Sunday, December 24, 2017

Books read in 2017: No. 47 -- Heroic Visions

edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson

Started: Dec. 18
Finished: Dec. 24

Notes: I was reading a lot of fantasy when this anthology was published in 1983, but somehow I missed it. In fact, I don't even remember it, and stumbled upon it recently in a used book store. I guess none of the book stores where I lived in 1983 had this book. Anyway, I recognize a number of the authors here, from Fritz Leiber to Alan Dean Foster to Robert Silverberg, but there are also a number of unfamiliar names. I tended to love fantasy anthologies in the early '80s, and I hope this one proves to bring just as much love.

Mini review: Like with all such collections, for me some are hits and some are misses. My favorites here were "Vovko" by Gordon Derevanchuk, in which a Slavic warrior must face a demonic son he had not know of, "The Monkey's Bride" by Michael Bishop, in which a maid finds herself forced to marry a man seemingly more ape than man, and "Dancers in the Time-Flux" by Robert Silverberg, in which a 14th Century man finds himself transported to a far future time in which humans are much changed from the humans he knows. There were other good tales here. Honestly, I wouldn't say this collection excited me, but none of the tales were truly awful.

1 comment:

Charles Gramlich said...

I remember enjoying it pretty well, though it has been a long time and I don't recall many details.