Recommended Sf/f Anthologies/Collections
"Never judge a book by its movie."--J.W. Eagan
Recommendations are for anthologies as well as collections.
Isaac Asimov
Robot Dreams. A lot of robot stories, as you might imagine. Some are dated.
Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg & Joseph Olander (eds.)
Space Mail. An anthology of epistolary sf. Most stories are good; some are confusing.
Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg & Charles Waugh (eds.)
Fantastic Creatures. Mostly sf, if I recall correctly.
Peter S. Beagle & Janet Berliner (eds.)
Peter S. Beagle's Immortal Unicorn 2. Unicorn-themed stories, overall worthwhile. Some stories were excellent, especially S.P. Somtow's "Thief in the Night"; most were worth reading once; and a few just confused me.
Marion Zimmer Bradley (ed.)
Sword & Sorceress I, II, III, etc. A series of sword & sorcery anthologies centered around women. The stories' quality varies greatly, and overall the earlier ones beat the later ones.
Angela Carter
The Bloody Chamber. Sensual literary fantasy. Not all of it was to my taste, but her prose is lovely.
Arthur C. Clarke
Of Time and Stars. Short, often funny, sf stories.
Bruce Coville (ed.)
A Treasury of Unicorns. Children's unicorn stories and poems. Some are more original than others.
Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling (eds.)
Black Thorn, White Rose; Black Heart, Ivory Bones. Adult/modern fairytale anthologies. Quality varies.
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. An annual series of anthologies showcasing a wide spectrum of stories. I think the editors have changed on the series.
Gardner Dozois (ed.)
The Year's Best Science Fiction. Annual anthology series. I usually find a few really good stories, a lot of ones worth reading once, and several I find incomprehensible. Weighted heavily toward the literary end of the sf spectrum.
Harlan Ellison
Deathbird Stories. Take the Caveat Lector seriously. Avoid reading it all in one sitting if possible (I think I did it in two), although most people with any sensibility will figure this out after the first couple stories. The title story, "The Deathbird," is my favorite.
Harlan Ellison (ed.)
Dangerous Visions. A landmark collection of sf that was over-the-edge at the time.
Martin H. Greenberg (ed.)
My Favorite Science Fiction Story. A collection of some prominent writers' favorite sf stories. Some of the stories aren't very good, but they were selected for impact. (I can think of a few stories that made a lasting impact on me, but which weren't particularly good in retrospect.)
James Gunn (ed.)
The Road to Science Fiction Vol. 3: From Heinlein to Here. An excellent anthology of somewhat older (1950s to 1970s?) sf. If you were to buy just one sf anthology to get a taste of the genre's history, I'd suggest this one or perhaps The Ascent of Wonder, below. I look forward to picking up more in this series of anthologies.
David G. Hartwell (ed.)
The Year's Best Fantasy. An excellent anthology showcasing a variety of fantasy. The majority of the stories were good or better.
David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer (eds.)
The Ascent of Wonder. The place to go for short hard sf, from vintage to modern. Thanks to Paul Urayama.
Tanith Lee
Red As Blood. A skewed and sensual collection of retold fairytales, including a vampiric Snow White, a devilish Cinderella, and more.
Jack McDevitt
Standard Candles. Sf collection. McDevitt's stories consistently juxtapose scientific ideas and concerns with human ones, and even the bleaker ones display deep compassion.
Robin McKinley (ed.)
Imaginary Lands. A wonderful fantasy collection themed around a sense of place. P.C. Hodgell fans should check out "Stranger Blood," in which Jame appears; Blaylock's "Paper Dragons" and Yolen's "Evian Steel" are also worth the price of admission by themselves.
Christopher Priest
An Infinite Summer. Priest writes odd, dreamy sf, of which the best example of "Whores," concerning a soldier returning from the Dream Archipelago.
Pamela Sargent
Starshadows. A collection of odd sf, most of it bordering on surrealistic in style.
Tom Shippey (ed.)
The Oxford Book of Fantasy Stories. A well-balanced mix of high fantasy, humor, and grittier fare.
Robert Silverberg & Karen Haber (eds.)
Science Fiction: The Best of 2002. Full disclosure: my short story "The Black Abacus" appears within. Don't miss Ted Chiang's "Liking What You See: A Documentary," a thoughtful and multifaceted exploration of "lookism," or Ian MacLeod's "Breathmoss," a meditation on "the Pain of Distance," set in a lushly evoked, Islamic-flavored future.
Cordwainer Smith (Paul Linebarger)
The Rediscovery of Man. A huge, complete collection of his Instrumentality of Man stories. Most are dated, some are puzzling, and others are awkward, but the breadth of his future vision and his gift for the oddling turn of phrase are breathtaking. Stories not to miss include "A Game of Rat and Dragon" and "The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal."
Theodore Sturgeon
E Pluribus Unicorn. Sturgeon's tales sometimes verge on horror, but relentlessly and compassionately explore people. Particularly notable: "The Silken-Swift," perhaps the unicorn story; "The World Well Lost," which approaches a strange love from two directions; and "A Way of Thinking," a curious murder/voodoo tale.
Harry Turtledove with Martin H. Greenberg (eds.)
The Best Military Science Fiction of the 20th Century. Some of the choices puzzle me (Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonrider," for instance), but there are some very good stories in here.
Joan D. Vinge
Eyes of Amber and Other Stories. The best tales are "To Bell the Cat," which juxtaposes first contact with aliens with humans' growing insensitivity to each other, and "Tin Soldier," a romance between a cyborg and a starhopper.
Margaret Weis (ed.)
A Dragon-Lover's Treasury of the Fantastic. A dragon-themed fantasy anthology with a few gems. Of particular note in McKillip's "The Fellowship of the Dragon," which can be read as a gentle feminist parody of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman (eds.)
Treasures of Fantasy. A decent selection, ranging from high fantasy to humor and back again. My favorites included: "Not Long Before the End" (Larry Niven), concerning magical entropy and its consequences for the intelligentsia; "Lady of the Skulls" (Patricia McKillip), wherein a tower of treasures holds more and less than it seems; "Sandmagic" (Orson Scott Card), a cautionary tale of revenge; "Narrow Valley" (R.A. Lafferty), where impromptu Native American magic confuses the real estate market; "The Dragonbone Flute" (Lois Tilton); "The Man Who Loved the Sea" (Alan Brennert); and "The Seventh Mandarin" (Jane Yolen), a fable about humility.
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