Buffalo, NY/King of Prussia, PA -- ©1999 -- 232pp
ISBN: 0-932445-64-0
Illustrated by Stephen E. Fabian
Bookplate signed by Darrell Schweitzer and Stephen E. Fabian
Dust Jacket illo: Stephen E. Fabian
A collection of Darrell Schweitzer's short stories.
"Savages"
"On the Last Night of the Festival of the Dead"
"The Outside Man"
"Minotauress"
"Malevendra's Pool"
"Angry Man"
"The Sorcerer Evoragdou"
"The Strange Rider from the Far, Dark Land"
"The Mysteries of the Faceless King"
"Runaway"
"The Knight of the Pale Countenance"
"One of the Secret Masters"
"Climbing"
"The Death of Falstaff"
"King Yvorian's Wager"
"Going to the Mountain"
"The Last Dangerous Lunacy"
"Last Things"
"Refugees from an Imaginary Country"
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This is where Darrell Schweitzer shines -- the short story. The novels that I've read and reported on in this blog did not hold my interest, but these short stories were completely engrossing, and reminded me why I enjoy the genre.
I don't think it would come as a surprise to anyone to report that Schweitzer writes more for tone, or feeling, than he does for character or plot, but he does it well enough that you can forgive him for it. So many of these stories were memorable, even if the endings were anticipated. "Minotauress," "The Sorcerer Evoragdou," "The Mysteries of the Faceless King," "The Knight of the Pale Countenance," "The Death of Falstaff," "Refugees ..." all have stuck with me, and I recall them fondly, even if , in some cases, I knew exactly how it was going to end. (And some ended in surprising ways.)
I had some mixed feelings, going in to this collection, having read the two novels not so long ago, but this was a welcome return to the "weird" genre, and reminds me why I recalled Schweitzer's name as fondly as I did.
Recommended for anyone looking to read something that was representative of magazines such as Weird Tales.
