Major Fantasy Anthologies - A Briefer History

Last Updated : May 05 2008

For fantasy in general, the short story has been less of a focus than science fiction, it would appear. I certainly also have less of it in my collection, or in my head. However, such a form has been around a lot longer, with more practioners. Monster and ghost stories galore for centuries, for example, not to mention the various mythological tales from all around the world.

This list is fantasy in the 'Fantasy and Horror' sense, to be clear at the start. These overlap quite a bit, as can be seen in various publications, including some of the references. You will, of course, find some fantasy (or horror) in a lot of science fiction publications. You can find the Science Fiction version of this at :- Major Science Fiction Anthologies - A Brief History

So I thought I'd have a go at listing some works that I know about, and others found with some browsing and in some reference material. Of more particular interest is more modern publication, even if not more modern work, that is likely to be more available to actually acquire.

I certainly wasn't around in the 20s, 30s and 40s to acquire or read the older volumes, and as such, I am much more likely not to know about books from that time. I also don't have as much interest in your garden variety ghost story, either. Part of the point of writing this is for people to point out additions or corrections, though. A Super Editor or eidetic memoried bibliographer I am not. This was also partly to find out what is out that there I didn't know about.

Where I have actually read and rated them, I will put a link after the volume that goes to that for anyone who cares. The editors of the volumes are listed at the end of the article and linked to their isfdb or other entry if there is one, for those who would like to check out the contents of the volumes. You can also look them up in the various Contento indexes.

One glaring omission is the lack of any list of anthologies in the paranormal romance sub-genre (barring Elrod's Supernatural Wedding book). I have not looked, but I have certainly seem some, novella collections at least. If there are any series of such, or best ofs and anyone knows, please tell me and I will list them.


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Tags: analysis, anthologies, anthology, david hartwell, ellen datlow, fantasy, gardner dozois, horror, jonathan strahan, karl edward wagner, kathryn cramer, l. sprague de camp, lin carter, martin h. greenberg, mike ashley, peter haining, rich horton, robert silverberg, stephen jones, super editor, terry carr, year's best, year's best fantasy, year's best fantasy and horror, year's best horror
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The Mastodon Virtual book of Mega-Astounding Sciece Fiction

edited by H. E. Avenoklewz and I. M. Nutsireus


Mastodon ebooks is an imprint of no-one. You think anyone is that silly?

All rights to all compilations of ancient Tellurian material abolished in the Copyfighter Dktrvian rebellion victory constitution, July 17, 2671.


This is a Virtual Anthology of Tellurian 'science fiction' written entertainment material, which those crazy editor guys think verges on the excellent to outstanding.

Said cheapskate publisher (probably wisely, it must be said given the lack of intellect, experience or knowledge of said editorial staff) has left little space for an introduction.

The editors, however, are competent enough to point out that in the interests of authenticity, the following work is provided in archaic html 'www' technology, and each entry is what was once known as a 'URL' which was accessed via an optical pointing device apparently likened to a rodent.


Lobsters - Charles Stross
0wnz0red - Cory Doctorow
The Nine Billion Names Of God - Arthur C. Clarke
Dark Integers - Greg Egan
The Scab's Progress - Paul Di Filippo and Bruce Sterling
Stories For Men - John Kessel
A Dry Quiet War - Tony Daniel
Privateers' Moon - Terry Dowling
The Walls of the Universe - Paul Melko
The Old Die Rich - H. L. Gold
Retroactive anti-terror - Alex Irvine
Biographical Notes - Benjamin Rosenbaum
Roller Ball Murder - William Harrison
Toast A Con Report - Charles Stross
I Robot - Cory Doctorow
Titanium Mike Saves the Day - David D. Levine
Starsong - Fred Saberhagen
Scanners Live In Vain - Cordwainer Smith
Looking Through Lace - Ruth Nestvold
Unsportsmanlike Conduct - Scott Westerfeld
The Cold Equations - Tom Godwin
Wikiworld - Paul Di Filippo
The Juniper Tree - John Kessel
Osama Phone Home - David Marusek
Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog - B. W. Clough
Tourist - Charles Stross
Scroogled - Cory Doctorow
Craters - Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Glory - Greg Egan
Stealing Alabama - Allen M. Steele
Henry James This One's For You - Jack McDevitt
Bag Lady - Walter Jon Williams
The Chief Designer - Andy Duncan
Caught In the Organ Draft - Robert Silverberg
The Children's Crusade - Robert Reed
In the Upper Room - Terry Bisson
Exit Before Saving - Ruth Nestvold
Legions In Time - Michael Swanwick
Mercytanks - Jennifer Pelland
Of Mist and Grass and Sand - Vonda N. McIntyre
Qubit Conflicts - Jetse De Vries
Ice Dwarves - Doug Goodman
Six Lights Off Green Star - Gareth L. Powell
Halo - Charles Stross
I Row-Boat - Cory Doctorow
Omnilingual - H. Beam Piper
Steve Fever - Greg Egan
The Days Between - Allen M. Steele
Survivor - Charles Stross
Anda's Game - Cory Doctorow
Pulp Alibis - Paul Di Filippo
The Colour Out of Space - H. P. Lovecraft
The Egan Thief - Gord Sellars
Approaching Perimelasma - Geoffrey A. Landis
Consider Her Ways - John Wyndham
The People Of Sand and Slag - Paolo Bacigalupi
Sheena 5 - Stephen Baxter
First Contact - Murray Leinster
Kin - Bruce McAllister
The Sledge-Maker's Daughter - Alastair Reynolds
Unwirer - Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross
Pride - Mary Turzillo
Ship's Eye - Terry Dowling
Melancholy Elephants - Spider Robinson
The Green Leopard Plague - Walter Jon Williams
Elector - Charles Stross
When SysAdmins Ruled the Earth - Cory Doctorow
Radiant Green Star - Lucius Shepard
Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons - Cordwainer Smith
Division By Zero - Ted Chiang
Border Guards - Greg Egan

