Dragon Fantastic

by Martin H. Greenberg (Co-editor), Rosalind M. Greenberg (Co-editor), Tad Williams (Introduction)

A collection of dragon tales offers new perspectives on the legends of these fierce fantastical creatures, as well as a healthy dose of classic dragon lore

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

299 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 5, 1992

About the author

Martin 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.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this anthology of original short stories that Greenberg co-edited with his wife the theme is dragons, looked at in new ways and from different perspectives. (It's one of several he did with the word "fantastic" in the title, but I kind of thought it was redundant when applied to dragons.) The results are kind of hit-or-miss, of course, but it's a pleasant and amusing book. I remember enjoyiong the stories by Alan Dean Foster, Tanya Huff, and Mike Resnick. The best title award goes to Laura Resnick for Fluff the Tragic Dragon. My favorite story was Take Me Out to the Ball Game by Esther M. Friesner.

[Jenniffer]

This is a book with a number of short stories by such authors as Mickey Zucker Reichert, Alan Dean Foster, etc. Each story gives a different twist on the definition of a dragon, whether its the size of a bumblebee, or something that is found inside of us. Most of them are quite enjoyable and funny.

[2Due · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting anthology of short stories focused in a way or another on dragons.
It started somewhat rough, but still had promising content. By the end it holds more entertaining stories and some really deserve attention.
It got me to know new authors and will surely check their works

"Lethal perspective" by Alan Dean Foster- 4/5 Interesting point of view from dragons with humans enemies. A little surprise at the end
"The Champion of dragons" by Mickey Zucker Reichert- N/A Skipped, boring
"Phobiac"- by Lawrence Schimel - 4,5/5 Short, fun, very entertaining. Not for Georges
"Home security" by Karen Haber - 4,5/5 Incredibly sharply written and a lot of fun
"The stolen dragon" by Kimberly Gunderson - 3,5/5 Not bad, unusual and pleasant set
"Cold Stone Barrow" by Elizabeth Forrest - 4,5/5 Rich and tense narrative, good characters
"Fluff the Tragic Dragon" by Laura Redsnick - 4.5/5 Cute simple story, yet very rich of colourful characters and very well written
"The hidden dragon" by Barbara Detaplace - 3.5/5 Dark and depressing, but fascinating. Still oddly placed in this collection
"Take me out to the ball game" by Esther M. Friesner - 5/5 Chaotic fun, loved it. Sassy, snappy characters and too wise dragon
"The dragon's skin" by Ruth Berman - N/A Skipped, didn't grip me at all, sounded boring... Leafed through and ended to where a pink dragon asks for help for putting on her own skin. Too weird even for me and I'm a freaking Scalie
"Shing Li-Ung" by Tanya Huff- 5/5 Not a kind of story I usually search for, but it was incredibly well written and organic, I read it in a single gulp
"Concerto accademico" by Barry N. Malzberg - 3.5/5 Short yet fascinating, colourful, a pleasant oddity
"Dragon's destiny" by Josepha Sherman - 5/5 Classic tale between a dragon-wizard and a knight, each other's destiny or death, very down to earth with fascinating introspective. Loved how the princess showed to be at all a damsel in distress, making the wizard doubt himself, made me pleasantly laugh for how good it was and the knight immediately calling him out was precious.
"Between tomatoes and snapdragons" by Jane M. Lindskold - 5/5 Really sweet and down to earth, almost no dialogue with interesting development
"The trials and tribulations of Myron Blumberg, dragon" by Mike Resnick - 5/5 That was hilariously ridiculous and I loved every part of it
"Straw into Gold: Part II" by Mark A. Kreighbaum and Dennis L. McKiernan - 4/5 Cute, get wrecked Rumplestiltskin

[Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of 16 short stories, about a dozen pages each on average. Each one is by a different author, so unsurprisingly I liked some more than others. My favorite was probably the one by Tanya Huff, about a teenage girl inheriting the protection of a dragon from her grandmother, but I also liked the one by Ruth Berman about a knight dueling with a warlord who is wearing a cursed suit of armor made of dragon scales. There are other good stories in here too though, and the ones I didn't care for were all pretty short.

[Michal Kysela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Letální perspektiva 5/5
Dračí šampión 4/5
Phobiac 3/5
Bezpečí domova 3/5
Ukradený drak 3/5
Chladná kamenná mohyla 3/5
Tragický drak Fluff 4/5
Skrytý drak 3/5
Vezmi mě na zápas 2/5
Dračí kůže 2/5
Šing Li-Ung 4/5
Concerto Accademico 1/5
Drakův Osud 2/5
Mezi rajčaty a hledíky 4/5
Strasti a utrpení Myrona Blumberga, draka 4/5
Sláma ve zlat: část II 2/5

[Lou Rocama]

I keep this for the story by Alan Dean Foster. I think there was one other I liked (not a clue which), the rest were meh.

[Lia Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

solid 3.5/4 star little collection of 90s era short fiction. lots of fun takes on dragon, nice mix of modern and fantastical settings. good time.

[Flungoutofspace (Chris) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't finish

[Erinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book of short stories. It was pretty good.

[Stefan Jung · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good short story collection with a variety of writing styles and ideas all linked by the subject matter of dragons. Recommended for fans of fantasy and short stories.

[Sabur76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, a very good anthology.