On This Page
Description
The definitive collection of the best modern fantasy. Chosen by the members of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Some clarification is necessary here, as Silverberg edited two different anthologies with the same title -- a 1983 collection, co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg, and this 1998 volume.
This book came about after the Science Fiction Writers of America changed their name in 1992 to the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. They decided to publish a Fantasy Hall of Fame analogous to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame they'd produced in 1970, also edited by Silverberg.
SFWA's members voted on the authors and stories they thought belonged in the book. The top fifteen of each list are collected here (with the exception of James Tiptree, Jr. and her story "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever;" presumably there were rights issues), and Silverberg show more chose additional stories to bring the volume up to 30 stories. The stories are arranged chronologically, from H. L. Gold's "Trouble with Water" (1939) to Ted Chiang's "Tower of Babylon" (1990).
Reading this book knocked ten titles off my spreadsheet of award-nominated SF stories; let's zip through those quickly:
"Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," Jorge Luis Borges -- This one escapes me, I'm afraid. An exploration of the history of a non-existent place (that is, non-existent within the world of the story), it's a meandering collection of philosophical musings and intellectual masturbation.
"The Compleat Werewolf," Anthony Boucher -- A bit long, but a lively comic werewolf tale. Boucher imagines that in some cases, lycanthropy is voluntary, triggered by magical incantations; the problem is that the wolf needs a trusted associate to speak the magic word to bring him back to human form. (James Blish's "There Shall Be No Darkness," also included here, is a sharply contrasting werewolf story.)
"That Hell-Bound Train," Robert Bloch -- Very clever "deal with the devil" story.
"Faith of Our Fathers," Philip K. Dick -- In a world in which Vietnam apparently won the war decisively enough that they now rule America, a Hanoi professor is caught up in a potential political revolution. Late enough Dick (1967) that the trippiness is taking over, which if you ask me, is not a good thing.
"Jeffty Is Five," Harlan Ellison -- A stunner. Starts off as an exercise in warm nostalgia, almost a riff on Bradbury (though since this is Ellison, it's a somewhat cranky Bradbury) that takes a turn into Ellisonian darkness at the end. (Interestingly enough, the Bradbury story in the book, "The Small Assassin" is a dark excursion into postpartum horror that would almost feel like a riff on Ellison, if chronology didn't make such a thing impossible.)
"Unicorn Variations," Roger Zelazny -- I haven't read a lot of Zelazny, but I don't generally think light comedy when I hear his name; this is a charming tale of a man who must play chess with a unicorn to save humanity.
"The Jaguar Hunter," Lucius Shepard -- Shepard's Central American magical realism was never really my cuppa, but he does it well, and this is probably his best story.
"Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight," Ursula K. Le Guin -- I confess that I didn't finish this one; I will have to come back to it later. I think it suffered by being placed directly after the Shepard; it's another bit of magical realist fantasy, this one set in the desert Southwest, and I can only take so much of that.
"Bears Discover Fire," Terry Bisson -- the premise is right there in the title. Pleasant enough story, I suppose, but didn't strike me as anything extraordinary.
"Tower of Babylon," Ted Chiang -- his first published story, announcing him as a major talent. Set in Biblical times, as the titular tower has reached the floor of Heaven; we climb the tower with the miners who have been tasked with breaking through that floor. Not my favorite Chiang, but I do like the Twilight Zone-style ending.
I also very much enjoyed L. Sprague de Camp's "Nothing in the Rules," a proto-Air Bud about a mermaid and a swim meet; Peter S. Beagle's "Come Lady Death," a courtly tale of a bored noblewoman; and R. A. Lafferty's "Narrow Valley," a rollicking tall tale.
I am not a big fantasy reader, and there were a few stories here that did nothing for me, but it's a very strong collection, and a worthy introduction to the history of the genre up to that moment. show less
This book came about after the Science Fiction Writers of America changed their name in 1992 to the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. They decided to publish a Fantasy Hall of Fame analogous to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame they'd produced in 1970, also edited by Silverberg.
SFWA's members voted on the authors and stories they thought belonged in the book. The top fifteen of each list are collected here (with the exception of James Tiptree, Jr. and her story "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever;" presumably there were rights issues), and Silverberg show more chose additional stories to bring the volume up to 30 stories. The stories are arranged chronologically, from H. L. Gold's "Trouble with Water" (1939) to Ted Chiang's "Tower of Babylon" (1990).
