Best Fantasy Anthologies

[wayspooled]

While we're doing Science Fiction anthologies, figured we could find the best Fantasy ones too. Some stories seem to wind up in both camps like Terry Bisson's Bears Discover Fire, which I'm not that wild about, and McCaffrey's Pern stories which I like a lot... - but most don't.

These are the best Fantasy anthologies I've read.

Legends, edited by Robert Silverberg, (includes novellas by Stephen King, Terry Goodkind, Anne McCaffrey, Raymond Feist, Robert Jordan, Terry Pratchett, Orson Scott Card, Robert Silverberg, Ursula Le Guin, Tad Williams and George R. R. Martin) which is NOT ebook'd and is kind of the Holy Grail of Fantasy Anthologies.

Legends II, edited by Robert Silverberg, (includes novellas by Robin Hobb, Martin, Card, Diane Gabaldon, Silverberg, Williams, McCaffrey, Feist, Elizabeth Haydon, Neil Gaimon and Terry Brooks, BUT - this one IS ebooked,

Word of warning about the first one. It was so successful that the publisher split it and republished it into 3 books, each with 3-4 novellas "with the same name". Legends Vol 1, Vol 3, Vol 3. If they do finally ebook Legends I, be careful what you're getting and I also mention it if you decide to buy it used and scan it for yourself.

A Dragon-Lover's Treasury of the Fantastic, edited by Margaret Weis -- Pretty good, not perfect but lots of good stories and I list it because most stuff isn't ebooked. If you looove dragon stories though, you'll love it. I like dragon stories

These are other good ones I've read and like but they aren't ebooked either.

Treasures of Fantasy, edited by Margaret Weis, and Tracy Hickman
A Magic-Lover’s Treasury of the Fantastic, edited by Margaret Weis
Once Upon a Time: A Treasury of Modern Fairy Tales, edited by Lester Del Rey
Daughter of Regals, written by Stephen R. Donaldson
'Thieves' World' Anthologies (12 of 'em), edited by Robert Lynn Asprin
The Fantasy Hall Of Fame, edited by Robert Silverberg

Do you have any good ones you've found? Lots of "Year's Best" ones but I haven't read any myself.

[neilmarr]

Hya, Wayspooled: My own wee publishing house came out with a very neat fantasy/sf anthology a little while ago by David Hutchinson in the UK: *As the Crow Flies*. If you (or anyone else) would like the ebook version, just drop me a line and I'd be more than happy to send it over free of charge as an email attachment. I'm afraid it's currently only in PDF format, but it looks and reads well on my PRS-505. We're not too big on Fantasy, SF or anthologies these days, but if anything catches your eye on the www.bewrite.net site, just holler. It's fair exchange for all the superb advice we're picking up here at MR. Cheers. Neil

[Slite]

I did enjoy "Chicks in Chainmail" edited by Esther M. Friesner, when I read it back in "the dark ages" i.e. late 90's

Dunno if that is avail in ebook form though. But since it's a Baen book, I wouldn't be surprised.

[pdurrant]

Chicks in Chainmail came out before webscriptions started and hasn't been issued as an ebook since.

Some of the later anthologies are available though:

Chicks 'n Chained Males
The Chicks in the Mail
Turn the Other Chick

Originally Posted by Slite

I did enjoy "Chicks in Chainmail" edited by Esther M. Friesner, when I read it back in "the dark ages" i.e. late 90's

Dunno if that is avail in ebook form though. But since it's a Baen book, I wouldn't be surprised.

[Slite]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Chicks in Chainmail came out before webscriptions started and hasn't been issued as an ebook since.

Some of the later anthologies are available though:

Chicks 'n Chained Males
The Chicks in the Mail
Turn the Other Chick

Oh, cool, didn't know there was "sequels" to Chicks in Chainmail. Have to get those asap! But dang my to-read list is just growing longer all the time!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by wayspooled

Do you have any good ones you've found? Lots of "Year's Best" ones but I haven't read any myself.

My Favourite Fantasy Story - edited by Martin H Greenberg, stories selected (with intros) by lots of good authors.

No longer available at Fictionwise :-(

Oh - not available at Amazon or Books on Board, either.

Diesel eBooks seems to have it:
http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin...ory-eBook.html

But I don't know if it's really available - originally published in paperback in 2000 by DAW, and in ebook by DAW in 2002. But there's a 2004 paperback by IBooks, Inc - perhaps they took ebook rights too, and haven't yet issued an ebook version.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Slite

But dang my to-read list is just growing longer all the time!

That's the truth. My "to-read list" is well over 300 again. :-(

[wayspooled]

The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea by L. Sprague de Camp, an excellent, funny book.

[owlrigh]

Plug for Australian works:

Dreaming Down Under, ed. Jack Dann & Janeen Webb
Dreaming Again, ed. Jack Dann
Bonescribes: Year's Best Australian Horror, 1995, ed. Robert Hood & Bill Congreve
The Year's Best Australian SF & Fantasy, ed. Jonathan Strahan & Jeremy Byrne
The Year's Best Australian SF & Fantasy, ed. Bill Congreve & Michelle Marquardt
Collections by Terry Dowling, Margo Lanagan

All of the above, sadly, are likely only in deadtree versions, and some long out of print -- although if one e-mailed the small press publishers likely they've got them about. Maybe if a bunch of people e-mailed all the Australian SF small press folks they might make ebooks out of the long out of print works? I especially like Terry Dowling, for example, but his stuff's hard to get hold of.

In ebook format the local SF/F magazine Andromeda Spaceways has ebook versions as well as print, although only in PDF, unfortunately.

Non-Australian works...

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, most especially the ones edited by Grant and Link

the "Mammoth" anthologies (Vampires, Fantasy, Horror, 'Dark Fantasy', Ghosts), edited by various people and by different publishers ... Stephen Jones, Martin Greenberg, Mike Ashley

I like my short fiction

[Treven]

All of the Terry Brooks, i.e. Shannara series.

[Blue Tyson]

I had a crack at this, so here's an historical list :-

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2008/0...s-briefer.html

[wayspooled]

Originally Posted by Blue Tyson

I had a crack at this, so here's an historical list :-

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2008/0...s-briefer.html

"a good place to start, I think, after the end of the many bad books with black covers with skulls on them era."

<grins>

I'm humbled by your effort Disagree with a few opinions but great guide! Well done!

and I'd forgotten about "The Wizards of Odd". And "The Flying Sorcerors"

Now if only they'd ebook them.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by wayspooled

The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea by L. Sprague de Camp, an excellent, funny book.

It's great, and highly recommended. But (just for the record) the Harold Shea stories were written by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. One reason there are so few of them is that Fletcher Pratt died young.

Xenophon

[BenG]

Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment edited by David Hartwell is an excellent anthology with stories by Ursula LeGuin, Fritz Leiber, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Theodore Sturgeon, John Collier, Saki, Avram Davidson, Ray Bradbury, Stephen Vincent Benet, Poul Anderson, Lord Dunsany and many more.

[DixieGal]

I can't agree more that Legends I & II are must-reads! If for no other reason than it has a Discworld story featuring Granny Weatherwax, this should be everyone's required reading.