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The Last Defender of Camelot
This paperback original is a new collection of short stories by Roger Zelazny (1937-1995), a science fiction writer every young reader should know. Even old fans will find surprises in this collection. For instance, how many devotees have read Passion Play, Zelazny s first published work, and how many are familiar with He Who Shapes, the foundation of his classic novel The Dream Master?
Contents
Passion Play
Horseman!
The Stainless Steel Leech
A Thing of Terrible Beauty
He Who Shapes
Comes Now the Power
Auto-Da-Fe'
Damnation alley
For a Breath I Tarry
The Engine at Heartspring's Center
The Game of Blood and Dust
No Award
Is There a Demon Lover in the House?
The Last Defender of Camelot
Stand Pat, Ruby Stone
Halfjack
Contents
Passion Play
Horseman!
The Stainless Steel Leech
A Thing of Terrible Beauty
He Who Shapes
Comes Now the Power
Auto-Da-Fe'
Damnation alley
For a Breath I Tarry
The Engine at Heartspring's Center
The Game of Blood and Dust
No Award
Is There a Demon Lover in the House?
The Last Defender of Camelot
Stand Pat, Ruby Stone
Halfjack
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1980
9 people are currently reading
325 people want to read
About the author
Roger Zelazny
745 books3,884 followersRoger Joseph Zelazny was an American fantasy and science fiction writer known for his short stories and novels, best known for The Chronicles of Amber. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nominations) and the Hugo Award six times (also out of 14 nominations), including two Hugos for novels: the serialized novel ...And Call Me Conrad (1965), subsequently published under the title This Immortal (1966), and the novel Lord of Light (1967).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
November 22, 2017
Настройвайки се на творческа вълна реших да си препрочета туй-онуй от Зелазни. Нищо не поражда вълни по повърхността на заспалото ми въображение така, както кратката му проза.
„Последният защитник на Камелот” е сборник излязъл в средата на творческата кариера на автора, в който той е включил по-стари свои произведения и неприети творби се редуват с солидно награждавани такива. Говорим за сборника от 1980 година, не този от 2002 съставен от Силвърбърг и носещ същото име. В гудрийдс са смесили двата поради някаква причина. В българската версия липсва „Алеята на прокълнатите”, може би защото излезе като отделна книга заедно с „Роза за Еклисиаст” някъде по това време, но за сметка на това има „Коридорът на огледалата” , който не беше излизал дотогава.
Зелазни, както обикновено, е сложил кратки коментари пред всеки разказ, за любопитните читатели. Единствената причина да ми липсва „Алеята”. Има и също типичното забавно интро.
1. Страстна игра – освен че е първият му публикуван разказ изобщо, е и предшестван от едно есе за те първа прописващи автори, което е умерено полезно. В едно бъдеще, където човешкият род е изчезнал, изкуствените интелекти го боготворят с реинсценировки на бележити събития. Ама май не са схванали нещата, както не ги схващаме и човеците впрочем.
2. Конник! – В един незнаен свят се сбъдва добре известно пророчество. Естествено финалът е изненадващ.
3. Стоманената пиявица – Много любим разказ, развиващ се отново в постчовешки свят. Един робот е объркан при производството, което, ако ми позволите да цитирам Матисън го превръща в легенда.
4. Ужасна красота – Един артист най-накрая се запознава с гласа в главата му. Очаквано научава ужасни неща.
5. Той Ваятелят – Много по-добра от „Господарят на сънищата”, по-стегната и по-целеустремена. Също така от страниците надничат и други бъдещи проекти на автора, като концепцията за „Мост от пепел”, първообраза на Моруин от „Да умреш в Италбар”, а на едно място изскочи Мартин от Амбър съвсем пълнокръвен и носещ саксофона си. С напредването на психологията навлиза сънотерапия, чиито експерти се самонаричат ваятели. Най-добрият се заема с нелеката задача да обучи колежка, която е сляпа, на съноваяние. Когато се намесят чувства, обаче се вижда, че лекарят не е творец.
6. И ето, идва силата – Много любим разказ, който завършва мрачния триптих писан за един ден от автора, заедно с „Божествена лудост” от „Вратите на лицето му, лампите на устата му и други истории” и „Не и вестителят” от „Вариации на тема еднорог”. Един телепат е загубил способността си и му трябва човек с подобни сили за му помогне да я върне. Случайно го намира.
7. Аутодафе – Тук алюзиите започват още със заглавието(което няма нищо общо с горене на книги и всичко с горене на хора). Разказът е ситуиран в красиво-кошмарния свят на „Дяволската кола” и „Последната от дивите”, където електронните мозъци на колите са решили, че нямат нужда от хора и са се разбонтували. Най-добрият Мехадор се завръща в играта, за своята лебедова песен.
8. И ето, дъх очаквам – отново обезчовечено техно бъдеще, Зелазни не ни е имал много вяра по това време, където два суперразума се борят за господство над земята. Единият от слугите им, отговарящ за полвината земя се интересува какво е да си човек. Ако не видите историята за изгонването от рая тука, значи съвсем не познавате Зелазни.
9. Машината от центъра „Хартспринг“ – Фатално романтичната душа на автора крещи от всяка дума на този разказ. Един човек случайно е разбрал как да отбягва центъра за самоунищожение, просто чувствайки се щастлив в самотата си. Центърът, обаче има други планове.
10. Играта на Кръв и Прах – Просто два суперразума владеещи времепространството се ебават със съдбата на човечеството за удоволствие. Зелазни разглежда няколко момента от човешката история и пеперудените ефекти от тях – нещо развито по-късно безобразно добре в „Хронобандити”.
11. Награда няма да има – Сякаш филип Дик се подвключва за писането на този разказ. Говоря за среща между неговата „Камера потъмнява” и „Мъртва зона” на Кинг.
