Xanadu

by Jane Yolen (Editor/Contributor)

Publication of Xanadu marks the beginning of an original anthology series that will include brand-new stories by some of the finest writers in the world.
This volume opens with "The Poacher" by Ursula K. Le Guin, a fairytale in the grand tradition. Xanadu also includes "It Comes Lightly Out of the Sea," a new poem by William Stafford, one of the best-known poets in America; "The Hound of Merlin" by Eleanor Arnason, who won both the Philip K. Dick Award and the Tiptree Award in 1992; "The Perfectly Round Bagel" by Robert Abel, who won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction in 1989; "To Scale" by Nebula Award winner Nancy Kress; "Still Life with Woman and Apple" by Leslea Newman, author of Heather Has Two Mommies; "Unnalash" by Tanith Lee; "The Pale Thin God" by Hugo and Nebula award winner Mike Resnick; "Gravity" by Pat Schneider, poet and playwright; "Time Travel, The Artifact, and A Famous Historical Personage" by Minnesota Book Award-winner Will Shetterly; and a dozen other ventures into the realms of magic, including stories by Lisa Tuttle, Steven Brust, Anna Kirwan-Vogel, Gardner Dozois, and a new poem, "The Ring at Yarrow," by Jane Yolen herself.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Science Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Jane Yolen is a novelist, poet, fantasist, journalist, songwriter, storyteller, folklorist, and children’s book author who has written more than three hundred books. Her accolades include the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, the World Fantasy Award, three Mythopoeic Awards, the Kerlan Award, two Christopher Awards, and six honorary doctorate degrees from colleges and universities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Born and raised in New York City, the mother of three and the grandmother of six, Yolen lives in Massachusetts and St. Andrews, Scotland.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read because I needed an X title for my alphabet chase challenge.

High fantasy. Not my cuppa tea. Or coffee.

[Marla · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.59/5. Firstly, if you don't like science fiction, fantasy, or short stories and are only reading this for the ABC reading challenge, stop. If you already know you're going to hate it - pick something else. I stumbled across this while looking for a book for the ABC challenge myself, but I love science fiction, fantasy, and short stories. Finding something in a genre you like should be a priority instead of reading something you know you won't like and leaving a bad review that's irrelevant to those who enjoy the genre.

Anyway, for me this was a mixed bag. I bought this from Thriftbooks in order to read it, and my rule is that for a book to be in my library it must have a rating of 4 stars or above from me - this didn't quite make the cut but I'm keeping it because I *really* enjoyed some of the 5/5 stories. I agree with the reviewers who said this was not a cohesive collection. There was no theme, really, but I don't mind that too much. I took notes on and rated each story, the rating is my average (3.59/5). I tried to avoid spoilers but did "spoil" triggers like domestic abuse and sexual assault (which were only in 2 stories) -

The Poacher 2.75/5 - A fairy tale retelling that would have been lovely and just fine if had eliminated unnecessary elements. The domestic abuse against the stepmother was *entirely unnecessary* for the story, as was the son's attraction to the stepmother, and there was a casual mention of the son having sex with someone in their sleep like it's just another thing that happens all the time. The stepmother, her whole character, and the casual rape could have been cut out entirely and it would have been the same story. There was no point in including it.

Lucy Maria 4.5/5 - A different kind of ghost story, a short gothic tale, well structured and interesting.

Unnalash 5/5 - A powerful magician has a daughter - I won't give away the rest of the plot. There is sexual assault (not graphic), but it makes sense for this story/has a point. Reflection on cycles, beautiful imagery, poignant, and sad. Tanith Lee writes stories that are like moving paintings.

Return 2/5 - I'm sorry, but this is two pages of filler.

Gravity 5/5 - I don't care what anyone thinks, I really enjoyed this short and quirky poem.

To Scale 3.75/5 - A fun story about a dollhouse with an unsatisfying ending.

The Stone Girl 2.5/5 - Not really a story, a few pages of filler.

