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Fantastic Stories Presents: Fantasy Super Pack #1
This super pack contans thirty-four wonderful tales of fantasy. More than seven hundred and fifty pages for your reading pleasure. Escape today! Immortal by Shariann Lewitt The Thing in the Attic by James Blish To Serve A Prince by B.W. Clough Red Nails by Robert E. Howard Your Name Is Eve by Michael M. Jones The Knights of Arthur by Frederik Pohl Go Through by Alma Alexander Piper in the Woods by Philip K. Dick Maeve by Lillian Csernica A Knyght Ther Was by Robert F. Young Edenbridge by Paul Kincaid The Moon Is Green by Fritz Leiber Where Angels Fall by Jean-Louis Trudel The Worlds of If by Stanley G. Weinbaum Beyond Kadath by Colleen Douglas The Street That Wasn't There by Simak and Jacobi Double Exposure by Lou Antonelli Rastignac The Devil by Philip Jose Farmer Pest Control by Chuck Rothman Satan's Stepson by Seabury Quinn Anomaly by David Niall Wilson The World That Couldn't Be by Clifford D. Simak A Stitch in Time Saves Nine by Edward J. McFadden III Man Overboard! by F. Marion Crawford Wisteria by Ada Milenkovic Brown A Traveler in Time by August Derleth Lawnmower Moe by William R. Eakin Way Station by Mary Elizabeth Counselman The Ghost of Mohammed Din by Clark Ashton Smith No Strings Attached by Lester del Rey Second Sight by Alan E. Nourse Of Time And Texas by William F. Nolan The Rats in the Walls by H. P. Lovecraft Gainful Employment by Jamie Wild
- GenresFantasy
762 pages, Paperback
First published June 17, 2014
31 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Warren Lapine
90 books5 followersWarren Lapine is a speculative fiction writer and publisher.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 1, 2015
This enormous collection of 34 stories presumably showcases the taste of the editor of Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, a relatively new prozine. As I'm interested in submitting to the magazine, I picked it up, and thoroughly enjoyed most of the stories, none of which I remembered reading before, though I'd heard of several of them.
I like stories that have a narrative arc, that build tension and then resolve it at the end, more than the currently-fashionable type of story that just stops at a thematic moment (or, I often suspect, when the author runs out of ideas). Based on this collection, this editor also likes the narrative-arc kind of story. Some of the stories had fairly predictable endings, I found, one or two fluffed about for a while before getting to the ending, and there were comparitively few twists (though there were a couple), but usually the tension was well maintained and satisfactorily resolved.
The editor is also clearly fond of the old Weird Tales style, and the Cthulhu Mythos in particular. This may account for the appearance of what I consider the one bad story in the bunch, Colleen Douglas's "Beyond Kadath", an almost plotless piece of amateurish Lovecraft fanfiction.
Especially for the price, this is an excellent anthology, almost a quarter of a million words and, in my opinion, only one really bad story in the bunch.
This isn't just a fantasy collection. There are science fiction stories, and, as I mentioned, horror of the Weird Tales kind, mostly ghost stories and Mythos. There's sword and sorcery (Robert E. Howard's "Red Nails", for example, a Conan story with the trademark adolescent wish-fulfilment of the all-powerful, muscular barbarian picking up busty women, but the man could certainly write action). There's humour. Several of the stories involve time travel, while others deal in one way or another with the Fae, and might be called urban fantasy. There are a couple of post-apocalyptics, some of what I call "fantastica" (more or less surreal stories where the magic isn't rational), even a couple where the fantastical element is arguably in the mind of the viewpoint character. These disparate elements form a rich gumbo in which no two consecutive stories are alike. The more so since older stories are intermingled with more recent ones (in strict alternation, at first, though that pattern later breaks down); the most common decades represented are the 1950s, the 1930s, the 1990s and the 2000s, but every decade since 1910, except for the 1970s and 1980s, has at least one story. There's one original story in the volume, the rest are reprints. There's a mix, too, of famous writers like James Blish, Frederik Pohl, Philip K. Dick, Fritz Leiber, Stanley Weinbaum, Clifford Simak, Philip Jose Farmer, August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, Lester Del Rey and, of course, H.P. Lovecraft, alongside writers I hadn't heard of, but whose stories mostly stood up to the high company they kept.
Older stories, of course, tend to be about straight white men, so it's not a big surprise to find a lot of those. Some of the newer stories feature more women or non-white characters, but I didn't spot any gay characters, if that's something you look for in your stories.
