This large collection of short stories by Collier (1901-1980), written between 1931 and 1951, won the 1952 International Fantasy Award in Fiction, the second book to win that award (although John Clute erroneously says it was the first winner; that distinction belongs to Stewart's "Earth Abides") (Interestingly, one of the individuals who originated the International Fantasy Award was John Beynon Harris [John Wyndham], and "Fancies and Goodnights" beat out Wyndham's "The Day of the Triffids" for the award.) Most of these stories appeared in mainstream magazines and contain fantasy or science fiction elements, often with some humor and a twist in the story. Although many of the stories now appear dated, it is only because Collier has had so many "descendents." The collection is also of interest to young writers as it can serve as a source for new ideas. Interestingly, this collection also won a 1951 Edgar Award for best mystery short stories of the year, even though there were only a handful of stories that one would call mysteries.

John Collier has the distinction of being the only writer who wrote a short storywhich I read decades ago, and remembered for years _as having been a novel_.The story was "Youth from Vienna" and it is only twenty pages long. I find that quite a few people remember individual John Collier stories which have been burned indelibly into their minds, without, alas, remembering the name of the author. "Oh, the story of the people living in the in the department stores..." "Oh, the one where Helen of Troy says 'here I am on a bearskin again.'" My continuing quest to replace worn-out, falling-apart paperbacks with new hardbounds continues to frustrate. How can this book possibly be available on cassette, but not in print?

I have seen John Collier grouped with Poe, O'Henry and Saki--to that list I would add Roald Dahl. Collier is a brilliant, subtle, and powerful writer of wicked little stories that take the reader by surprise. Clever, ingenious, and original are other words that come to mind. Collier himself said he had learned a great deal about writing from reading James Joyce--and we in turn can learn a great deal about some of the darker aspects of human nature (tinged with humor) from reading John Collier. Excellent.

I hate some of the stories in this book; the remainder leave me gibbering with awestruck, overwhelmed delight. The specific stories a reader might revile or adore (or both) will vary. It's a huge, manifold collection of shorts by one of the best writers in English from...

OK, I'm hesitant to say, "the last century" or "the century recently passed", partly because that's awfully goofy, and partly because I'm not near well-read enough to make such claims with authority. I'm gonna say it anyway. I stumbled upon a copy of a long out of print and svelter collection of Davidson's work (Or All The Seas With Oysters...) at fourteen and I've never been quite the same. He's not the writer whose works I wish I could have written: he is the writer whose works I would have wished I could have written had I been the writer I wished I could have been.

(we see why a writer I am not, Yoda knowingly says)

Davidson had a dear whimsy, a weariness, and a bite that was, dare I say it, very Jewish. When I (re)read his stories I feel as if I (an agnostic Gentile) have magically been allowed to understand & overhear the Yiddish folk yarns the kindly, crusty grandfather spins for the kids while the middle generation shouts in the background.

Davidson wrote as well as Singer. Perhaps better, at his best. No small praise; I know what I am claiming. Do not allow my muddy writing dissuade any reader from buying and luxuriating in this important collection.

As a long-term reader of science fiction and an admirer of the writings of Avram Davidson the publication of this particular book was, for me, a noteworthy event. I was able to renew my acquaintance with some of the delightful stories I had first read ten to twenty-five years ago. Each story is preceded by a thoughtful introduction by author friends of the late Mr. Davidson. I found these short essays generally very helpful since most of the writers maintained a correspondence with AD and could provide personal insights and biographical data related to the stories. The 38 stories are grouped chronologically by the decade in which they were published; Fifties to Nineties. I noticed that the excellent Ray Bradbury afterward had been used as an introduction to another out-of-print AD collection, Strange Seas and Shores, Doubleday, 1971. My only grouse is that I wish the editors had included a listing of the titles of AD books, novels and short story collections. Thank you editors Silverberg and Davis, a beautiful book and a fitting tribute to "one of the finest short story writers ever to use the English language"...Robert Silverberg.

Avram Davidson died in 1993. He was, as so often said, one of the great originals. His writing was elegant and complex: always adapted to the voices of his narrators and characters, always at some level humorous even when telling a dark story. He was one of those writers whose stories were always enjoyable just for wallowing in the prose: for its sprung rhythms and fine, out of the way, images. And his stories were enjoyable for wallowing in the atmosphere: for its evocation of exotic place-times, whether it be late '50s New York City or early '70s Belize or turn of the century Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania or far future Barnum's Planet, and for its evocation of exotic world-views, and the packing and repacking of wondrous, seemingly inconsequential (though rarely truly so) tidbits of history and unhistory into the backgrounds. And his best stories took these characteristics and harnessed them in the service of well-honed themes or (sometimes) clever plots.