12. Има ли в къщата демон любовник – Пишеше ми се нещо мрачно, вика. Ми написал го е перфектно. В една мъглива лондонска нощ пред киното се появява пътник от друга, по-стара мъглива лондонска нощ. „Дано намери пътя за обратно”, но всички знаем, че не го е намерил.
13. Последният защитник на Камелот – Не напразно титулен разказ на сборника. Да ви припомня, че е филмиран в новите серии от „Зоната на здрача”, онези които даваха и у нас в началото на деведесетте, и то по сценарий на добрият му приятел Джордж Мартин – гледайте го, ако нямате книжката :P Приключва едно странство на повече от хиляда години, а Ланселот отново ще предпочете любовта пред вярността.
14. Стой и чакай, рубинен камък – Една различна извънземна цивилизация със странни разбирания и брачни ритуали, от които човечеството отново се възползва егоистично.
15. Полуджак – Този път желанието за приключения застава пред любовта, за разнообразие. Или не.
16. Коридорът на огледалата – Трудно ми е да го разглеждам извън „Амбър завинаги”, където малко или много всички разкази са навързани. Не че четенето му не е чисто удоволствие, и не че не поставя повече въпроси, от колкото дава отговори. Може би последната шега на Зелазни. Коруин се връща в Амбър и се запознава с Люк, но веднага е засмукан от върволица нови странни събития.
Няма нужда да го хваля повече. Суперлативите за Зелазно отдавна съм ги изчерпал. А и съм много пристрастен.
„Последният защитник на Камелот” е сборник излязъл в средата на творческата кариера на автора, в който той е включил по-стари свои произведения и неприети творби се редуват с солидно награждавани такива. Говорим за сборника от 1980 година, не този от 2002 съставен от Силвърбърг и носещ същото име. В гудрийдс са смесили двата поради някаква причина. В българската версия липсва „Алеята на прокълнатите”, може би защото излезе като отделна книга заедно с „Роза за Еклисиаст” някъде по това време, но за сметка на това има „Коридорът на огледалата” , който не беше излизал дотогава.
Зелазни, както обикновено, е сложил кратки коментари пред всеки разказ, за любопитните читатели. Единствената причина да ми липсва „Алеята”. Има и също типичното забавно интро.
1. Страстна игра – освен че е първият му публикуван разказ изобщо, е и предшестван от едно есе за те първа прописващи автори, което е умерено полезно. В едно бъдеще, където човешкият род е изчезнал, изкуствените интелекти го боготворят с реинсценировки на бележити събития. Ама май не са схванали нещата, както не ги схващаме и човеците впрочем.
2. Конник! – В един незнаен свят се сбъдва добре известно пророчество. Естествено финалът е изненадващ.
3. Стоманената пиявица – Много любим разказ, развиващ се отново в постчовешки свят. Един робот е объркан при производството, което, ако ми позволите да цитирам Матисън го превръща в легенда.
4. Ужасна красота – Един артист най-накрая се запознава с гласа в главата му. Очаквано научава ужасни неща.
5. Той Ваятелят – Много по-добра от „Господарят на сънищата”, по-стегната и по-целеустремена. Също така от страниците надничат и други бъдещи проекти на автора, като концепцията за „Мост от пепел”, първообраза на Моруин от „Да умреш в Италбар”, а на едно място изскочи Мартин от Амбър съвсем пълнокръвен и носещ саксофона си. С напредването на психологията навлиза сънотерапия, чиито експерти се самонаричат ваятели. Най-добрият се заема с нелеката задача да обучи колежка, която е сляпа, на съноваяние. Когато се намесят чувства, обаче се вижда, че лекарят не е творец.
6. И ето, идва силата – Много любим разказ, който завършва мрачния триптих писан за един ден от автора, заедно с „Божествена лудост” от „Вратите на лицето му, лампите на устата му и други истории” и „Не и вестителят” от „Вариации на тема еднорог”. Един телепат е загубил способността си и му трябва човек с подобни сили за му помогне да я върне. Случайно го намира.
7. Аутодафе – Тук алюзиите започват още със заглавието(което няма нищо общо с горене на книги и всичко с горене на хора). Разказът е ситуиран в красиво-кошмарния свят на „Дяволската кола” и „Последната от дивите”, където електронните мозъци на колите са решили, че нямат нужда от хора и са се разбонтували. Най-добрият Мехадор се завръща в играта, за своята лебедова песен.
8. И ето, дъх очаквам – отново обезчовечено техно бъдеще, Зелазни не ни е имал много вяра по това време, където два суперразума се борят за господство над земята. Единият от слугите им, отговарящ за полвината земя се интересува какво е да си човек. Ако не видите историята за изгонването от рая тука, значи съвсем не познавате Зелазни.
9. Машината от центъра „Хартспринг“ – Фатално романтичната душа на автора крещи от всяка дума на този разказ. Един човек случайно е разбрал как да отбягва центъра за самоунищожение, просто чувствайки се щастлив в самотата си. Центърът, обаче има други планове.
10. Играта на Кръв и Прах – Просто два суперразума владеещи времепространството се ебават със съдбата на човечеството за удоволствие. Зелазни разглежда няколко момента от човешката история и пеперудените ефекти от тях – нещо развито по-късно безобразно добре в „Хронобандити”.
11. Награда няма да има – Сякаш филип Дик се подвключва за писането на този разказ. Говоря за среща между неговата „Камера потъмнява” и „Мъртва зона” на Кинг.
12. Има ли в къщата демон любовник – Пишеше ми се нещо мрачно, вика. Ми написал го е перфектно. В една мъглива лондонска нощ пред киното се появява пътник от друга, по-стара мъглива лондонска нощ. „Дано намери пътя за обратно”, но всички знаем, че не го е намерил.
