Great Collections (*not* anthologies)

[J-Sun]

J's dictionary:
anthology, n. a multi-author volume of short fiction.
collection, n. a single-author volume of short fiction.

I recently saw a thread asking Can you recommend a good science fiction short story collection? (i.e., "anthology") which reminded me of the opposite thread on Essential Anthologies where the OP meant "collections" but the thread ended up being about anthologies. I'm not sure I've ever seen a thread so thoroughly derailed before (good job, j.d. ) as it ended up being an nine-year thread almost entirely about the title rather than the post. I'd thought before to start a thread for collections after reading that one but never got around to it but now the newer thread's made me decide to try it. I suspect this won't get as much activity as even anthology threads do, which is less than novels, but maybe someone will want to play.

First, while everyone's free to talk about what they want and I might talk about them later, I'm not going to get into double novella books, connected collections or fixups, or many omnibuses and I'm also skipping "collected/complete"-type collections, for now. Just focusing on your standard "collection" collections.

Also, I'm not mentioning anything from the Ballantine/Del Rey "The Best of" series because, IMO, virtually all of those are great and essential. Similarly, I need to get the rest of the 30s-50s guys out of the way. It's like baroque music where almost everything's numbered and it's all wonderful and very difficult to narrow down to essentials. I'd just say that everything Asimov and Heinlein wrote is great. Among the Asimov titles, maybe Nine Tomorrows (1959) and The Bicentennial Man (1976) stick out, but it's impossible to say. Also, almost every "main" Sturgeon collection is great (though I was less thrilled with Beyond (1960) and In Orbit (1964) than the rest and, as Starshine (1966) is half-resorts and just six stories total, I'm not sure it counts as "main" and I don't even have it. Leiber is also great and it's hard to pick out favorites but maybe Night's Black Agents (1947) and The Worlds of Fritz Leiber (1976) stick out there. (He also has a TBO which I think is, as I said, great.) A.E. van Vogt is maybe the last biggie and he has a lot of great collections, including Monsters (1965) but probably his most essential ones are his first two main collections, Away and Beyond and Destination: Universe (both 1952) where the second may be even better than the first.

For the later stuff, where I can pick some trees out of the forest (though some copses of authors remain), I love:

• The Diploids (1962) by Katherine MacLean
• The Last Hurrah of the Golden Horde (1970) by Norman Spinrad
• Alone Against Tomorrow (1971) by Harlan Ellison, though Deathbird Stories (1975) is right there.
• The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth and Other Stories (1971) by Roger Zelazny, which wins the award for best collection with worst title. But every Zelazny collection with a 60s stories in it (at least) is great, which includes Four for Tomorrow (1967, with two of the four stories repeating in Doors, but the other two still being worth it if you can get it cheap) and even The Last Defender of Camelot (1980) and Unicorn Variations (1983).
• Warm Worlds and Otherwise (1975) by James Tiptree, Jr. Like Zelazny and some others, basically everything is great. Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home (1973) may have too many earlier, lighter stories and Out of the Everywhere (1981) may get a little too heavy relative to its art like some of the stuff that came after but are both still pretty indispensable and Star Songs of an Old Primate (1978) is right there in the Goldilocks-zone of Warm Worlds, so picking between the two is pretty arbitrary.
• Starlight (1976) by Alfred Bester, which is a sort of omnibus but only in real hardcover, as the SFBC and paperback editions immediately stuck The Light Fantastic and Star Light, Star Bright together. There's since been a Virtual Unrealities/Redemolished pair that supersedes this but takes two volumes.
• The Persistence of Vision (1978) by John Varley. Truly staggering short fiction explosion by this guy, in which The Barbie Murders (1980) and Blue Champagne (1986) are also essential, even if each successive volume might lose a hair on its predecessor.
• The Classic Philip Jose Farmer, 1952-1964 and 1964-73 (both 1984) by Philip Jose Farmer. These two should have been turned into one volume like the Bester and they're probably not widely available but, if you find 'em, grab 'em.
• Beyond the Safe Zone (1986) by Robert Silverberg. This is cheating as it's basically an omnibus of particular editions of Unfamiliar Territory (1973), The Feast of St. Dionysus (1975), and Capricorn Games (1976) but I'd recommend them all individually as great either way. Also, while those collected most of his independent 70s stuff before his hiatus and The Conglomeroid Cocktail Party (1984) collects most of the stuff right after it, I recall it as also being great.
• Patterns (1989) by Pat Cadigan
• Crystal Express (1989) by Sterling, which is possibly the thinnest hair better than A Good Old-Fashioned Future (1999). I think Globalhead (1992) is clearly less than those but, hey, it's Sterling! It's still essential.
• The Start of the End of It All (1990) by Carol Emshwiller
• Points of Departure (1990) by Pat Murphy
• Bloodchild (1995) by Octavia E. Butler. There's two versions of this, with a newer edition adding a couple of stories so it's likely the one to get. I have the older one, but it's fantastic. She may top Chiang for the best story writer with the least production in the form ever, if only because Chiang's published a few more stories.
• Axiomatic (1995) by Greg Egan may edge Luminous (1998), which is still great, and I'm sure, when ever I get around to it, Oceanic will be right in there somewhere.
• Stories of Your Life and Others (2002) by Ted Chiang. I'm really cheating here, as I haven't actually sat down and read the whole thing yet but I've read almost all of it here and there, so I know it's incredible even if all the rest sucks, which is highly unlikely.
• A Separate War (2006) by Joe Haldeman. Haldeman just keeps getting better at the short form. Every major collection he releases is better than the one before. None So Blind (1996) is still great, though, Dealing in Futures (1985) may be great and is certainly very good, and Infinite Dreams (1978) is still good.

