Here I'll consider the stories organized by author rather than order within the book.

Edghill, Rosemary: At six, when Mykene first showed awareness of the dolphin songs in the water, the Pilot's Guild took her as an apprentice "Child of Ocean". The story's in braided format, the past-thread showing her selection and learning the significance of the pilot's voyage-token drawn secretly by lot, and the present when her "luck" has run out. [Good as far as it goes, but the ending isn't a complete resolution.]

Grubb, James: "Catch of the Day" In a world - the future? - where some catastrophe drowned much of the world under perpetual cloud cover, humanity lives on scattered mountaintops, and ships sail the clouds. The scholar August Gold wishes to test ancient legends speaking of dragons, "fishing" for them by trailing a bait to tempt their territorial hearts.

Huff, Tanya: "Oh, Glorious Sight" Zoane Cabatto - now John Cabot - is obsessed with leading an expedition to the New World. He's almost unaware of the wild-animal kid he casually rescued from a beating on an English dock, and gave a place on board. Everyone but he can see young Tam's devotion and hear his music, wasted on this man looking ever over the horizon and never at wonders nearer home.

Kupfer, Allen C.: "The Sir Walter Raleigh Conspiracy" - from the diary of Robert Defoe, writing in fear for his life: an impoverished attorney ordered by James I to 'defend' Sir Walter in a secret trial in the Tower - giving a veneer of legality to the necessary death of one who chose to go native in Guiana rather than remain loyal to the established order. But everyone connected with Raleigh's imprisonment seems to be dying horribly, although he's in solitary confinement and appears insane.

Kupperberg, Paul: Since Atlantis' founding, Thalis has been her highest-ranking mage-priest - and since her people have spurned their gods for science, seems doomed to be last as well as first. Thalis, however, ventures forth to "Walk Upon the Waters" one last time - 'I do not presume to speak for the gods. I must go and ask them.' Most of the remaining story is spent in memory. [An anti-science slant (particularly with *no* attempt at rationale) is guaranteed to irritate me, and Kupperberg's world-building is too thin for the short-story format.]

Murray, Frieda A.: "The Winds They Did Blow High" Setting: an alternate early-19th-century England, where the narrator listens to Captain Northcott's tale of his magical confrontation with a French fleet. (Even without magic, the history's a little different, but magic has been mostly kept out of naval warfare up to the narrative present because it erodes discipline: superior officers and subordinates both mistrust wind-whistling and wave-singing, and tend to blame all problems on any nearby practitioner.)

Odom, Mel: "The Colossus of Mahrass" occupies a full quarter of the book. As in 'Smoker' (_Vengeance Fantastic_), the protagonist - the privateer Captain Jaelik - opens the story with a character-revealing barroom brawl, although in this case the revelation is that he's spoiling for a fight, any fight, despite the fact that he's looking for a good exorcist to deal with a ghost only he can see. (His sidekick figures 1) maybe the captain got one too many blows to the head or bad batches of rum, 2) that Jaelik, not he, is spoiling for a fight with the 7-foot-tall Deathwatch guard, so 3) he, Alff, is going to have a drink.)

Ordover, John J: "The Devil and Captain Briggs" - the captain of the _Mary Celeste_, mysteriously left drifting with no explanation. But if Father Dominicus hadn't destroyed a certain manuscript left behind by a survivor unknown to the world, the mystery would be only a footnote in an even more famous story.

Patton, Fiona: "The Sacred Waters of Kane" Makani's friend Kai is gifted at reading signs written in wind and wave, but his teacher openly doubts whether he has the discipline to be kahuna kilo - and Kai sets out to prove how spectacularly correct old Alaula is. As Makani says, "You're going to risk your life to harvest a night-growing plant in haunted waters for [mythical] kahuna...because you haven't the patience to listen to Alaula instead of fighting with him?" (The specific setting is near Peahi on Maui.)

Reichert, Mickey Zucker: As the price of passage aboard _Salty Rainbow_, priest-mage Alzon swore to use no magic while aboard - a vow binding him no matter *what* happens, on pain of losing his magic. So when sacrificed to become "The Sea God's Servant", Alzon is trapped, his freedom in pawn to his magic.

