A FINALIST FOR THE 2020 WORLD FANTASY AWARD Unearth the enchanting origins of fantasy fiction with a collection of tales as vast as the tallest tower and as mysterious as the dark depths of the forest. Fantasy stories have always been with us. They illuminate the odd and the uncanny, the wondrous and the fantastic: all the things we know are lurking just out of sight—on the other side of the looking-glass, beyond the music of the impossibly haunting violin, through the twisted trees of the ancient woods. Other worlds, talking animals, fairies, goblins, demons, tricksters, and mystics: these are the elements that populate a rich literary tradition that spans the globe. A work composed both of careful scholarship and fantastic fun, The Big Book of Classic Fantasy is essential reading for anyone who’s never forgotten the stories that first inspired feelings of astonishment and wonder. INCLUDING: *Stories by pillars of the genre like the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Mary Shelley, Christina Rossetti, L. Frank Baum, Robert E. Howard, and J. R. R. Tolkien *Fantastical offerings from literary giants including Edith Wharton, Leo Tolstoy, Willa Cather, Zora Neale Hurston, Vladimir Nabokov, Hermann Hesse, and W.E.B. Du Bois *Rare treasures from Asian, Eastern European, Scandinavian, and Native American traditions *New translations, including fourteen stories never before in English PLUS: *Beautifully Bizarre Creatures! *Strange New Worlds Just Beyond the Garden Path! *Fairy Folk and Their Dark Mischief! *Seriously Be Careful—Do Not Trust Those Fairies!

WORLD FANTASY AWARD WINNER • A true horde of fantasy tales sure to delight fans, scholars, and even the greediest of dragons—from bestselling authors Ann and Jeff VanderMeer Step through a shimmering portal ... a worn wardrobe door ... a schism in sky ... into a bold new age of fantasy. When worlds beyond worlds became a genre unto itself. From the swinging sixties to the strange, strange seventies, the over-the-top eighties to the gnarly nineties—and beyond, into the twenty-first century—the VanderMeers have found the stories and the writers from around the world that reinvented and revitalized the fantasy genre after World War II. The stories in this collection represent twenty-two different countries, including Russia, Argentina, Nigeria, Columbia, Pakistan, Turkey, Finland, Sweden, China, the Philippines, and the Czech Republic. Five have never before been translated into English. From Jorge Luis Borges to Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Moorcock to Angela Carter, Terry Pratchett to Stephen King, the full range and glory of the fantastic are on display in these ninety-one stories in which dragons soar, giants stomp, and human children should still think twice about venturing alone into the dark forest. Completing Ann and Jeff VanderMeer's definitive The Big Book of Classic Fantasy, this companion volume to takes the genre into the twenty-first century with ninety-one astonishing, mind-bending stories. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL

Provides an illustrated look at dragons, griffins, werewolves, serpent monsters, sirens, mermaids, and other mythical creatures of land, sea, and air and includes text with legends from around the world.

Fantastic fiction has existed since man's earliest days of telling tales around a fire. It deals with our most powerful emotions: fear, love and hope. Throughout its history, the short story has always been its most vital form. In short fiction, the boundaries of genre have been established, broken and re-established; the field has become differentiated and complex. The Big Book of Classic Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction displays the evolution of the genre, filled with significant and powerful works by some of the greatest masters of storytelling. Fantastic fiction has had an impact on all types of literature, and we can trace its effects via the generations of writers who have contributed to the field, from Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Frank Herbert, Franz Kafka, Guy de Maupassant, H Beam Piper, Herman Melville, HG Wells, HP Lovecraft, Isaac Asimov, Jack London, Jules Verne, Kurt Vonnegut, Marion Zimmer Bradley, MR James, O Henry, Philip K Dick, Richard Connell, Robert A Heinlein, Robert E Howard, William Hope Hodgson, WF Harvey to WW Jacobs, whose bestelling and award-winning collections of short fiction have proved the durability of the form. The Big Book of Classic Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction is a mammoth of a book, containing over 800 pages featuring 47 of the greatest short stories ever told in horror, fantasy and science fiction. It is a book to last the ages. The Nameless City by H.P. Lovecraft 2 B R O 2 B by Kurt Vonnegut The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs A Dream Of Armageddon by H.G. Wells Lost Hearts by M.R. James The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell Ancient Lights by Algernon Blackwood Second Variety by Philip K. Dick The Voice In The Night by William Hope Hodgson The Gun by Philip K. Dick The Beast With Five Fingers by W.F. Harvey Youth by Isaac Asimov The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce In The Year 2889 by Jules Verne The Vampyre by John William Polidori Beyond The Door by Philip K. Dick The Pit And The Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe The Valley Of Spiders by H.G. Wells A Wicked Woman by Jack London The Time Machine by H.G. Wells Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker The Missing Link by Frank Herbert Dagon by H.P. Lovecraft The Last Days Of The United States by Robert A. Heinlein The Apparition by Guy de Maupassant The Planet Savers by Marion Zimmer Bradley Pigeons From Hell by Robert E. Howard Beyond Lies The Wub by Philip K. Dick The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft Old Rambling House by Frank Herbert The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells At The Mountains Of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft The Eyes Have It by Philip K. Dick The Shunned House by H.P. Lovecraft The Red Room by H.G. Wells Beyond The Wall Of Sleep by H.P. Lovecraft Crossroads Of Destiny by H. Beam Piper The Masque Of The Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe The Monster Mine by Anonymous The House On The Borderland by William Hope Hodgson Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story Of Wall Street by Herman Melville The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman The Gift Of The Magi by O. Henry The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft

Eighty-three popular piano classics arranged for the beginning student are accompanied by a short history of each piece and advice on playing each arrangement.5NjBwBT

A definitive collection of time-travel stories from more than a century of literature features pieces by such leading authors as Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury and is complemented by a selection of informative nonfiction articles, including Charles Yu's "Top Ten Tips For Time Travelers."