13. Последният защитник на Камелот – Не напразно титулен разказ на сборника. Да ви припомня, че е филмиран в новите серии от „Зоната на здрача”, онези които даваха и у нас в началото на деведесетте, и то по сценарий на добрият му приятел Джордж Мартин – гледайте го, ако нямате книжката :P Приключва едно странство на повече от хиляда години, а Ланселот отново ще предпочете любовта пред вярността.
14. Стой и чакай, рубинен камък – Една различна извънземна цивилизация със странни разбирания и брачни ритуали, от които човечеството отново се възползва егоистично.
15. Полуджак – Този път желанието за приключения застава пред любовта, за разнообразие. Или не.
16. Коридорът на огледалата – Трудно ми е да го разглеждам извън „Амбър завинаги”, където малко или много всички разкази са навързани. Не че четенето му не е чисто удоволствие, и не че не поставя повече въпроси, от колкото дава отговори. Може би последната шега на Зелазни. Коруин се връща в Амбър и се запознава с Люк, но веднага е засмукан от върволица нови странни събития.
Няма нужда да го хваля повече. Суперлативите за Зелазно отдавна съм ги изчерпал. А и съм много пристрастен.
January 16, 2015
I'll probably upgrade this to a 4 later on. I'm just slightly put off by the silliness in some of the stories, like the talking dog in He Who Shapes, though of course a lot of it in the stories in general is deliberate humour.
Still, a worthwhile read for the originality and play of ideas, that sometimes crosses over into a rather pleasant wierdness.
The preoccupation with metal that occurs in many of the stories was a common preoccupation with the SF of that period, so the collection is also interesting from the POV of a period piece.
I liked the collection, and like it more the more I think about it; - these are the kind of stories that take a little time to "grow on you".
Still, a worthwhile read for the originality and play of ideas, that sometimes crosses over into a rather pleasant wierdness.
The preoccupation with metal that occurs in many of the stories was a common preoccupation with the SF of that period, so the collection is also interesting from the POV of a period piece.
I liked the collection, and like it more the more I think about it; - these are the kind of stories that take a little time to "grow on you".
August 4, 2014
Zelazny was one of the best science fiction and fantasy writers of the twentieth century, and some of his best short fiction is included here. My three favorites are "For a Breath I Tarry," the title story, and the original novella-length version of "Damnation Alley," which has my favorite last line of any story ever. Zelazny was a great one!
July 18, 2011
Roger Zelazny's The Last Defender of Camelot is a collection that, according to the back cover, 'spans the full spectrum of Zelazny's remarkable career'. I enjoyed all of them, more or less: 'He Who Shapes' was interesting, and I loved 'For a Breath I Tarry'. I could almost like Launcelot, in 'The Last Defender of Camelot', and I did rather like Morgana. It's an interesting version of Merlin.
He is, at least, very good at the short story as a form, which is more than I can say for a lot of the writers I've seen attempting it. He makes the form his own, and gives it a twist in the right places. All the stories here are satisfying, whether long or short.
He is, at least, very good at the short story as a form, which is more than I can say for a lot of the writers I've seen attempting it. He makes the form his own, and gives it a twist in the right places. All the stories here are satisfying, whether long or short.
December 30, 2009
One of the best collections of short sci fi I've read to date. In fact, the best. Period.
Each of the stories is memorable in its own right. From the life-seeking quest of the robots in "For a Breath I Tarry" to the vampires ( both biological and not-so-biological) in "Stainless Steel Leech (a story replete with references both to Asimov and Harry Harrison's "Stainless Steel Rat"). Not to mention the anti-hero Hell Tanner's epic cross country nightmare in "Damnation Alley". Even the minor stories gave you something to think about. I haven't read a whole lot else from Zelazny, but this book impressed the shit out of me.
Each of the stories is memorable in its own right. From the life-seeking quest of the robots in "For a Breath I Tarry" to the vampires ( both biological and not-so-biological) in "Stainless Steel Leech (a story replete with references both to Asimov and Harry Harrison's "Stainless Steel Rat"). Not to mention the anti-hero Hell Tanner's epic cross country nightmare in "Damnation Alley". Even the minor stories gave you something to think about. I haven't read a whole lot else from Zelazny, but this book impressed the shit out of me.
Want to read
July 22, 2021Pretty cool find in my local free library. Such cool cover art and I’ve been wanting to try Zelazny. Looking forward to digging into this at some point soon
March 20, 2011
The Last Defender of Camelot by Roger Zelazny is a collection of some of his best short stories and novellas. Please note that the edition I have read is the original collection put together by Zelazny himself in 1980 and NOT the later edition which has a mix of some stories found here plus various others. It is my understanding that the newer edition, while having an added bonus of including an introduction by Robert Silverburg--another luminary in the science fiction world, unfortunately removes all of the commentary by Zelazny himself as well as removing some of the finer pieces. This is a definite loss to the reader--Zelazny comments are quite delightful and "He Who Shapes" (one of the mysteriously excised) is a marvelous story.
I don't read all that much science fiction any more. Once upon a time that was all I read. I went through a phase where Asimov, Bradbury, Silverburg, Clarke, Zelazny and others were all I read. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I'm a book-a-holic. I buy books like there won't be any more tomorrow and constantly have about 500-1000 sitting around in TBR piles. The Last Defender of Camelot was leftover from my SF book-buying-binge days. When Adam over at Roof Beam Reader decided to host a TBR Reading Challenge, I decided to put this on on the list. After all, it had been sitting on my TBR shelves for over twenty years, it was about time I got around to it.
