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Invitation to Camelot
Short stories deal with Merlin, King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, Modred, and the women of Arthurian legend
258 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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About the author
Parke Godwin
242 books90 followersParke Godwin was an American writer known for his lyrical yet precise prose style and sardonic humor. He was also known for his novels of legendary figures placed in realistic historical settings; his retelling of the Arthur legend (Firelord in 1980, Beloved Exile in 1984, and The Last Rainbow in 1985) is set in the 5th century during the collapse of the Roman empire, and his reinterpretation of Robin Hood (Sherwood, 1991, and Robin and the King, 1993) takes place during the Norman conquest and features kings William the Conqueror and William Rufus as major characters. His other well-known works include Waiting For The Galactic Bus (1988) and its sequel The Snake Oil Wars (1989), humorous critiques of American pop culture and religion.
Parke Godwin also worked as a radio operator, a research technician, a professional actor, an advertising man, a dishwasher and a maitre d' hotel.
Godwin's short fiction has appeared in several anthologies. His short story "Influencing the Hell out of Time and Teresa Golowitz," was the basis of an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.
Parke Godwin also worked as a radio operator, a research technician, a professional actor, an advertising man, a dishwasher and a maitre d' hotel.
Godwin's short fiction has appeared in several anthologies. His short story "Influencing the Hell out of Time and Teresa Golowitz," was the basis of an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 5, 2015
I loved this collection! It was full of little gems and even if I am not sure about (or if there is) a generic theme among all the stories, I found here some amazing authors and so many plot twists. Surprise and heartbreaking should be the main theme of this collection.
I wrote a couple of lines of review for each story (with spoilers).
I wrote a couple of lines of review for each story (with spoilers).
May 22, 2018
The cover of the paperback edition hearkens back to those 80’s fantasy pulp prints—a bright cover with a Celtic warrior decked in all his regalia and an enchanting world behind him that extends to the back cover and a short blurb that welcomes us to Camelot.
The volume starts with a nice short intro by Parke Godwin, an Arthurian writer I do respect for his Firelord. He is succinct and does not overstay his welcome.
A rather forgettable even pretentious stab at verse by Jane Yolen opens the collection of stories. Thus, Morgan Llywelyn’s capable prose came almost as relief in the first story, “Their Son”—an interesting version on the “Morte.” I don’t know why I was left feeling bit flat at the final reveal and cannot really say much else without spoiling it. Nevertheless, I cannot picture anyone really saying at the end of the story, “Gosh! I didn’t see that coming!” —even though that seems to be the intended effect.
Tanith Lee’s “The Minstrel’s Tale” is a huge step up in the collection at this time, although I do not really see an Arthurian connection, except that it is a medieval ghost story of sorts, extremely well told, with chilling and quaint descriptions that will delight any M.R. James lover.
“Two Bits of Embroidery” by Phyllis Ann Karr is overtly Arthurian and firmly fixed in Malory’s version. The story offers a surprisingly endearing contrast of Kay against the popular Lancelot. Each are offered tokens from two young admirers and with one comes an end, and with the other a beginning. I enjoyed this story and look forward to Karr’s “Idylls of the Queen.”
Scarborough’s “Camelot Connection” is a ramshackle of sci-fi, psychoanalysis with dragons, and humor. Parts of it are humorous and brilliant, but for the most part, the story falls short as something from a pulp magazine.
Parke Godwin’s contribution “Uallannach” (a Prydn word for love) is a retread of his first Arthurian novel, “Firelord,” only this time we approach the story from Modred’s point of view in which he tries to give this pivotal character some more flesh. As a short story it does not really succeed, although Godwin’s prose is supple, well-crafted and light-years ahead of his peers who are included in this volume. Godwin’s most powerful bits of writing are always towards the end, and once again he concludes with a punch.
Oddly enough, one of the more amateurish efforts in the anthology comes from a Harvard Ph.D in Susan Schwartz’s “Seven from Caer Sidi,” (which goes to show that an English degree at a distinguished school does not guarantee a good writer). Did Godwin sequence this pulp prose intentionally after his work to make his own supple efforts shine? Yet, there are moments of brilliance, such as when Arthur looks into the cauldron and sees those who will remember and even write about him. I think I would have enjoyed this one better had I read it in my younger years.