This collection is organized as a retrospective, with the selections placed in order of first appearance. This is, I think, an excellent choice for any collection of this magnitude in that it allows the interested reader to try to track evolutions in the writer's style and thematic concerns over time. (I would suggest, perhaps, that the older Davidson was more prone to explorations of esoterica than the younger, and less often openly angry. Throughout his career he was ready with the comic touch, even in the midst of a darker context. His style was always special, but perhaps grew more involved as he grew older.)

Another feature of this collection is the introductions, by many of Davidson's friends: mostly fellow authors and editors, but also his bibliographer, Henry Wessels, and his son. This represent a significant chunk of "value added": they include some personal reminiscences, some analyses of the work, some elegiac passages. I'll add that the book is nicely and elegantly put together, and that editors Robert Silverberg and Grania Davis (as well as Tor in-house editor Teresa Nielsen Hayden) deserve thanks and applause for working to bring us this book.

But, of course, there is no Avram Davidson Treasury without the stories Avram Davidson wrote, of which 38 are assembled here. And the stories are the only real reason to buy and exult in this book. I'm a big Davidson fan, make no mistake: I come to this review not at all objective, and having reading all but a few of the stories already, many of them several times. At least one, "The Sources of the Nile", is firmly on my personal list of the best SF stories of all time.

There is not space to discuss the delightful stories herein contained. Suffice it to say that this collection is big enough, and varied enough, to whet the appetite of any reader whose ear can be tuned to catch the strains of Davidson's voice. And even this large collection inevitably leaves out many fine stories (the other Eszterhazy and Limekiller stories, "The Lord of Central Park", many more), to say nothing of his engaging collection of essays, Adventures in Unhistory, in which he discusses at length many obscure legends, and their possible bases in fact. So buy it and read it, and very likely you will find yourself searching out the out of print and small press books which house the rest of his work (for now), and very likely too you will be hoping with the rest of us Davidson lovers for a few more treasures to be dug from his papers.

Most of us have read Bradbury's '454" or even "Martian Chronicles," but I decided to branch out and read some of his other work. The Convector is full of digestible short stories, with subtle, clever twists. Great reading.

If Ray Bradbury had never writeen anything but "The Laurel and Hardy Love Affair," a short story which is in this book, he'd be my favorite writer. Of course, I'm a huge fan of those two comedians, and one of their best movies is the "subject" of the article, but the story is just great...I'll bet I've read it at least once a month for over 20 years. Buy this book to read that story!

This book the 'Toynbee Convector' is a very clever collection of Bradbury's works. Each story is unique and it is well worth searching used book stores for this one. I enjoyed this one tremendously as it continues in the tradition of 'The Martian Chronicles' and 'The Illustrated Man' with it's creativity.

This volume showcases the earliest works of Sturgeon, and it shows both that he was going to be really, really good, and that he wasn't quite there yet.

One of the great tragedies of science fiction's success in taking over the world is that we've lost our sense of the history of the genre. After the explosion of popularity the genre saw in the late seventies, there has simply been way too much science fiction and fantasy for anyone to read all of it, much less read the best of the past. In other words, the time when every fan had read the essential works has passed; any sense of tradition and common ground has vanished into the mediocrities of Hollywood and the latest endless series of repetitious commercial formula. Which is precisely why this series of Theodore Sturgeon's complete stories, accompanied by the recent reprints of most of his novels, is so incredibly important. When one considers the fact that at the 2002 World Science Fiction Convention I met three fans who had never even heard of Sturgeon, much less read him, these reprints are highly essential. How anyone can call themselves a fan without reading Sturgeon (and Heinlein, and Asimov, and C.L. Moore, and Kuttner, and so many more) is beyond me. This first installment of the complete works of the greatest short story writer science fiction and fantasy ever produced may not be his best, but it is critical for any understanding of where science fiction began to attain the levels of greatness it has all too often forgotten. Among the best this volume has to offer includes the utterly chilling and absolutely unique "Bianca's Hands," which will both revolt and delight you, and the charming "Ether Breather," with its original aliens. As a writer myself, I enjoyed all the journeyman work, especially since I could see how the craft developed; as a science fiction critic and scholar, I also thoroughly enjoyed the biographical story notes at the end, which may be the closest we ever get to a biography. All in all, one of the great publishing events of the history of our chosen obsession.

Ted Sturgeon was the best short story writer of the 20th century. He wrote the novel "More than Human" in the early 1950's.

Writers try to change the world in a way to make it better. Isaac Asimov looked for more intelligence in the world. Robert Heinlein for more deliberate good work, not accidental, in the world. Ted Stugeon, however, looked for more love in the world. Which is pretty much what all of Sturgeon's great work is about: love.

It is probably because of this that Sturgeon is still read today. But not as much as he should be. He should be a writer who everybody has heard of.

It is sad that the SFWA don't give out the grand master award to those who have shuffled off their mortal coil. Theodore Sturgeon is one who should be granted the title postumously. It is sad that he couldn't be granted it in life, but it something that should be granted to him now that he has pasted from this world.

This volume of this series focus' on the early work of Sturgeon. Probably from even before he started thinking of himself as anything more than a parttime writer. It is still good stuff to read though.

This didn't grip the same way Fahrenheit 451 or The Martian Chronicles or Something Wicked This Way Comes did. There are many entertaining and quite often fun stories and of course it is beautifully written. Bradbury is one of the best prose stylists and short story writers in American Lit, after all. It's not one of his classics but it's worth a consideration.

Ray Bradbury wrote the screenplay for John Huston's Moby Dick. It is a hysterical account of his exploits in Ireland where he wrote the piece. It is also a work of fiction because he combined some of his previous short story writings about Ireland into the book. Bradubury masterly weaves both fact and fiction into a enjoyable tour-de-force. If you are an avid Bradbury fan, you will remember some of his earlier work and recognize the stories. If not, then I envy you because you will not be able to distinguish fact from fiction. Bradbury does both a wonderfull job of catching Irelands essence and terrible poverty of which he covers lightly. He also hints at the terrible genious of John Huston without going into the gory details. This book is a very fast read and is wonderfull. It is certainly deserving of the national book award it recieved.

Green Shadows, White Whale is a tale about Ray Bradbury's travels in Ireland while helping John Huston write the screenplay for Moby Dick. The writing is absolutely wonderful. I have read many books in my life but I have rarely read one so beautifully written and well composed. There were paragraphs and passages that I read over two and three times simply because they were so tasty. The story is broken up into chapters which comprise little subplots of their own. This makes for easy reading because you can read a chapter or two at a time and still enjoy the entire book. Read this book.

Short story master Ray Bradbury presents 22 offerings variously set in ancient times, in out-of-the-way rustic hills, and in modern cities of Europe and the Americas, but never really seems to hit his stride. While best known for such science fiction classics as The Martian Chronicles and the short novel Fahrenheit 451, a significant portion of Bradbury's output is not very sci-fi, and sometimes scarcely even qualifies as fantasy. First and last, Bradbury's stories are about human emotion, and the setting (be it Mars, Hollywood, or ancient China) merely facilitates the drama for the disturbingly familiar players.

The few science fiction stories in this collection are not very notable. "The Pedestrian" is probably the best, with its strong statement about the rights of the individual. "Embroidery" shows three elderly women trying to create beauty in a world that is crashing around them and so demonstrates Bradbury's penchant for female characters as well as mature ones. Women's inner strength is also the subject of "The Wilderness" which would fit nicely into the Martian Chronicles collection except that it isn't quite powerful enough. "A Sound of Thunder" is a very conventional time travel tale that reads like Bradbury imitating Asimov, while "The Golden Apples of the Sun" is the re-telling of an ancient fable in the style of Arthur C. Clarke. The few fantasies are an odd mixture, but only the lonesome sea monster of "The Foghorn" makes any real impression.

Combined, the sci-fi and fantasy pieces make up only about half of this volume's 22 stories; the other half consists of Bradbury's brief glimpses of the real world. The most memorable is probably "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" in which a murderer tries to clean up the stain of his crime, but most of the others are all-too forgettable. Readers will page through tales of bureaucratic indifference, racial bigotry, the tragedy of illiteracy, but always the main theme is loneliness, loneliness, loneliness. Bradbury's hushed narrative voice is perfect for these kinds of stories, but readers of sci-fi and fantasy may come away less than delighted. This book feels like a grab bag of stories that didn't make it into any other collections, and really isn't quite up to the author's usually high standard. Devoted fans will surely enjoy these stories, but few will be impressed by the strength of this collection alone. Those anxious to discover this fine writer's work would do better to look into the above-mentioned novels, or else the wonderful Machineries of Joy, which shows the author's skill with short stories to much better advantage.

I first read "The Golden Apples of the Sun" when I was in grade school, loving it then for the adventure and sense of wonder Bradbury always brings to his work. I have since read and reread it through the years until my tired old copy was so dog-eard and broken as to be almost unreadable. I'm glad to see it still in print.

No one can infuse so much tension, or wring as much drama out of a short story as can Ray Bradbury, and "Golden Apples," in my opinion, is his best collection, easilly rivalling "The Martian Chronicles" in sweep and vista. Just to read the classic time-travel story "The Sound of Thunder" is reason alone to pick up a copy.

I honestly think Mr. Bradbury could write ingrediant lists on cereal boxes and make them spell-binders.

You've probably heard a half a dozen Ray Bradbury stories without even knowing it. His tales of space flights, Martian expeditions, and strange occurences on our own planet are all classics. While "Martian Chronicles" is arguably the best collection of Bradbury stories, this book also shows the amazing talent of Bradbury. His ability to mix the human with the fantastic makes for incredible stories.

This book collects several of the best stories Bradbury ever created in one volume. There are several books that group Bradbury stories together, but few contain the raw number of stories as this one.

My own personal favorite Bradbury story is in this collection: "A Sound of Thunder." This short tale of a time-travelling dinosaur safari is an amazingly powerful look at the wonder and consequences of time travel and personal behavior. The story is easily consumed by the youngest reader and just as easily debated by science fiction scholars for hours. I first heard this story on an audio tape during a family car trip--hearing it inspired me to read other Bradbury stories. To me, Bradbury will always be "A Sound of Thunder" and that's quite a reputation to have.

One of Bradbury's longer shorts, "Frost and Fire," is also included. This is an amazing tale of the rapid development of humans on Mercury. Rapid in that everyone grows quickly and dies young. Set against the backdrop of a planet that allows only a few brief minutes of freedom on the surface before the residents must hide from the scorching heat or blistering cold. The story can be appreciated from a pure SF perspective or just from the human side--Bradbury creates realistic worlds in the most fantastic location.

Two other stories are also stand-outs: "The Fog Horn" and "Here There Be Tygers." Saying anything about the actual plots would give away the stories, but I will say they both present unexpected twists that will have you thinking twice about your own normal everyday lives.

As a first introduction to Bradbury this collection is excellent. It gathers together a wide variety of his stories from various sub-genres and has enough to keep readers busy for a while. Ultimately you'll want to read other story collections, but this book will give you a taste of things to come.

For Bradbury fans who haven't read some of these stories I probably don't need to recommend the book at all--by now you've already clicked on a purchase link and had the book sent to you.

For everyone else I can only urge that you try Bradbury. Even if you aren't a science fiction fan, Bradbury is a very approachable author and his works cross the traditional boundaries of science fiction. This isn't nerdy Star Trek or hard-core Neuromancer. His stories are human and that's what makes them universal. Rocketships are entirely optional.

If you know John Byrne, you know he likes to alter and change superhero origin stories, when the original stories done by the original writers were much better. This is such a case, Byrne takes Superman and basically makes him a Marvel-wannabe character. No wonder the Man of Steel has never recovered from this drek of a retelling of his origin.

John Byrne does not reinvent Superman in this collection. He returns the character to what he originally was. He strips away much of the mythos which only came into Superman's life after Siegel and Shuster left DC (Superboy, Supergirl, Krypto, multi-colored Kryptonite, god-like power levels, and Kryptonian heritage), and leaves us with the character as he was meant to be when he was created.

John Byrne's strength as a writer/artist is that he sees clearly to the heart of the character. Here, as he did with the Fantastic Four, he not so much re-invents as clarifies the character. All of the fat and foolishness is stripped away, and new details are added that fit so well that you wonder how the feature went fifty years without them. Byrne is totally respectful of what has come before, and yet makes it all fresh and new. This is truly Superman reborn and reinvigorated. Landmark comics, and also a great "starter" book for the fledgeling comics reader.