Tags: free sf, mastodon, not funny, science fiction, sf
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Major Science Fiction Anthologies - A Brief History

Updated 02 May 2008

Plenty has been written about the decline of the short story, anthology and collection, and when you read some older books they have been saying the same thing for decades, even in the first issue of Asimov's magazine in 1977.

I have also seen Gardner Dozois write about the acceleration of the 'lack of memory' of past science fiction work. Not too surprising perhaps with the pace of change.

I have looked for an article like this for a while, and one may well exist somewhere that I have never seen, or in an obscure journal, fanzine or book. Of the critical works I have seen they are more interested in listing novels, in general.

With less interest in anything not a novel, it explains why fewer people write about anthologies, certainly. If anyone knows of any piece of writing relatively recently by someone far more knowledgeable than I am, I would love to see it. Likewise with suggestions for additions.

A Fantasy version of this article can be found here Major Fantasy Anthologies - Briefer History

So I thought I'd have a go at listing some works that I know about, and others found with some browsing. Of more particular interest is more modern publication, even if not more modern work, that is likely to be more available. I certainly wasn't around in the 40s and 50s and 60s to acquire or read the older volumes, and as such, I am much more likely not to know about books from that time. Part of the point of writing this is for people to point out additions, though. A Super Editor or eidetic memoried bibliographer I am not.

Where I have actually read and rated them, I will put a link after the volume that goes to that for anyone who cares. The editors of the volumes are listed at the end of the article and linked to their isfdb entry for those who would like to check out the contents of the volumes.

A couple more additions and the DAW suggestion.

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Tags: anthologies, anthology, anthony boucher, arthur c. clarke, arthur w. saha, barry n. malzberg, ben bova, carol pugner, charles n. brown, conquest, damon knight, david drake, david garnett, david hartwell, david pringle, donald a. wollheim", e. f. bleiler, edward l. ferman, ellen datlow, eric flint, francis healy, gardner dozois, george h. scithers, glenn grant, gordon van gelder, greg bear, groff conklin, harry harrison, isaac asimov, jack dann, james morrow, james patrick kelly, jerry pournelle, jim baen, john carnell, john clute, john kessel, john w. campbell, jonathan strahan, joseph olander, judith merril, karen haber, kingsley amis, kristine kathryn rusch, lawrence watt-evans, lester del rey, lou anders, lou aronica, martin h. greenberg, nolane, pamela sargent, robert silverberg, roy torgeson, sam lundwall, sam moskowitz, samuel r. delaney, sci-fi, science fiction, sf, sheila williams, stanley schmidt, super editor, t. e. dikty, terry carr, tom shippey, ursula k. le guin, weston, william sanders
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The Best New Stories of 2008

Of those I have read. Not Free SF Reader unless noted



5 out of 5

Crystal Nights - Greg Egan [Interzone 215]


4.5 out of 5

Shoggoths In Bloom - Elizabeth Bear [Asimov's 386]
Wetware 2.0 - Dave Freer [Transhuman]
Crusader - George R. R. Martin [Inside Straight]
Soul Printer - Wil McCarthy [Transhuman]
The Gutter Sees the Light That Never Shines - Alistair Rennie [The New Weird]
Far Horizons - Jason Stoddard [Interzone 214]


