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Customer Reviews (8)

An Inquiry into the Roots of Avram Davidson's Work.
It's a pity that Avram Davidson early on got pigeonholed as a writer of science fiction and fantasy, because this designation consigned his work to pulp magazines--thus ensuring that one of the most brilliant stylists of the 20th century (I'll put The Redward Edward Papers up against a legion of James Joyce knockoffs any day) would never, ever get either the attention or the respect he deserved. In this, his last book--and only book of nonfiction, so far as I know--Davidson sits back, lights his pipe, and starts wondering. He brings a lifetime of voracious and eclectic reading, his encyclopedic knowledge of the esoteric, to bear on the roots of old stories and the creatures that populate them. Whence the dragon, whence the mermaid, where did Sindbad actually go?

But not only is this book a glimpse into (maybe) the genuine origins of old myths, it's also a glimpse into Davidson's brain itself. This is what he wondered about, this is what interested him, this is what he was reading about. This is the stuff that inspired his own work--the raw material of his corpus of stories and novels. And this is how his mind worked, and what a mind it was. He was able to sift between the vast amounts of information in his head to marshall his arguments and assemble his theories, and to do so lucidly, cleverly, and chattily.

Some readers will be put off by the style of this last book, which may strike them as overly conversationally erudite bordering on the precious. Others will appreciate it immensely. And others, like myself, will sigh in regret that we never actually got to meet the man and hear him expounding on every topic under the sun in person. Luckily, though, "Adventures in Unhistory" gets us pretty close to that.

Outstanding Author; Great Book
Avram Davidson is one of the greatest authors of 20th century American literature. Unfortunately,he chose eccentric and estoric subject matter, and is largely unrecognized. This is another of his quirky, fascinating books. Davidson is very learned, and in this book pulls together a fascinating range of facts.His prose is delightful.I'ts a highly enjoyable voyage through some of the stranger backwaters of legend and mythology.

Davidson takes on ancient legends and myths in his unduplicatable style
Adventures in Unhistory is a collection of columns in Issac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine by the late Avram Davidson in the 1980's. In these columns, Davidson takes on a mythological/fantastic subject that has fascinated people for centuries, and unwinds its history and origins in popular culture, and tries to find the grain of truth in the mountain of myth and legend.

Its a wonderful set of essays.The style of Davidson is conversational, jovial, joking, digressive but in the end illuminating and entertaining.As I read his analysis of mermaids, werewolves, dragons, Aleister Crowley and others, I could imagine myself in a deli in Manhattan, listening to Davidson over a bagel and coffee explain in a style that has to be read to be fully enjoyed.

The book is a real treasure, and I enjoyed it immensely.I can think of a few of my friends who will love this, if they haven't already beaten me to reading Davidson's work.

My only regret is that it was too short.I don't know how many of these columns he actually wrote; if another volume of his columns were collected and published, I'd get it in a heartbeat.

Glad to see it
If I had the gift of resurrection the first author whom I would restore to life would be the great American fantasist Avram Davidson. No one brought more learning, wisdom or humor to the genre and we are all poorer for his passing. How good it is then to see the reissue of this collection of his musings on the stuff of legends. Those familiar with The Master's work will see here the fruit that his researches bore in his fiction. It's an entertaining book to read on its own but it should also entice readers to pick up something more from the Davidson canon. "The Phoenix and the Mirror" is a good place to start.

Rambling, pompous and a bit tedious . . .
I bought this book because I like his short stories and I was prompted by the other reviews.I was disappointed.The book is organized as stream-of-conscious lectures that draw links between fantasy tales and ancient classical accounts or early history. It's not half as funny as the author thinks it is . . . I am finding it sufficiently tedious that I am likely not to get through it. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review
This invaluable collection of Avram Davidson's resonant, wittyshort stories describes some incidents in the career ofmany-times-Doctor Engelbert Eszterhazy, loyal subject of the TriuneMonarchy of Scythia- Pannonia-Transbalkania, located in anineteenth-century Europe whose political landscape will be, after alittle reflection, familiar to most fantasy readers. Enquire withDoctor Eszterhazy into curious matters--- the lurley; the old womanwho lived with a bear; gingerbread men; dancing goats; and more. NB:Read the stories in the order written, beginning with "Polly Charms",and turning back to read the later stories at the front. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The unrivaled master of historical myth
Long before the words "magical realism" ever cropped up in literary criticism, Avram Davidson was quietly creating a spectacular body of erudite, eloquent, evocative history-as-myth.The Dr. Eszterhazy stories, along with the Vergil novels and "Adventures in Unhistory", are the pinnacle of his accomplishment.