So. Anybody have anything to add? Want to second any of mine? Want to tell me how terrible or backwards some of mine are? I look forward to either of the first two, but I'll even take the third.

 

[Randy M.]

Hi, J-Sun.

I can second Haldeman's None So Blind though it's not your first choice, also Butler's Bloodchild which is one of the best s.f. collections I've ever read, also Bester's Starlight and Zelazny's The Doors.... All are terrific reads. I'd add Ursula Le Guin's The Wind's Twelve Quarters as a great collection. I've only dipped into later collections, so I'm sure there's a better choice for displaying the mature Le Guin at her best, but I've loved this collection since I first picked it up.

You're focusing mainly on s.f. so I hope you don't mind my focus on fantasy/horror -- I've gotten away from science fiction, though the urge to dip into some has recently been nagging at me. As with s.f. there are collections that are must reads: Fancies and Goodnights by John Collier, Nightmares & Geezenstacks by Fred Brown, The Compleat Werewolf by Anthony Boucher, The October Country by Ray Bradbury, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter or collected/complete editions of their collections (throw in Brown, Zenna Henderson, Cordwainer Smith, Cyril Kornbluth, Kuttner and Moore, Davis Grubb, Gerald Kersh, among others).

Among collections I think fantasy/horror readers would find of interest:

Good Neighbors and Other Strangers by Edgar Pangborn (1972): Damon Knight said Pangborn was a one note author, but he hit that note beautifully time and again; if you like the more compassionate side of Sturgeon, this is a collection you'd want to read. This collection is a mix of fantasy and s.f. with one horror story, and a good one, "Longtooth."

You're All Alone by Fritz Leiber (1972): only three stories, and not one of his best known collections. The title story is the novella version of the novel The Sinful Ones and I think stronger for the paring away. "Four Ghosts in Hamlet" is a great theater ghost story, not all that scary but quite funny in spots. "The Creature from the Cleveland Sea" is the weakest story, Leiber trying too hard for a jaunty, screwball comedy tone, but the s.f. base of the story feels prescient to me.

Grimscribe by Thomas Ligotti (1991): a Lovecraftian, but not one overwhelmed by HPL. Ligotti has his own themes and approaches, and one of the most distinctive story-telling styles I've come across in sf/f/h.

More Shapes than One by Fred Chappell (1991): a bit of horror and a bit of humor, this is a collection by a writer known for mainstream work delving into more fantasy-like content. "The Adder" is a clever, funny, finally chilling Lovecraft-inspired story; "Weird Tales" has HPL and Hart Crane meet; but my favorite may be "Linneas Forgets" which is the kind of fantasy that offers a weird, compelling vista. Geez, I need to reread this.

