Search Worlds Without End

Featuring the masters of science fiction and fantasy at their whimsical, humorous best, a treasury of delightful tales includes unexpected offerings from such luminaries as Arthur C. Clarke, Ursula K. LeGuin, Terry Pratchett, H. G. Wells, C. S. Lewis, and many others.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1996) - essay by Peter Haining
• Theatre of Cruelty - [Discworld] - (1993) - short story by Terry Pratchett
• How Nuth Would Have Practised His Art Upon the Gnoles - (1911) - short story by Lord Dunsany
• Hell Hath No Fury - (1934) - short story by John Collier
• The Twonky - (1942) - short story by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett]
• A Great Deal of Power - (1953) - short story by Eric Frank Russell
• Doodad - (1943) - short story by Ray Bradbury
• Not by Its Cover - (1968) - short story by Philip K. Dick
• The Rule of Names - [Earthsea Cycle] - (1964) - short story by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Mythological Beast - (1979) - novelette by Stephen R. Donaldson
• The Adventure of the Snowing Globe - (1905) - short story by F. Anstey
• Affairs in Poictesme (excerpt from Figures of Earth) - [Biography of the Life of Manuel] - short fiction by James Branch Cabell
• The Ring of Hans Carvel - (1961) - short story by Fredric Brown
• The Bait - [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] - (1973) - short story by Fritz Leiber
• A Good Knight's Work - (1941) - short story by Robert Bloch
• Poor Little Warrior! - (1958) - short story by Brian W. Aldiss
• The Odd Old Bird - [Doctor Eszterhazy] - (1988) - short story by Avram Davidson
• Young Zaphod Plays It Safe - [Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy] - (1986) - short story by Douglas Adams
• The Wild Asses of the Devil - (1915) - short story by H. G. Wells
• Ministering Angels - (1955) - short story by C. S. Lewis
• The Gnurrs Come from the Voodvork Out - [Schimmelhorn] - (1950) - short story by Reginald Bretnor
• Captain Wyxtpthll's Flying Saucer - (1951) - short story by Arthur C. Clarke (variant of Trouble with the Natives)
• Playboy and the Slime God - (1961) - short story by Isaac Asimov (variant of What Is This Thing Called Love?)
• There's a Wolf in My Time Machine - [Svetz] - (1971) - short story by Larry Niven
• 2 B R 0 2 B - (1962) - short story by Kurt Vonnegut

This sparkling sequel to WIZARDS OF ODD once again turns logic on its head, with a galaxy of star writers and stories. Terry Pratchett, the arch-priest of the genre, leads off with the eccentric figure of DEATH, on new and curious mission, Roald Dahl plays havoc with country superstition, and Arthur C. Clarke shows the funny side of cosmic doom. Add to these dazzling contributions from masters such as Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Angela Carter, C.S. Lewis, P.G. Wodehouse and Michael Moorcock, and you have a blend of comic fantasy, supernatural extravaganza and sf, that is almost literally in orbit. The title of the book stems from the fact that many of the stories feature characters who can fly - either under their own power or by machines - or they simply run into trouble with aerial objects of one sort or another. Bringing together some of the best fantasy available, THE FLYING SORCERERS is a gloriously bizarre, wonderfully varied collection of stories.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1997) - essay by Peter Haining
• Turntables of the Night - (1989) - short story by Terry Pratchett
• A Slice of Life - [Adrian Mulliner] - (1926) - short story by P. G. Wodehouse
• The Better Mousetrap - [Gavagan's Bar] - (1950) - short story by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt
• Sam Small's Better Half - [Sam Small] - (1941) - short story by Eric Knight
• Danse Macabre - (1963) - short story by Mervyn Peake
• The Shoddy Lands - (1956) - short story by C. S. Lewis
• Harrison Bergeron - (1961) - short story by Kurt Vonnegut
• Possible to Rue - (1963) - short story by Piers Anthony
• The Right Side - (1934) - short story by John Collier
• Nasty - (1959) - short story by Fredric Brown
• The Gripes of Wraith - [Squaredeal Sam McGhee] - (1949) - short story by Nelson Bond
• The Roaches - (1965) - short story by Thomas M. Disch
• The Lady of the House of Love - (1975) - short story by Angela Carter
• The Stone Thing: A Tale of Strange Parts - (1974) - short story by Michael Moorcock (variant of The Stone Thing)
• The Shrink and the Mink - (1983) - short story by Robert Bloch
• Ah Sweet Mystery of Life - (1974) - short story by Roald Dahl
• The Man in Asbestos: An Allegory of the Future - (1911) - short story by Stephen Leacock
• Female of the Species - (1937) - short story by John Wyndham (variant of The Perfect Creature)
• A Good Shellacking - [The Cyberiad] - (1974) - short story by Stanislaw Lem
• From Gustible's Planet - [The Instrumentality of Mankind] - (1962) - short story by Cordwainer Smith
• Specialist - (1953) - short story by Robert Sheckley
• The Adventure of the Martian Moons - [Sam Space] - (1997) - short story by William F. Nolan
• The Golden Years of the Stainless Steel Rat - [The Stainless Steel Rat] - (1993) - short story by Harry Harrison
• No Morning After - (1954) - short story by Arthur C. Clarke

Following from his comic-fantasy anthologies The Wizards of Odd and The Flying Sorcerers, Peter Haining presents a third collection of oddities, now with a somewhat wider scope. Besides funny fantasy and SF, these 24 stories include absurdism, allegory, historical tomfoolery, and even offbeat crime fiction. They range from inevitable names like Terry Pratchett--here with an SF riff on the old mystery of why or how the chicken crossed the road--to unlikely ones like L. Frank Baum of Oz fame, who contributes a wholly uncomic murder story.

Jerome K. Jerome spoofs SF's utopian socialist futures, Robert Bloch introduces a Tuxedo of Invisibility into the lowlife world of Damon Runyon, Ray Bradbury is exuberantly funny about low-budget SF/horror movies, Peter Beagle explores the embarrassments of being a lady werewolf's boyfriend, Mark Twain deliberately paints his daft medieval-romance plot into a corner, John Kendrick Bangs invents a new and silly Munchausen adventure, and Gene Wolfe actually lives up to his splendid title "How I Lost the Second World War and Helped Turn Back the German Invasion." It's a wildly eclectic mix, whose famous names also include Woody Allen, G.K. Chesterton, Philip K. Dick, Mervyn Peake, Spike Milligan, A.A. Milne, Peter Sellers, and James Thurber.

Everyone has different views on what's funny and what isn't, and some of Haining's choices seem eccentric--but most readers should find enough chuckles in this plump anthology to make it well worth the price of admission. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Peter Haining
• Hollywood Chickens - (1990) - short story by Terry Pratchett
• The New Utopia - (1891) - short story by Jerome K. Jerome
• The Angry Street - [Club of Queer Trades] - (1972) - short story by G. K. Chesterton (variant of A Somewhat Improbable Story 1908)
• The Party at Lady Cusp-Canine's - (1969) - short story by Mervyn Peake
• The Little Man Who Wasn't All There - [Lefty Feep] - (1942) - short story by Robert Bloch
• The Year the Glop-Monster Won the Golden Lion at Cannes - (1966) - short story by Ray Bradbury
• Lila the Werewolf - [Sam Farrell] - (1969) - novelette by Peter S. Beagle
• The War with the Fnools - (1964) - short story by Philip K. Dick
• The Creation According to Spike Milligan - (1989) - short story by Spike Milligan
• Mediaeval Romance - (1871) - short story by Mark Twain
• Ethelred the Unready - (unknown) - short story by Ben Travers
• Dream Damsel - (1954) - short story by Evan Hunter
• Three Months in a Balloon - (1901) - short story by John Kendrick Bangs
• How I Lost the Second World War and Helped Turn Back the German Invasion - (1973) - short story by Gene Wolfe
• Fifi and the Chilean Truffle - (1955) - short story by Orson Welles
• The Wastrel - (1963) - short story by Peter Sellers (actor)
• Stirring the Pot - (1994) - short story by Tom Sharpe
• The Suicide of Kiaros - (1897) - short story by L. Frank Baum
• The Rape of the Sherlock - [Sherlock Holmes] - short story by A. A. Milne
• The White Rabbit Caper - (1949) - short story by James Thurber
• Wot the Eye Don't See - (1998) - short story by Stan McMurtry
• The Condemned - (1977) - short story by Woody Allen
• The Mulligan Stew - (1979) - short story by Donald E. Westlake
• The Dulwich Assassins - (1997) - short story by David L. Stone