And good thing I did, too. Zelazny still has the power to enchant me even though I am now thoroughly back in mystery-loving mode. There is no one in the science fiction world (that I've read) who can write with such power and poetry about some of the most unsettling topics. This collection includes the aforementioned "He Who Shapes" which is a story about a neuroparticipant therapist--a man who can join in with his patient's dreams and use them to shape and conquer their fears and problems. It tells what happens when a therapist becomes a little too involved in the dream..... Also included is "The Stainless Steel Leech" a science fiction version of the vampire story. My favorites though are "Damnation Alley" (a novella I read last summer and reviewed HERE), the title story and "Is There a Demon Lover in the House?"
"The Last Defender of Camelot" wonders what might happen if Lancelot, Merlin and Morgan LeFay all survived through enchantment until the 20th Century. Who would be working for good? What final battles might occur? And "Is There a Demon Lover in the House?" does a little time traveling trick of its own. With a little gothic horror thrown in--producing delicious shivers as the story comes to a close.
This was a delightful trip back into science fiction for me. I have no idea why I didn't read it when I bought it, but I'm glad to have done so now. Zelazny was a marvelous writer who apparently (according to his notes) could whip out stories right and left with brilliant detail and shockingly perfect endings. Terrific collection. Four and a half stars.
I don't read all that much science fiction any more. Once upon a time that was all I read. I went through a phase where Asimov, Bradbury, Silverburg, Clarke, Zelazny and others were all I read. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I'm a book-a-holic. I buy books like there won't be any more tomorrow and constantly have about 500-1000 sitting around in TBR piles. The Last Defender of Camelot was leftover from my SF book-buying-binge days. When Adam over at Roof Beam Reader decided to host a TBR Reading Challenge, I decided to put this on on the list. After all, it had been sitting on my TBR shelves for over twenty years, it was about time I got around to it.
And good thing I did, too. Zelazny still has the power to enchant me even though I am now thoroughly back in mystery-loving mode. There is no one in the science fiction world (that I've read) who can write with such power and poetry about some of the most unsettling topics. This collection includes the aforementioned "He Who Shapes" which is a story about a neuroparticipant therapist--a man who can join in with his patient's dreams and use them to shape and conquer their fears and problems. It tells what happens when a therapist becomes a little too involved in the dream..... Also included is "The Stainless Steel Leech" a science fiction version of the vampire story. My favorites though are "Damnation Alley" (a novella I read last summer and reviewed HERE), the title story and "Is There a Demon Lover in the House?"
"The Last Defender of Camelot" wonders what might happen if Lancelot, Merlin and Morgan LeFay all survived through enchantment until the 20th Century. Who would be working for good? What final battles might occur? And "Is There a Demon Lover in the House?" does a little time traveling trick of its own. With a little gothic horror thrown in--producing delicious shivers as the story comes to a close.
This was a delightful trip back into science fiction for me. I have no idea why I didn't read it when I bought it, but I'm glad to have done so now. Zelazny was a marvelous writer who apparently (according to his notes) could whip out stories right and left with brilliant detail and shockingly perfect endings. Terrific collection. Four and a half stars.
September 28, 2014
I really enjoyed this anthology. This collection includes both science fiction and fantasy stories. Zelazny gives a brief introduction to each short story and there are some great ones including The Stainless Steel Leech, The Engine at Heartspring's Center, Is There a Demon Lover in the House? and The Game Of Blood and Dust among others.
My favorite story is the novelette For A Breath I Tarry. It's set in a future after the extinction of human beings where after contemplating the differences between Man and Machine one of the sentient machines decides he wants to actually become a man. This is an incredible story with a great ending and could make an equally good CGI film.
The novelette Damnation Alley features an ex biker who must go on a cross country ride through radioactive post apocalypse America to deliver a plague cure from California to Boston. Zelazny mentions that he had written this after reading Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels. He also mentions it was later adapted into a book which was adapted into a film. This is one of the best action adventure stories I've read in awhile.
Another of the novelettes featured that I find interesting He Who Shapes about a future where the protagonist, Charles Render, a neuroparticipant therapist has the ability to go into people's consciousness using a machine. It reminded me of Christopher Nolan's Inception. Of course this story was written in the 1960s, 30 years before the film was made.
The short story the collection is named after The Last Defender of Camelot is about Lancelot who has lived for 200 years after the fall of Camelot. After helping to awaken a half mad Merlin he must stop the wizard to save the world. This is a really entertaining story and the reason I picked up this collection in the first place.
In the short A Thing of Terrible Beauty an alien parasite has a conversation with his human host as the world is about to be destroyed. The man walks over to his record collection pulls out Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain, starts to play the song Saeta and says "I've always maintained that it is music for the last hour of Earth. If Gabriel doesn't show up, this will do."
My favorite story is the novelette For A Breath I Tarry. It's set in a future after the extinction of human beings where after contemplating the differences between Man and Machine one of the sentient machines decides he wants to actually become a man. This is an incredible story with a great ending and could make an equally good CGI film.
The novelette Damnation Alley features an ex biker who must go on a cross country ride through radioactive post apocalypse America to deliver a plague cure from California to Boston. Zelazny mentions that he had written this after reading Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels. He also mentions it was later adapted into a book which was adapted into a film. This is one of the best action adventure stories I've read in awhile.
Another of the novelettes featured that I find interesting He Who Shapes about a future where the protagonist, Charles Render, a neuroparticipant therapist has the ability to go into people's consciousness using a machine. It reminded me of Christopher Nolan's Inception. Of course this story was written in the 1960s, 30 years before the film was made.
The short story the collection is named after The Last Defender of Camelot is about Lancelot who has lived for 200 years after the fall of Camelot. After helping to awaken a half mad Merlin he must stop the wizard to save the world. This is a really entertaining story and the reason I picked up this collection in the first place.
In the short A Thing of Terrible Beauty an alien parasite has a conversation with his human host as the world is about to be destroyed. The man walks over to his record collection pulls out Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain, starts to play the song Saeta and says "I've always maintained that it is music for the last hour of Earth. If Gabriel doesn't show up, this will do."
February 27, 2020
This is some of Zelazny's best stories, including two novellas, Damnation Alley and He Who Shapes, both of which he later expanded into novels. In my opinion, the novellas are far superior, possibly showing the danger of trying to fluff up a shorter work. Zelazny possessed an inimitable style. Never afraid to experiment, his overall body of work is a bit uneven, but in this collection he shows just how terrific a writer he could be.
Want to read
February 20, 2025(8/16 read)
16 stories:
Passion Play (1962)
Horseman! (1962)
The Stainless Steel Leech (1963)
A Thing of Terrible Beauty (1963)
**** He Who Shapes (1965)
**** Comes Now the Power (1966)
**** Auto-da-Fé (1967)
*** Damnation Alley (1967)
***** For a Breath I Tarry (1966)
**** The Engine at Heartspring's Center (1974)
The Game of Blood and Dust (1975)
No Award (1977)
Is There a Demon Lover in the House? (1977)
**** The Last Defender of Camelot (1979)
Stand Pat, Ruby Stone (1978)
**** Halfjack (1979)
16 stories:
Passion Play (1962)
Horseman! (1962)
The Stainless Steel Leech (1963)
A Thing of Terrible Beauty (1963)
**** He Who Shapes (1965)
**** Comes Now the Power (1966)
**** Auto-da-Fé (1967)
*** Damnation Alley (1967)
***** For a Breath I Tarry (1966)
**** The Engine at Heartspring's Center (1974)
The Game of Blood and Dust (1975)
No Award (1977)
Is There a Demon Lover in the House? (1977)
**** The Last Defender of Camelot (1979)
Stand Pat, Ruby Stone (1978)
**** Halfjack (1979)
September 15, 2025
B/B+
I think this is at least somewhat supposed to be a greatest hits collection, or a career spanning retrospective. The only stories I didn’t like were the first few, which I found hard to understand, undercooked, and kinda boring. The highlights are definitely the longer pieces, especially He Who Shapes and Damnation Alley and For A Breath I Tarry.
I think this is at least somewhat supposed to be a greatest hits collection, or a career spanning retrospective. The only stories I didn’t like were the first few, which I found hard to understand, undercooked, and kinda boring. The highlights are definitely the longer pieces, especially He Who Shapes and Damnation Alley and For A Breath I Tarry.
May 25, 2024
I guess it was hard for me to fully understand its stories because of the language (old form of English).
nevertheless I appreciated the style of writing and I genuine believe it is a great book with good figurative lessons
nevertheless I appreciated the style of writing and I genuine believe it is a great book with good figurative lessons
September 23, 2025
Some of these stories were very fun, some were thought-provoking, and some were weird. All in all, a good time.
November 4, 2025
Just reading this book for the original version of Damnation Alley. Excellent!
November 3, 2014
This was originally published on The Scrying Orb.
Written in the 60s and 70s, wreathed in a halo of cigarette smoke, amidst the fallout of an assured nuclear war, this collection of stories embodies an era. An era where a man could make a living writing dozens of short stories a year — filling plentiful sci-fi/fantasy magazines to the point where he needed pen names to allow multiple stories in the same issue.
Roger Zelazny’s stories follow a peculiar cosmology. Humanity is almost always extinct, or else we’re on our way to being so. Typically there are now robots or some kind of AI machines trying to emulate, understand, or ritualize the acts of the long dead humans. Even so far as racing stock cars or turning into vampire bots. Take away the radioactivity and craters, and everything else about the post apocalyptic wasteland he evisions matches up with modern sci-fi writers post-climate change future. No nuclear warheads necessary like they were in the 60s.
Many of the stories are very short, though there are three longer novellas in the middle. The first and longest one, He Who Shapes, is unfortunately a super weak sci-fi noir tale. It’s the only story where the casual misogyny of the time and genre was really distasteful (to me). The second novella, the tale of former ex-con biker literally named ‘Hell’ as he tries to drive a rocket-launcher armed, spinning blade equipped armored car across a post apocalyptic US from the nation of California to the country of Boston, is so completely silly and ridiculous it somehow turns out compelling. The last, For a Breath I Tarry, a story of sentient machines trying to recover the memory of man in a frozen over future earth is by far the best. Unlike most modern writers, Zelazny can write a story that is quite clearly allegory or metaphor in a straightforward manner that embraces its own internal story consistency without feeling the need to wink or gesture at the reader ro point out how clever and/or deep he is being.
Zelzany’s prose is better than most genre writers, and indeed he has a little intro at the start of the book where he says an integral piece of him becoming a good writer was to stop insulting the reader’s intelligence. The sparse prose that often references classical verse becomes jarring and kind of hilarious/fun when a very silly sci fi trope suddenly bounds on to the page. It’s fascinating how the original sci-fi grandmasters all city their inspiration as the literary greats — when I see modern genre writers list their influences, it’s typically just past genre writers.
Written in the 60s and 70s, wreathed in a halo of cigarette smoke, amidst the fallout of an assured nuclear war, this collection of stories embodies an era. An era where a man could make a living writing dozens of short stories a year — filling plentiful sci-fi/fantasy magazines to the point where he needed pen names to allow multiple stories in the same issue.
Roger Zelazny’s stories follow a peculiar cosmology. Humanity is almost always extinct, or else we’re on our way to being so. Typically there are now robots or some kind of AI machines trying to emulate, understand, or ritualize the acts of the long dead humans. Even so far as racing stock cars or turning into vampire bots. Take away the radioactivity and craters, and everything else about the post apocalyptic wasteland he evisions matches up with modern sci-fi writers post-climate change future. No nuclear warheads necessary like they were in the 60s.