After nearly a decade since his last short story collection (and about FIVE since his first), it's very nice to see the master back on the new book shelves. Longtime fans will recognize familiar themes such as time travel of one sort or another to make amends ("That Woman On the Lawn," "Last Rites,"), fairly old fashioned horror tales ("The Finnegan," "The Witch Door," "Free Dirt"), the never-forgotten carnival characters ("The Electrocution"), and the elegiac yearning for the old and familiar amid the shock and speed of the new ("The Other Highway," which seems to pick up where "Yes, We'll Gather at the River" in _I Sing The Body Electric_ left off). But there are no mind-blowing stories in this bunch, nothing on the order of "A Sound of Thunder," "The Utterly Perfect Murder" or "I Sing the Body Electric" -- pick your own favorites. It's just lovely to see the master still at it after all these years

The book Quicker Than The Eye by Ray Bradbury is a collection of short stories. Written by the critically acclaimed author of such books as Farenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and The Martian Chronicles, this book continues Bradbury's outstanding tradition of phenomenal writing. In Quicker Than The Eye, Bradbury shows us the fine literary elements in his stories, from setting and plot to character development. In such stories as "If MGM Is Killed, Who Gets The Lion?", Bradbury immediately develops a rich setting and time-frame, as well as characters and their personality traits. While reading this book, I was thoroughly impressed with the diverse nature of his writing. Some of his stories can be dark and macabre, while the next story is lighthearted and witty. Some of his stories simply leave us with a smile on our face as we finish them. Bradbury exhibits knowledge of many different subjects, such as marine technology in "Underderseaboat Doktor", of music in "Once More, Legato", and also much more in the many stories to come. He even delves into fantasy, leaving a sort of feeling that jumps at the edge of our perception. Clearly, it seems as though Bradbury has taken all of his knowledge from the best of his writing and expanded it, refined it, and delivered it in a book that is almost sure to please the reader. To put this book on a scale of 1-10, I would rate this book a 9.5. Don't get me wrong, I would recommend this book thoroughly, however, if one is a long time fan of Bradbury, one might find his writing to be just a small bit repetitive, all in spite of it's descriptive nature. However, one might be pleased as this book offers a lighter approach as opposed to some of his darker writing, such as The Halloween Tree, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. The descriptiveness is most captivating, however, as well as his extreme diversity of writing, so should one get bored of one story in the book, there is ample selection of other stories to choose from. In conclusion, I should say that from my perspective, this is a must read book. It has something almost for everyone. Unlike some stories, his are captivating from the first few words, and are nearly sure to hook the reader, making this a very hard book to put down.

Ray Bradbury is rightfully acknowledged for master works FAHRENHEIT 451 and SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES. By his own admission, however, short stories are his forte. For years he has crafted fantastic explorations of the human condition with style so simple and unpretentious that what is now labled MINIMALIST is, in fact, the art of The Poet.

QUICKER THAN THE EYE is the collection where Bradbury's "meta-theme" of a good heart vs. TEMPTATION from the world; the Devil; or flesh is given profound consumation. The terror tale DORIAN IN EXCELSUS is my choice as the collection's singular fable. It presents classic Faustian bargain for The Soul. Bradbury is elegantly ironic (and merciless) in narrating THE ULTIMATE TEMPTATION to self-apotheosis/homage in narcissism. Bradbury alludes his story to Oscar Wilde's PICTURE of DORIAN GRAY where the Romantic Commandment: "Beauty is truth...truth is beauty; that is all you know on earth; and all you need to know (Keats)" was twisted by evil hedonism into license for limitless perversion. And where observed (The Portrait) DECONSTRUCTION of one's inner self becomes wicked PARODY of The Beatific Vision.

"Rapture" in self-Love is what Bradbury's protagonist is offered (He observes dozens of young men gazing lovingly AT THEMSELVES in mirrors of a cult/club called Gray's Anatomy Bar & Grill). The irony of the place and the description of THE GYM where "initiates" work-out to stave-off final "absorption" into the anti-Self/God "DORIAN" has to be one of the most terrifying passages ever written. Yet it fully embraces the anti-aesthetic proposed by PM Deconstructionists like Michael Foucault and Jacques Derrida (& Clive Barker). Homosexuality; vampirism; incest; cannibalism and ULTIMATE (self)-ABORTION are all implied in Bradbury's coda. Even the title is a mockery of the hymn the Angelic Host is averred to have sung to infant Christ at his Nativity. Yet a single gesture of GOODNESS saves the pathetically bedazzled "hero". In my estimate Ray Bradbury is America's equivalent to the great British mythologist-theologian, C. S. Lewis. The jacket of QUICKER THAN THE EYE proclaims: a single story is worth the price of the book... DORIAN IN EXCELSUS (Glory to Dorian in the Highest!) is this story. It speaks to a culture that glorifies SELF. It is master story teller Ray Bradbury's art that illuminates the essence and consequences of Self-worship as well as proposing how in a twinkle of the eye, man might choose to escape SELFishness in and for GOOD...