Faeries: Isaac Asimov's Magical Worlds of Fantasy

Magical Worlds of Fantasy #12

by Isaac Asimov (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), Charles G. Waugh (Editor)

Faeries—the legends about them abound throughout the world—from tales of evil creatures conjured up to frighten children, to dazzling visions of a land of immortals blessed with beauty, wisdom, and magic far beyond the understanding of ordinary mortals. They are the unseen dwellers whose realm stretches from beneath the earth to distant meadows to every place that has ever been caressed by night’s cool shadows.

From mischievous Brownies to the Faerie Queen and King, from those who prey upon the gullibility of humans to those whom men and women have tricked out of their treasures, to mortals held for what seems but a few brief hours in the timeless kingdom only to find themselves returned at last to a world no longer their own, here are captivating journeys into the enchanting Faerie lands. But beware, lest you, too, be touched by the spell of Faerie and forced to wander forever through—
ISAAC ASIMOV’S
MAGICAL WORLDS OF FANTASY

FAERIES

Contents:
• How the Fairies Came to Ireland—Herminie Templeton
• The Manor of Roses—Thomas Burnett Swann
• The Fairy Prince—H. C. Bailey
• The Ugly Unicorn—Jessica Amanda Salmonson
• The Brownie of the Black Haggs—James Hogg
• The Dream of Akinosuké—Lafadio Hearn
• Elfinland—Johann Ludwig Tieck
• Darby O’Gill and the Good People—Herminie Templeton
• No Man’s Land—John Buchan
• The Prism—Mary E. Wilkins
• The Kith of the Elf-Folk—Lord Dunsany
• The Secret Place—Richard McKenna
• The King of the Elves—Philip K. Dick
• Flying Pan—Robert F. Young
• Kid Stuff—Isaac Asimov
• The Long Night of Waiting—Andre Norton
• The Queen of Air and Darkness—Poul Anderson


[ISBN 0451450612 already in the Goodreads database for a later edition with a different publisher.]

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Fairies, Fae, Folklore

375 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1991

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[Tinquerbelle]

1) Introduction: Fairyland; Asimov, Isaac
2) How the Fairies Came to Ireland; Templeton, Herminie
3) The Manor of Roses; Swann, Thomas Burnett
4) The Fairy Prince; Bailey, H.C.
5) The Ugly Unicorn; Salmonson, Jessica Amanda
6) The Brownie of the Black Haggs; Hogg, James
7) The Dream of Akinosuke; Hearn, Lafadio
8) Elfinland; Tieck, Johann Ludwig
9) Darby O'Gill and the Good People; Templeton, Herminie
10) No Man's Land; Buchan, John
11) The Prism; Wilkins, Mary E.
12) The Kith of the Elf-Folk; Dunsany, Lord
13) The Secret Place; McKenna, Richard
14) The King of the Elves; Dick, Philip K.
15) Flying Pan; Young, Robert F.
16) My Father, the Cat; Slesar, Henry
17) Kid Stuff; Asimov, Isaac
18) The Long Night of Waiting; Norton, Andre
19) The Queen of Air and Darkness; Anderson, Poul

[Allyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Asimov's Magical Worlds of Fantasy Series has always been a part of my life. My mother, who was a devoted SF fan when I was a child, had several of these around the house and those were my intro to other, longer works like Tolkien and Peake. This particular volume, Faeries, has some great stories, and even though the prose style is no longer modern as we read them in the 21st century, they are still great yarns that hold up well. One story in particular, having to do with aboriginal inhabitants of a human-colonized world in interstellar space, was especially brilliant in its concept and the story continues to echo in my mind. There are also some older stories in here, and even though their language and style are very different from what we're used to in contemporary fiction, they are definitely enjoyable narratives.

[Scott DuJardin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A couple of good stories mixed in with a bunch of not so good stories.

[Isabel (kittiwake) · Rating 3 out of 5]

When you came right down to it, you had to be modern. Why, Marianne wouldn't even have seen him, to say nothing of hearing what he'd had to say, if he'd worn his traditional clothing, used his own name and employed his normal means of locomotion. Twentieth-century humans were just as imaginative as eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century humans: they believed in creatures from black lagoons and monsters from 20,000 fathoms and flying saucers and beings from outer space -
But they didn't believe in brownies . . .

A strange mix of traditional fairy tales, fantasy stories, humorous stories, an M.R. James-style tale of eldritch horror and a science fiction tale with fairy-like aliens stealing human babies. Half-way through the book I was interested but not gripped, but apart from "The Manor of Roses", the most enjoyable stories, including "The Kith of the Elf-Folk", "The King of the Elves", "Flying Pan" and "The Long Night of Waiting", were all in the second half of the book. So it's a keeper after all.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an interesting collection of "Faerie Tales" from around the world by various famous authors. You get tales from the likes of Herminie Templeton giving us a couple excerpts of "Darby O'Gill & The Little People", as well as talkes from the likes of James Hogg, Jessica Amanda Salmonson (giving us a Chinese one that my girls liked), Andre Norton, Phillip K. Dick and Poul Anderson.

While this is a good addition to your "bedtime stories" collection for children, it's a good adult read as well.

[Dexter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all anthologies, it had great stories, and it had not so great stories. Highlights are: "The Ugly Unicorn" by Jessica Amanda Salmonson; "The Kith Of The Elf-Folk" by Lord Dunsany; "Flying Pan" by Robert F. Young; and "Kid Stuff" by Isaac Asimov himself.
Full Review:
http://persyandarty.blogspot.com/2011...

[Mars · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've managed to get about a third of the way through before getting bored and wandering away. The stories are mostly predictable, mostly pointless (the primary lesson in them being, of course, "stay the #$%@#$ away from fairies!"), and about half of the ones I've seen are terrible even by the standards of fairy tales.

[Amy Hirschman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories were a slow read, while others were a bit more intriguing. I'm up for more stories actually written by Asimov and also more faerie tales.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anthology of short stories about fairies - most are rather meh, IMHO but a very few are pretty good.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book really entertaining, with interesting use of period language in some, and a varied background for the stories.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a person that likes a mixture of modern and some older fairy tales this a good book to start with. One of my favorites was the Ugly Unicorn.

[bluetyson]

Faeries: Isaac Asimov's Magical Worlds of Fantasy by Isaac Asimov (1991)

[Erinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of short stories.