I’m involved in a conversation on Twitter in which the DAW Year’s Best Fantasy Stories series came up. The series was originally edited by Lin Carter followed by Arthur W. Saha. I’ve got most of them. I was thinking about reading through them and reviewing. Things should lighten up for a bit in about two weeks, once finals are over and I’ve gotten my grades in. I think I’ll have a little time.
But then I got to thinking. I’ve got several anthology series that might be of interest to readers of this blog. There’s the Swords Against Darkness edited by Andrew Ouffutt, Whispers (Stuart David Schiff), Shadows (Charles L. Grant), and Karl Edward Wagner’s Year’s Best Horror Stories from DAW.
I had been toying with the idea of reading through another DAW series, Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories when John O’Neill invited me to blog about the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series. I haven’t ruled that one out, but it’s probably not one I want to tackle right now.
So what do you think? Would you like to see a series of posts on one of these anthology series? If so, which one?
Pyramid’s de Camp edited series from the 60’s is worth a look – I think it was groundbreaking for the time.
The first one is Sword and Sorcery:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swords_and_Sorcery
I had forgotten those. Thanks for suggesting them.
I think they were the first S&S anthology series, and there is some good stuff in there (not to mention Virgil Finlay artwork).
Lin Carter’s Flashing Swords series is a 70’s version that is not quite as good.
I only have a few of the Flashing Swords volumes, but I might give those a try at some point.
As he had an open field, De Camp’s selections are not constrained by what had not already been grabbed. As I recall the De Camp books were the first US appearances of Elric of Melnibone. I had thought he was my introduction to Nictzin Dyalhis , but I don’t see him in the tables of contents in Wikipedia.
I’ve been wanting to pick up Swords Against Darkness for a while and would be interested in seeing another review.
You’re referring to Lin Carter’s series, right, and not Paula Guran’s anthology from last year? I will be looking at that one soon. I’ve got three stories left in it.
SWORDS AGAINST DARKNESS was Andrew Offutt’s series. Lin Carter edited FLASHING SWORDS.
You’re quite correct. I was replying just before I went to class. The department coffee maker died overnight, and I was insufficiently caffeinated when I wrote that.
Understood!
I second this. I’m curious about this one, in part because it’s the only Appendix N entry to list someone as editor (probably incidentally because it’s the only anthology entry).
It depends on what you’re in the mood for. Do you want to read a string of horror or fantasy?
FLASHING SWORDS is another one. Those were novellas. And Carter, of course, put his own share of Thongor tales in the mix. Though, at least Thongor was more readable at shorter length than his novels.
And sometimes I enjoy spending novella length time with the stories.
SWORDS AGAINST DARKNESS were shorter tales. So, more variety and authors, if you’d rather.
Honestly, any of the titles mentioned would be a worthy project. I look forward to reading your opinions, whichever you choose.
Thanks.
I’d love a review of Karl Edward Wagner’s Year’s Best Horror Stories from DAW.
I wondered when someone would suggest that. I don’t have the entire run, but I’ve got most of his early volumes. I’ll try to work it in.
I’d love to see you review KEW’s Year’s Best Hororr. I had his entire run and lost them in a flood. There is some pretty awesome/gruesome stories in those books.
On the horror front, Pyramid books also did a very similar parallel anthology series edited by Leo Margulies, I think. Ghoul Keepers and The Unexpected were two of the titles.
I know I’ve got Ghoul Keepers and I think I have The Unexpected. I’ll have to look for them.
Alden H. Norton also compiled a handful of anthologies, more horror than anything else, IIRC. I read them back in high school. I’ll dig them out as well.
In my opinion, Offutt’s Swords Against Darkness is unmatched as an S&S anthology collection. Top notch stories for the most part, and far more readable than Flashing Swords, no offense to the shade of Carter.
The Echoes of Valor series is pretty good, too, once you get past the cover art.
I think they are one of the best.