Excalibur

by Richard Gilliam (Editor), Nancy Holder (Contributor), Diana Gabaldon (Contributor)

This book contains a collection of stories based on the legends of King Arthur. The stories range in time from Camelot to the present day.

Genres: Fantasy, Arthurian, Anthologies, Short Stories, Mythology, Fiction, German Literature

470 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1995

Reviews

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far and away the best story in this collection is “Goldie, Lox, and the Three Excalibearers,” about a young Jewish American women working in a deli in New York during the Cold War – which I think says right there how far away some of these stories wander from the theme.

There were some good stories here – but overall the collection could have had much more cohesion as the writers play very fast and loose with the theme of “Excalibur”.

[Luis · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is much false advertising on the cover and title of this book. It promises Arthurian stories centered around the fabled sword Excalibur, and there is that but also stories that have NOTHING to do with any Arthurian myths.
In many of the others, it seems the authors were so intent on "deconstructing" the Arthurian myths that their stories read as contemptous of King Arthur, indeed, some of the stories even portray Arthur as a vile villain.
There are also good stories here, no doubt, but at more than 25 tales the misses are more than the hits unfortunately. Gary Gygax (the creator of the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game) gives one of the better stories, as does Susan Shwartz, Jody Lynn Nye and Mercedes Lackey.
If you're looking for 0ff the beaten path short stories, this may be the book for you, but if you want to delve once again into the world of King Arthur, maybe not.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like many others in the notes, I found this to be a hit and miss. Mostly misses. There was some poorly written work in here. The poetry in particular I found particularly insufferable, though that might be a personal preference.

Overwhelmingly, I'd say this anthology is a pass. There are, however, some very decent stories. The best was Goldie, Lox and the Three Excaliburs. By a mile. Others, like Controlling the Sword, Passing, and Demon Sword, were good enough to be a balm from the rest.

If you like Arthuriana, give it a go, there might be some interesting thematic explorations for you. If you're looking to try Arthuriana, I'd suggest starting with something else; this doesn't paint a particularly appealing picture.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wide range of fantasy stories, so something for everyone.

[Audry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anthologies are usually hit and miss, but this one was mostly misses, and some of them unbelievably so. There were stories that had zero relevance to the theme, no matter what relevance the author may have thought they had, and others that were simply poorly written -- too cartoonish, making fun of Arthurian legends in a way that just didn't work, or too vague and grandiose without any true depth or real mysteries at their hearts. There was verse spread throughout; most of it just made me want to read classic poems that knew their craft better. The handful of stories that were worth reading did the subject matter justice, and thank god, because they saved me from thinking my time was completely wasted on this poorly compiled collection.

On a secondary note, the e-book edition is nearly a disaster. Chunks of text are missing from the Charles de Lint story, and typos riddle many stories. How embarrassing for those who were responsible for putting this edition together. Skip the e-book version entirely, if you bother with the collection at all.

[Regan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the stories were okay. I was surprised that so many of the big names wrote such flat stories.