The Big Book of Adventure Stories (Vintage Original) (2011)

Fun, fun, fun.

Look, I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that this contains the great literature of our time. What I am going to tell you is that this collection contains a lot of fun reads. Penzler has brought together a collection of adventure stories that span an incredible gamut of genres – all under the heading of “adventure”. Westerns, sword and sorcery, science fiction, jungles, oceans, deserts, spies – it is all here.

Stories by famous authors such as Harold Lamb, Fritz Lieber, Rudyard Kipling, Saki, H. G. Wells, O. Henry, Damon Knight, Alistair MacLean, Edgar Rice Burroughs. Stories that are about famous characters (often the origin stories) such as Tarzan, Conan, the Cisco Kid, Zorro, Sheena, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Hopalong Cassidy. Stories by people you should know but probably don’t. Stories you should have read but probably haven’t. Just the wildest collection of action and adventure stories you have ever seen.

Again, I’m not going to say they are all fantastic. For example, Conan’s origin story is only so-so. But, if that is the worst I can find to say, then it must be a pretty fine collection. To put it in perspective, I was almost half way through the book before I hit a story that made me say “Wish I hadn’t wasted my time.” Again, not saying they ones before were great literature, but they were fun reads.

(Have to throw this in. I’m not sure how Philip Jose Farmer’s “After King Kong Fell” wound up in this collection, but I’m not going to complain – this is one of the great stories of all time.

I’ve said it before; I’ll say it again – this is a fun collection of stories and, if you want to remember the sheer fun of reading, you will want to read this book. You will not be sorry. ( )