''Great Short Novels of Adult Fantasy I'' is an
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
of
fantasy novella
A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...
s, edited by American writer
Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by
Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...
in September, 1972
as the fifty-second volume of its ''
Ballantine Adult Fantasy series''.
[Carter, Lin. "Bibliography II: The Adult Fantasy Series," in '' Imaginary Worlds: the Art of Fantasy'', Ballantine Books, 1973.] It was the eighth such anthology assembled by Carter for the series.
Summary
The book collects four novellas by five fantasy authors, with an overall introduction and notes by Carter. It is a companion volume to Carter's subsequent collection ''
Great Short Novels of Adult Fantasy Volume II
''Great Short Novels of Adult Fantasy Volume II'' is an anthology of fantasy novellas, edited by American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in March, 1973 as the fifty-sixth volume of its ''Ballantine Ad ...
'' (1973).
Contents
*"Introduction" (
Lin Carter)
*"
The Wall of Serpents
''The Wall of Serpents'' is a fantasy novella by American science fiction and fantasy authors L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. The fourth story in their Harold Shea series, it was first published in the June 1953 issue of the fantasy pulp m ...
" (
Fletcher Pratt and
L. Sprague de Camp)
*"The Kingdom of the Dwarfs" (
Anatole France)
*"The Maker of Moons" (
Robert W. Chambers)
*"The Hollow Land" (
William Morris)
Reception
The book was reviewed by
Everett F. Bleiler
Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" ...
in ''The Guide to Supernatural Fiction'', 1983.
Notes
1972 anthologies
Fantasy anthologies
Lin Carter anthologies
Ballantine Books books
{{1970s-fantasy-story-collection-stub