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28 comments:
Anthologies...
What are some interesting/memorable anthologies you've read.
e.g. Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Comics/superhero
Sci-Fi - I remember, as a kid, reading Best sci-fi 7, editor Edmund Crispin, with what looked like a Disc Jockey on the front cover:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18400722-best-sf-7
This had a strange story about a monster, called 'Snuffles' !
Fantasy - A Treasure of Fantasy - Editor Cary Wilkins - lots of obscure tales, including a medieval romance featuring Palmerin of England.
The Mammoth Book of Fantasy - Mike Ashley - Moorcock, Ted Sturgeon, Robert E. Howard - all the classics.
Superheroes - Everything Marvel UK's an anthology of sorts - but I'll plumb for the very first Marvel Superheroes Monthly - Sal blends superbly with Marcos inks, plus the old X-Men, & a third tale, which I've forgotten
US - Marvel Novel Series # 9:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1357143.The_Marvel_Superheroes
The Cockrum cover alone sells this one!
So which anthologies were memorable in your youth?
Phillip
Hi Philip. Good call! Question: would reprints like 80 - 100 page Giants by DC or Marvel 64 pagers count?
Yes - that comes under comics/superheroes!
Phillip
Thanks for the topic, Phillip. I'm going to have a long, hard think about this one...
I really liked ‘American Supernatural Tales’ - a relatively recent Penguin Classics. The Library of America ‘American Fantastic Tales’ is a bigger version of the same sort of thing.
And my wife bought me the Penguin ‘Science Fiction Omnibus’ edited by Brian Aldiss, which was amazing.
I picked up a copy of the New Worlds paperback anthology too, but it was a bit tiring after a while.
For comics, the A1 anthologies from the end of the 80s where magic.
"Where Monsters Walk" by Michael Avallone which I bought in the autumn of 1978. It was a paperback and the cover featured a werewolf (I assume) wearing a grey overcoat with a full moon and hilly landscape in the background (you can google it). This anthology featured some great little stories which have stuck in my mind all these years:
A gang of bank robbers return to their hideout with the loot and remove their masks only to reveal they are all robots!
A woman is told by a fortune-teller that she'll kill a man. While driving home she runs over and kills a woman...whose surname is Mann.
A Frenchman takes a short-cut through a haunted forest.
A New York cop encounters the Devil on Christmas Eve.
A group of peasants decide to rise up against the local vampire Count Darkus. They march on the vampire's castle but when Darkus appears they all flee in terror.
Excellent topic Phillip! I love anthologies of all kinds- books, comics, cds; where to begin?
In books: I've read and enjoyed many. Actually, I'm currently reading a great one: "Holt Anthology of Science Fiction ". It is apparently a book for students, as it has teacher's notes and study preps throughout. It contains a fine selection of older and newer science fiction, including Arthur C. Clarke's "The Sentinel " (the short story that led to 2001:A Space Odyssey- but you knew that). Found this at a flea market...
In comics: Big fan of horror anthologies. Obviously DC leads the pack, but lately I've been sampling old Charlton anthologies, and the occasional Archie attempt ("Chilling Adventures in Sorcery "). As a kid, I greatly enjoyed the various digest comics found on our local store shelves. Walt Disney Comics Digest and Golden Comics Digest were the ones I sought out. Especially "Golden"; one month it was Little Lulu, next month Hanna Barbera stories (hopefully with Space Ghost).
Musically : may I extend your topic into music? More specifically, to the musical anthologies known as compilations. My shelves are full of them. Among my favorites are the various Time/Life collections. Recently acquired a terrific set of 10 cds, representing each year of the 70's. Time/Life packs them full, usually 20 or more cuts per disc!
And as a kid, I liked to pick up those Ronco and K-Tel albums...
Redartz - Yes, I remember the massive television advertising for the K-tel, Time/Life, etc musical anthologies. Strangely, this all seemed to cease, after the early 90s. I have hazy memories of the final such album I ever remember advertised on UK television - its playlist included Beverly Craven's 'Promise Me', and 'Stay With Me Till Dawn', by Judie Tzuke. As 'Promise Me' supposedly became an anthem for military couples separated by the First Gulf War, I'm assuming this album was around 1990, or maybe the following year.
Another earlier anthology album I remember heavily advertised on UK tv, was 'A String of Hits', by the Shadows. 1979? The tv advert played a bit of the Shadows' take on 'Classical Gas' - and that was the first time I'd ever heard it played.
Of course, there were many others! Standouts? 'Echoes of Gold', 'Brotherhood of Man's 20 No.1 hits', 'Themes For Superheroes' - mfp.
