What do you think?
Rate this book
Fantasy
A collection of fantasy short stories and essays on fantasy by Poul Anderson.
334 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
1 person is currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Poul Anderson
1,621 books1,105 followersPseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 8, 2010
This is a collection of Poul Anderson's short fiction that focuses on his fantasy output. The book is divided into three sections: "Historical," "A-Historical," and "It Could Happen To You." Out of the first section the opening piece "House Rule," was truly fantastical on every front telling the story of a strange tavern that exists outside of normal time and space called the "Old Phoenix" which is populated by a host of fictional characters and historical characters, to say more would ruin the tale, and I would not wish to do that at all. The other two pieces from the "Historical" section were simply not to my taste, but mileage I know will vary.
The next section: "A-Historical," contained five tales, and two of these feature a wonderful traveling bard known as Cappen Verra (The Valor of Cappen Varra & The Gate of the Flying Knives)- must reads for any fan of fantasy short fiction. The rest of this section is made up of two interesting takes on standard themes present within the fantasy genre, "A Logical Conclusion," dealing with two individuals, one a book publisher and one a barbarian type undergoing the old switcheroo, and "The Barbarian," a fun twist to the barbarian tale- neither were truly great, but both worth reading. This section closes out with a great essay entitled "On Thud and Blunder" which any aspiring writer of sword and sorcery fiction would do well to read, as it truly provides some great pointers on accurate world building, many of which are oft ignored.
The final section: "It Could Happen To You," contained five short pieces of fiction, another essay on the craft ("Fantasy in the Age of Science"), and ended with a well put together afterword ("An Invitation to Elfland" by Sandra Miesel). As far as the tales in this section "Bullwinch's Mythology" and "Superstition," were average falling short of the standard Anderson caliber, and "Pact" was quitte good providing an interesting twist on the old "deal with the devil" theme. The two pieces that really stood out in this section were "Interloper," which provided a truly interesting take on the world of fairies and elves, and "The Visitor" which was a hauntingly beautiful tale about a dream and tragic loss, both I would consider must read short stories.
All in all if you are a fan of Poul Anderson then this is simply a must read as you well know that he is a great writer in any field he chooses to plant words. I would also recommend this book to any fan of the fantasy genre in general as it provides many interesting takes on themes found within the genre. Namaste.
The next section: "A-Historical," contained five tales, and two of these feature a wonderful traveling bard known as Cappen Verra (The Valor of Cappen Varra & The Gate of the Flying Knives)- must reads for any fan of fantasy short fiction. The rest of this section is made up of two interesting takes on standard themes present within the fantasy genre, "A Logical Conclusion," dealing with two individuals, one a book publisher and one a barbarian type undergoing the old switcheroo, and "The Barbarian," a fun twist to the barbarian tale- neither were truly great, but both worth reading. This section closes out with a great essay entitled "On Thud and Blunder" which any aspiring writer of sword and sorcery fiction would do well to read, as it truly provides some great pointers on accurate world building, many of which are oft ignored.
The final section: "It Could Happen To You," contained five short pieces of fiction, another essay on the craft ("Fantasy in the Age of Science"), and ended with a well put together afterword ("An Invitation to Elfland" by Sandra Miesel). As far as the tales in this section "Bullwinch's Mythology" and "Superstition," were average falling short of the standard Anderson caliber, and "Pact" was quitte good providing an interesting twist on the old "deal with the devil" theme. The two pieces that really stood out in this section were "Interloper," which provided a truly interesting take on the world of fairies and elves, and "The Visitor" which was a hauntingly beautiful tale about a dream and tragic loss, both I would consider must read short stories.
All in all if you are a fan of Poul Anderson then this is simply a must read as you well know that he is a great writer in any field he chooses to plant words. I would also recommend this book to any fan of the fantasy genre in general as it provides many interesting takes on themes found within the genre. Namaste.
August 23, 2008
A great collection of short fantasy stories by Poul Anderson, along with some of his essays on the fantasy field.
February 6, 2024
Aside from his flawless evocation of Icelandic and Norse stories, I have never meshed well with Anderson as a writer. His methodical style and focus on mechanism has never sat well, though it does always give the reader something to think about: reversing the relationship of science and superstition, or the relevance of the "noble savage" trope in fantasy, or even how he makes Cappen Varra a compelling character even if his personality traits would make him insufferable in real life.
"Of Pigs and Men", unfortunately, despite or perhaps because of its satirical tone, rubs the wrong way. Its inversion of racial bias comes off in this age as cringey, as the kids say. One can only wonder why Anderson decided that it was necessary to write such a thing.
"Of Pigs and Men", unfortunately, despite or perhaps because of its satirical tone, rubs the wrong way. Its inversion of racial bias comes off in this age as cringey, as the kids say. One can only wonder why Anderson decided that it was necessary to write such a thing.
March 18, 2021
Overall, I did enjoy it. Anderson is one of the Masters of Fantasy and some of the tales here are definitely a must-read. Personal favourites: "The Tale of Hauk", "A Logical Conclusion" (I am particularly attached to this one as it was the first of Anderson's works I've ever read a looong time ago), "Superstition", and the peculiar "The Visitor".
May 23, 2019
Got halfway thru.
April 1, 2024
Some of these short stories haven't agreed too well.
November 9, 2014
A great collection of different kinds of fantasy, from past to future. Also a couple of interesting diversions on the nature of writing fantasy that authors will likely find interesting. Note that the final chapter about Poul Anderson includes a lot of spoilers for works not in this collection. If, like me, you are only now discovering Anderson, you’ll probably want to skip that chapter.
November 30, 2009
A number of decent short fantasy stories. I especially like it for it's article "Thud and Blunder" about writing good fantasy.
November 9, 2013
A great read, especially the two essays "On Thud & Blunder" & "Fantasy in the Age of Science". Also "The Gate of Flying Knives" is pure D&D, wonderfully fun!
January 10, 2017
I really don't understand the purpose of that "WASPS are the real victims" essay (I presume it was satire, since it was in a collection entitled "Fantasy") but the rest was really very good
February 21, 2018
A really good collection of the stories and essays of Poul Anderson, and like all collections bound to be a but hit-or-miss. But Poul Anderson is awesome, and I was tempted to rate this higher (5/5 rather than 4/5), but for the fact that some stories and essays were so dramatically better than others, and I suspect one could have culled a collection of uniformly amazing quality from Anderson's works. Still, definitely worth the read for any fan of classic fantasy and sci-fi, especially if one has an interest in Appendix N literature . . .
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews