick, Heinlein) or literary fiction (Twain, Dickens, Hawthorne).

I really appreciated the chance to sample work by all these famous authors and the introduction to each story by the anthologist provided context about the author's body of work and the included story in particular that was like a mini class in the history of fantasy that was worth the price of the book alone, but overall, I found myself thinking "And this is why I've never gotten around to reading this author" - their work just isn't to my taste. About a third the stories I didn't finish or skimmed and a large number of the one's I did finish I didn't think were that good (in particular, Gene Wolfe's "The Dective of Dreams" in which, spoiler alert, the demon stalking people's dreams is Jesus. It's Jesus. It's... ::flips table::). And, for an anthology that was compiled in 1988, there was a shocking number of stories full of racist tropes and just gross male bullshit (Avram Davidson's "Great is Diana," a rambling tale of drunken, male dinner party guests going on and on about women's breasts and sharing a tall tale about a women with a "multitude of breasts" that some guy groped once, I'm looking at you).

However, there were quite a few standout stories that I enjoyed very much, and was very glad to have read them. Overall, this was a great book to read for a quick "introduction to the history of fantasy" and it gave me a new appreciation for the breadth and depth of the genre.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most anthologies, this is a mix of good and mediocre and really good. One of the bigger, more unusual selling points is that range contained within the covers. It is not stuck in one century or in one area of the world. The stories reach back to the 1800's and onwards so it's interesting to see how the idea of fantasy changed over time. Not to mention language.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stories, some meh stories. Good lunchtime reading.

[Howard Brazee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy most of the stories from the 19th century, but liked the stories I remember from a half-century ago. But it's good to read them if you're interested in fantasy.

[Katya Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read about 1/3 of the stories.

[Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many great stories by many authors.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, the title oversells it slightly. Not all of these are "masterpieces"; some have been rescued from an obscurity that they richly deserved. Others are masterpieces, or at least good stories, but I had read about half of those already.

I got this volume (second-hand; no Kindle edition is available) the same week that the unfortunate death of its editor was announced, and thought that reading it would be a suitable way of honouring his contribution to the SFF field. It's disappointing, therefore, that I didn't think it was an especially great collection.

Some of the pieces are by famous pre-20th-century or early-20th-century authors, not all of whom are thought of primarily as SFF writers: Charles Dickens ("The Magic Fishbone"), Nathaniel Hawthorne ("Feathertop: A Moralized Legend"), Horace Walpole ("Hieroglyphic Tales"), John Collier ("Bird of Prey"), Frank R. Stockton ("The Bee-Man of Orn"), Mark Twain ("The Canvasser's Tale"), Saki ("Tobermory"), William Morris ("Lindenborg Pool"), Sara Coleridge ("Phantasmion"), L. Frank Baum ("American Fairy Tales"). Most of these, unfortunately, while of historical interest in some cases, are not outstanding or memorable stories. Some had not been reprinted for a long time before this volume, and generally I could see why.

Other pieces are genre classics from well-known SFF masters: Ursula K. Le Guin ("The Rule of Names", from the Earthsea setting), Joanna Russ ("The Man Who Could Not See Devils"), Gene Wolfe ("The Detective of Dreams"), Theodore Sturgeon ("The Silken-Swift"), Fritz Lieber ("Space-Time for Springers"), A. Merritt ("The Moon Pool"), Lord Dunsany ("The Sword of Welleran"), Poul Anderson ("Operation Afreet"). These stories are all deservedly well known, and found in plenty of other collections; I've read them all elsewhere, some more than once.

There's a third group of authors who are more obscure, and whose stories are also somewhat obscure; Margaret St. Clair's "The Goddess on the Street Corner", Wyman Guin's "The Root and the Ring", Lucy Clifford's "The New Mother", Christopher Pearse Cranch's "The Last of the Huggermuggers", Stephen Vincent Benet's "The King of the Cats", Kenneth Morris's "3 Tales". None of them inspired me to track down more work by these authors.

A fourth and final group contains well-known SFF authors represented by stories that I hadn't previously read: Elizabeth A. Lynn's "The Red Hawk", Anthony Boucher's "Mr. Lupescu", Ray Bradbury's "Uncle Einar", Avram Davidson's "Great Is Diana", Philip K. Dick's "The King of the Elves", Samuel R. Delaney's "The Tale of Dragons and Dreamers", L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt's "The Green Magician", Robert A. Heinlein's "Our Fair City", and Michael Moorcock's apparently self-parodying "Elric at the End of Time". Most of these I enjoyed; a couple I found forgettable.

Averaging the stories out, then, I give the collection as a whole three stars. There's some good stuff, but some very ordinary stuff along with it, and about half of the good stuff is already widely collected.

[Sandra Knapp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do enjoy some Fantasy, but some of these tales were so outrageous, I just couldn't relate to at all, not even a chuckle could be enjoyed. I struggled to get through most of the stories that I did read, and finally just gave up. It was not holding my interest well enough to keep me reading on.

[Amy]

Twentysome years later, I would recommend looking at this collection as a history of short form fantasy, often hard to push through, but with many interesting gems, and a good lesson on the roots of the genre.

[bluetyson]

Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment by David G. Hartwell (1996)

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of fantasy stories.