| Title | : | The Wizards of Odd |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0441004873 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780441004874 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 368 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1997 |
The Wizards of Odd Reviews
-
THE WIZARDS OF ODD is a short story anthology themed around comic fantasy. It's edited by the popular anthologist Peter Haining and is mainly centred around modern British and American authors, although there are some classic authors included too.
Terry Pratchett's THEATRE OF CRUELTY opens the collection and it's a good introduction to his Discworld series, featuring some character favourites such as Corporal Nobbs and Death. It's extremely short too. HOW NUTH WOULD HAVE PRACTISED HIS ART UPON THE GNOLES is by Lord Dunsany, a portrait of a sly thief who encounters some mystical creatures. A lot of depth is packed into just a few pages. HELL HATH NO FURY sees John Collier writing of an angel and demon arriving on Earth in human form, and contains some wry passages of well-observed observation.
Henry Kuttner's THE TWONKY is by an author who tried his hand at all kinds of genres. It's a simple thing about a radio built by aliens, but very engaging and funny to boot. A GREAT DEAL OF POWER sees Eric Frank Russell telling of a robot assigned to kill people with too much power, liberally peppering his story with humour and a surprise twist. Ray Bradbury's DOODAD is about a journalist on the run from a gangster who buys an odd curio and is as near perfectly written as you could wish for.
NOT BY ITS COVER is Philip K. Dick's tale of book publishers on Mars, and is quite indescribable; for what it's worth, I enjoyed it. Ursula K. Le Guin's THE RULE OF NAMES is a whimsical piece about rival wizards, and well worth a look for fantasy fans. MYTHOLOGICAL BEAST sees Stephen Donaldson telling of a man in the future who finds a horn growing from his forehead, mixing dystopian themes with some fantastic elements to grand effect. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SNOWING GLOBE, by F. Anstey, is a real delight, a Victorian tale with a simple story and good characters.
James Branch Cabell contributes AFFAIRS IN POICTESME, an extract that left me completely cold, the writing too dry and obscure for my liking. Fredric Brown's THE RING OF HANS CARVEL is another short short from the author, blackly comic but perhaps a bit too obscure. THE BAIT is more like it, one of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories, mildly amusing but at just two pages too short to do very much. Thankfully, Robert Bloch's A GOOD KNIGHT'S WORK rights things considerably, a likeable black comedy filled with sophisticated humour that recalls Twain at his very best.
POOR LITTLE WARRIOR is by Brian W. Aldiss and concerns time travel and dinosaurs. I found it overwritten, but others may disagree. Avram Davidson's THE ODD OLD BIRD is even worse, depicting a fantasy world really not to my liking; give me Pratchett over this any day. YOUNG ZAPHOD PLAYS IT SAFE is, of course, by Douglas Adams, and a HITCHHIKER's spin-off; I found the writing style quite cold and detached, although there are plenty of bizarre elements to enjoy. H.G. Wells contributes THE WILD ASSES OF THE DEVIL, a traditional Hell-themed effort every bit as inventive as the author's better-known science fiction fare.
MINISTERING ANGELS comes from the pen of C.S. Lewis and paints an isolated Martian landscape pretty well, although the narrative is quite dreary and I didn't care for it much. Reginald Bretnor's THE GNURRS COME FROM THE VOODVORK OUT is a dated story about a crazed Swedish professor and his new invention and has plenty of risque humour. Arthur C. Clarke's CAPTAIN WXYTPTHLL'S FLYING SAUCER tells of relations between aliens and humans gone awry, and the author wrings every drop of humour from the situation. Isaac Asimov's PLAYBOY AND THE SLIME GOD is even funnier, an ingenious tale about the battle between the sexes. Then we get Larry Niven's THERE'S A WOLF IN MY TIME MACHINE, charting the adventures of a time machine and adding werewolves, a wolf girl, and an existential traveller. The final story is Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s 2 B R O 2 B, a bleak futuristic tale with a rather obvious twist. -
I love anthologies like this one, not because I love all the stories (that doesn’t happen often), but because it allows me to discover amazing new authors and new stories from authors I already love. The book is divided in sections, the comic fantasy one, then the one about knights and sword, and lastly the sci-fi one.
