Today, March 1, marks the birthday of one of the more prolific, probably the most prolific, anthologist who ever compiled a table of contents. I’m talking about Martin H. Greenberg (1941-2011).

There was a time when bookstore shelves were covered with anthologies in which Greenberg was the editor. Not all of them were science fiction, fantasy, or horror, either.

There mystery and crime anthologies, western anthologies, and other types as well. Even anthologies about cats.

Greenberg usually had coeditors, although how much of the selectng and editing he did compared to his coeditors, I don’t know. Greenberg was basically a packager of anthologies. I know he selected the stories Isaac Asimov wrote when he and Asimov were putting together The Great SF Stories anthologies. Other coeditors included Stefan Dziemianowicz, Robert Weinberg, Charles G. Waugh, and Frank D. McSherry, Jr.

I’m not even going to attempt to list all the anthologies. Some were parts of series, such as The Great SF Stories mentioned above, along with Barnes and Noble’s 100 Stories series, the Fantastic series (Horse Fantastic, Dragon Fantastic, etc.), the American Ghosts series, and a host of others.

And the individual, one-shot anthologies numbered in the dozens, at least. You can find a complete listiing of the science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies at the ISFDB. This list doesn’t include many msytery or western anthologies, so be advised its a partial list.

Just trying to keep up with the anthologies that had Greenberg’s name on them would be a full time job.

I never met Mr. Greenberg, but I miss him. There’s no one these days who is doing that sort of  work. I much prefer reading short fiction to novels. For one thing, my time is rather limited these days. Some days, I only get to read if I have down time at work, which I frequently do. (It’s okay if I do as long as everything else gets done. Some days I see no customers while I’m open.)

Another reason I like anthologies is because they allow me to discover new authors without the expense of buying an entire novel. This is less of an issue with ebooks, depending on how the book is priced.

And, yes, the short fiction markets have always had the benefit of introducing me to new authors, and they still do. But there aren’t that many of them left.

So, tonight, in just a few hours, I’ll raise a glass to Mr. Greenberg and  his anthologies. Rest well, sir, and thanks for the many hours of reading pleasure, both int the past and still to come.