Resnick, Mike and Gerencer, Tom: "Ocean's Eleven" The North Atlantic recently vanished from its bed, but it was voluntary; after trying 10 other jobs, it has sought out Bob Zellinski at Intellitemp Employment Services. "I was an ocean 200000000 years ago. I was an ocean 5000 years ago. I was an ocean last Tuesday. There's no advancement."

Rusch, Kristine Kathryn: The narrator, serving as intelligence officer aboard a battleship in the Pacific fleet, was in a better position than any to answer a pirate ghost's demand for a crewman as "Tribute": as censor, he'd literally read the hearts of every man aboard.

Ward, James M.: "Midshipwizard" Blithe is green as grass, on his first ship, a half-living dragonship of the Royal Navy in this Hornblower-like setting. But someone aboard tried to sabotage the ship by poisoning its heart soon after he came aboard - and the magic he used to save it violated one of this navy's equivalent of the 39 articles: a court-martial, capital offense.

This book definitely makes my top ten list. Some of these stories really made me stop to think. Once I started "Oceans of Magic" I just couldn't put it down. To quote the critic of Stephen King, "This book will make you stay up past your bedtime". I hope that you all pick up this book and once you do I dare you to try and put it down. It will be a spellbinding experience, promise.

In terms of quality, this is an excellent collection. Warrick has selected outstanding stories that cover a wide time span--enough from the founders to be substantial, and a great selection of mid-year sci fi (50s to 70s). Two of my favorite stories of all time are included (by Butler and Tiptree)--and these are ones hard to get anywhere else. But....you would be better off looking for one of David Hartwell's books, which offer more value.

At first glance you would think that "Science Fiction: The Science Fiction Research Association Anthology" is a traditional collection of science fiction short stories. But then you take one look at the prices and realize this could only be a college textbook. This is too bad, because as a science fiction anthology this is certainly a nice little collection, but the price is going to restrict sales to those who can pass the bill along to mater and pater. The 26 stories in this anthology were selected during 1984 and 1985 by the members of the Science Fiction Research Association who nominated and selected novelettes and short stories they wanted to appear in a definitive anthology. The 175 most frequently mentioned stories were but on a final ballot and divided in the name of historical perspective into three chronological eras around the founding in 1926 of Amazing Stories and the death of its influential editor John W. Campbell, Jr. in 1970. Consequently, "Science Fiction" offers three stories each from the periods before and after this period, and 20 from the period itself.

The only real way to decide if you want to invest in this anthology is to look over the list of the 26 stories. Therefore, here is what you get: (1) Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Birthmark"; (2) H. G. Wells, "The Star"; (3) H. G. Wells, "The Country of the Blind"; (4) E. M. Forster, "The Machine Stops"; (5) Stanley G. Weinbaum, "A Martian Odyssey"; (6) John W. Campbell, Jr., "Who Goes There?"; (7) Isaac Asimov, "Nightfall"; (8) C. L. Moore, "No Woman Born"; (9) Theodore Sturgeon, "Thunder and Roses"; (10) Henry Kuttner, "Private Eye"; (11) Ray Bradbury, "There Will Come Soft Rains"; (12) Arthur C. Clarke, "The Sentinel"; (13) James Blish, "Common Time"; (14) Cordwainer Smith, "The Game of Rat and Dragon"; (15) Alfred Bester, "The Men Who Murdered Mohammed"; (16) Daniel Keyes, "Flowers for Algernon"; (17) Roger Zelazny, "A Rose for Ecclesiastes"; (18) Samuel R. Delany, "Driftglass"; (19) Philip K. Dick, "Faith of Our Father"; (20) Harlan Ellison, "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream"; (21) Ursula K. Le Guin, "Nine Lives"; (22) Joanna Russ, "When It Changed"; (23) Vonda N. McIntyre, "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand"; (24) James Tiptree, Jr., "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?"; (25) John Varley, "Options"; and (26) Octavia E. Butler, "Bloodchild."

There is an additional index that rearranges the chronological list by Thematic Contents, broken down into the interest categories of biological, environmental, psychosocial, and technological (with several stories appearing in more than one category). Each story is followed by several paragraphs of editorial commentary (by college professors other than the trio of editors) that explains things about the author and the story's place in the history of science fiction. The list of authors included in this anthology is certainly impressive and while you might be inclined to quibble on some of the choices (e.g., why not Ellison's "Repent, Harlequin...") the editorial comments usually provide a decent rationale for the story's right to be included. So this anthology is geared specifically for college students.

The price still scares me, but I have to admit it is not too far above average for a college class in America today; I am going with a smaller anthology, not just for reasons of price, but also because I want to devote more time to classic science fiction novels (plus one Fifites film). Still, I can easily see developing an entire course around what Warrick, Waugh and Greenberg have collected in this volume.

Vampires is a great collection of stories, ranging from acient native americans, to futuristic people. There are 13 short stories in all. Some stories are better than others...
1.Nobody has to Know: is a cool, straight to the point story.
2.There's no such thing: a cool story, can't say anymore or i'll give it away.
3.Curse of the undead: one of my favorites of the 13, about a guy who wakes up in a coffin.
4. Blood Kin: the story in rather confusing from beginning to almost the end. It isn't very good, strange word choices.
5.Miss Emily's Roses: this is an ok story, a little confusing at time but still good.
6. The Blood-ghoul of scarsdale: a very cool story about a vampire who likes to go shopping.
7. The Magic Stealer: another one of my favorites of these stories. it's about a girl who is a native american and has to return to her people. don't worry, there's a vamire.
8. Avhel: cool story, about a vampire child
9. A Cold Stake: this one is ok but very confusing at times, it takes place in the 2030's and they keep talking about things, like you already know what's going on.
10. Blook Libel: this is my absolute favorite of all of the stories. It's about a guy who can no longer stay with his Jewish people because he's a vampire.
11. Aunt Horrible's last visit: a cool story, about an evil aunt and the siblings who hate her.
12. Mama's Gone: another favorite, a cute sad story about a dead mother and her children.
13. Richie: another favorite, a vampire teen, who wants a friend

overall, it's a good book, it got a four because of the three stories that aren't that good, and are confusing, but the good ones definately outway them. If you are a beginning Vampire reader or an old pro, you should definately read this book. It gives awsome perspectives and it's worth your money.

A collection of chilling vampire stoies. Most are very good. My favorite is 'Nobody has to know'. There are a few long ones to be missed, eg 'Blood Kin' but this is an amazing book. Read it, I dare you...

While Deepak Chopra is an icon as a spiritual leader, he is fast earning his wings as more than an author of advisory works, but as a creative literary force.

I found this to be true when I read his first novel, "The Return of Merlin." While I enjoy his other, more scholarly works, I have secretly longed for him to release another fascinating page-turner.

In this book he has, once again, taken his readers on a journey of both spirit and imagination.

He and Martin Greenberg have struck a unique balance between the worlds of literature, science and spirituality and come up with a novel that is exciting and enjoyable.

The "Angel is Near" makes the heart beat a little quicker, the mental wheels spin at a higher rate and blows a clean wind through the dusty corners of the soul.

This novel is a unique combination of mystery and adventure with spiritual messages inter-woven at regular intervals. Although I normally choose spiritual books written in the straight style that Dr. Chopra usually uses, I found this book appealing and reassuring, generating a message of hope and clarity. The "angel voice" is an invitation to the reader to banish doubt and see themselves in the light. I believe that any medium which provides such an opportunity should be gratefully embraced and accepted, for the sake of humankind. Read this one and pass it along!

My curiosity was peaked as I settled in with this book. I didn't plan on spending my entire day off reading, but one thing lead to another. "Just one more chapter", I kept telling myself. In the late evening, after reading the last page, I found myself going back through the book, ear-marking the "The Angel's Voice" segments with little post-its. I've been re-reading one section a day for the last week.

As I began the book, I carefully evaluated the spiritual lessons almost like challenges, testing what the author was saying with my own interpretation of reality. As one insight lead to another, I noticed even more curiosity building. I continued to read, and found myself trusting instead of challenging, comforted by the ring of truth; as though I was remembering, not learning for the first time.

