Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment

A collection of short stories and excerpts from larger works, this is a pretty hit-and-miss collection. It took me nearly a year to read it because of the tedium of some of the pieces. It's interesting in that it shows works by major authors that might otherwise be unknown in the fantasy genre (Dickens, Heinlein, etc.) Bradbury's "Uncle Einar" was delightful, as was Hawthorne's "Feathertop" and Boucher's "Mr. Lupescu." On the other hand, Kenneth Morris' "Three Tales" were utterly unreadable, "The Last of the Huggermuggers" dragged on endlessly, and Sara Coleridge's story should probably remain buried in obscurity. This might be of interest to either neophytes of the genre, or those who are deeply into fantasy. Dilettantes should give it a miss.

Included are:
"The Rule of Names" - Ursula K. LeGuin
"The Magic Fishbone" - Charles Dickens
"The Goddess of the Street Corner" - Margaret St. Clair
"Feathertop: A Moralized Legend" - Nathaniel Hawthorne
"The Root and the Ring" - Wyman Guin
"The Green Magician" - L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt
"Our Fair City" - Robert Heinlein
"The Man Who Could Not See Devils" - Joanna Russ
"Hieroglyphic Tales" - Horace Walpole
"Bird of Prey" - John Collier
"The Detective of Dreams" - Gene Wolfe
"The Bee-Man of Orn" - Frank R. Stockton
"The Red Hawk" - Elizabeth R. Lynn
"The Canvasser's Tale" - Mark Twain
"The Silken-Swift..." - Theodore Sturgeon
"The New Mother" - Lucy Clifford
"Mr. Lupescu" - Anthony Boucher
"The King of the Cats" - Stephen Vincent Benet
"Uncle Einar" - Ray Bradbury
"Space-Time for Springers" - Fritz Leiber
"Great is Diana" - Avram Davidson
"The Last of the Huggermuggers: A Giant Story" - Christopher Pearse Cranch
"Tobermory" - Saki
"The King of the Elves" - Philip K. Dick
"4 American Fairy Tales" - L. Frank Baum
"The Tale of Dragons and Dreamers" - Samuel R. Delany
excerpt from "Phantasmion" - Sara Coleridge
"3 Tales" - Kenneth Morris
"Elric at the End of Time" - Michael Moorcock
"Lindenborg Pool" - William Morris
"The Moon Pool" - A. Merritt
"The Sword of Welleran" - Lord Dunsany
"Operation Afreet" - Poul Anderson ( )

Hardcover. ( )

Hardcover. Book Club Edition. ( )