The Last Defender of Camelot

(Original Review, 1980-12-12)

"The Last Defender of Camelot" is not really a new Zelazny book, but is a collection of short stories and novelettes from the very beginning of his career til now. I didn't much care for the title story (Merlin, not Lancelot was always my favorite Arthurian character), but they're all worth reading unless you have them in other collections. Zelazny likes to put his off-hand heroes in situations that are the stuff of legend, and this gets out of hand cases like "Damnation Alley" where the hero is basically a motorcycle thug (aside: everybody, but everybody smokes a lot in his books. Is he himself a chain smoker?), but usually it's just to let you know that he doesn't take this stuff too seriously. He does show more take it seriously in "He Who Shapes", the original from which the novel "The Dream Master" was derived, and the best story in the book. But then, I'm a sucker for erudition; other people might find the story pretentious.

You wander through the stores, opening and closing, skimming the blurbs, trying to recall snatches of reviews, attempting to parse out how much of what you've heard was meretricious (Quiz for the day: what does "meretricious" mean? (Hint: it does NOT mean "having merit.")

[2018 EDIT: This review was written at the time as I was running my own personal BBS server. Much of the language of this and other reviews written in 1980 reflect a very particular kind of language: what I call now in retrospect a “BBS language”.] show less

Meh. If there is some "urban fantasy" bent to this book it escapes me. The first few very brief stories are brilliant. The Four Horseman especially grabbed my attention and made me glad it was re-printed. But "He Who Shapes" put me to sleep during lunchtime (embarrassing) because it just seemed that Zelazny could not really put a point to his endless descriptions or inner thoughts. And "Damnation Alley" - couldn't handle any more destruction in something written under the guise of "adventure story." Have too much of a problem with Man vs. Nature and Nature losing without another thought to upsetting the balance.

Master of short storytelling!

As with all anthologies of well written short stories, I had to take my time with this book, pausing between each one to let it sink in. I believe that the full power of the short story is best demonstrated in science fiction shorts because they cannot rely on the reader to fill in the setting and society but must build an entire world in a few thousand words. Zelazny is a master at that. I did not swoon over every story, some were more tchnical in focus than I prefer but most drew me in completely. I recommend this to both sci fi afficionados and short story lovers and writers for pure appreciation of the form.

Ah yes - this is definitely a book of its time - semi-mystical writing, tight writing.

As always in an anthology such as this, some stories are better written than others. My favorite was "Damnation Alley" - a story set in apocalyptic America - where an outbreak of disease in Boston needs help from Los Angeles, and fast. The only one capable of driving across the country is a convicted, devil may care felon. The story, "For a Breath, I Tarry", is about a machine, trying to understand humanity, after humanity is gone. The writing is a bit over the top, but the story itself is interesting.

Generally, the stories in the collection are short, there a few that I suspect were amazing when they first published, but generally, they didn't really show more work for today's world. show less

The back cover describes them as strange and beautiful stories and that's what they are. Some of the best of the best are here but let me vote for "The Engine at Heartspring's Center" a story about a cyborg that you will never forget and "For a Breath I Tarry" a story that will change the way you think about computers. The more well-known story "The Stainless Steel Leech" is a must for vampire-fiction lovers.

Great short stories and also a great paperback cover! (Well, the cover was great in 1980, when I bought mine, anyway.)

Everyone should read Zelazny's short stories.