The subtitle of Gordon Van Gelder’s In Lands That Never Were is Tales of Swords and Sorcery From the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Van Gelder provides a mix of stories from the Very Famous, like Fritz Leiber’s iconic “Ill Met in Lankhmar” and Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp’s Conan tale, “The Hall of the Dead,” to more obscure stories like Yoon Ha Lee’s “Counting the Shapes.”
I enjoyed the Alaric story, “The Island in the Lake” by Phyllis Eisenstein, as the minstrel with the power to teleport becomes entangled in a Royal plot. Also fun is Jeffrey Ford’s “The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant” where a prolific Fantasy writer needs the help of his young assistant to regain touch with his invented World and its in habitants.
If you’re in the mood for some well-written fantasy stories full of adventure and thrills, give In the Lands That Never Were a try. GRADE: B+
Table of Contents:
Introduction — ix
| The hall of the dead / Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp — 1 | ||
| A hedge against alchemy / John Morressy — 27 | ||
| Ill met in Lankhmar / Fritz Leiber — 45 | ||
| Counting the shapes / Yoon Ha Lee — 101 | ||
| Firebird / R. Garcia y Robertson — 127 | ||
| Dragon’s gate / Pat Murphy — 169 | ||
| After the Gaud Chrysalis / Charles Coleman Finlay — 201 | ||
| The swordsman whose name was not death / Ellen Kushner — 247 | ||
| The island in the lake / Phyllis Eisenstein — 265 | ||
| Darkrose and diamond / Ursula K. Le Guin — 311 | ||
| King Rainjoy’s tears / Chris Willrich — 345 | ||
| The fantasy writer’s assistant / Jeffrey Ford — 375 |
Good collection. My favorites would be the Leiber and Ford.
Steve, like you I’m a fan of Leiber and Ford. But, Van Gelder provides several other entertaining stories, too.
One story Gordon might’ve overlooked that I suggest he shouldn’t have is Glen Cook’s “The Seventh Fool” (March 1978), which is expert Jack Vance pastiche, and I remember it rather more fondly than the often interesting Dread Empire stories Cook published with F&SF in later issues.
Having mostly left the Conan attempts by de Camp and company (happily) to FANTASTIC and (back when) FANTASTIC UNIVERSE, F&SF has published some impressive S&S over the years…and the lack of any Vance Cugel stories, at least, is also puzzling.
Or even, which i expert Vance pastiche. So, what is this sleep I’ve heard tales of?
Damn. IS!
Todd, I’m frequently puzzled by the story choices some editors make. I’ll have to check out “The Seventh Fool.”
Always like LeGuin and Ford.
Patti, writers like Le Guin and Ford rarely disappoint.
I also like Leiber and Ford but you lost me at “Sword and Sorcery.”
Jeff, while some of the stories, like Leiber’s and Howard/de Camp, are true “Sword and Sorcery,” Le Guin and Ford’s stories deal more in magic and humor.
No lack of humor/wit in S&S fiction. The field was never restricted to Conan nor his clones.
Todd, but Robert E. Howard developed the template for Sword and Sorcery that led other writers to sell millions of copies of books in that genre.
Yes, but he didn’t quite invent it, and other writers such as C. L. Moore were his direct contemporaries. He influenced the likes of Leiber, but Leiber immediately improved on Howard’s model.
Todd, Leiber and Moore exceeded Howard’s model considerably. The next Big Move was Moorcock upending the genre.
This sounds like a good mix of stories. Maybe that will turn up at the annual book sale in September.
Tracy, I can recommend all of the anthologies that collect stories from THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION. The quality of the stories holds up over the years!