4 out of 5

Free SF Reader

The Pile - Michael Bishop [Subterranean Online 5]
All That We Leave Behind - Jeffrey DeRego [Escape Pod 149]
The Rapeworm - Charles Coleman Finlay [Noctem Aeternus 1]
We're Awake, Let's Talk - Nathaniel Hellerstein [Flurb 5]
Firewall - David D. Levine [Transhuman]
Where We Live - Daniel J. Pinney [Strange Horizons]
Salvagers Gold - Selina Rosen [Helix 07]
A Monkey Will Never Be Rid Of Its Black Hands - Rachel Swirsky [Subterranean Online 5]
The Situation - Jeff VanderMeer [PS Publishing]
The Einstein-Rosen Hunter-gatherer Society - George S. Walker [Helix 08]
Dead - Haddayr Copley Woods [Strange Horizons]

Not Free SF Reader

The Endling - Jamie Barras [Interzone 215]
Manumission - Tobias S. Buckell [JBU 12]
The Guardian - Paul Chafe [Transhuman]
No Traveller Returns - Dave Creek [Analog 929]
Amor Vincent Omnia - Craig DeLancey [Analog 928]
What Drives Cars - Carl Frederick [Analog 929]
The Ray-Gun - James Alan Garner [Asimov's 385]
Helen's Last Will - James C. Glass [Analog 927]
The Faces Of My Friends - Jennifer Harwood-Smith [Interzone 214]
Render Unto Caesar - Kevin N. Haw [FSF 671]
Mystery Hill - Alex Irvine [FSF 668]
The Last American - John Kessel [Asimov's 385]
Incidental Music For Heroes - Stephen Leigh [Inside Straight]
The Night Of the RFIDs - Edward M. Lerner [Analog 929]
Street Hero - Will McIntosh [Interzone 215]
The Twilight Year - Sean McMullen [FSF 668]
Retrospect - Ann Miller [FSF 669]
Mars: A Traveler's Guide - Ruth Nestvold [FSF 668]
A New Generation - Jerry Oltion [Analog 926]
Five Thrillers - Robert Reed [FSF 671]
Reunion - Robert Reed [FSF 672]
Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders - Mike Resnick [Asimov's 384]
Honorable Enemies - Mike Resnick [JBU 12]
The Room Of Lost Souls - Kristine Kathryn Rusch [Asimov's 387 388]
Dragonfly Summer - Patrick Samphire [Interzone 215]
Blood On the Sun - Melinda M. Snodgrass [Inside Straight]
Dark Of the Moon - Melinda M. Snodgrass [Inside Straight]
Star Power - Melinda M. Snodgrass [Inside Straight]
Metagames - Caroline Spector [Inside Straight]
Following the Pharmers - Brian Stableford [Asimov's 386]
Premature Emergence - Eric James Stone [JBU 11]
The Tin Man's Lament - Ian Tregillis [Inside Straight]
Exit Strategy - K. D. Wentworth [FSF 670]
Strangers When We Meet - Kate Wilhelm [Asimov's 387 388]


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Tags: analog, analysis, asimov's, black gate, fantasy, fatasy and science fiction, fsf, helix, horror, inside straight, interzone, jim baen's universe, magazine, magazines, new weird, noctem aternus, sci fi, sci-fi, science fiction, sf, short stories, short story, strange horizons, transhuman, wild cards
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Combining the two lists, gives :-

NUMBER

51  Wolfe, Gene
50  Campbell, Ramsey
49  Silverberg, Robert
46  Swanwick, Michael
45  Lee, Tanith
37  Kress, Nancy
36  Reed, Robert
35  Ellison, Harlan
34  Guin, Ursula K. Le
32  Sterling, Bruce
31  Leiber, Fritz
28  Kelly, James Patrick
28  Shepard, Lucius
27  Benford, Gregory
27  Egan, Greg
27  Lafferty, R. A.
27  Royle, Nicholas
26  Baxter, Stephen
26  Etchison, Dennis
26  Gaiman, Neil
25  Varley, John
24  Bishop, Michael
24  Tem, Steve Rasnic
24  Waldrop, Howard
23  Cadigan, Pat
23  Newman, Kim
23  Willis, Connie
22  Aldiss, Brian W.
22  Haldeman, Joe
21  Smith, Michael Marshall
20  Bisson, Terry
20  Ford, Jeffrey
20  Macleod, Ian R.
20  Mcdonald, Ian
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Tags: analysis, super editor, year's best, year's best fantasy, year's best fantasy and horror, year's best horror, year's best science fiction and fantasy
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