No one has ever had a better ear for dialect, a better sense of the self-importance of minor officials, a better notion of how Balkan politics play out in the back-alleys of minor capitals.And certainly no one has ever had such a perfect (and reverent) sense of the ridiculous, when it comes to the probable behavior of the Vicar-at-Large of the Unreconciled Zwinglians, or the demands of the Frores for an independent Bureau of Weights and Measures, or the universal value of a glass of shnopps, wudky, or St. Martin's.

If you do not love these stories, you're probably just not ready for them yet.

The more you know about European history, the funnier!
Each of the "short stories" is long enough for a meaningful theme.The elderly Catholic titular queen of Carinthia's summary of the history of the Reformation alone is worth the price of the book, as Dr. Calvin flees from France to Germany, changes his name to Luther, is thrown out by the local ruler, goes to Switzerland, changes his name to Zwingli, and that's why the Switzers have to come to France to be confirmed.

Imagine if phrenology, alchemy, etc., were real sciences
Avram Davidson imagines a world where science is slightly skewed: alchemy works, phrenology (studying the bumps on a skull to determine personality) is a real science, etc. The author takes each "scientific" dead end of the late 19th century (and earlier centuries) and builds witty, cohesive stories around each one. His characters are great and all his plots neatly resolve. The more you know about European history, the more fun you'll get out of his books (Mr. Davidson is, I believe, a professor of an arcane branch of European history). ... Read more

Product Description
Avram Davidson was widely regarded as one of the most outstanding authors of short fantasy fiction in our time. Now his estate and his friends have brought together a definitive collection of his finest work, each story introduced by an SF luminary: writers like Ursula K. Le Guin, William Gibson, Poul Anderson, Gene Wolfe, Guy Davenport, Peter S. Beagle, Gregory Benford, Alan Dean Foster, Thomas M. Disch, and dozens of others. This is a volume every lover of 20th-century fantasy will need to own.Amazon.com Review
The Avram Davidson Treasury may be the most satisfying short-storycollection of the decade. Davidson (1923-1993), one of science fiction andfantasy's greatest writers, was "a master shaper of small stories," writesAlan Dean Foster in his introduction to "Or the Grasses Grow." Foster isjoined in introducing the stories by dozens of extraordinary authors,including Ursula K. Le Guin, Gene Wolfe, William Gibson, Poul Anderson, andmany others. Davidson was clearly adored, and often emulated, despite hisreputation for being somewhat curmudgeonly. His mastery of language wasexquisite, and his stories glittered like diamonds. Each of the 38 tales inthis collection spanning five decades is a self-contained wonderland. Oneof the most famous (and most often plagiarized) short stories in sciencefiction appears here: "Or All the Seas with Oysters," tells of slightlysinister safety pin pupae, coat hanger larvae, and bicycle adults in aworld where machines are more than they seem.

Of "Dagon," John Clute writes, "It is as vicious as the world of a fish,and wise. It is masterly.... it cannot be read. It can only be re-read." Onthe surface, this is the story of an American military officer in Peking in1945, but lurking underneath are ancient gods, Chinese magicians, and theobscene torpor of hell. As Ray Bradbury writes in his afterword, "Many ofthese stories are complete mysteries, puzzles. Avram Davidson starts us ina fog and lets us orient ourselves slowly.... His knack for a proper paceis that of a true teller of tales." But all of Davidson's stories aren'tdark--far from it. He was a satirical genius, able to poke fun at sacredcows and turn a comic phrase with the best of them. Some of these storieswill make you laugh out loud.

To the fan of great literary short fiction: Don't skip over this deeplyfulfilling treasury because Avram Davidson was "only" a science fictionauthor. He's been compared to Rudyard Kipling, Saki, John Collier, and G.K.Chesterton, if you need a literary excuse.

And to the science fiction or fantasy fan: This amazing and creative Hugo,Edgar, and World Fantasy Award winner, nominated for seven NebulaAwards by his fellow writers, will astound and amaze you. --Therese Littleton ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Priceless
When I read a particularly good short story I look back and try to imprint the author's name on my memory (nowadays with mixed results).As far as science fiction & fantasy goes, the first time this happened was with a story by Avram Davidson, many years ago.As time went by I would notice his name on several memorable works.To say he had a style all his own is not quite right, since he actually had several styles, all fascinating.What I didn't know until fairly recently was that AD was surprisingly obscure, considering his amazing talent and prolificacy (try searching for his work on Amazon).

This collection brings together much of his finest short stories.Each one is chosen and introduced by another writer - Avram was evidently an author's author.While I probably would have made a few different choices, I was grateful to be able to experience many excellent works that I had never seen before.Chances are, even if you're an old Davidson fan, you'll find a few stories that are new to you as well.You would have to search far and wide - and at great expense - to replicate this compilation.

The collection is too long and varied to elaborate on the individual pieces, but suffice it to say, reading Davidson is a real joy.The quality of the story and the effortless technique are something you will see very rarely.The downside of reading a collection like this (are there any like this?) is that it spoils you.Afterwards, most other writers seem flat and uninspired by comparison.

A writer writers will never read, alas
I hate some of the stories in this book; the remainder leave me gibbering with awestruck, overwhelmed delight. The specific stories a reader might revile or adore (or both) will vary. It's a huge, manifold collection of shorts by one of the best writers in English from...

OK, I'm hesitant to say, "the last century" or "the century recently passed", partly because that's awfully goofy, and partly because I'm not near well-read enough to make such claims with authority. I'm gonna say it anyway. I stumbled upon a copy of a long out of print and svelter collection of Davidson's work (Or All The Seas With Oysters...) at fourteen and I've never been quite the same. He's not the writer whose works I wish I could have written: he is the writer whose works I would have wished I could have written had I been the writer I wished I could have been.

(we see why a writer I am not, Yoda knowingly says)

Davidson had a dear whimsy, a weariness, and a bite that was, dare I say it, very Jewish. When I (re)read his stories I feel as if I (an agnostic Gentile) have magically been allowed to understand & overhear the Yiddish folk yarns the kindly, crusty grandfather spins for the kids while the middle generation shouts in the background.

Davidson wrote as well as Singer. Perhaps better, at his best. No small praise; I know what I am claiming. Do not allow my muddy writing dissuade any reader from buying and luxuriating in this important collection.

Avram Davidson Treasury is readers delight.
As a long-term reader of science fiction and an admirer of the writings of Avram Davidson the publication of this particular book was, for me, a noteworthy event. I was able to renew my acquaintance with some of the delightful stories I had first read ten to twenty-five years ago. Each story is preceded by a thoughtful introduction by author friends of the late Mr. Davidson. I found these short essays generally very helpful since most of the writers maintained a correspondence with AD and could provide personal insights and biographical data related to the stories.

The 38 stories are grouped chronologically by the decade in which they were published; Fifties to Nineties. I noticed that the excellent Ray Bradbury afterward had been used as an introduction to another out-of-print AD collection, Strange Seas and Shores, Doubleday, 1971.

My only grouse is that I wish the editors had included a listing of the titles of AD books, novels and short story collections. Thank you editors Silverberg and Davis, a beautiful book and a fitting tribute to "one of the finest short story writers ever to use the English language"...Robert Silverberg.

Quirky, lovely, some of the best short fantasy ever
Avram Davidson died in 1993. He was, as so often said, one of the great originals. His writing was elegant and complex: always adapted to the voices of his narrators and characters, always at some level humorous even when telling a dark story. He was one of those writers whose stories were always enjoyable just for wallowing in the prose: for its sprung rhythms and fine, out of the way, images. And his stories were enjoyable for wallowing in the atmosphere: for its evocation of exotic place-times, whether it be late '50s New York City or early '70s Belize or turn of the century Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania or far future Barnum's Planet, and for its evocation of exotic world-views, and the packing and repacking of wondrous, seemingly inconsequential (though rarely truly so) tidbits of history and unhistory into the backgrounds. And his best stories took these characteristics and harnessed them in the service of well-honed themes or (sometimes) clever plots.

This collection is organized as a retrospective, with the selections placed in order of first appearance. This is, I think, an excellent choice for any collection of this magnitude in that it allows the interested reader to try to track evolutions in the writer's style and thematic concerns over time. (I would suggest, perhaps, that the older Davidson was more prone to explorations of esoterica than the younger, and less often openly angry. Throughout his career he was ready with the comic touch, even in the midst of a darker context. His style was always special, but perhaps grew more involved as he grew older.)

Another feature of this collection is the introductions, by many of Davidson's friends: mostly fellow authors and editors, but also his bibliographer, Henry Wessels, and his son. This represent a significant chunk of "value added": they include some personal reminiscences, some analyses of the work, some elegiac passages. I'll add that the book is nicely and elegantly put together, and that editors Robert Silverberg and Grania Davis (as well as Tor in-house editor Teresa Nielsen Hayden) deserve thanks and applause for working to bring us this book.

But, of course, there is no Avram Davidson Treasury without the stories Avram Davidson wrote, of which 38 are assembled here. And the stories are the only real reason to buy and exult in this book. I'm a big Davidson fan, make no mistake: I come to this review not at all objective, and having reading all but a few of the stories already, many of them several times. At least one, "The Sources of the Nile", is firmly on my personal list of the best SF stories of all time.

There is not space to discuss the delightful stories herein contained. Suffice it to say that this collection is big enough, and varied enough, to whet the appetite of any reader whose ear can be tuned to catch the strains of Davidson's voice. And even this large collection inevitably leaves out many fine stories (the other Eszterhazy and Limekiller stories, "The Lord of Central Park", many more), to say nothing of his engaging collection of essays, Adventures in Unhistory, in which he discusses at length many obscure legends, and their possible bases in fact. So buy it and read it, and very likely you will find yourself searching out the out of print and small press books which house the rest of his work (for now), and very likely too you will be hoping with the rest of us Davidson lovers for a few more treasures to be dug from his papers.

much better than Stephen King
Still targets a squarely middle brow audience. Also, seems very dated,rooted in the '50's.

Most of the stories are of the "TwilightZone"/"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" form and structure. I.e.,creepy setting, followed by twist ending. And this is more of a fantasy andsupernatural book than science fiction.

There is a lot of erudition ondisplay here, but it is the fussy, showy kind often displayed by theautodidact. The pace and economy of some of the stories suffer becauseunnecessary erudition is packed in with everything else. ... Read more

Product Description
Avram Davidson, who died in 1993, was widely regarded as one of the most outstanding authors of short fantasy fiction of our time. The Other Nineteenth Centuryfocuses on his distinctive historical fantasies, tales of strange Mitteleuropas, of magic in Victorian England and on the American frontier. Witty, whimsical, dark and strange, these tales of times and places that almost were, will leave even the most jaded readers amazed. No one has ever written like Avram Davidson, before or since. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

proto steam punk
This is a somewhat random collection of Avram Davidson's short stories.As usual, they include an amazing amount of factual background.It is worthwhile for Davidson fans.

Excellent strange stories of a 19th century that never was
The Other Nineteenth Century is the third recent hardcover collection of a selection of Avram Davidson's short fiction, after The Avram Davidson Treasury (1998) and The Investigations of Avram Davidson (1999).Needless to say this is very welcome -- perhaps a reissue of the complete Eszterhazy stories (rumoured to be in the works), and a first collection of the complete Limekiller stories, and maybe one more collection of excellent leftover pieces would be nice. This collection is theoretically of stories set in some version or other of the 19th Century, though a few stories are actually set in the 20th Century, and one or two may be set in the 18th or earlier.But no point quibbling.