Attention Shoppers 2/5 - High school level poetry. Terrible.

Jaguar Lord 3/5 - I understand that the story was objectively well written and probably deserves a higher rating, but I was subjectively bored. It just was not interesting to me and I had to force myself to finish it. Tribal coming of age story.

Pale Moon 4/5 - A story about summer camp, creativity, and relying on others for your self-worth. -1 star for confusion regarding the ending, which was both infuriating and later indecipherable. I'm not certain what the symbolism of the very end was intended to represent, but can think of several contradicting interpretations.

The Ring at Yarrow 3/5 - An okay poem.

Still Life with Woman and Apple 3.75/5 - Creative 2 page piece about looking at a painting. A bit smutty.

The Perfectly Round Bagel 5+/5 - Best story in the book thus far, it's about a perfectly round bagel, as per the title. :P

Owlswater 3.5/5 - This longer story is about an apprentice sorcerer travelling with animals he can communicate with who follows a knight, finds a witch, and etc.. It's loosely based on a song titled "The Witch of the Westmoreland". I enjoyed the ending, but I found the rest of the story tedious. It could have been half the length it was.

After Centuries 4/5 - It's only a 5 line poem, but I enjoyed it.

Passage 3/5 - Another short snippet of a story, this one about bringing a gift to an elf. I wouldn't have minded this one continuing.

The Hound of Merlin 2.75/5 - Not my bag, "romantasy" of a sort where a character explores rules of sexuality outside of what is accepted. Here, homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuality is for breeding, but how important these rules are shifts around. Not interesting to me, I'm not a romance fan and there isn't much else happening.

It Comes Lightly Out of the Sea 3.25/5 - A very short story/poem about living next to the sea, nothing wrong with it but nothing stands out.

A Boy and His Wolf: Three Versions of a Fable 5/5 - This one was *fun*, what it's about is self-explanatory from the title.

Time Travel, the Artifact, ... 4.25/5 - Meta Jack the Ripper, quite well done.

Baby Face 5/5 - A story about "fae ointment", very enjoyable.

The Pale Thin God 2/5 - Meh.

[Mike McAdam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book because of the alphabet challenge and I needed a book that started with the letter X. If you are doing the same thing and are searching for a good X book, keep looking. This is a collection of (mostly) scifi/fantasy short stories. There are only a couple of good ones. Most of them are pretty terrible - pointless, or they don't make sense, or they go nowhere. I read the entire book because of the challenge but would have DNF'ed it otherwise. Can't recommend this one.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this is highly touted as "edited by Jane Yolen", you see that the copyright belongs to both Jane Yolen and Martin H. Greenberg, who did about a thousand anthologies in his lifetime. In the 1990s, it seemed that any fantasy anthology you picked up was by either by Gardiner Dozois or Martin H. Greenberg.

Which didn't mean that Greenberg churned out GOOD fantasy anthologies -- he just knew how to churn them out. Yolen's intro states that these submissions are all new, which is very unusual for an anthology (no matter what the genre.) All of these submissions are supposedly inspired by the poem "Xanadu" that everyone had to memorize at school -- and still, almost anything anyone remembers from it was that the poem was unfinished, and inspired by a drug-fueled high.

So, of course, many of the selections have nothing to do with "Xanadu."

This was a decent anthology of short stories and poems, but did contain some really bad clunkers -- especially a bizarre and heavy-handed trial of Jesus by Mike Resnik. The print is large enough to be easy on older eyes, so the pages keep turning swiftly. It's an interesting beginning to this fantasy anthology series. It's currently available at the Internet Archive.