Frost’s “The Vow that Binds” doesn’t seem particularly Arthurian except that at the very beginning there is the mention of King Mark of Cornwall, and this feels almost like an afterthought as an added qualifier to bring the story into the collection. The story starts off promisingly, but in the end goes nowhere.
“Nimuë’s Tale” by Madeline Robins stands head and shoulders above most of the stories here. It is told from Nimuë’s point of view and breathes in the enchanted forest of Brocéliande and the complexities of betrayal and love. Had she written more (and I’m not sure that she has), she would have left Marion Zimmer Bradley trailing, for Robins is the better writer.
Yarbro’s “Night Mare” overextends its welcome without really going anywhere. This is a Mordred story, and after having read Godwin’s take on Mordred, I was predisposed to not really wanting another. I found myself skimming on this read, and at the end felt as if I had just read not so much a short story as the first chapter of a much longer book.
The younger me delighted in Sharan Newman’s “Guinevere”; the older me is bit more critical, but find myself ever with a weak spot just to see her name in print. She is, after all, like a first love, one whose writing I really enjoyed as a Quixotic youth in my day. Here, in her “Palace by Moonlight” Newman does not disappoint. The story takes place thirty years after the fall of Arthur. Miniffer, a poet waxes wistfully about the return of Arthur and meets various characters, who all tend to take the stories he loves into outright bawdiness until he meets Domin, someone who actually served at Camelot, and then moves on to meet the legends he sings about. This is the type of story (the most pleasurable by far) I expect in an anthology with the promising title “Invitation to Camelot” and I would have been satisfied had the collection ended here.
Yolen’s “Meditation in a Whitethorn Tree” is refreshingly amusing and even lighthearted as a trapped Merlin ponders on the women of the Arthurian legends. His musings have a twist and Guinevere, depicted as being far from beautiful, presents the most surprising twist of all. I was not looking forward to Yolen’s contribution as I had read some something else that had failed to impress me in some forgotten anthology. Here, she has surprised me.
Another surprise follows in Ford’s contemporary lines that scatter and coalesce the Arthurian legend in a modern train station. There is descriptive power here, the type of thing I have not seen done to the legend since Mark Twain and T.H. White. One by one the characters step unto the station: Gareth , Gaheris, and Agravaine in Orkney sweaters; Gawain in Shetland tweed; Palomides in damascene armor; Galahad “Just the sort of man you’d want finding your chalice./ He signs an autograph, he strikes pose”; Mordred who prefers to fly but shows up, matching his car “upholstered in blue velvet and black leather.” Wow! I’ll have to read this again.
The anthology ends with a cursory afterword by Thompson, an English professor who sums up the recurring themes within the collection with some allusions to medieval sources. In short, I think this is the best Arthurian anthology of modern short stories I have read. Despite some of the low points, the high points more than compensate.
The volume starts with a nice short intro by Parke Godwin, an Arthurian writer I do respect for his Firelord. He is succinct and does not overstay his welcome.
A rather forgettable even pretentious stab at verse by Jane Yolen opens the collection of stories. Thus, Morgan Llywelyn’s capable prose came almost as relief in the first story, “Their Son”—an interesting version on the “Morte.” I don’t know why I was left feeling bit flat at the final reveal and cannot really say much else without spoiling it. Nevertheless, I cannot picture anyone really saying at the end of the story, “Gosh! I didn’t see that coming!” —even though that seems to be the intended effect.
Tanith Lee’s “The Minstrel’s Tale” is a huge step up in the collection at this time, although I do not really see an Arthurian connection, except that it is a medieval ghost story of sorts, extremely well told, with chilling and quaint descriptions that will delight any M.R. James lover.
“Two Bits of Embroidery” by Phyllis Ann Karr is overtly Arthurian and firmly fixed in Malory’s version. The story offers a surprisingly endearing contrast of Kay against the popular Lancelot. Each are offered tokens from two young admirers and with one comes an end, and with the other a beginning. I enjoyed this story and look forward to Karr’s “Idylls of the Queen.”
