In Lands That Never Were: Tales of Swords and Sorcery from the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

by C.C. Finlay, Chris Willrich, Pat Murphy, et al.

Book Overview

A dozen tales of sci-fi adventure are collected in an anthology featuring contributions from Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, R. Garcia y Robertson, Pat Murphy, Charles Coleman,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1568583141
• ISBN13: 9781568583143
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Running Press Book Publishers
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Not Free SF Reader

Very impressive. An anthology that averages over 4.00, and for me, a fantasy selection at that is a great find. Even more so given the editor has selected stories from one source, although a profilic one, being the magazine in the title. He also is focusing on more recent stories, as in nineties and noughties, too, which is very cool. The editor says "I'm looking to bring you a collection of terrific stories united by their common goal of telling a rousing good story set in a land that never was." The criticisms would be structural here, which is fairly minor. The end of the book has a lot less 'rousing' than the start, so a bit better ordering, particularly splitting the Howard and Leiber may have made more sense. Anyone familiar with Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint novel will know the sort of thing they will get here, a non-fantastic fantasy if you like, with the second world furniture that could easily be somewhere in Europe a few hundred years ago. He also contradicts himself with the last story, by having a meta tale actually set in what is supposed to be in the real world, not a land that never was. Almost as though a case of I really like this writer, but he doesn't write anything remotely fitting (compared to say, Charles Coleman Finlay, who could probably talk about swordsmen and sorcerers for hours in the pub, I'd imagine), so I will whack this piece in. I'd guess Ford's story is the one that is likely to annoy people the most, and he doesn't really carry it off with the aplomb of a Terry Pratchett to make it more palatable, even though I still liked it. People that find very wearying, not to mention annoying stories with writers writing about writers whingeing about writers whingeing about writing sort of stuff can skip the last story. Overall, however, what you will find here is an outstanding anthology containing only good to very good stories of fantasy of a general considerably more popular kind of thing that a lot of people will mean when they talk about that sort of book. In Lands That Never Were : 01 The Hall of the Dead - Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp In Lands That Never Were : 02 A Hedge Against Alchemy - John Morressy In Lands That Never Were : 03 Ill Met in Lankhmar [short story] - Fritz Leiber In Lands That Never Were : 04 Counting the Shapes - Yoon Ha Lee In Lands That Never Were : 05 Firebird [short story] - R. Garcia y Robertson In Lands That Never Were : 06 Dragon's Gate - Pat Murphy In Lands That Never Were : 07 After the Gaud Chrysalis - Charles Coleman Finlay In Lands That Never Were : 08 The Swordsman Whose Name Was Not Death - Ellen Kushner In Lands That Never Were : 09 The Island in the Lake - Phyllis Eisenstein In Lands That Never Were : 10 Darkrose and Diamond - Ursula K. Le Guin In Lands That Never Were : 11 King Rainjoy's Tears - Chris Willrich In Lands That Never Were : 12 The Fantasy Writer's Assistant - Jeffrey Ford De Camp completed this from an outline of Howard's that was

Quality tales of adventure and magic

This is a collection of short stories and novellas from aleading speculative fiction magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Selected by its current, award-winning editor, Gordon Van Gelder, these stories span the years from 1967-2004 (with most being more recent) and, for the most part, feature excellent writing from veterans and newcomers alike. A quick inventory: * The Hall of the Dead, Robert Howard and L. Sprague de Camp: Old-school adventure featuring a young, thieving Conan and a cursed city. (Written by de Camp from Howard's outline; the outline and many of Howard's original Conan tales may be found in the excellent collection, The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian.) * A Hedge Against Alchemy, John Morressy: a wizard confronts a rock-brained barbarian; self-consciously witty but a quick read * Ill Met in Lankhmar, Fritz Leiber: the classic account of the initial, tragic meeting of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser; a must-read for S & S fans. (This and the duo's other initial adventures may be found in a collection called The Three of Swords.) * Counting the Shapes, Yoon Ha Lee: a poignant reunion of a sorceress and her long-lost son in the midst of war * Firebird, R. Garcia y Robertson: fresh, Russian-flavored girl-meets-knight story; fantastic setting * Dragon's Gate, Pat Murphy: a tomboy-bard seeks a dragon's help; painless but a bit obvious * After the Gaud Chrysalis, Charles Coleman Finlay: the second adventure of the swordsman Vertir and the scribe Kuikan; excellent description ("showing") of setting and characterization. (Their first adventure, For Want of a Nail, is in the March 2003 issue; their third, Of Silence & the Man at Arms, is in the June 2005 issue.) * The Swordsman Whose Name Was Not Death, Ellen Kushner: master duelist Richard St. Vier and his moody scribe/friend/lover Alec cope with a persistent visitor; you'll likely either love or hate Kushner's tales of these two (which feature no magic, abundant intrigue, and are set in a city akin to 16th-17th century London or Paris. Their complete doings may be found in the recent edition of the novel Swordspoint.) * The Island in the Lake, Phyllis Eisenstein: Alaric the magical minstrel investigates the noble household that dwells in the center of a poisonous lake * Darkrose & Diamond, Ursula Le Guin: more gorgeous prose from a grand master * King Rainjoy's Tears, Chris Willrich: the second adventure of the poet Persimmon Gaunt and her long-lived lover, the thief Imago Bone; one of the best stories here. (Their similarly excellent first adventure may be found in the June 2000 issue. One hopes for more tales from this talented author--or at least a website.) * The Fantasy Writer's Assistant, Jeffrey Ford: the only story here set (partially) in the present day; a student takes a part-time job as a consistency-checker for a prolific chronicler of Conan-esque yarns. (Be sure to check out Ford's collection, The FWA & Other Stories, as well as his more recent wo