Legends

by Margaret Weis (Editor)

A collection of ancient legends, myths, and tales of the mortals and immortals who shaped the destiny of humankind presents works by Dennis L. McKiernan, Josepha Sherman, Margaret Weis, Mickey Zucker Reichert, and Don Perrin

Genres: Fantasy, Anthologies, Short Stories, Fiction

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

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

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The short story anthology Legends edited by Margaret Weis, the first collection of the Tales from the Eternal Archives, contains almost twenty stories of near above average quality loosing connected to one another through a mystical library, titular Eternal Archives. Although the majority of the nineteen stories were fantasy, historical fiction and science fiction were also featured.

The two best stories of the collection were “Wisdom” by Richard Lee Byers, which was followed an alternate interpretation of The Iliad and The Odyssey as Odysseus ventures to save the world from chaos. The second was “Silver Tread, Hammer Ring” by Gary A. Braunbeck features an alternate world in which mythical and folkloric figures exist side-by-side as John Henry faces down a steam drill run by a minotaur. Other excellent stories were the two opening stories, “Why There Are White Tigers” by Jane M. Lindskold and “The Theft of Destiny” by Josepha Sherman, as well many more such as “The Last Suitor”, “King’s Quest”, “Ninety-Four”, “Precursor”, and “Dearest Kitty”.

The two worst stories of the collection were “The Wind at Tres Castillos” by Robyn Fielder which featured historical individuals who didn’t interact with one another at the titular location and the fantastical elements just didn’t make sense creating a waste of paper. The second worst story was “Final Conquest” by Dennis L. McKiernan, while short this story featuring Genghis Khan was a headscratcher though a nicely written one. Although overall not bad, the preface and short introductions loosely linked all the stories with the mystical library between worlds though some were better than others.

The nineteen stories that make up Legends feature—more than not—very good short stories across fantasy, historical fiction, and science fiction. Yet like all anthologies, it is a mixed bag of quality but only a few stories were completely subpar thus presenting the reader with a lot of good reading.

Individual Story Ratings
Why There Are White Tigers by Jane M. Lindskold (4/5)
The Theft of Destiny by Josepha Sherman (4/5)
Final Conquest by Dennis L. McKiernan (2/5)
The Wisdom of Solomon by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (2.5/5)
Bast’s Talon by Janet Pack (3/5)
Wisdom by Richard Lee Byers (5/5)
The Last Suitor by Kristin Schwengal (4/5)
Two-Fisted Tales of St. Nick by Kevin T. Stein and Robert Weinberg (3/5)
King’s Quest by Mickey Zucker Reichert (4/5)
Silver Thread, Hammer Ring by Gary A. Braunbeck (4.5/5)
Memnon Revived by Peter Schweighofer (2.5/5)
The Ballad of Jesse James by Margaret Weis (2.5/5)
Legends by Ed Gorman (3.5/5)
The Wind at Tres Castillos by Robyn Fielder (1.5/5)
Ninety-Four by Jean Rabe (4/5)
Hunters Hunted by John Helfers (3.5/5)
Precursor by Matthew Woodring Stover (4/5)
“Dearest Kitty” by Brian M. Thomsen (4/5)
Last Kingdom by Deborah Turner Harris and Robert J. Harris (3.5/5)

[Marsha Valance · Rating 2 out of 5]

In LEGENDS, Weis appears to be starting a new “shared universe” anthology series, one whose premise is that all knowledge is contained in the “Eternal Archives”, which writers/adepts visit to gain knowledge. Each short story has as its protagonist a “legend" (someone who is enthroned in our collective conscious, or would be if publicized) and each story is framed by an editor’s preface, describing the author journeying through the “Eternal Archives” to discover the information the reader is about to encounter. This literary conceit permits the collection of widely differing stories, with protagonists ranging from Odysseus and Harald Hardrada through Adolph Hitler and Anne Frank to a high priestess of Bast and a U-boat captain allied with an undine. Some of the stories,
such as Mickey Zucker Reichert’s “King’s Quest” and Ed Gorman’s “Legends”, are excellent; many are not.

[Kyra Dune · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories started off not so good for me. I didn't like the first few stories, which hardly felt like complete stories at all. But they do get better and there were a few I genuinely enjoyed.