Many of the stories are very short, though there are three longer novellas in the middle. The first and longest one, He Who Shapes, is unfortunately a super weak sci-fi noir tale. It’s the only story where the casual misogyny of the time and genre was really distasteful (to me). The second novella, the tale of former ex-con biker literally named ‘Hell’ as he tries to drive a rocket-launcher armed, spinning blade equipped armored car across a post apocalyptic US from the nation of California to the country of Boston, is so completely silly and ridiculous it somehow turns out compelling. The last, For a Breath I Tarry, a story of sentient machines trying to recover the memory of man in a frozen over future earth is by far the best. Unlike most modern writers, Zelazny can write a story that is quite clearly allegory or metaphor in a straightforward manner that embraces its own internal story consistency without feeling the need to wink or gesture at the reader ro point out how clever and/or deep he is being.
Zelzany’s prose is better than most genre writers, and indeed he has a little intro at the start of the book where he says an integral piece of him becoming a good writer was to stop insulting the reader’s intelligence. The sparse prose that often references classical verse becomes jarring and kind of hilarious/fun when a very silly sci fi trope suddenly bounds on to the page. It’s fascinating how the original sci-fi grandmasters all city their inspiration as the literary greats — when I see modern genre writers list their influences, it’s typically just past genre writers.
April 8, 2020
I've always enjoyed Zelazny's short stories (and particularly his introductions to them that reveal a bit about his writing) and was pleased that this was the next book in my (re-) reading of the Zelazny canon. I'm not sure I'd read this one before, as most of the stories were unfamiliar to me, but I also feel that most of them were fairly forgettable (unfortunately). From looking it up on Goodreads, it appears that there's a newer version of this collection, much expanded, and possibly an e-book version that contains different stories altogether. My review is of the original, published in 1980 as a paperback original (my copy is a hardcover edition that came from the Sci-Fi Book Club). The stories, selected by Zelazny himself, start with his first published stories and go up through 1979. Most of his intros are very short and don't give much insight into either the story or the writing process, although it does include one of my all-time favorite intros (to the title story) where The Saturday Evening Post, for whom he'd written the story, asked him to cut it from 9000 words to 4500. "Crossing out every other word made it sound funny, so I didn't." That story, about Lancelot and Merlin, as well as Mogana Le Fey, in the modern world, is one of the more memorable here. This collection also contains two novellas, "He Who Shapes" and "Damnation Alley," both later developed into novels (The Dream Master, retitled from the first one), which together comprise over half the pages in this collection. It was interesting reading these after having read the novels recently. In the intros to each, Zelazny says he prefers these to the longer versions. I'd have to agree; I couldn't remember much that was "cut" from either one, and the novels were probably padded out unnecessarily. While I found this collection interesting and very worthwhile, I don't think it ranks with Zelazny's best (looking forward to those to come).
January 24, 2017
I read this because I haven't read any Zelazny yet and wanted to get a sense of his style. I think I'm interested enough to pick up a novel at some point, although I don't know what. Overall, this was a fun collection of stories, most of which I liked or at least liked the premise. A couple of the novellas were way too long for this collection ("He Who Shapes", god) and there was weirdly a lot of stuff about cars?
Particular ones I liked:
- "Passion Play": Robots in a post-human future re-enact racecar crashes as a religious experience.
- "Damnation Alley": Biker/gang member literally named "Hell" has to basically Fury Road his way across a nuclear wasteland dystopian America to bring medicine to a plague-ridden Boston. Best protagonist in the collection.
- "For A Breath I Tarry": More post-human future with robots, but this time they become humans in an interesting Temptation of Eve competition between AIs. Tied with Damnation Alley as my favorite story overall.
- "The Game of Blood and Dust": Two cosmic beings play a chess analogue where they go through the course of human history making slight adjustments to see whether civilization ends in apocalypse or prosperity. Very tight and well-played!
- "Stand Pat, Ruby Stone": Bug aliens have weird mating rituals. Wasn't crazy about the story on a plot level, but cool worldbuilding.
- "Halfjack": Cyborg has relationships with human woman but connects most fully with his ship. Again, another very tight story that doesn't overplay its premise or go too long.
Particular ones I liked:
- "Passion Play": Robots in a post-human future re-enact racecar crashes as a religious experience.
- "Damnation Alley": Biker/gang member literally named "Hell" has to basically Fury Road his way across a nuclear wasteland dystopian America to bring medicine to a plague-ridden Boston. Best protagonist in the collection.
- "For A Breath I Tarry": More post-human future with robots, but this time they become humans in an interesting Temptation of Eve competition between AIs. Tied with Damnation Alley as my favorite story overall.
- "The Game of Blood and Dust": Two cosmic beings play a chess analogue where they go through the course of human history making slight adjustments to see whether civilization ends in apocalypse or prosperity. Very tight and well-played!
- "Stand Pat, Ruby Stone": Bug aliens have weird mating rituals. Wasn't crazy about the story on a plot level, but cool worldbuilding.
- "Halfjack": Cyborg has relationships with human woman but connects most fully with his ship. Again, another very tight story that doesn't overplay its premise or go too long.
May 17, 2015
This anthology seems to go against type. Generally the openers and closers are the heavy hitters. Here, the brutal stories seem to be packed in the middle. So don’t get discouraged. The collection is worth making it through.
FOR A BREATH I TARRY is such an intense apocalyptic vision. It manages to take the concept involving robots at the end of the world acting as surrogates for Adam & Eve to an emotional level I’ve never seen accomplished. I don’t know why anyone has attempted this theme since. I don’t see how it can get better than this.
