From Publishers Weekly
This enjoyable collection inaugurates what seems likely to become a major annual showcase for previously unpublished short works of fantasy. Its most impressive feature is its broad range: editor Yolen ( Briar Rose ) convokes proven masters (Ursula K. Le Guin), the well-known (Nancy Kress, Tanith Lee) and newcomers (Elise Mattesen); she also includes genre writers (Steven K.Z. Brust, Pamela Dean) as well as mainstream writers (Robert Abel, Leslea Newman). The selections themselves vary in form from Donna Waidtlow's five-line poem "After Centuries" to Dean's novella "Owlswater," and they display an admirable diversity in atmosphere, tone, setting and subject matter too, together exploring the many possibilities under the umbrella "fantasy." Anna Kirwan-Vogel's "Jaguar Lord" is an enchanting heroic tale of a Mayan jaguar hunt; Will Shetterly's "Time Travel, the Artifact, and a Famous Historical Personage" is a tale of psychological horror; Lisa Tuttle's "Lucy Maria" adds a twist to a classic ghost-story plot. Though some of the pieces are slight, none are less than competent, and the standouts--among them Kress's "To Scale," Eleanor Arnason's "The Hound of Merin" and William Stafford's poem "It Comes Lightly Out of the Sea"--deliver the pleasures of fantasy at its best. A promising start to an even more promising series.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The 18 stories and four poems collected here launch a new series dedicated to broadening the bounderies of the genre. They are written by a talented array of fantasy authors, including Tanith Lee, Pamela Dean, Will Shetterly, and Mike Resnick
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