Selections:

* "Xanadu -- Wouldn't You?" By Jane Yolen. Yolen explains the concept behind this anthology.
* "The Poacher" by Ursula K. LeGuin. Very imaginative and darkly beautiful retelling of Sleeping Beauty.
* "Lucy Maria" by Lisa Tuttle. A very unsatisfying English ghost story.
* "Unnalash" by Tannith Lee. Fathers fucking their daughters, daughters dying, and the cycle gets repeated. How the hell did this get published? Even for Tannith Lee, this is bad.
* "Return" by Patrick Nielsen Hayden. A bizarre two-page fantasy of a Minstrel shoved into modrrn times. Sort of a howl about finding no magic in the world.
* "Gravity" by Pat Schneider. Pretty good poem.
* "To Scale" by Nancy Kress. This is a very difficult and disturbing urban fantasy. WARNING: A dog is killed.
* "The Stone Girl" by Elise Mattheson. Brief fantasy story without a resolution.
* "Attention Shoppers" by Steven K. Z. Trust. Incredibly good poem. I used to work at Kmart, and can confirm that mental breakdowns are more common than shoplifters.
* "Jaguar Lord" by Anna Kirwan-Vogel. South or Central American Indians go on the hunt of a man-eating jaguar. Very unsatisfying.
* "Pale Moon" by Frances Stokes Hoekstra. One of those stories that seem to be leading up to a big revelation -- and then just stops.
* "The Ring at Yarrow" by Jane Yolen. Interesting poem about fairies that reads like a story.
* "Still Life with Woman and Apple" by Leslea Newman. Any relation to Randy? Speaking of randy, this is basically lesbian soft porn, with a touch of dry humor.
* "The Perfectly Round Bagel" by Robert Abel. Um, WHAT?
* "Owlswater" by Pamela Dean. A very, very long, sad story with a lot of animals -- but it's too complicated to figure out what's going on. You only get hints.
* "After Centuries" by Donna J. Waidtlow. Extremely good, short poem -- a perfect antidote to the preceeding story.
* "Passage" by Gardiner Dozois. Although best known for being an anthology editor, Dozois was also a writer. This very short, dark fantasy is about the best thing he ever wrote.
* "The Hound of Merin" by Eleanor Arnason. This reads like a human sociologist trying to explain a significant myth of another planet to a group of humans.
* "It Comes Lightly Out of the Sea" by William Stafford. Interesting and bizarre little poem that means whatever you want it to mean.
* "A Boy and His Wolf: Three Versions of a Fable" by John Morresey. Fucking BRILLIANT.
* "Time Travel, the Artifact, and a Famous Historical Personage" by Will Shetterly. Really, really good.
* "Baby Face" by Esther M. Freisner. A bit predictable, but still a nice read.
* "The Pale Thin God" by Mike Resnik. Sadly, this has nothing to do with David Bowie.
* "About the Authors" by Our Co-editors.

[✨ Brianna Raquel ✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only liked a couple of these stories, and they only took up about 20 pages...

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book #: 36
Title: Xanadu
Author: ed. by Jane Yolen
Series: Xanadu #1
Format: 256 pages, Paperback, ILL, SF SS
Pub Date: First published January 1, 1993
Started: 4/16/24 Finished: 4/20/24
Awards: none
Categories: PS23 A book that features dragons (dragon on cover); PS38 A cozy fantasy book;
PSA5 A book that starts with the letter "X"; GR4 A book related to something mentioned in the lyrics of What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong (red rose on cover); GR11 A book with an X connection; GR15 A book whose author’s name includes one of the 4 least used letters in the alphabet (JQZX); GR20 A book with a single word title; GR37 A book that is part of a series;
GR44 A book with a touch of magic; GR45 A book that is not a novel; CCLS6 A Book with Magic;
CCLS9 A Book with a One Word Title; CCLS22 A Book of Short Stories; CCLS29 A Book about Non-Human Characters; CCLS31 A Fairy Tale or Folk Tale; CCLS36 A Book with a Monster on the Cover; CCLS42 A Book with more than 200 Pages;
Rating: *** three out of five

Xanadu is a collection of Fantasy short stories, edited by Jane Yolen. There are another two volumes in the series. A short story collection (with a few poems) is nearly always going to be ranked a three out of five. A few gems, a few clinkers, the rest middle of the road. YMMV.