DAMNATION ALLEY was like Bester but better. Zelazny manages to make our protagonist Hell Tanner, who is a terrible person, sympathetic. However, considering the ending, the next time I read this I will likely picture Hell as Jayne in his cunning hat.
AUTO-DA-FE is gorgeous and I fell in love with it in Harlan Ellison's anthology Dangerous Visions. If you strip out the speculative element, this is a gorgeous Hemmingway-esque bullfighting story. Including the speculative element creates some very interesting commentary on the automobile culture.
THE STAINLESS STEEL LEECH is so intensely weird - vampiric robot at the end of the world whose only friend is the last vampire. But it works.
HORSEMAN, A THING OF TERRIBLE BEAUTY, and COMES NOW THE POWER all have great fast powerful stings.
FOR A BREATH I TARRY is such an intense apocalyptic vision. It manages to take the concept involving robots at the end of the world acting as surrogates for Adam & Eve to an emotional level I’ve never seen accomplished. I don’t know why anyone has attempted this theme since. I don’t see how it can get better than this.
DAMNATION ALLEY was like Bester but better. Zelazny manages to make our protagonist Hell Tanner, who is a terrible person, sympathetic. However, considering the ending, the next time I read this I will likely picture Hell as Jayne in his cunning hat.
AUTO-DA-FE is gorgeous and I fell in love with it in Harlan Ellison's anthology Dangerous Visions. If you strip out the speculative element, this is a gorgeous Hemmingway-esque bullfighting story. Including the speculative element creates some very interesting commentary on the automobile culture.
THE STAINLESS STEEL LEECH is so intensely weird - vampiric robot at the end of the world whose only friend is the last vampire. But it works.
HORSEMAN, A THING OF TERRIBLE BEAUTY, and COMES NOW THE POWER all have great fast powerful stings.
July 7, 2018
These are short stories from 1962 to 1979. Zelazny “put this one together out of materials drawn from the beginning, middle and recent sections of the eighteen-year period I have been writing.”
His “favorite novelette” is also my favorite of the collection, “For a Breath I Tarry”, the story of super powerful artificial intelligences maintaining the Earth for a mankind they barely understand.
The collection also includes two novelettes that he later expanded into novels, “Damnation Alley” (which also became a movie) and “He Who Shapes”, which became the novel The Dream Master. In both cases he writes that he prefers the shorter version. It has been too long since I’ve read Damnation Alley to compare them, and Dream Master is still on my to-read shelf.
These are mostly somewhat dreamy stories about futures where robots continue in the mental footsteps of mankind, or flawed knights making dangerous last stands, and even one that appears to be a combination of the two.
His “favorite novelette” is also my favorite of the collection, “For a Breath I Tarry”, the story of super powerful artificial intelligences maintaining the Earth for a mankind they barely understand.
The collection also includes two novelettes that he later expanded into novels, “Damnation Alley” (which also became a movie) and “He Who Shapes”, which became the novel The Dream Master. In both cases he writes that he prefers the shorter version. It has been too long since I’ve read Damnation Alley to compare them, and Dream Master is still on my to-read shelf.
These are mostly somewhat dreamy stories about futures where robots continue in the mental footsteps of mankind, or flawed knights making dangerous last stands, and even one that appears to be a combination of the two.
Nobody had ever asked him to do anything important before, and he hoped that nobody ever would again.
January 18, 2023
Roger Zelazny växer sig än en gång större. Jag börjar mer och mer tro att jag föredrar honom som mest när han skriver noveller - bara "Comes now the Power" är värd fem stjärnor, i sig - snarare än hans romaner, trots att även dessa är mästerliga. Långnovellen "He Who Shapes" är nog yttersta beviset, då jag läst den innan i form av romanen "The Dream Master". Novellen är överlägsen och jag kan bara hålla med författaren själv när han skriver att han föredrar den förstnämnda. Det finns egentligen bara en enda novell i hela samlingen som jag inte tyckte om, den förvånansvärt träiga "No Award" som aldrig lossnade för mig. Resten är guld. Zelazny som tänder på alla cylindrar. Fantastiskt spåk, underbar dialog. Nämnda "Comes..." är utan tvekan den bästa (jag satt på soffan i konferensrummet på jobbet och nästan grät öppet) men det finns idel guldkorn. "Horseman!", "Is there a Demon Lover in the House?", "The Stainless Steel Leech" och "Halfjack" är andra favoriter.
February 5, 2022
A collection of 16 stories by Roger Zelazny from the period 1962-1979. It is interesting that these are published, mostly, in chronological order of first publication, which is rather unusual for these sorts of collections. This aids in the examination of the author’s style and focus changing over time, and it shows that Zelazny’s short fiction star was rising up till the mid-to-late 60s when it started to drop off; possibly as a result of him concentrating more on his longer works. The pick of the lot here is the author’s novella Damnation Alley (1967) which was on the ballot for the 1968 Hugo Award. Of the rest, “For a Breath I Tarry” and “Comes Now the Power” were nominated for Hugo Awards in 1967. The title story from 1979 showed the author still had interesting stories to write but too many here seem just thrown off for commissions. Zelazny introduces each story with a bit of their publishing background but these are short and of little interest. R: 3.3/5.0
May 4, 2022
This is a collection of short stories from an author I know otherwise only from The Chronicles of Amber (a series I loved). As I've found with most short story collections, I like some, I don't care for others, and I'm lukewarm on the medium as a whole.
There are five that stood out as winners of this collection:
- He Who Shapes - a novella, really, about a psychiatrist who treats in something like computer-aided hypnosis / VR. I liked the concept and the characters were interesting.
- Auto-Da-Fe - a very short story about bull-fighting, but with cars. Humorous and engaging.
- Damnation Alley - my favorite of the bunch, an adventure story about a cross-continent trek through all sorts of peril.