Inevitably, the older stories in particular sometimes fall into classic trope patterns: the deal with the devil that goes wrong ("No Strings Attached"), the equivalent of the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court ("A Knyght Ther Was"), comic trouble with fantasy critters ("Pest Control"). The authors usually do something interesting and different with the trope, though, and in a few cases I suspect that the trope became popular originally because of the story represented here, such as "Worlds of If" (1935), an alternate-worlds tale by Stanley Weinbaum.
Overall, a varied and enjoyable collection, which makes me want to subscribe to Fantastic Stories of the Imagination. I suspect that's part of the point; if so, mission accomplished.
I like stories that have a narrative arc, that build tension and then resolve it at the end, more than the currently-fashionable type of story that just stops at a thematic moment (or, I often suspect, when the author runs out of ideas). Based on this collection, this editor also likes the narrative-arc kind of story. Some of the stories had fairly predictable endings, I found, one or two fluffed about for a while before getting to the ending, and there were comparitively few twists (though there were a couple), but usually the tension was well maintained and satisfactorily resolved.
The editor is also clearly fond of the old Weird Tales style, and the Cthulhu Mythos in particular. This may account for the appearance of what I consider the one bad story in the bunch, Colleen Douglas's "Beyond Kadath", an almost plotless piece of amateurish Lovecraft fanfiction.
Especially for the price, this is an excellent anthology, almost a quarter of a million words and, in my opinion, only one really bad story in the bunch.
This isn't just a fantasy collection. There are science fiction stories, and, as I mentioned, horror of the Weird Tales kind, mostly ghost stories and Mythos. There's sword and sorcery (Robert E. Howard's "Red Nails", for example, a Conan story with the trademark adolescent wish-fulfilment of the all-powerful, muscular barbarian picking up busty women, but the man could certainly write action). There's humour. Several of the stories involve time travel, while others deal in one way or another with the Fae, and might be called urban fantasy. There are a couple of post-apocalyptics, some of what I call "fantastica" (more or less surreal stories where the magic isn't rational), even a couple where the fantastical element is arguably in the mind of the viewpoint character. These disparate elements form a rich gumbo in which no two consecutive stories are alike. The more so since older stories are intermingled with more recent ones (in strict alternation, at first, though that pattern later breaks down); the most common decades represented are the 1950s, the 1930s, the 1990s and the 2000s, but every decade since 1910, except for the 1970s and 1980s, has at least one story. There's one original story in the volume, the rest are reprints. There's a mix, too, of famous writers like James Blish, Frederik Pohl, Philip K. Dick, Fritz Leiber, Stanley Weinbaum, Clifford Simak, Philip Jose Farmer, August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, Lester Del Rey and, of course, H.P. Lovecraft, alongside writers I hadn't heard of, but whose stories mostly stood up to the high company they kept.
Older stories, of course, tend to be about straight white men, so it's not a big surprise to find a lot of those. Some of the newer stories feature more women or non-white characters, but I didn't spot any gay characters, if that's something you look for in your stories.
Inevitably, the older stories in particular sometimes fall into classic trope patterns: the deal with the devil that goes wrong ("No Strings Attached"), the equivalent of the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court ("A Knyght Ther Was"), comic trouble with fantasy critters ("Pest Control"). The authors usually do something interesting and different with the trope, though, and in a few cases I suspect that the trope became popular originally because of the story represented here, such as "Worlds of If" (1935), an alternate-worlds tale by Stanley Weinbaum.
Overall, a varied and enjoyable collection, which makes me want to subscribe to Fantastic Stories of the Imagination. I suspect that's part of the point; if so, mission accomplished.
August 26, 2014
I love short stories, and I love anthologies, and I love the fantasy genre. And, boy howdy! did I ever hit the jackpot on this one! 200,000 words of wonderful, marvelous stories.
Now, mind, these are all reprints, some are classics, and all have been, I'm sure, reviewed individually more than once, so I'm going to try to review the whole book. A bit like drinking from the proverbial fire hydrant, I fear.
The stories contained herein go from very short to a couple of novelette or novellas. They range from laugh-out-loud funny (I'll never tell her dad where the unicorns went), to thoughtful, and sometimes even a bit horrific. I've read some of them before, but when I found The Moon Is Green by Fritz Leiber, I felt like I'd found an old friend who's phone number had been lost years ago. I remembered the story, and by the end of the first two sentences I was once again lost in his post-apocalyptic world. I remembered the story, almost as he wrote it, but had forgotten the title and the author's name. For years the images of the gardens he described have haunted me—in a nice sort of way.