There’s a few authors here I already knew and I enjoyed reading their lesser known short stories, like ‘Theatre of Cruelty’ by Terry Pratchett, and ‘Captain Wyxtpthll’s Flying Saucer’ by Arthur C. Clarke. But there were so many I didn’t know and I had quite a blast with some of them. I finally had the chance to read ‘2BR02B’ by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., which I had heard about but hadn’t seen it anywhere. ‘Mythological Beasts’ by Stephen Donaldson was also quite a surprise and a very unexpected fantasy story about a man turning into a mythological beast. ‘The Adventure of the Snowing Globe’ by F. Anstey was a mixture of law and fantasy that I had never seen before. I mean, who has heard of a lawyer rescuing a princess? But it works! ‘Playboy and the Slime’ by Issac Asimov was something my I never expected if him, I read so many of his stories, but never anything as funny as this.
My favourite one of the book though was ‘There’s a Wolf in my Time Machine’ by Larry Niven. What a wonderful story about parallel Earths! If he has more books like that, I’d totally read them. -
Has some funny stories and some not so funny. Roughly half are funny, so it's a pretty mixed bag.
-
Worth it just for Douglas Adams astronomically vivid short story.
-
How can you go wrong with a collection of 25 stories that includes heavyweights such as Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Douglas Adams, Ursula K. Le Guin, Terry Pratchett, C.S. Lewis, Fritz Leiber, Phil K. Dick, Brian W. Aldiss, Isaac Asimov, Larry Niven, and more?
To be honest, I only enjoyed about half of them. My favorites include:
"The Twonky" by Henry Kuttner - When Kerry Westerfield's brand new cabinet radio begins walking around the house dictating Kerry's every move, he calls in psychiatrist pal Mike Fitzgerald, but this radio is constructed like no other... and it defends itself against anyone who might pose a threat—with fatal results.
"A Great Deal of Power" by Eric Frank Russell - When military scientists create an android assassin to kill top officials and scientists in the enemy's ranks, they program its mind with a pure hatred of power... but what will the android do when the enemy is eliminated and those giving the orders become the powerful?
"Doodad" by Ray Bradbury - Running from the mob, Gyp Crowell finds himself in a shop called Thingamabobs, Doodads, Whatchamacallits, Hinkies, Formodaldafrays, Hootenannies, Gadgets, and Doohingies. While there, Gyp finds a device that might help him out of his predicament... in ways he didn't expect.
“A Good Knight’s Work” by Robert Bloch – Sir Pallagyn of the Black Keep is hurled forward in time by the legendary Merlin to find the Cappadocian Tabouret in a “house of the past.” First, however, he decides to help a new found friend defeat the local mob boss…
"Not By Its Cover" by Phil K. Dick - When a special, translated edition of an ancient Latin book is published with animal hide cover, it is quickly discovered that certain passages in the book have been translated differently that in the paperback version, which leads to an astonishing conclusion about the animal hide covers...
"The Rules of Names" by Ursula K. Le Guin - Mr. Underhill lives a reclusive life in the village, practicing his wizardry with often questionable results... until a pirate named Blackbeard arrives with certain suspicions and accusations against Underhill. In response, the old bumbling sorcerer shows his true colors...
"Mythological Beast" by Stephen Donaldson - Norman is a librarian in an age of ignorance when so many among the population can barely read. Norman has a problem when he notices a horn growing in the middle of his forehead. Shortly after, his entire body begins to change into the shape of a creature than cannot be allowed to exist in a controlled society...
"The Adventure of the Snowing Globe" by F. Antsey - A man stops into a toy shoppe to purchase a present and is drawn to a snow globe containing a miniature castle. After shaking the globe, the man is transported to the real castle, meets a real princess being held prisoner by her cruel, oppressive uncle, and finds himself face to face with a real dragon...
"Zaphod Plays It Safe" by Douglas Adams - Zaphod Beeblebrox is hired by the Safety and Reassurance Administration to retrieve items of secretive nature from a crashed ship in the depths of an alien ocean. Despite Zaphod's increasing misgivings, the authorities assure him that "it's all perfectly safe"...
"The Odd Old Bird" by Avram Davidson - When the frivolous Prince Vlox indicates to two royal scientists that his property has been frequently visited by a rare bird, the Emperor's wizard Eszterhazy requests that the prince capture the bird and have it sent to him. However, there is some confusion on the part of the temporary help when the bird is delivered around the same time as the cook was expecting a chicken...
"The Gnurrs Come from the Voodwork Out" by Reginald Bretnor - Quack inventor Papa Schimmelhorn arrives at the local Secret Weapons Bureau determined to demonstrate how his new invention, which resembles a bassoon, will win the war... in the most unimaginable way!
"Captain Wyxtpthll's Flying Saucer" by Arthur C. Clarke - A pair of hapless aliens land in England on a mission to find and retrieve an intelligent human specimen only to end up incarcerated by the local police as mental patients... until the town drunk helps them escape!
"There's A Wolf in My Time Machine" by Larry Niven - A time traveller finds himself in a parallel dimension where mankind evolved from wolves instead of apes.
"2BRO2B" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. - In order for newborns to be permitted to live in a dystopian future under strict population control, someone must volunteer to die. What happens when a married couple is expecting triplets, but could locate only one volunteer? -
90 % Terry Pratchett: Divadlo krutosti
50 % Lord Dunsany: Jak by byl Nuth býval využil svého umění na Gnoly
80 % John Collier: V pekle není lític
80 % Henry Kuttner & Catherine Lucille Moore: Harmonizátor
70 % Eric Frank Russell: Značná moc
80 % Ray Bradbury: Udělátko
70 % Philip K. Dick: Ne v této vazbě
70 % Ursula K. Le Guin: Pravidlo jmen
70 % Stephen R. Donaldson: Bájné zvíře
60 % F. Anstey: Dobrodružství se skleněným těžítkem
40 % James Branch Cabell: Záležitosti v Poictesme
60 % Fredric Brown: Prsten Hanse Carvela
40 % Fritz Reuter Leiber: Návnada
90 % Robert Albert Bloch: Bez bázně a hany
40 % Brian W. Aldiss: Ubohý bojovníčku
50 % Avram J. A. Davidson: Podivné pravěké ptáče
60 % Douglas Adams: Mladý Zafod hraje na jistotu
90 % H. G. Wells: Divocí oslové pekelní
70 % C. S. Lewis: Ministrující andělé
60 % Reginald Bretnor: Gnurrové vylésli ze všéch škfír
80 % Arthur C. Clarke: Létající talíř kapitána Wyxtpthlla
100 % Isaac Asimov: Playboy a slizký bůh
60 % Larry Niven: V mém stroji času je vlk
90 % Kurt Vonnegut, jr.: B-1-TC-1-NEB-1-T -
Dieses Buch habe ich nur wegen der Kurzgeschichte von Douglas Adams gekauft. Und auch wenn sich die Geschichte von Adams nicht als meine liebste entpuppte, so bin ich ihm doch dankbar, dass er mich auf diese unterhaltsame Sammlung aufmerksam gemacht hat.
Diese Sammlung beinhaltet einige grosse Namen. Nicht nur Douglas Adams ist hier zu finden, sondern auch Terry Pratchett, Isaac Asimov, HG Wells, Le Guin... nur um ein paar zu nennen. Jedoch durfte ich auch viele neue Autoren kennenlernen, von denen ich bisher noch nie gehört hatte.
Somit eignet sich dieses Buch hervorragend für Leser/innen, die sich einen Überblick über diverse Autoren des Fantasy/Sci-Fi-Genres machen wollen. Ich zum Beispiel konnte endlich meine Scheu vor Ursula K. Le Guin ablegen. Leider ist die Auswahl der Texte, gesellschaftlich und historisch bedingt, sehr männerlastig. Eine neue Version fände ich eine gute Idee und würde das Buch dann auch definitiv lesen.
Die Texte sind, aufgrund der breiten Auswahl an Autoren, sehr unterschiedlich, was für mich ein positiver Punkt ist. Manche sind sehr witzig, manche eher leicht beängstigend, manche gar nichts für mich. Aber ich bin mir sicher, dass bei dieser Kollektion jede und jeder etwas für sich finden wird. -
The back of my edition reads: "WARNING! READING IN ONE SITTING MAY RESULT IN ACHING RIBS AND SORE THROAT."
Nope, not a chance of that happening. I smiled a couple of times and chuckled maybe once, but there was no laughing. These stories are not funny.
The cover offers the subtitle "Comic Tales of Fantasy," but I was disappointed.
Some of the stories are witty or a bit clever, but none of them is amazing. Some of them are incredibly sexist, and what's worse is that the editor's introduction for such stories, decades later in some cases, defends or lauds them. In one case the editor even argues that the (sexist) story has survived the test of time and change in attitudes. Nonsense.
Read this book if you would like to see a few examples of bad fantasy/sci-fi, comic or otherwise. -
While some of these short stories were not that great (or just too short), this collection was on the whole fairly entertaining. Some of these authors have seriously warped senses of humor, which works perfectly for me, and I caught myself grinning quite a bit while reading various tales of the absurd. If you're only going to read one story out of this collection, make it The Rule of Names, by Ursula K. Le Guin. I paid a grand total of fifty cents for this book and it was worth it for that story alone. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
-
Man, what an anthology!
If you read one book in the genre of science fiction, this should be it.
It will routinely crack you up . But, it’s also such good writing, that you can’t GO wrong. Do not be surprised if this book leaves you wanting to dabble in science fiction yourself, because it will hyper accelerate your imagination .
Do not also be surprised if it turns out you’re quite shit... because this book sets quite the standard with its curation of short stories. -
Fantastic collection of short stories by the absolute greats of the sci-fi and fantasy genre. While I wouldn't call most of the tales comic, they are a comprehensive cross-section of the sub-genres and styles in the two genres. I cannot even pick favourites to pinpoint - there are few stories that are in any way less interesting than the others, and every single one is elegant and masterfully done.
-
Líbilo se mi (na 5*) jen pár povídek. Takže dvě :D
Humor mám raději jiného ražení, takže povídky, které jsou prezentovány jako humorné, mi vůbec humorné nepřipadaly. Celkově mě sbírka nějak nenadchla. A ani povídky známých a oblíbených autorů nebyly lepší než ty ostatní. Čekala jsem asi víc sci-fi a méně fantasy. Zajímavé bylo setkání s některými mně neznámými autory, ale nemám už moc touhu objevovat jejich další díla.
Na ty, které už mám ale načtené, kvůli jedné blbé povídce nezanevřu. -
I think we have different definitions of what's funny. These stories are more absurd than comic, thus the title. I liked the brief bios of each author, most with whom I am familiar. The stories are categorized into three sections of wizards, sorcerers, and space. Some I liked, some I couldn't follow. A simple selection of stories to allow readers to decide which, if any, of the authors to pursue further.
-
This is an incredible omnibus of satiric fantasy and science fiction, full of great short stories. The iconic Terry Pratchett, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Douglas Adams and C.S. Lewis are some of the authors, whose works are included in the volume.
I recommend it for every fantasy or sci-fi nerd! -
Excellent collection of comic tales of fantasy by such luminaries as Terry Pratchett, Ursula K Le Guin, Philip K Dick, Robert Bloch, Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut Jr, and Larry Niven, to name a few.
Highly entertaining. -
A fun read.
-
Bit of a mixed bag but some very fun stories from an excellent range of authors.
-
Odd was right, enjoyable in the main
-
2,5/5
-
A fun collection. My favorites were by Niven and Vonnegut.
-
Just wasn't for me... nothing wrong with the writing, just didn't resonate.
-
Bardzo nie równy zbiór opowiadań. Ale były takie co mi się bardzo spodobały.
-
Stejně jako u druhého d��lu (který jsem tedy četl jako první -
Čaroplavci ), jde o zajímavou směs opravdu dobrého čtení, (nad)průměrného vyprávění, podivností, bizáru ale taky nezajímavých kousků. Bavila především poslední třetina věnovaná žánru "space-opera", podivná byla ta prostřední hrdinská. Zajímavé, jak na tomto malém prostoru někteří známí autoři nefungují a některé jsem si hned napsal do seznamu k dalšímu prozkoumání. Bavilo... -
Thoroughly enjoyable collection of great work from great authors. The long winded introductions to each book might seem a little too long, but they are well researched and full of leads for more enjoyable fiction. Well done.
