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Masters of Fantasy
Book by Carr, Terry
528 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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About the author
Martin H. Greenberg
910 books163 followersMartin Harry Greenberg was an American academic and speculative fiction anthologist. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. In addition, he was a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel.
For the 1950s anthologist and publisher of Gnome Press, see Martin Greenberg.
For the 1950s anthologist and publisher of Gnome Press, see Martin Greenberg.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 24, 2016
This collection of 31 short stories absolutely blew me away. Modern readers might mistakenly pick this up expecting to find “fantasy” stories as we tend to define that term today but they would be disappointed. The word “fantasy” as used here is in the broadest sense of the term and in this volume, refers more to the “fantastic”, the “unexplained” and the “weird”. You will not find a single elf, dwarf, or warrior maiden in a chain mail bikini within these pages. No dragons, princesses, bearded wizards, or magic swords to be found. Rather, most of these stories are probably more appropriately classified as science fiction or even horror.
All stories contained within are reprinted from pulp magazines such as “Weird Tales”, “Stirring Science Tales”, “Famous Fantastic Mysteries”, etc. all the way up to “The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction” and are presented in chronological order as originally published (1924 – 1978).
The other part of the title, “Masters” could not be more accurate. Stories by such stratospheric authors of yesteryear as H.P. Lovecraft, Abraham Merritt (A. Merritt), Clark Ashton Smith, Anthony Boucher, Ray Bradbury, James Blish, Robert A. Heinlein, Philip José Farmer, Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, Shirley Jackson, and Roger Zelazny are included, making this one of the best collections out there. Stories include some absolute classics such as Theodore Sturgeon’s masterpiece, “Yesterday Was Monday” and perhaps my favorite Harlan Ellison story (although it is very difficult to select a favorite), “Jeffty is Five”.
Whenever I crack open a new collection of short stories, (unless it is a volume by a single author in whom I have supreme confidence) I worry that it will contain the usual bunch of OK stories but with more duds than treasures. This one, happily, does not suffer from that trope at all. There were a couple that were merely OK but the vast majority of these stories were…well…fantastic!
All stories contained within are reprinted from pulp magazines such as “Weird Tales”, “Stirring Science Tales”, “Famous Fantastic Mysteries”, etc. all the way up to “The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction” and are presented in chronological order as originally published (1924 – 1978).
The other part of the title, “Masters” could not be more accurate. Stories by such stratospheric authors of yesteryear as H.P. Lovecraft, Abraham Merritt (A. Merritt), Clark Ashton Smith, Anthony Boucher, Ray Bradbury, James Blish, Robert A. Heinlein, Philip José Farmer, Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, Shirley Jackson, and Roger Zelazny are included, making this one of the best collections out there. Stories include some absolute classics such as Theodore Sturgeon’s masterpiece, “Yesterday Was Monday” and perhaps my favorite Harlan Ellison story (although it is very difficult to select a favorite), “Jeffty is Five”.
Whenever I crack open a new collection of short stories, (unless it is a volume by a single author in whom I have supreme confidence) I worry that it will contain the usual bunch of OK stories but with more duds than treasures. This one, happily, does not suffer from that trope at all. There were a couple that were merely OK but the vast majority of these stories were…well…fantastic!
April 20, 2012
A terrific anthology, this, which I'd recommend to just about anybody, especially those who think that all of fantasy literature is just Various Shades of Tolkien. There's some tremendous work in here from genuine classic authors. many smiles from me, just reading the table of contents, for many of these authors are old favourites for me. But I'd never read some of these particular tales...the Sturgeon was new to me, and the Shirley Jackson, and I'd never read something so weird and horrific from Fredric Brown before!
What might surprise some is the inclusion of many stories that are also considered a part of the horror genre. Lovecraft's classic "Rats in the Walls" is here, and I'd consider Brown's "Come and Go mad" to be true existential-tinged horror, and the Thomas Disch piece in here is a terrible nightmare. But there are some lighthearted tales, too, and the important thing is that nearly every one of them in here ranges from startlingly good to brilliant. Get this one!
What might surprise some is the inclusion of many stories that are also considered a part of the horror genre. Lovecraft's classic "Rats in the Walls" is here, and I'd consider Brown's "Come and Go mad" to be true existential-tinged horror, and the Thomas Disch piece in here is a terrible nightmare. But there are some lighthearted tales, too, and the important thing is that nearly every one of them in here ranges from startlingly good to brilliant. Get this one!
May 11, 2014
I bought this book when I was in High School and absolutely LOVED it! It was my first introduction to quality fantasy short stories. It was such a pleasure to read and I found myself drawn in to its pages as a magical escape at a time when life isn't all too kind. I'm grateful that I had this compilation when I needed it.
July 4, 2011
Some of the best (earlier) fantasy stories. I think I've probably read most of them in other anthologies, but it was nice to see them all together.
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August 22, 2008Masters of Fantasy by Terry Carr (1994)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews