Grails: Quests of the Dawn - Softcover

Various

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451453034 ISBN 13: 9780451453037

Publisher: Roc Trade, 1994

Synopsis

Gathers stories by Jane Yolen, Andre Norton, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Gene Wolfe, Alan Dean Foster, and Orson Scott Card

About this title

About the Author

Martin H. Greenberg���was honored in 1995 by the Mystery Writers of America with the Ellery Queen Award for lifetime achievement in mystery editing. He is also the recipient of two Anthony awards. Mystery Scene magazine called him "the best mystery anthologist since Ellery Queen." He has compiled more than 1,000 anthologies and���is the president of TEKNO books.���He lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Reviews

Actually, not quite original: Grails first appeared in 1992 as a 200,000-word hardcover limited to 1,000 copies. This volume is the first half of an expanded edition totalling 300,000 words (a second volume is promised for August 1994) and arrives courtesy of the editors who thought up last year's Confederacy of the Dead anthology. Strangely, though dedicating the book to Fritz Leiber, and including an afterword by him, the editors fail to mention that Leiber died in 1992. So, then, this first volume comprises three poems, one ``masque in verse,'' 20 stories, and the aforementioned afterword. Evidently, the authors were encouraged to take the idea of ``grail'' as metaphor and then run with it; sometimes they ran very far indeed. The results range from orthodox grail stories through Arthurian connections to elves, gypsies, the sun, westerns, WW I, charlatans, Atlantis, genies and wishes, second sight, freedom, visions, immortality, mad professors, baseball gloves, Down's syndrome, the Philosopher's Stone, and space-time distortions. The famous contributors include Andre Norton, Jane Yolen, Gene Wolfe, Alan Dean Foster, and Orson Scott Card. Patchy and discursive, with one or two real delights, some pleasant surprises and an equal number of clunkers. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Neil Gaiman's story of a housewife's encounter with a Knight of the Round Table ("Chivalry") to Brad Strickland's cautionary tale of covetousness and human foibles ("The Gift of Gilthaliad"), the 25 stories and poems that comprise this collection of Grail-inspired fiction represent a strong showing from a host of celebrated fantasy and sf authors. First published in a limited edition, this volume (the first in a two-part series) explores broad and literal interpretations of one of literature's most enduring legends. Suitable for fantasy and short story collections.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Roc Trade
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451453034
• ISBN 13: 9780451453037
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432
• Editor: Gilliam Richard, Greenberg Martin H.