[Maddie Cramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who loves fantasy, this book was a real let down. In spite of so many pieces that began with brilliant world building, I was displeased with a majority of the endings. Notable exceptions to what was largely an unfortunate collection are:
To Scale by Nancy Kress
Attention Shoppers by Steven K. Z. Brust
Still Life with Woman and Apple by Lesléa Newman
After Centuries by Donna J. Waidtlow
Passage by Gardner Dozois
Baby Face by Esther M. Friesner
For reference, those pieces make up 37 of the collection’s 251 pages.

[LyndaIn Oregon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of 22 short fantasy works. Standout is Pamela Dean's "Owlswater", in which a young apprentice sorcerer sets out to seek the truth behind a master's dreaming.

Authors included in the collection are Ursula K. LeGuin, William Stafford, Gardner Dozois, Esther Friesner, Jane Yolen, Tanith Lee, and more.

Yolen eventually released three of these collections; this is the premier volume, published in 1993.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the stories and poems in this were … awful. I had to force myself to keep pressing through, hoping that there would be at least a couple of enjoyable stories. There were. Better yet, toward the end, there were a few I’d say were fantastic. Worth slogging through all the bad ones? Maybe. So many were awful, that it’s hard for me to weigh whether the time was worth it. I honestly wouldn’t recommend this to anyone.

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really don't like short stories. There are twenty-three stories in this book. I say "stories" even though some are only a few lines of poetry. Many seemed to be written to feel unsettling, but that's ok. Out of 23 stories I can say I only liked one of them, "Owlswater" by Pamela Dean, that's why the book gets two stars.

[Colleen Mertens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short, fantasy stories. I liked Ursula Le Guin's entry and I liked A Pale Thin God. Many of the stories were entertaining. Overall the book was an easy read and would satisfy anyone who likes this genre

[whatthe_didijustread · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with any anthology, some stories were better than others but I found most of them entertaining.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

These were very hit or miss. Some strange tales and some I loved.

[Ariail Heath · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this book if you love short stories, learning about multiple cultures, and are have a knack for questioning things.

Like many other reviews on this book, I also picked it up because I was doing an A-Z challenge and was in need of a title that started with 'X'. In addition, I also had a hard time with the content. The inconsistent pace in the book was difficult and while I know all authors cannot match pace, it made it hard for me to reach for it or push myself into the next story. Some of the stories felt unfinished or underdeveloped and others moved way too quickly. Give it a try if you are interested in the authors featured but do not go off of my recommendation alone.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jane Yolen is a horrible editor. The two stars of my rating does not reflect the stories and poems themselves, but Ms. Yolen's complete inability to put together a collection which reads like a collection. There is no flow, nothing in tone or theme which brings the collection together. Instead, the stories are jammed together uncomfortably, lessening their individual worth by proximity to each other. Many of the stories or poems may be good, but it's difficult for the reader to tell, since each clashes so horribly with the story or poem which led into it, and once the reader gets into that story's tone, it ends, and a third which goes with neither of the stories before it is slogged through with similar dissatisfaction. There are a few weak pieces in this collection, but I think many were actually solid and would have been better-served by being arranged in different books by better editors. If you are going to read this book, I recommend you not go from one story or poem to the next, but take a long break between each; that may alleviate some of the rough patches and the herky-jerky lack of flow.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this anthology because I needed an "X" book for an alphabetical reading challenge. It's not a book I would have picked up normally, although I like sci-fi & fantasy. I don't usually read short fiction and now I think I should read more of it because it was interesting to see a story unfold rapidly and conclude. This is an eclectic collection. I really liked most of the works, I found some rather bizarre, and a couple downright disturbing, but all really well done. My favorites were "The Poacher" by Ursula K. Le Guin, "Owlswater" by Pamela Dean, "A Boy and His Wolf: Three Versions of a Fable" by John Moressy, and "Jaguar Lord" by Anna Kirwan-Vogel. The stories "To Scale" by Nancy Kress and "Pale Moon" by Frances Stokes Hoekstra were rather disturbing but very good & compelling.
(Note to gentle readers: explicit sexual references & some strong language)