The lessons are both simple and profound, evoking questions and answers at the same time. In the end, whatever I say about this book will not quite be it. Because what I had was an experience, which always turns out to be beyond description.

Undoubtedly my insights moved me in the direction of higher spiritual awareness. And yes, I have found myself recommending this book to co-workers and friends. My daily conversations keep coming around to one or more aspects of the basic questions addressed in this book.

One of the first fantasy books I ever read, it has stood up to multiple rereadings. De Lint weaves a tale of mystery and magic in a unique land with the courage and compassion of one woman. This book is amazing.

De Lint is by far the best at blending urban reality with fantastical lands that are just "around the corner". He has done it again with this book. I have as many of his books as I could get my hands on...you'll be hooked, although Moonheart was by far his best. If you like him, you'll also like the Taliswoman series by Carole Nelson Douglas...Book 3 of that series is coming in November, 1999. (The other 2 are Cup of Clay and Seed Upon the Wind.)

This is the first of the de Lint books that I have read, so I did not know what to expect. It was more than I imagined from a book of only 250 pages. The world he created was believable and even though not described in detail it was well-crafted. His actual prose were very good and the characters, for the most part, varied. The setting is much deeper than one would expect, I could see an epic 800+ volume set within this backdrop. The chapters were short and kept the story on a rapid pace. It reminded me a lot of the White Hart by Nancy Springer another excellent (short) book.

"Hitler Victorious" collects 11 short stories based upon the premise that Nazi Germany won World War II. The premise alone is enough to make for compelling reading, and fortunately the stories themselves expand upon it. The highlight of the book is Brad Linaweaver's novella "Moon of Ice," which masterfully extends the famous diaries of Nzai propoganda chief Joseph Goebbles into the mid-1960s. Goebbles chronicles in the first person the death of The Fuhrer and the intrigue surrounding the foundation of Burgundy, the medieval mini-state formed by Heinrich Himmler's notorious SS. Linaweaver throws into the mix Goebbles's relationship with two of his (now adult) children, each of whom has chosen a much different path.

Other highlighs include Hilary Bailey's noir-ish tale of intrigue "The Fall of Frenchy Steiner," and Howard Goldsmiths nastly little horror tale "Do Ye Hear the Children Weeping." There's even a good Rip Van Winkle-like tale in C.M. Kornbluth's "Two Dooms." Also it must be said that, title of the book not withstanding, Hitler rarely remains victorious at the end of most of these stories.

Overall, this a juicy little short story collection for those who like alternative history tales.

I am a huge historical World War II buff. Therefore, I also like to "dabble" in some alternative history scenarios such as the eleven stories presented in this narrative. Overall, the book is "fun"...meaning that some of the stories are pretty good and based in "reality", meaning they are believable. Others are a little "hokey"...meaning they would be good for a "Tales From the Dark Side" or "Outer Limits" episode. All in all...for some fun reading at night, I enjoyed the book. Give it a shot and see for yourself.

I'm a sucker for alternate history stories, partly because of my professional background in history. I like to play "what if" myself, but writing something that succeeds both as fiction and as plusible alternate history is really tough. Among themes, having the Germans win WWII is a close second to the South winning the Civil War, and virtually all the stories in this excellent collection succeed admirably. Some I've read before, like "Weihnactsabend" by Keith Roberts and Brad Linaweaver's excellent "Moon of Ice," but others were apparently written especially for this volume, including the terrific "Thor Meets Captain America" by David Brin. A very good collection.

Bischoff, David: "The Whiteviper Scrolls" occurs later in Whiteviper's unsavoury career than its counterpart in _Apprentice Fantastic_, and like it is narrated by him to a downtrodden peon in his old age.

Braunbeck, Gary A. & Snyder, Lucy A.: "Souls to Take" Dr. Louis Cohen never wanted to end pregnancies by anything other than a normal delivery, but rather than leave patients to alternatives that seem even worse, he keeps performing abortions, despite his own qualms. But when the "LifeGuards" ambush him on his way back from a house call, the doc's rescuer may be worse than the fate she saved him from.

Crowther, Peter: Set in a comic-book world of "Heroes and Villains", the tone is something like the realism of _Watchmen_, but from the viewpoint of the super-villains. The Comedian in particular is struggling with his conscience, as he prepares for a deathbed visit to his mother, their first meeting in many years. But even sidekicks are well drawn - one, for instance, lost his father at 12 when a run-of-the-mill superhero/supervillain struggle destroyed a few city buildings, and the apologetic superhero's out-of-court settlement wouldn't bring his father back.

Davis, R.: "King of Thorns" is the title awarded to the best of the temple's Thorns - their master assassin trainees - each year. The story follows the Thorns' final competitive exam with one another, and is recommended for _Thief: The Dark Project_ players. :)

Dungate, Pauline E.: "Nina" has a mysterious hold on people - her classmates fear her, she rarely does her homework, and the real story of her father's suicide is uncanny. The narrator's family has arranged a marriage between them, and now that he's asked around about her, he's finally got sense enough to be scared. The story begins with his reference to the marriage, jumps back to his enquiries, then works forward to the wedding day.

Edghill, Rosemary: "The Mould of Form" James Cruikshank, the narrator, will be better known by another name to readers. After Cromwell's victory, his Royalist father's death left James and his mother to their cousins' unkind charity, but James' memories of the abuses of Eton are the most bitter.

Gorman, Ed: The narrator escaped the trap set by the FBI with the help of a woman who betrayed him, and became "A New Man" - with the help of plastic surgery. But by chance, his betrayer (who no longer recognizes him) lives in the small Midwestern town he's passing through - but she's married to a cop.

Huff, Tanya: "All Things Being Relative" Cornelius Dickcissel, far from being a heroic adventurer, is an author; receiving the queen's summons, he drew up his will (the traditional response, when summoned by *this* queen). But she has read his story of a would-be dragonslayer that considered the dragon's point of view, and wants him to write *her* story - although she has his editor killed for the clunky title of Cornelius' last book. See how many fractured fairy tales you recognize herein. :) She's even read the evil overlord list.

Patton, Fiona: "Death Mage" is a Cerchicava story, but rather than following ex-carver Coll, this recounts the story of a full-fledged Death Mage hunting down one who has betrayed the necromancers' Trade.

Rusch, Kristine Kathryn: "Doubting Thomas", at the age of six, witnessed something that, far from breaking his belief in Santa Claus, gave him an unusual take on what he considers the world's biggest conspiracy, to which he later brought his skills as an investigative reporter. Cool. :)

Sherman, Josepha: "The Usurper Memos" are a series of email-style carrier-pigeon-delivered memos between Regis I and various bureaucrats of Tavara, including cryptic unofficial communications with the Hunter of Heads. Villain or not, I applaud Regis' final maneuver. :)

Tremayne, Peter: The author of the Sister Fidelma mysteries has turned to Sherlock Holmes in "The Specter of Tullyfane Abbey", the tale of "James Phillimore, who stepped back into his house and was never more seen in this world", one of Watson's famous untold stories.

Waggoner, Tim: "Horror Show" begins with the climactic scene of a story in progress - a late-night movie, the most famous of the seven in which Simon Karkull played the monster Shrike. These days, he's an alcoholic; the producer of the next Shrike film won't even send him a script. But the producer's mysterious murder that same night, a continent away, marks a turning point in Simon's life.

West, Michelle: "To Speak with Angels" For his last walk, the old saint has chosen to seek an audience with he who was once the greatest of the Host, though he must enter Hell to do so. Very fine story. I also recommend Neil Gaiman's treatment of Lucifer in the Sandman series.

The premise behind this book is what caught my eye - evil defeats good. I wasn't disappointed. I was surprised by the number of different approaches the authors took. (I was expecting a lot of re-told fairy tales...)

In much of contemporary fantasy, the bad guys seem to have no real motive other than "I'm BAD, bwahahaha!" These stories look at some familiar stories and situations from the point of view of the bad guys, and tell us something about why they do what they do. Tanya Huff's Dark Queen's take on quite a few traditional fairy tales is well worth a look, and Fiona Patton's necromancers come back, along with the slightly-twisted magical "Italy" they live in. We get to see the early years of a very famous villain, and, in the context of a four-color comic world, learn with a person obviously based on one of the most famous comic villains about why evil must be evil, and why evil must be.