- No Award - A cool story told from the perspective of someone who finds himself confused and acting in ways he cannot understand. The discovery process is interesting.
- The Last Defender of Camelot - I like King Arthur tales, and this makes for a fun one.
There are five that stood out as winners of this collection:
- He Who Shapes - a novella, really, about a psychiatrist who treats in something like computer-aided hypnosis / VR. I liked the concept and the characters were interesting.
- Auto-Da-Fe - a very short story about bull-fighting, but with cars. Humorous and engaging.
- Damnation Alley - my favorite of the bunch, an adventure story about a cross-continent trek through all sorts of peril.
- No Award - A cool story told from the perspective of someone who finds himself confused and acting in ways he cannot understand. The discovery process is interesting.
- The Last Defender of Camelot - I like King Arthur tales, and this makes for a fun one.
April 15, 2013
Great cover, but this is not one of the better Zelazny short fiction collections in my opinion. I say this with a lot of respect for his writing. He pulls you in with atmosphere and intriguing concepts and fascinating references right away, and his prose is always good and easy to read, it's the endings and payoffs of many of the stories that left me (personally) unsatisfied. There's much to do about something that often comes to nothing in the end (a common problem with short fiction).
I'm not sure that would be true for other people, so take my two stars with a grain of subjective salt.
That said, I'd still recommend reading the following stories in this collection, which individually I would assign 3-4 stars: THE STAINLESS STEEL LEECH, COMES NOW THE POWER, FOR A BREATH I TARRY, NO AWARD, and THE LAST DEFENDER OF CAMELOT.
I'm not sure that would be true for other people, so take my two stars with a grain of subjective salt.
That said, I'd still recommend reading the following stories in this collection, which individually I would assign 3-4 stars: THE STAINLESS STEEL LEECH, COMES NOW THE POWER, FOR A BREATH I TARRY, NO AWARD, and THE LAST DEFENDER OF CAMELOT.
January 4, 2009
I've got the book club edition of the 1980 collection, which holds a different set of stories than the 2002 collection with the same title introduced by Robert Silverberg, which some brilliant person grouped as being different editions of the same book. Argh.
Zelazny's stories are wonderful for their zest and dryness, I think, and much of that can also be found in the introductions he wrote for each story. I haven't read the novelizations of any of these, and Zelany writes that he preferred the original stories anyway; he also crowns one of them as his favorite novelette. (And I really appreciate the inclusion of such longer works.)
He may be the writer of the most cheerful post-apocalyptic fiction I've read.
Zelazny's stories are wonderful for their zest and dryness, I think, and much of that can also be found in the introductions he wrote for each story. I haven't read the novelizations of any of these, and Zelany writes that he preferred the original stories anyway; he also crowns one of them as his favorite novelette. (And I really appreciate the inclusion of such longer works.)
He may be the writer of the most cheerful post-apocalyptic fiction I've read.
March 11, 2010
Zelazny had such a heady, lyrical style. It's really on best display in his short fiction, I think. I've read a bunch of his novels but never focused on his short fiction before so I decided to read this collection to decide if I should invest in the comprehensive 6-volume edition of his short fiction released by NESFA. Conclusion: I must. Another potentially bankrupt-making book-buying project. Just what the doctor ordered.
December 7, 2015
Колкото повече чета Зелазни, толкова по-неясно е мнението ми за него като автор. Специално в този сборник с къси разкази, повечето предизвикаха реакция "Ок и какъв беше смисъла на това?" и в същото време имаше неща като "Последният защитник на Камелот", "Коридорът на огледалата", "И ето дъх очаквам", които демонстрират Зелазни, който помня от "Хрониките на Амбър".
Единственият автор, който е предизвиквал толкова противоречиви реакции в мен.
Единственият автор, който е предизвиквал толкова противоречиви реакции в мен.
February 18, 2016
As my first foray into Zelazny, I was pleasantly surprised and by the middle of the book had fallen in love. He Who Shapes was excellent and Damnation Alley gripped me the entire time. The Last Defender of Camelot was an interesting twist on Arthurian legend set in modern times and avoided the cliche and tedium of past tales. There was creativity and originality abundant and I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
November 27, 2019
Eh da, Zelazny, moja prva Ljubav u sf/f
Lijepo je ponovo procitati ove price i to u originalu. Iz ove zbirke su mi vjecne i posebne bile i ostale
For a Breath I tarry
He who shapes
The Engine at Heartspring's center
Comes now the power
Half Jack
Ali daleko najbolja mi je For a breath i tarry
"...Now-for a breath I tarry nor yet disperse apart - take my hand quick and tell me, what have you in your heart."
Lijepo je ponovo procitati ove price i to u originalu. Iz ove zbirke su mi vjecne i posebne bile i ostale
For a Breath I tarry
He who shapes
The Engine at Heartspring's center
Comes now the power
Half Jack
Ali daleko najbolja mi je For a breath i tarry
"...Now-for a breath I tarry nor yet disperse apart - take my hand quick and tell me, what have you in your heart."
August 17, 2009
A nice compilation of short stories by this trailblazer in the fields of science fiction and fantasy. Some of them might be better labeled "novella", as they were much longer than your typical short story. One of my favorites was the post-apocalyptic tale "Damnation Alley". But there wasn't a single story in here that I didn't like.
February 7, 2012
I haven't finished this yet, but it so far it's contained a whole bunch of sub-par stories, and a couple excellent onces (Damnation Alley, and the one after, "For a Breath I Tarry").
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Finished now - "For a Breath I Tarry" is likely a 4 or 5, there are a couple other 4s, but the number of sub-par stories makes this book rated a 3.
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Finished now - "For a Breath I Tarry" is likely a 4 or 5, there are a couple other 4s, but the number of sub-par stories makes this book rated a 3.
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