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked some of them, didn't like others, but I guess that's how anthologies usually are. My favorites were "Owlswater," "Return"(particularly since I've read Thomas the Rhymer, or, at least, the Ellen Kushner version), and "It Comes Lightly Out of the Sea." "Unnalash" wasn't bad either, although "To Scale" and "Attention Shoppers" definitely freaked me out.

[Clickety · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story collections can be a mixed bag, especially when they're from a variety of authors. However, this one had more stories I liked than stories that made me go "eh." There's more than one, so I'm going to get another next time I go by the library.

[drowningmermaid · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like this was a drawer-cleaning exercise from a lot of talented writers. Some stories are very good, but others were completely forgettable.

[Lev Reyzin · Rating 1 out of 5]

A haphazard collection of mostly mediocre stories, with a few good ones in between. Not worth reading.

[Jeff Youngstrom]

My review from 1994

[Shanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

****
This is a very good collection of short stories and poems. There are a lot of quirky events and characters which kept the imagination rolling. This would be a good anthology for a book club or buddy read, as many of the stories had ambiguous endings which would lead to good discussion. Some of the stories are a little dark, but nothing nightmarish or terribly gory.

“The Poacher” by Ursula K. Le Guin **** Quirky take on Sleeping Beauty.
“Lucy Maria” by Lisa Tuttle *** Some ghosts aren’t dead.
“Unnalash” by Tanith Lee ** Weird and dark tale of a magician’s daughter.
“Return” by Patrick Neilsen Hayden *** After being kidnapped by elves, Thomas is flung back into the real world.
“Gravity” by Pat Schneider ** Poem told in five voices… about a headless man in the rain.
“To Scale” by Nancy Kress *** A dark and confusing tale of a very disturbed young man.
“The Stone Girl” by Elise Matthesen **** Sad but sweet, a girl cares for her sister as she turns to stone.
“Attention Shoppers” by Steven K. Z. Brust * Poem about mishearing a store speaker announcement?
“Jaguar Lord” by Anna Kirwan-Vogel *** A boy becomes a man and protects a village from a predator.
“Pale Moon” by Frances Stokes Hoekstra **** Coming-of-age story with an ending I had to think about. Hoekstra wrote a follow-up story which can be found here https://www.vqronline.org/fiction/per... .
“The Ring at Yarrow” by Jane Yolen ** Fairy poem
“Still Life with Woman and Apple” by Leslea Newman *** A painting inspires a spicy daydream.
“The Perfectly Round Bagel” by Robert Abel *** Funny story about a runaway bagel, reads like a children’s picture book.
“Owlswater” by Pamela Dean *** An apprentice is sent on a quest and winds up getting more involved than he intended.
“After Centuries” by Donna J. Waidtlow *** Poem about an aging angel.
“Passage” by Gardner Dozois *** Wicked deals with elves.
“The Hound of Merin” by Eleanor Arnason **** An otherplanet tale of a legendary man’s struggles and eventual triumph.
“It Comes Lightly Out of the Sea” by William Stafford **** As a kid, I loved to visit the ocean. Now I live too far from the ocean to visit very often, but every now and then, something in the breeze brings me back to it. This poem reminded me of those moments, reminded me of how the ocean tugs at my heart.
“A Boy and His Wolf: Three Versions of a Fable” by John Morressy **** Three funny spins on the old fable.
“Time Travel, the Artifact, and a Famous Historical Personage” by Will Shetterly **** Chilling tale with a spine-tingling ending.
“Baby Face” by Esther M. Friesner *** Fairy ointment opens a man’s eyes.
“The Pale Thin God” by Mike Resnick **** The judgement of gods.