Many of your favorite fantasy authors are in this book from Alma Alexander to Robert F. Young. There are almost as many nebulas (nebuli?) between the covers of this book than there are in the universe.
Normally, when I read a collection like this there is a certain number, say ten percent, of the stories that don't work for me, for whatever reason. Not so in this case. The whole book gels, the stories are all marvelous, and though they may not 'fit' their neighbors with straight seams, they go together as a whole into a bright and beautiful quilt of exquisite velvets and brocades embellished with gold thread. This is a book you will enjoy having in your library, to open read straight through as I did, and later to open at random for a delightful surprise visit from an old friend.
I was furnished a copy of this book in trade for an honest review.
Now, mind, these are all reprints, some are classics, and all have been, I'm sure, reviewed individually more than once, so I'm going to try to review the whole book. A bit like drinking from the proverbial fire hydrant, I fear.
The stories contained herein go from very short to a couple of novelette or novellas. They range from laugh-out-loud funny (I'll never tell her dad where the unicorns went), to thoughtful, and sometimes even a bit horrific. I've read some of them before, but when I found The Moon Is Green by Fritz Leiber, I felt like I'd found an old friend who's phone number had been lost years ago. I remembered the story, and by the end of the first two sentences I was once again lost in his post-apocalyptic world. I remembered the story, almost as he wrote it, but had forgotten the title and the author's name. For years the images of the gardens he described have haunted me—in a nice sort of way.
Many of your favorite fantasy authors are in this book from Alma Alexander to Robert F. Young. There are almost as many nebulas (nebuli?) between the covers of this book than there are in the universe.
Normally, when I read a collection like this there is a certain number, say ten percent, of the stories that don't work for me, for whatever reason. Not so in this case. The whole book gels, the stories are all marvelous, and though they may not 'fit' their neighbors with straight seams, they go together as a whole into a bright and beautiful quilt of exquisite velvets and brocades embellished with gold thread. This is a book you will enjoy having in your library, to open read straight through as I did, and later to open at random for a delightful surprise visit from an old friend.
I was furnished a copy of this book in trade for an honest review.
April 6, 2021
Random mix of fantasy and horror
This is a hefty anthology on kindle that took me a long time to power through. I am trying to be good so I am finishing all the books I purchased long ago and didn't finish or even start. In this case I nibbled for many months with a story here and a story there.
Quality of the stories were very uneven. Lots of great authors. The Conan and Lovecraft stories really didn't age well from a misogyny and racism standpoint. The cat name in the lovecraft story was cringe. I had read already at least a half dozen of the stories but with such a big anthology that isn't that much of a surprise. The only one I skimmed because it bore me was the twin sailor ghost tale.
Good deal for the price. Doesn't seem to have any sort of theme or reason for why a story is next to the other stories. Basically it is like someone got a ton of short stories and randomly put the fantasy types here in no purposeful order.
This is a hefty anthology on kindle that took me a long time to power through. I am trying to be good so I am finishing all the books I purchased long ago and didn't finish or even start. In this case I nibbled for many months with a story here and a story there.
Quality of the stories were very uneven. Lots of great authors. The Conan and Lovecraft stories really didn't age well from a misogyny and racism standpoint. The cat name in the lovecraft story was cringe. I had read already at least a half dozen of the stories but with such a big anthology that isn't that much of a surprise. The only one I skimmed because it bore me was the twin sailor ghost tale.
Good deal for the price. Doesn't seem to have any sort of theme or reason for why a story is next to the other stories. Basically it is like someone got a ton of short stories and randomly put the fantasy types here in no purposeful order.
April 16, 2015
Fantasy Super Pack #1 , which is available for 99c in Kindle format, is an enormous collection of 34 stories presumably showcasing the taste of the editor of Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, an online magazine. As I'm interested in submitting to the magazine, I picked it up, and thoroughly enjoyed most of the stories, none of which I remembered reading before though I'd heard of several of them.
I like stories that have a narrative arc, that build tension and then resolve it at the end, more than the currently-fashionable type of story that just stops at a thematic moment (or, I often suspect, when the author runs out of ideas). Based on this collection, Lapine also likes the narrative-arc kind of story. Some of the stories had fairly predi... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
I like stories that have a narrative arc, that build tension and then resolve it at the end, more than the currently-fashionable type of story that just stops at a thematic moment (or, I often suspect, when the author runs out of ideas). Based on this collection, Lapine also likes the narrative-arc kind of story. Some of the stories had fairly predi... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews