Scan barcode
bickleyhouse's review against another edition
4.0
I went back and forth between three and four stars on this one. I did like it. It's very long, though, and there are a few stories in there that just didn't grab me. But that's okay, and what you might expect in a short story compilation.
The tales in this volume date all the way back to "Rip Van Winkle," which is the first story in the book. It is divided into three sections, part 1 being "Folk, Tall and Weird Tales." This part also includes "Uncle Remus" stories, which, of course, are delightful. It also has "The Saga of Pecos Bill," "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," by H.P. Lovecraft, "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, and "Children of the Corn," by Stephen King. There are assorted others in there, as well.
Part 2 is called "Fantastic Americana." In there, we find "A Ghost Story," by Mark Twain, "The Devil and Daniel Webster," by Stephen Vincent Benet, "Hatrack River," the short story that spawned the Alvin Maker series, by Orson Scott Card, "Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes To Iowa," the story that inspired the movie, Field of Dreams, by W.P. Kinsella, and "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs," a terrifying tale by Harlan Ellison.
Part 3 is called "Lands of Enchantment and Everyday Life." It includes a delightful story by Frank Stockton, called "The Griffin and the Minor Canon," a non-Oz story by L. Frank Baum, called "The Enchanted Buffalo," an interesting piece by Theodore Sturgeon, called "Slow Sculpture," a horrifying tale about a tribal doll, called "Prey," by Richard Matheson (a story featured in an episode of The Twilight Zone), a charming tale of alternate reality called "The Coin Collector," by Jack Finney, "The Geezenstacks," by Fredric Brown (another Twilight Zone episode), "The Black Ferris," by Ray Bradbury, the story that eventually became Something Wicked This Way Comes, and "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut, by Stephen King. King and Harlan Ellison both landed in this collection twice.
Going over the partial story list inspired me to revisit my rating and give it four stars. I've been a lover of short stories, and, while I wouldn't necessarily include all of these in the "fantasy" genre (none of them are what most modern people would consider "fantasy;" nary a sword in any of them, but there are some witches and sorcery, perhaps), this is my kind of collection. Mr. Thomsen has done a grand job of collecting (I daresay there were a few edit mistakes in the version I got my hand on), and the collection is quite diverse.
I highly recommend it, especially as a lesson on how some of our modern writing has been inspired.
The tales in this volume date all the way back to "Rip Van Winkle," which is the first story in the book. It is divided into three sections, part 1 being "Folk, Tall and Weird Tales." This part also includes "Uncle Remus" stories, which, of course, are delightful. It also has "The Saga of Pecos Bill," "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," by H.P. Lovecraft, "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, and "Children of the Corn," by Stephen King. There are assorted others in there, as well.
Part 2 is called "Fantastic Americana." In there, we find "A Ghost Story," by Mark Twain, "The Devil and Daniel Webster," by Stephen Vincent Benet, "Hatrack River," the short story that spawned the Alvin Maker series, by Orson Scott Card, "Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes To Iowa," the story that inspired the movie, Field of Dreams, by W.P. Kinsella, and "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs," a terrifying tale by Harlan Ellison.
Part 3 is called "Lands of Enchantment and Everyday Life." It includes a delightful story by Frank Stockton, called "The Griffin and the Minor Canon," a non-Oz story by L. Frank Baum, called "The Enchanted Buffalo," an interesting piece by Theodore Sturgeon, called "Slow Sculpture," a horrifying tale about a tribal doll, called "Prey," by Richard Matheson (a story featured in an episode of The Twilight Zone), a charming tale of alternate reality called "The Coin Collector," by Jack Finney, "The Geezenstacks," by Fredric Brown (another Twilight Zone episode), "The Black Ferris," by Ray Bradbury, the story that eventually became Something Wicked This Way Comes, and "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut, by Stephen King. King and Harlan Ellison both landed in this collection twice.
Going over the partial story list inspired me to revisit my rating and give it four stars. I've been a lover of short stories, and, while I wouldn't necessarily include all of these in the "fantasy" genre (none of them are what most modern people would consider "fantasy;" nary a sword in any of them, but there are some witches and sorcery, perhaps), this is my kind of collection. Mr. Thomsen has done a grand job of collecting (I daresay there were a few edit mistakes in the version I got my hand on), and the collection is quite diverse.
I highly recommend it, especially as a lesson on how some of our modern writing has been inspired.
More...