100 Great Fantasy Short Short Stories

by Isaac Asimov (Editor), Terry Carr (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor)

Among the authors represented in this collection of brief tales are Marion Zimmer Bradley, Harlan Ellison, Barry N. Malzberg, Roger Zelazny, H.P. Lovecraft, and Edgar Pangborn

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

311 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1984

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

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 5 out of 5]

some amazing short short stories

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few good bits, but these felt prompted. Too many unicorn twist stories, too many suicide death stories, Bible twist stories, and what if? vampire stories.

Favorites:

Echoes by Lawrence C. Connolly - devastating, actually. Too close to recent events.

Ex Oblivione by H. P. Lovecraft - I still can't decide if this is beautiful or terrifying. Then I think well of course, Lovecraft.

Final Version by John Morressy - a nice little twist on the garden of Eden. I know I complained that there were too many Bible twist stories, but if Asimov had only selected this one, it would have been a good choice.

Judgment Day by Jack C. Haldeman II - not what you'd think, but stupid ending.

The Last Unicorns by Edward D. Hoch - I laughed sarcastically at this one.

[Lythande Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

With all stories 2000 words or fewer - some as short as a single page - this book is extremely easy to read when you don't have much time, like on work breaks, but it's also compelling enough that you want to read it when you do have the time.

Most of the stories are dated, especially socially, which some might find offputting. It's to be expected when the collection was published in 1985 and some of the stories date back to the 40s and 50s.

Themes of the stories cover most genres that can fall under the broadest "fantasy" umbrella, from supernatural horror to postapocalyptic scifi to alternate history to biblical tales to elaborate puns to fairy tales to stories you can read as perfectly mundane if you aren't willing to take a fantastic view of them. There is a marked preponderance of wish-granting genie and deal-with-the-devil parables. I suppose with their easy setup and short, sharp, to-the-point twists they lend themselves to the short-short format.

Some of the stories are ultimately forgettable, but none are objectively bad, at least to my eyes. And far outweighing the forgettable ones are the ones that I still think about after putting the book down. "The Lady and the Merman" by Jane Yolen is especially haunting. "Final Version" is an extremely satisfying religious story I keep wanting to share with people (and I am not religious). "Opening a Vein" has a setup I want to take and pretend was my own.

Overall, if you have five spare minutes at any point during your day, you can read a story here, and most of them are worth it.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up in a used bookstore and I wish I hadn't. As other Goodreads reviewers note, the editors added a short quip just before each story that in many cases SPOILS THE STORY. The stories in this book aren't great anyway, and introducing them with a spoiler makes the experience even more painful. Another thing I hated about this book was that it has no organization. Instead of dividing the stories into categories of some kind, they're in alphabetical order by title, which just feels lazy.

Some of my least favorite stories here are by Rick Norwood, who wrote several of them. I love a good pun, but stories that exist only so the reader groans at a pun-inspired last line just make me hate the world.

[Marin · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are several gems but the collection is too large by half and that detracts from the enjoyment.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rumor has it that the original title was A Whole Lot of Stories About the Devil and Genies Where People Make Wishes and Immediately Get Their Comeuppance, but Asimov wanted to give the stories' endings away individually, as he had gained so much joy from doing in 100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories . Here the problem is exacerbated, in that his unnecessary editorial quip lies directly above the beginning of the story and is that much harder to ignore.

I'm not sure whether the quality of the stories was actually lowered as much as it seemed, or if I am merely suffering extreme short-short story fatigue from tackling these two collections consecutively, but there were few surprises here. This was only compounded by writers seeming to think that, "Oh and it turns out he was the DEVIL," makes an effective ending. So many Devil stories. Why.

[R. Munro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first encountered this book in my mid-teens, and while some stories didn’t connect, a great many did. I hadn’t been terribly interested in short stories, preferring longform novels and the like, but this book gave me the perspective I needed to recognise the value and skill to be found in the writing of short stories. I truly enjoyed this book, and treasure my copy to this day.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second of the short-short books I've read recently, in my ongoing effort to read more flash. It is not nearly as good as the mysteries volume. Perhaps it's just that many of these stories are decades old, but they often read as cliched and fairly unsophisticated. Perhaps they were new and exciting at the time, but they're not now. There is a truly execrable group of stories, for instance, based entirely around puns, all of which need to be taken out back and shot. A ridiculously huge amount of the remainder are based around either a deal with the devil or a wish-granting genie. (In fairness, the blame for all this repetition can be laid squarely at the feet of the editor and not any of the contributing authors.)

There are only really two stories that stood out for me here. The beautifully written, if otherwise slight, Jane Yolen story "The Lady and the Merman", and "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Harlan Ellison, which had an excellently punchy ending. Apart from these, there's really nothing extraordinary here. Which is a real shame...

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable. All the stories were well written and most of the stories had an interesting concept behind them. Quite a few of them had effective twist endings as well. Some of the stories tended to play on some of the same themes as some of the other stories and as such were a bit repetitive. Never before have I read so many tales convincing me to be really, really careful if I ever receive wishes from some genie-like creature. I wonder if some of these stories are written to give ammo to grammar teachers everywhere ("See, it does matter how you phrase your sentences!"). But in spite of the repetitiveness, this book compiled an entertaining collection of that undervalued literary form, the short story.

[Elmwoodblues · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing is longer than about four pages, and nothing here needs to be. For good or bad, many of these shorts seem like a quick magic trick: 'Well, that was pretty cool! Next!' Then again, you get Harlan Ellison, Lovecraft, Fredric Brown, and ninety-seven more authors to enjoy! A stand-out for me was 'The Importance of Being Important' by Calvin W. Demmon, but there are so many storied that go by so quick, I may find a new favorite next year.

NOTE: As mentioned by others, skip the idiotic 'fortune cookie' summations at the start of each story.

[Colin Murtagh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does exactly what it says on the cover. It's a collection of stories, all fantasies, set in 2000 words or less. The stories are a mix of Humour, Horror, biblical, shaggy dog stories, even puns. Some themes get repeated a little much, and the quality is a bit up and down, as you would expect of an anthology this size. The authors range from the Lovecraft and Ellisons down to the lesser known writers. The great thing about a collection like this, is if there's a story you don't like, the next one isn't far away.

[Itamar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a fan of short stories and an even bigger fan of short short stories. I like a twist, I like strange concepts hinting of of weird worlds.

What I like about this collection is the variety. While most of the stories are more urban fantasy than high fantasy, it's quite a mix of styles and substances. Horror, fairy tales and even some gags. The quality is also quite varied.

Having read this over a few months, I can recall only several of the stories. One about voodoo, one about a vampire and one about unicorns, mainly.

[Lostaccount · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only a few good stories in the whole of this short short (flash fiction in other words) collection. Some "big" names in the genre included but pretty poor showing all round. Not really a fan of Asimov (blasphemy I hear you cry!) and after this definitely not a fan of him as an editor. :)

[J.R. Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

100 stories but a handful or more of repeated authors, and repeated themes.
a good crop but which could have had a slightly different selection.
one of the stories is hinted at by the cover and is quite good. that one I'll commit to memory

[Eduardo Chang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great selection. Would have been better without the small "quips" that spoil some of the stories.

[coslyons · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite stories were the Rick Norwood ones, but those were the ones that the person I borrowed this book from recommended anyway

[RosaneC · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 33%. Boring, boring stories zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Rhydian Snowden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of wonderous, horiffic, and oftentimes comical little stories from a few prolific authors.

[Stiles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anyone who loves fantasy short stories will LOVE this ❤️ I only found a few that I liked, while finding myself distracted or not invested in a majority of the others

[William Ramsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most are in fact great, and I think the longest is
Four pages so this volume is a fun way to get quality sci fi and fantasy into your system very quickly

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

My boyfriend recommended this book to me, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I kept it on my desk at work, and would read a story or two on my break.

There were some really excellent stories in this book, written by well-known and well-loved fantasy writers. I definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for a quick read while they wait for the bus, or to take their mind away from the daily grind for a little while.

[Vincent Hernot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fantasy here is a bit of a misnomer - there are some plain sf stories in here - but mostly the problem is one of quality...Among those 100, only a handful are memorable, the rest is just pretty typical of mid-range stuff.
Few stand-out ideas or thoughts.
Some of it is awfully dated, too, stylistically and from the point of view of characterisation.
Far from being as good as his 100 great short short sf stories...

[Law · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really cool to carry while you're in public transportation. Or in the waiting line. Or drinking some tea. The stories are short, some I didn't care about, some others I loved, like "Final Version" by John Morressy; "Give Her Hell" by Donald A. Wollheim; "The Third Wish" [originally published under the title "Omnia Triste"]" by Rick Norwood.

[Janith Pathirage · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm reviewing the story 'Who rides with Santa Anna' by Eugene Montfort. It looked like a pretty good Gothic horror tale but there was nothing happening in the story. Santa Anna is riding with a wired old man to battle , and that's it... Who is this old guy ?. Is he a ghost or is he human ?. Seems like Eugene Montfor forget to finish this story (if you can call it a story)

[SmokingMirror · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's predictable that most if not all of the stories this abbreviated will have twist endings. Unfortunately, too many stories end: "and that little boy was Adolf Hitler" or "and the viewpoint character got what he deserved, because it turns out he was an evil Nazi." Or deal with the devil variations.

My favorite story: "Mr. Wilde's Last Chance" by Joanna Russ.

[MH · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of very brief stories, usually 3 or 4 pages long, mostly from anthology magazines from the 1950s to 1970s and mostly involving unsurprising twist endings (an awful lot of poorly-worded wishes from genies or deals with the devil). There aren't a lot of gems, but the stories have an admirable workmanlike quality, and they're short enough that they fly by quickly.

[Timothy Macqueen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great. Just takes 5 minutes to read one story in a day. Loved the twist in the tale of Angelica by Jane Yolen. Also loved the atmosphere and comedy of The Curse of Hooligans Bar by Charles E. Fritch.

[R · Rating 3 out of 5]

100 stories. Some gems, some disappointing. A good read that's likely to make you step back and think at least a few times.

[Bruno Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Foi uma leitura ligeira e divertida por vezes, mas confesso que estava à espera que muitas das histórias fossem bem mais interessantes.

[Brian Hoffmeyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good book to put next to your bathroom reader. Most stories you can read in a minute or two. I