Scarborough’s “Camelot Connection” is a ramshackle of sci-fi, psychoanalysis with dragons, and humor. Parts of it are humorous and brilliant, but for the most part, the story falls short as something from a pulp magazine.
Parke Godwin’s contribution “Uallannach” (a Prydn word for love) is a retread of his first Arthurian novel, “Firelord,” only this time we approach the story from Modred’s point of view in which he tries to give this pivotal character some more flesh. As a short story it does not really succeed, although Godwin’s prose is supple, well-crafted and light-years ahead of his peers who are included in this volume. Godwin’s most powerful bits of writing are always towards the end, and once again he concludes with a punch.
Oddly enough, one of the more amateurish efforts in the anthology comes from a Harvard Ph.D in Susan Schwartz’s “Seven from Caer Sidi,” (which goes to show that an English degree at a distinguished school does not guarantee a good writer). Did Godwin sequence this pulp prose intentionally after his work to make his own supple efforts shine? Yet, there are moments of brilliance, such as when Arthur looks into the cauldron and sees those who will remember and even write about him. I think I would have enjoyed this one better had I read it in my younger years.
Frost’s “The Vow that Binds” doesn’t seem particularly Arthurian except that at the very beginning there is the mention of King Mark of Cornwall, and this feels almost like an afterthought as an added qualifier to bring the story into the collection. The story starts off promisingly, but in the end goes nowhere.
“Nimuë’s Tale” by Madeline Robins stands head and shoulders above most of the stories here. It is told from Nimuë’s point of view and breathes in the enchanted forest of Brocéliande and the complexities of betrayal and love. Had she written more (and I’m not sure that she has), she would have left Marion Zimmer Bradley trailing, for Robins is the better writer.
Yarbro’s “Night Mare” overextends its welcome without really going anywhere. This is a Mordred story, and after having read Godwin’s take on Mordred, I was predisposed to not really wanting another. I found myself skimming on this read, and at the end felt as if I had just read not so much a short story as the first chapter of a much longer book.
The younger me delighted in Sharan Newman’s “Guinevere”; the older me is bit more critical, but find myself ever with a weak spot just to see her name in print. She is, after all, like a first love, one whose writing I really enjoyed as a Quixotic youth in my day. Here, in her “Palace by Moonlight” Newman does not disappoint. The story takes place thirty years after the fall of Arthur. Miniffer, a poet waxes wistfully about the return of Arthur and meets various characters, who all tend to take the stories he loves into outright bawdiness until he meets Domin, someone who actually served at Camelot, and then moves on to meet the legends he sings about. This is the type of story (the most pleasurable by far) I expect in an anthology with the promising title “Invitation to Camelot” and I would have been satisfied had the collection ended here.
Yolen’s “Meditation in a Whitethorn Tree” is refreshingly amusing and even lighthearted as a trapped Merlin ponders on the women of the Arthurian legends. His musings have a twist and Guinevere, depicted as being far from beautiful, presents the most surprising twist of all. I was not looking forward to Yolen’s contribution as I had read some something else that had failed to impress me in some forgotten anthology. Here, she has surprised me.
Another surprise follows in Ford’s contemporary lines that scatter and coalesce the Arthurian legend in a modern train station. There is descriptive power here, the type of thing I have not seen done to the legend since Mark Twain and T.H. White. One by one the characters step unto the station: Gareth , Gaheris, and Agravaine in Orkney sweaters; Gawain in Shetland tweed; Palomides in damascene armor; Galahad “Just the sort of man you’d want finding your chalice./ He signs an autograph, he strikes pose”; Mordred who prefers to fly but shows up, matching his car “upholstered in blue velvet and black leather.” Wow! I’ll have to read this again.
The anthology ends with a cursory afterword by Thompson, an English professor who sums up the recurring themes within the collection with some allusions to medieval sources. In short, I think this is the best Arthurian anthology of modern short stories I have read. Despite some of the low points, the high points more than compensate.
February 15, 2015
This is a really thoughtful collection of short stories and poems dealing with King Arthur. Considering I'm not a huge short story fan, I enjoyed every story I read. Of course, some more than others but, if anything, it gives the reader a variety of themes and perspectives. Some are directly from Arthurian legend, others have a liberal distance. I definitely found new authors to follow and enjoyed Parke Godwin's brief description of his relationship with each author and why he chose the pieces in this collection.
March 5, 2024
While I do love to read short stories as much as I do full length novels, it's difficult for me to use my typical rating system (plot/characters/setting), when all the stories are by different authors with their own unique styles. Instead I'll just mention some of the ones that stood out to me for better or for worse.
While, as a whole, I did enjoy the mixed bag of good reads, my favorite ended up being "Seven from Caer Sidi". I loved the adventurous aspects. I thought it was nicely paced, well structured, good amounts of action, decent character depth (for a short story) and interactions, and kept my interest from beginning to end. Really had a classic Arthurian legend feel to it. I wished there had been more like it, as many of the tales I felt were lacking in adventure and action—which is what I love to see in fantasy—and instead ended up being more character-focused or psychological in nature.
I also really enjoyed "The Minstrel's Tale". Even though it had little to do with the typical courtly settings one would expect in an Camelot anthology, I thought it was refreshing to see a point of view of someone who wasn't one of the typical renown characters from King Arthur's court, but a simple bard with a ghostly tale to share. The eerie vibes made it stand out among the others in a good way.
The third memorable tale was "Night Mare". Also nicely structured, well paced, with an interesting dive into Mordred's youth that was part psychological, part supernatural. The mixing of both worked really well, making for an intriguing tale I won't soon forget.
My two least favorites and the only ones I didn't much care for were "The Camelot Connection" which was so entirely out there from what I expected in a bad way, reading more like something that belongs in science fiction anthology than an Arthurian one. To me it stood out like a wacky fanfic. Not only are characters time traveling, but they have both their consciousnesses put into the mind of Merlin? Strange in terms of plot and rather difficult to follow in terms of technique given that there was essentially three characters sharing one body. I was tempted to skip it (given it was one of the more longer tales), but at least managed to stick it out until the end.
I also didn't care much for "Uallannach" more for technique than anything. It had way too much explaining with pages stuffed full of rambling infodumps with very little "showing" in the way of descriptive details. It completely failed to captivate any interest. I just found it a dull and uninspired read. I was not entertained by it in the slightest and I couldn't even say for sure what it is about, because the story itself was so forgettable, while the execution was indeed memorable, but not in a good way.
The other stories I enjoyed to various degrees, but didn't find them as memorable as the ones above.
Regardless, I am glad to have picked this one up. As some of the stories proved to be quite the little treasures with only a couple regrets.
While, as a whole, I did enjoy the mixed bag of good reads, my favorite ended up being "Seven from Caer Sidi". I loved the adventurous aspects. I thought it was nicely paced, well structured, good amounts of action, decent character depth (for a short story) and interactions, and kept my interest from beginning to end. Really had a classic Arthurian legend feel to it. I wished there had been more like it, as many of the tales I felt were lacking in adventure and action—which is what I love to see in fantasy—and instead ended up being more character-focused or psychological in nature.
I also really enjoyed "The Minstrel's Tale". Even though it had little to do with the typical courtly settings one would expect in an Camelot anthology, I thought it was refreshing to see a point of view of someone who wasn't one of the typical renown characters from King Arthur's court, but a simple bard with a ghostly tale to share. The eerie vibes made it stand out among the others in a good way.
The third memorable tale was "Night Mare". Also nicely structured, well paced, with an interesting dive into Mordred's youth that was part psychological, part supernatural. The mixing of both worked really well, making for an intriguing tale I won't soon forget.
My two least favorites and the only ones I didn't much care for were "The Camelot Connection" which was so entirely out there from what I expected in a bad way, reading more like something that belongs in science fiction anthology than an Arthurian one. To me it stood out like a wacky fanfic. Not only are characters time traveling, but they have both their consciousnesses put into the mind of Merlin? Strange in terms of plot and rather difficult to follow in terms of technique given that there was essentially three characters sharing one body. I was tempted to skip it (given it was one of the more longer tales), but at least managed to stick it out until the end.