Extremities by Kathe Koja (1997): commercial horror written through a more literary sensibility. Not all of these stories fit the category of horror, but all of them are dark, compressed, evocative, and powerful. Readers drawn to fiction descended from Poe, Hawthorne, Melville and filtered through both feminist thought and the prose styles of 20th century authors would find this of interest.

The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche by Peter S. Beagle (1997): might be hard to find something less like Koja published in the same year. Anyway, includes his early stories, "Come, Lady Death," a graceful Gothic, and "Lila, the Werewolf" which still reads like something Woody Allen should have filmed; also "Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros" which is just beautiful. I have read no more graceful stylist in sf/fantasy/horror than Beagle.

The Throne of Bones by Brian McNaughton (1997): apparently 1997 was a good year for collections I liked. McNaughton was playing off the work of Clark Ashton Smith. He wasn't as distinctive or smooth a stylist, but he knew story construction and this collection is a solid homage to Smith, especially the title story.

The Feesters in the Lake by Bob Leman (2002): in a just world this would still be in print. Leman's writing style is like a smoother version of '50s s.f. writers like Heinlein and his approach to story-telling is rather like that, too, but he was a fan of Lovecraft before that was popular and the title story, "Loob" and "Olida," among others, are fine examples of what can be done with that kind of influence. Still, "Instructions" is maybe my favorite; a truly weird tale.

The Two Sams by Glen Hirshberg (2003): another example of work in line of descent from M. R. James, a collection of five quite good ghost stories, some of them even featuring ghosts. One of the stories is rather weak, but only in relation to the excellence of the others. I like his next collection, American Morons, but this is the collection that grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go until I finished the last story.

In the Palace of Repose by Holly Phillips (2005): read this just long enough ago my memories aren't sharp, but I remember being swept up in excellent stories, a mix of s.f./fantasy. The title story in particular as I recall had a gently elegiac tone that appealed to me.

The Gist Hunter and Other Stories by Matthew Hughes (2005): first section of stories became the basis for Majestruum, the second section was the basis (I think) for The Commons, and the third section were stand alones. Great fun reading.

To Charles Fort, With Love by Caitlin R. Kiernan (2005): Weird fantasy from one of the best fantasy/horror writers I've come across in the new century. "Le Peau Verte" may be a small masterpiece.

In the Forest of Forgetting by Theodora Goss (2006): fairy tales and fantasy, written under the influence of Angela Carter I think, but distinct from Carter's work. Another collection that cast a spell on me and drew me in.

The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susannah Clarke (2006): further explorations of the world of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Charming writing, like the novel, and graceful story-telling.

The Bone Key by Sarah Monette (2007): these stories feature Kyle Murchison Booth and merge M. R. James with H. P. Lovecraft written from a different, more empathetic point of view. Really a fine collection highlighted by an excellent novella, "The Wall of Sleep."

Holiday by M. Rickert (2010): I really need to get to Map of Dreams. A mix of s.f./fantasy/horror, these are phenomenally poignant stories. My favorite may be "Was She Wicked? Was She Good?" but "The Christmas Witch" and "Evidence of Love in a Case of Abandonment" among others are very, very strong stories.


Ooookay. Possibly I've gotten carried away.

Randy M.

 

[dask]

If the house was on fire and I had just seconds, I'd grab these...:


...even if it meant singeing my pinkies.

 

[dask]

Yeah, I noticed too late I violated the subjunctive mood. Sorry.

 

[J-Sun]

Hi, Randy.

As far as yours, I definitely thought about the Le Guin and did enjoy it a lot but, given that it's been so long since I've read it (not that that stopped me with some) and I'm not sure what I'd think of it on a re-read, I left it off. I figured someone would mention it. As far as adding more F&H to the SF, by all means! I'm just very weak there, myself, so your knowledge there is great. All the speculative stuff is welcome. As far as what you've added, while I'm unfamiliar with most, I dislike almost none of what you add. Just the Henderson but I don't even "dislike" her - just have to admit she just doesn't really do it for me, but that's more a reflection on me than anything else. I like the Collier and Brown collections a great deal (though I did replace my Brown with that complete collection that NESFA brought out that the SFBC made affordable enough for me and replaced my Collier with The John Collier Reader, which I haven't read yet and was probably a mistake, as it does drop a couple of stories in place of all it adds. Should have kept both, probably. I did keep my TBO of Brown.) Also, love Smith, Kornbluth, and Moore. Good to hear you recommend Kersh. I picked up one of his collections not too long ago on the strength of a dimly remembered Harlan Ellison recommendation and hope to read it One of These Days.