Reading this book knocked ten titles off my spreadsheet of award-nominated SF stories; let's zip through those quickly:
"Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," Jorge Luis Borges -- This one escapes me, I'm afraid. An exploration of the history of a non-existent place (that is, non-existent within the world of the story), it's a meandering collection of philosophical musings and intellectual masturbation.
"The Compleat Werewolf," Anthony Boucher -- A bit long, but a lively comic werewolf tale. Boucher imagines that in some cases, lycanthropy is voluntary, triggered by magical incantations; the problem is that the wolf needs a trusted associate to speak the magic word to bring him back to human form. (James Blish's "There Shall Be No Darkness," also included here, is a sharply contrasting werewolf story.)
"That Hell-Bound Train," Robert Bloch -- Very clever "deal with the devil" story.
"Faith of Our Fathers," Philip K. Dick -- In a world in which Vietnam apparently won the war decisively enough that they now rule America, a Hanoi professor is caught up in a potential political revolution. Late enough Dick (1967) that the trippiness is taking over, which if you ask me, is not a good thing.
"Jeffty Is Five," Harlan Ellison -- A stunner. Starts off as an exercise in warm nostalgia, almost a riff on Bradbury (though since this is Ellison, it's a somewhat cranky Bradbury) that takes a turn into Ellisonian darkness at the end. (Interestingly enough, the Bradbury story in the book, "The Small Assassin" is a dark excursion into postpartum horror that would almost feel like a riff on Ellison, if chronology didn't make such a thing impossible.)
"Unicorn Variations," Roger Zelazny -- I haven't read a lot of Zelazny, but I don't generally think light comedy when I hear his name; this is a charming tale of a man who must play chess with a unicorn to save humanity.
"The Jaguar Hunter," Lucius Shepard -- Shepard's Central American magical realism was never really my cuppa, but he does it well, and this is probably his best story.
"Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight," Ursula K. Le Guin -- I confess that I didn't finish this one; I will have to come back to it later. I think it suffered by being placed directly after the Shepard; it's another bit of magical realist fantasy, this one set in the desert Southwest, and I can only take so much of that.
"Bears Discover Fire," Terry Bisson -- the premise is right there in the title. Pleasant enough story, I suppose, but didn't strike me as anything extraordinary.
"Tower of Babylon," Ted Chiang -- his first published story, announcing him as a major talent. Set in Biblical times, as the titular tower has reached the floor of Heaven; we climb the tower with the miners who have been tasked with breaking through that floor. Not my favorite Chiang, but I do like the Twilight Zone-style ending.
I also very much enjoyed L. Sprague de Camp's "Nothing in the Rules," a proto-Air Bud about a mermaid and a swim meet; Peter S. Beagle's "Come Lady Death," a courtly tale of a bored noblewoman; and R. A. Lafferty's "Narrow Valley," a rollicking tall tale.
I am not a big fantasy reader, and there were a few stories here that did nothing for me, but it's a very strong collection, and a worthy introduction to the history of the genre up to that moment. show less
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
All Editions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Goldmann Science Fiction (23395)
Work Relationships
Contains
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Fantasy Hall of Fame
- Original title
- The Fantasy Hall of Fame
- Original publication date
- 1998-03
- First words
- In 1992, the Science Fiction Writers of America—a twenty-seven-year-old organization of more than a thousand members, including just about every professional science fiction writer of importance—formally changed its name ... (show all)to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
--Introduction - Blurbers
- Delany, Samuel R.
- Original language
- American English
- Disambiguation notice
- There are two books with the title "The Fantasy Hall of Fame". Do not combine the two together.
One is from 1983, one is from 1998. The latter volume is associated with SFWA.
The 1983 one is edited by Martin H.... (show all) Greenberg and Robert Silverberg, and the 1998 one is edited by Robert Silverberg alone.
The later 1998 SFWA book has ISBN 0061052159 and 1568658583 for the hardcover.
The earlier 1983 book has been reprinted as "The Mammoth Book Of Fantasy All-Time Greats" (ISBN 0948164719) and "Great Fantasy" (ISBN 1845291069) and the original ISBNs are 0877955212 and 0517451263.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Fantasy
- DDC/MDS
- 813.0876608 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English By type Genre fiction Adventure fiction Speculative fiction Fantasy Collections
- LCC
- PS648 .F3 .F36 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Collections of American literature Prose (General)
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 218
- Popularity
- 149,178
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.72)
- Languages
- English, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