I also didn't care much for "Uallannach" more for technique than anything. It had way too much explaining with pages stuffed full of rambling infodumps with very little "showing" in the way of descriptive details. It completely failed to captivate any interest. I just found it a dull and uninspired read. I was not entertained by it in the slightest and I couldn't even say for sure what it is about, because the story itself was so forgettable, while the execution was indeed memorable, but not in a good way.
The other stories I enjoyed to various degrees, but didn't find them as memorable as the ones above.
Regardless, I am glad to have picked this one up. As some of the stories proved to be quite the little treasures with only a couple regrets.
January 11, 2026
I really liked "Two Bits of Embroidery" by Phyllis Ann Karr, "Nimuë's Tale" by Madeleine E. Robins, "Night Mare" by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, and "The Palace By Moonlight" by Sharan Newman! Reading Newman's story also made me want to read her Guinevere trilogy, which I've also heard good things about previously.
The two poems in this book kinda disappointed me, though. Verse like this, that almost flaunts its disregard for rhyme and meter, makes me wish for the return of the Romantics. I am not saying that poetry needs to always have rhyme and meter. I like free verse, I like prose poetry; I am not strictly a formalist. I am, however, firm on the stance that poetry must have that essential poetic quality of language, and frankly even the excuse of free verse for either is not good enough for me. Even in free verse I expect the musicality of poetry. I was very disappointed to find that of the two offerings there was none, is none.
May I be even more frank? I found that too many of the stories (around half) revolved around original characters; or if not, ventured into original dynamics or plotlines. I know this might be a strange critique for some, but considering this was an Arthurian anthology I expected much, much more foregrounding of Arthurian characters and episodes.
I feel that time or genre may also have something to do with my opinion of the prose. I'm afraid I'm not overfond of this style of prose, not at all... that, in conjunction with unfamiliar characters or storylines, made certain stories quite boring and a chore to get through.
The two poems in this book kinda disappointed me, though. Verse like this, that almost flaunts its disregard for rhyme and meter, makes me wish for the return of the Romantics. I am not saying that poetry needs to always have rhyme and meter. I like free verse, I like prose poetry; I am not strictly a formalist. I am, however, firm on the stance that poetry must have that essential poetic quality of language, and frankly even the excuse of free verse for either is not good enough for me. Even in free verse I expect the musicality of poetry. I was very disappointed to find that of the two offerings there was none, is none.
May I be even more frank? I found that too many of the stories (around half) revolved around original characters; or if not, ventured into original dynamics or plotlines. I know this might be a strange critique for some, but considering this was an Arthurian anthology I expected much, much more foregrounding of Arthurian characters and episodes.
I feel that time or genre may also have something to do with my opinion of the prose. I'm afraid I'm not overfond of this style of prose, not at all... that, in conjunction with unfamiliar characters or storylines, made certain stories quite boring and a chore to get through.
August 15, 2022
7/10
I am not a big fan of short stories—they are just so, well, short! If they are good, I want more! This collection of stories related to Camelot and the Arthurian legends are a mix of excellent (Their Son by Morgan Llywelyn, Uallannach by Parke Godwin, Nimuë’s Tale by Madeleine E. Robins, and Meditation in a Whitethorn Tree by Jane Yolen) and a little odd (The Minstrel’s Tale by Tanith Lee, The Camelot Connection by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, and Winter Solstice, Camelot Station by John M. Ford).
I am not a big fan of short stories—they are just so, well, short! If they are good, I want more! This collection of stories related to Camelot and the Arthurian legends are a mix of excellent (Their Son by Morgan Llywelyn, Uallannach by Parke Godwin, Nimuë’s Tale by Madeleine E. Robins, and Meditation in a Whitethorn Tree by Jane Yolen) and a little odd (The Minstrel’s Tale by Tanith Lee, The Camelot Connection by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, and Winter Solstice, Camelot Station by John M. Ford).
August 25, 2024
I found some of the short stories really enjoyable, but generally most were not and I found myself wishing that the story would end.
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February 12, 2009I finally got a hold of this, start reading tonight, and what happens? Not a single story held my interest enough for me to actually want to find out what happens. *sigh* I'll still keep it, try again at another time, but I'm disappointed right now.
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