Phillip
Starting with Horror / Supernatural …
I have dozens of Horror Fiction anthologies — off the top of my head, these are some of my faves:
Alfred Hitchcock’s GHOSTLY GALLERY
Alden H. Norton - MASTERS OF HORROR
Peter Hainig - THE MIDNIGHT PEOPLE
Weinberg, Dziemianowicz and Greenberg - WEIRD TALES: 32 UNEARTHED TERRORS
Marvin Kaye - MASTERPIECES OF TERROR AND THE SUPERNATURAL
Kirby McCauley - DARK FORCES
Bill Pronzini - TALES OF THE DEAD
Several excellent ongoing series :
The notorious PAN BOOK OF HORROR
The FONTANA BOOK OF GREAT GHOST STORIES
DAW’s YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES (Boy, did I love those)
Horror Comics:
I love the EC’s and the Warren Magazines, they’re the cream of the crop. I’m fond of Marvel’s ‘All New’ anthologies of the 70s (CHAMBER OF CHILLS, TOWER OF DARKNESS, etc), even though they’re wildly uneven. Their B/W mags (VAMPIRE TALES, MONSTERS UNLEASHED, etc) also contain a mix of ‘Pretty Good’ to ‘Pretty Bad’ material. The Pre-Code Atlas books have some gems (lots of tasty art by Russ Heath and Bill Everett). MENACE is a pretty consistently good title.
The various Charlton anthologies have some good stuff (Ditko, Sutton, Staton) mixed in with the mediocre. Honestly, same is true of DC’s Horror Anthologies — there’s lots of nice art (Alcala, Nino, Redondo, Aparo, Grandenetti, etc) but also quite a lot of junk. I would single out the first ten or so issues of THE WITCHING HOUR as being a bit Above Average.
I love Archie’s short-lived CHILLING TALES OF SORCERY, with great stuff by Gray Morrow, Doug Wildey, Howard Chaykin, Vicente Alcazar and others.
TV series:
TWILIGHT ZONE, OUTER LIMITS and THRILLER (Boris Karloff, not Brian Clemens) are my faves.
b.t.
Brotherhood Of Man's 20 No 1 Hits?? They had 3 No.1 hits - Save Your Kisses For Me, Angelo and Figaro.
Colin - I got the title slightly wrong. Nevertheless, it's a surprisingly good album!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing_20_Number_One_Hits
Phillip
The Red Album and The Blue Album
Charlie - Truly excellent albums, but if the songs are ALL Beatles songs...it's not really a musical anthology!
Phillip
PHILLIP! Charlie consulted his legal counsel. His counsel said “too busy - go away!” So Charlie consulted the dictionary. The dictionaries said an anthology is simply “a collection.” No requirement that each piece has a different author. Going with the dictionary Charlie would like to add ROLLING STONES “THROUGH THE PAST DARKLY”. But i do see your point!
A few of my favorite Sword and Sorcery Collections:
L.Sprague De Camp - THE SPELL OF SEVEN (all four of De Camp’s S.A.S. anthos are good, this one has the best overall collection of individual stories, IMHO, with a good Elric story and an superb Fafhrd and Mouser)
Lin Carter - FLASHING SWORDS 1 and 2 (Nerd Nostalgia talking here mostly — the actual stories are mostly just ‘OK’ — but those Frazetta covers, DAY-um)
Andrew J. Offutt - SWORDS AGAINST DARKNESS 1 (quirky mix of traditional and offbeat S.A.S. by an eclectic group of authors - Manly Wade Wellman, David Drake, Ramsey Campbell, Poul Anderson — all 5 volumes are solid, though vol. 3 goes for insane prices these days)
Music compilation anthologies:
Rhino Records put out tons of great ‘Oldies’ CDs in the 90s and early 00s. The ‘Didn’t It Blow Your Mind / Soul Hits of the 70s’ series is probably my favorite. I also dig their ‘Just Can’t Get Enough / New Wave Hits’ series and the ‘Have A Nice Day / Super Hits of the 70s’ discs. Their ‘Nuggets’ series of Psychadelic / Garage Rock compilations turned me on to lots of bands that weren’t on my radar (Love, Nazz, The Seeds, Amboy Dukes, etc)
Rhino also put out a 3-disc compilation of Power Pop artists called POPTOPIA! that’s irresistibly catchy and their 3-disc collection of Burt Bacharach songs, featuring hits by Dionne Warwick, the Fifth Dimension, Herb Alpert, Dusty Springfield etc is sublime.
Movie Soundtracks featuring various artists count, right? STREETS OF FIRE, Moroder’s Synth-pop METROPOLIS song-score, HEAVY METAL and THE BIG EASY get played a lot in my car.
b.t.
Some nice anthologies here. For myself the ones that stand out are:
SF: A book of short stories by Arthur Porges. I got this as a teenager and can only really recall a great story called "The Ruum" about a shoestring robot that was left on earth at the time of the dinosaurs by Aliens. I found it fascinating.
SF. Another best of collection called "The Eternal moment" again for a single story called "The Machine Stopped " by E. M. Forster ( the book was all Forster stories) I picked up a copy about 15 years ago great story.