I bought this book for its snappy cover and intro on Hammett's fascinating life. But the stories themselves are mostly a let-down. Hammett really hit his stride with the novels, and it's hard to tell from these early magazine pieces how good a writer he'd become. Still, the violence, corruption and sexy seediness that make his other work so much fun are here in embryo. If you're already a Hammett fan, reading these stories is like watching an all-star's warm up swings before he nails a home run. If not, let "The Maltese Falcon" or "Red Harvest" knock your socks off before you make the trip to Nightmare Town.

As a long-time fan of 'classic' noir/detective fiction (Hammett, Chandler, MacDonald, Thompson) and it's stylistic roots in the pulps, I have to say I'm somewhat disappointed with this volume. There's alot here in terms of sheer number of stories, but aside from the very worthwhile Sam Spade shorts (which bump it to 3 stars), it's very uneven in quality. Your taste buds will like the delicious descriptive and atmospheric elements (particularly for hard-core Chandler fans like me...his inspirations via Hammett are in good supply) but the story construction leaves much to desire. The better part of the book is made up of hastily conceived vignettes that will remind you just as to why most of 'pulp' writing was considered disposable.

These stories were printed in the 1920s by "Black Mask" magazine, one of the monthly pulp magazines that entertained America before radio and television. Some of the stories were repeated in later works ("Who Killed Bob Teal") and never reprinted in Samuel Dashiell Hammett's lifetime. The stories are still entertaining today, and also provide a glance at a life that few of us know.

SDH worked as a Pinkerton detective for years, seeking fun, travel, adventure. The stories reflect his life as a private detective would see it: a world of crime and corruption. Would this work damage an operative expecially when de didn't have a normal family and home life? Does this reoccur today?

As a time travel fanatic, I try to get my hands on every time travel book I can find. This one really didn't live up to my expectations. Why? Well, most stories were either unoriginal, or started nice but the ending was completely predictable. This was, literally, a collection of boring stories. I think one of the things I like about time travel books, is that the ending can be really tricky - there are so many ways such stories can have a punch line, and even after reading many of these books I still find myself surprised most of the time. Sadly, it wasn't the case with this collection of stories..
There was only one story which was more or less okay, "Blood Trail", about a police officer who is sent in time to try and find the identity of a serial killer. The officer is not allowed to change anything, but he CAN try and gather information about the killer which will enable catching him in the present. However, the officer really, really doesn't like to see people killed in front of his eyes...
To summarize: if you have nothing else on your list, go for it, or even if you just MUST read every time travel book you can find (like me). However, don't expect anything above average, and most stories don't even live up to that.

I was really looking forward to receiving this book after I ordered it, having read other time travel anthologies such as _Timegates_, _Tales in Time_ and others. But _Past Imperfect_ is aptly -- or should I say "appedly" -- named, for it's packed full o' typos. Seriously, I've never read a professionally published book with so many misspelled words, words left out, etc. Kind of takes you out of the moment when you're reading, no pun intended.

As for the stories themselves, only a few of the twelve were worth the read: "Palimpsest Day" and "Gift of a Dream" stand out, but others were fairly old-hat, "oops, I just killed my future self"-type tales, or ones that were high on technical merit but short on human feeling.

If you're a time-travel fanatic and want to read all-new stories, you may want to skim this book, but be prepared to trip over typos. A better option, in my opinion, would be to peruse some oldies but goodies in _About Time_, a collection of time-related stories by Jack Finney.

_..to finish this one. I have read all but two story's in this book and I am so impressed with it , well if I put it down today, I could sleep well and satisfied.
_I almost feel like I ripped off the writers and the publisher because I got WAY more than my money's worth in this one.
_I am completely happy with these up-to-date exciting and great storys...

suck

This collection of Twilight Zone literature includes Bradbury's "I Sing the Body Electric," a classic, and several other classics that are unforgettable.

I think that these collections have some of the best ironies out of all of the Twilight Zone episodes. Aside from "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," this book has the necessary works for the Twilight Zone lovers.

Recommended to any sci-fi fanatics--

I loved this book. All of the stories were fantastic, I recommend it.