On your others, I think of the Leiber as being a short novel with a couple of stories added, but I agree completely with your description. (Sidenote: it's "Cleveland Depths", also in The Night of the Wolf under the title "The Lone Wolf" - that collection has the really interesting but flawed "The Night of the Long Knives" (as "The Wolf Pair") in it but isn't his best collection overall. Dask and I have talked about that story before. If I recall correctly he liked it even more than I did.)

I've read some Matt Hughes stories (in that Archonate universe that The Gist Hunter is connected with) and some of Sarah Monette's work with Elizabeth Bear and I was impressed by both. I should look into them more. And then Fred Chappell is well-known around these parts. I dashed off to the local bookstore but couldn't find the collection (picked up a novel instead) so I ordered that one. He's a mainstream and speculative poet, short story writer, and novelist, so it's about time I gave him a try.

Ooookay. Possibly I've gotten carried away.

Impossible! It's good to see someone else get into the spirit of things.

Yeah, I noticed too late I violated the subjunctive mood. Sorry.

That's okay. Not many people use it anymore - I'm pretty random about it myself. As far as Vance, I'm sadly deficient. I have read stories in anthologies as well as the Pocket The Best of (which don't seem to be as comprehensive as the Ballantines but Ballantine didn't do one of Vance) and I recall liking it but didn't run off and buy a bunch more. I do have some more Vance upcoming - mostly novels in series but also some of the later Dying Earth short and long fiction, so maybe that'll push me into more. Do you have a special favorite from the rest of those or are they all favorite children?

 

[dask]

Ballantine does have one collection that I'm aware of:

Don't know where my copy is otherwise I'd look up the four stories for you.
I especially like "The Men Return" and "Rumfuddle."

 

[dask]

Oh yeah, don't overlook the Star King books. Regardless of what anyone says, they're great. And "The Last Castle," don't forget the "The Last Castle."

 

[Extollager]

Walter M. Miller's Conditionally Human and The View from the Stars. If I had to pare my library way, way down, these would still make the cut.

 

[dask]

Never seen that edition of The View From The Stars. I want one!

 

[Extollager]

Two more collections I'd want to keep: The Tolkien Reader and Lord Dunsany's At the Edge of the World, Ballantine paperbacks from many years ago. Tolkien I still love. I generally can't stay interested in Dunsany any more, but I'd like to keep this book anyway because, when I bought it at its first appearance, it was such a big deal for my imaginative life for a while.

 

[dask]

Oh yeah, don't overlook the Star King books. Regardless of what anyone says, they're great.

I say that for a reason because sometimes people who know what they're talking about don't have a clue what they're saying.
Found my Future Tense: Dodkin's Job; Ullward's Retreat; Sail 25; The Gift Of Gab.

 

[Extollager]

Never seen that edition of The View From The Stars. I want one!

A book called The Best of Walter M. Miller collects most or all that's in the two books I mentioned, but I liked the look of these vintage paperbacks and was able to pick up affordable copies.

 

[J-Sun]

I say that for a reason because sometimes people who know what they're talking about don't have a clue what they're saying.
Found my Future Tense: Dodkin's Job; Ullward's Retreat; Sail 25; The Gift Of Gab.

When you say "Star Kings," you mean the series that starts with The Star King? I think of that as the "Demon Princes" series and it's funny you should mention it because I'm checking the mail every day in anticipation as I just ordered an omnibus of all five books in the series a week or two ago.

As far as the Vance, I was speaking more of Ballantine not having a "The Best of" Vance as part of their series rather than that they didn't have any at all. As far as the one they do have, thanks for the info. It's kind of weird - turns out I have all those stories in various places, though I've only read the two that are reprinted in the Pocket TBO so far ("Ullward's Retreat" and "Sail 25").