Sword and Sorcery. Robert E Howrds Brak Max Morn(Been Books) very underrated stories and easy to read
Horror. As a kid I read a few of those Pan and Fontana collections. Was never a horror novel fan but I used to like these .The Eight Book of Pan Horror stories stick in my memory
Music. I have loads of music collections and loved those Arcade, K-Tel and Ronco LPs of the 1970s. But my fav is a 4 CD\vinyl collection called The edge of the 1970s" includes acts like X-Ray Spex, Bowoe, The Jam, "Joy Division Japan,PIL, Bauhaus, Blondie etc
.https://www.amazon.com/Edge-70s/dp/B001E18C86I
Comics: So many and most are good but I have a soft spot for the Warren collection and favourites are the Alex Toth and Steve Ditko books
Shoestring robot jeez no idea how that happened should have read "....a shape shifting robot.."
Paul - Not a facsimile of Trevor Eve, then?
Phillip
Paul, "The Machine Stopped" was dramatized on Radio 4 just a couple of months ago!
If Charlie can include the Beatles then I'll mention ABBA GOLD which is 30 years old today!!
As for TV - what about Roald Dahl's Tales Of The Unexpected.
Hmmm...I'm still more inclined to see anthologies as by a variety of contributors.
Part of the appeal is anthologies allow you to 'sample' - and if you like one (or more) contributor to the anthology, you can try other stuff of theirs!
That being said, a few months ago, I watched the ending of 'Neck', starring Peter Bowles, Joan Collins, & Sir John Gielgud, and found it highly entertaining!
Phillip
Lol took me a wee while to get that one Phillip
The Twentieth Century Short stories collection (Conrad, Lawrence, Saki, Forster and Greene) included The Machine Stops and was the only book I covered for my English Lit O'level that I actually enjoyed. Favourite comic anthology is Warrior, unsurprisingly, for Marvelman, V for Vendetta and Pressbutton. Close second is Drawn & Quarterly (all volumes) which introduced me to Joe Matt, Jason Lutes, Mardi and many more. TV series is probably Black Mirror, which despite the odd duff episode, was mostly great. Favourite anthology motto vehicle was my 1971 mark 3 Cortina, although being fair I didn't realise it had so many parts from other cars when I bought it...
DW
*Motor Vehicle*
D'oh
b.t.- quite right, Rhino did put out some fine compilations (anthologies, for this discussion). Those "Have a Nice Day" releases were notable for the inclusion of many cuts that don't often get heard,or included on most collections. I have a couple of them; one of which is the only cd I've ever found that includes Coven's "One Tin Soldier".
My choice for great anthology is Great Tales Of Terror And The Supernatural edited by Phyllis Wagner and Herbert Wise. Huge thick hardback, just over 1000 pages, just right to have by the side of the bed. Inside loads of stories by all the most famous ghost/horror writers, in many cases their best story and in most cases one of their best 2 or 3.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Terror-Supernatural-Modern-Library/dp/0679601287/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2HKOQBWDJ1FPM&keywords=Great+tales+of+terror+supernatural&qid=1663847406&s=books&sprefix=great+tales+of+terror+supernatural%2Cstripbooks%2C127&sr=1-1
I picked up an thick (600 page) anthology of Japanese monster stories called " The mammoth book of Kaiju" for £2 in a charity shop in the highlands last year that I forgot all about. Read one story yesterday and it's pretty good stuff.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mammoth-Book-Kaiju-Books/dp/1472135644
More Horror anthos:
TALES OF THE CTHULHU MYTHOS edited by August Derleth — the 2-volume Ballantine paperback set (with the kooky John Holmes faces on the covers) was my introduction to Lovecraft and his disciples, way back in ‘74.
Dangermash’s mention of the massive Wagner and Wise book reminds me of those huge ‘instant remainder’ Horror anthologies edited by Mary Danby, REALMS OF DARKNESS (with Sir Christopher Lee scowling on the dust jacket cover) and the ‘65 Great’ Books — 65 GREAT TALES OF HORROR, 65 GREAT TALES OF TGE SUPERNATURAL, and 65 GREAT SPINE CHILLERS. I used to see em in used bookstores all the time, got them all for just a few dollars apiece, and they’re all terrific.
McScotty’s mention of the MAMMOTH BOOK OF KAIJU reminds me of all those other fat ‘MAMMOTH’ titles from Robinson and/or Carrol and Graf — MBO FRANKENSTEIN, MBO WEREWOLVES, MBO GHOST STORIES, etc. I love those things. They’re especially great for long plane rides.
Sci-fi anthologies:
The 1970s were a great time for All Original SF anthology series. Robert Silverberg’s NEW DIMENSIONS and Terry Carr’s UNIVERSE books were both consistently good. Silverberg also had an on-going series called ALPHA where he reprinted stories that he felt were not as well known as they should have been, and Carr edited Ballantine’s BEST SCIENCE FICTION OF THE YEAR collections
from ‘72 to ‘87, and they’re all worth getting.
Oh, and Phillip — I also loved that slim MARVEL SUPER-HEROES anthology with the Cockrum cover back in the day.
b.t.
b.t. - Your earlier post struck a chord with me, too - "I'm sure I've got Lin Carter's 'Flashing Swords Book 2', somewhere...but where the hell have I put it!?" (Unless it's just the cover was featured on the back of 'Analog', and I'm remembering it from there - the old memory can't always be relied upon, these days!)
Phillip
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