And you guys are making me regret not illustrating my list. You've posted some cool covers. Unfortunately, looking over my stuff, I realize that most of my great collections have surprisingly un-great covers - especially the newer ones. Here's a couple I love, though (and they aren't new):

 

[J-Sun]

Also, while I didn't specifically cite them, I talked about the Ballantine TBO series generally and, while a lot of the covers are "eh," I like some, such as

 

[Extollager]

Darrell Sweet's art has its fans, but it always seems flatfooted to me. Conversely, I'm not nuts about Richard Powers's once-ubiquitous abstract art for sf covers (J-Sun's van Vogts), but it does have a pleasing period flavor....

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Each of these is a collection of stories set in a particular world. The collections include novels and short fiction. Both are brilliant, but I think that Shepard's world is more fully realized and accessible than Harrison's, and the characterizations are better. A matter of taste, probably, but I don't think Shepard gets anything close to the recognition he deserves.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

There are numerous collections of Tanith Lee's remarkable work, any of which I would recommend, but here are a few of them:

 

[dask]

When you say "Star Kings," you mean the series that starts with The Star King? I think of that as the "Demon Princes" series and it's funny you should mention it because I'm checking the mail every day in anticipation as I just ordered an omnibus of all five books in the series a week or two ago.

Yeah, I meant the Demon Princes series. As for the available Vance collections over the years, get two or three of them and you pretty much have all his sf stories available in book form as they tend to recycle the same bunch over and over. Even LOST MOONS isn't completely free from this. What we need is a new collection of uncollected stories. But is there a publishing house that brave?

 

[Randy M.]

Hi, Randy.

As far as yours, I definitely thought about the Le Guin and did enjoy it a lot but, given that it's been so long since I've read it (not that that stopped me with some) and I'm not sure what I'd think of it on a re-read, I left it off. I figured someone would mention it. As far as adding more F&H to the SF, by all means! I'm just very weak there, myself, so your knowledge there is great. All the speculative stuff is welcome.

You've started one of my favorite games of listing favorite books, and since I'm very fond of story collections, it produces long posts.

As far as what you've added, while I'm unfamiliar with most, I dislike almost none of what you add. Just the Henderson but I don't even "dislike" her - just have to admit she just doesn't really do it for me, but that's more a reflection on me than anything else.

Henderson's is a very soft sort of sf/fantasy, but I found her collection The Anything Box a terrific read way back when. Not sure what I'd think of it now.

To the "Best of"s that others mentioned, I'd add The Best of John Sladek. Funny, funny stories.

I like the Collier and Brown collections a great deal (though I did replace my Brown with that complete collection that NESFA brought out that the SFBC made affordable enough for me and replaced my Collier with The John Collier Reader, which I haven't read yet and was probably a mistake, as it does drop a couple of stories in place of all it adds.

Me, too, on both counts. My Fancies and Goodnights had lost its cover, so I needed to replace and came across the Reader second hand. Since then F&G has been reissued in the US by NYRB.

Should have kept both, probably. I did keep my TBO of Brown.) Also, love Smith, Kornbluth, and Moore. Good to hear you recommend Kersh. I picked up one of his collections not too long ago on the strength of a dimly remembered Harlan Ellison recommendation and hope to read it One of These Days.

I've only read that one collection. That and others have been reissued by Valancourt recently.

On your others, I think of the Leiber as being a short novel with a couple of stories added, but I agree completely with your description. (Sidenote: it's "Cleveland Depths",

Argh. I knew that. I disagree with ISFDB on "You're All Alone" being a novel or short novel; I think it's a novella. At any rate, it's short enough some readers faster than me could probably finish it in a sitting.


Randy M.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

As far as Fritz Leiber goes, I like The Ghost Light, which has a lot of his classic stories.

As far as Harlan Ellison goes, I like Strange Wine, which has many fine stories.

It's hard to go wrong with any of the single author collections put out by NESFA:

From These Ashes (Fredric Brown)

Ingathering (complete People stories of Zenna Henderson)

His Share of Glory (C. M. Kornbluth)

The Rediscovery of Man (Cordwainer Smith)

There are many others, but those are the ones I've read.

If you'll allow me to cheat a bit and list a collection by two authors who usually collaborated (and were married), I will include Two-Handed Engine (Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore)

Any collection by Robert Sheckley is good. One recent one that is excellent is Store of the Worlds.