The collection is marvelous. It displays Davidson's trademark wonderfully discursive prose, and his autodidact-style erudition, and his deep interest in the nooks and crannies of history. The stories span pretty much Davidson's whole career. Among the best: "What Strange Stars and Skies", about a virtuous do-gooder woman ministering to people in the slums of London who runs afoul of "that unspeakably evil Eurasian, Motilal Smith". "The Lineaments of Gratified Desire" aka "The Price of a Charm", about a man in the early part of this century deciding whether to buy a love charm or a hunting charm -- with significant results."The Montavarde Camera" is a spooky story about a man with a nagging wife who buys the title camera only to learn its terrible power.The rather late "Twenty-Three", in which we slowly learn the horrible secret of an old family.Another late story, "El Vilvoy de las Islas", about a strange man living on a remote South African island.One of the last (perhaps it was the last) Eszterhazy stories, "The Odd Old Bird", more of a jape than anyhing."Dragon Skin Drum", a dark story about two American servicemen in China, and Mao's revolution, and the ignorance of Westerners.And so on, and so on ... excellent excellent stuff.

Wishing for more
Davidson's quirky stories are a delight to read and reread.Well worth the investment and a worthy supplement to The Avram Davidson Treasury & The Avram Davidson Investigations.One hopes that the Jake Limekiller stories will be collected soon and that an expanded volume of Adventures In Unhistory is next on the list of publication. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Unusual Avram
This story has a writing style that is unusual for Avram. The characters remind you of how Assimov's main characters always are(not to down play assimov here): intellectual, "good show old boy"ish. Its a bizarre story, but not the kind that creeps you out or assults your sense of reality. It does deal with a different reality, sure, but you don't get sucked into that particular part fo the book. What sucks you in is the rapid change from character to character that makes an increadibly large idea somewhat understandable. The only short coming of the book is that it has this expansive idea of the maze and what its connected to(to not ruin anything for you), but its a short book. Avram could have written A LOT more and dazzled us. Regardless its still a story that brings you into its world and makes you forget yours.

AMAZING MAZE !!!
I recently dug up an old 1976 paperback copy of this slim 158 page book. WOW!!! This book has time travel, parallel universes, other dimensions, aliens, true and obscure historical facts, secret societies, religion, philosophy, PHEW!!! Although I have been aware of Avram Davidson since the 60's, it has taken me all this time to really discover and appreciate this writer. You actually have to take the time to read every word and sentence and paragraph to follow a Davidson story and don't feel bad if you have to go back to reread sections. I regret that he has passed away but I am grateful there is so much of his work available to us. You can't really classify Avram Davidson's work, it is unique. Davidson is one of those writers with the ability to induce an altered state of consciousness in the reader through the power of words and the use of language. "Masters of the Maze" does just that. As the book opened, I didn't know what was going on or who the protagonist even was. I was drawn into the subtle and cleverly woven tapestry of this novel in spite of myself and continuously surprised. No cliches here. If you want to give your gray cells a workout, this one is a delight! ... Read more

Product Description
Rogue Dragon is the latest addition to the growing New Classics of the Fantastic library, a series dedicated to bringing great Sci-fi stories to a new generation of readers.Jon-Joras came to Earth to oversee arrangements for a dragon hunt to amuse his king. The dragons, brought to Earth centuries earlier as pets of an alien race, were powerful but slow-witted - until now! Now, Jon-Joras finds himself caught in the middle of an uprising that could shake the powers of the galaxy! Featuring an Introduction by Harlan Ellison, Avram Davidson's classic, Rogue Dragon, is reprised in this attractive package. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The sequel to "The Phoenix and the Mirror"
Even though Avram Davidson wrote "Vergil in Averno" after "The Phoenix and the Mirror," Vergil is a younger, less accomplished mage in this sequel.

Davidson's hero, the author of the Aeneid is also Vergil Magus, the necromancer of medieval legend in this alternate history of the first century Roman Empire.

The 'Averno' of the title was a region in southern Italy known for its intense sulfuric fumes, caused by volcanic activity (now extinguished), that supposedly killed the birds flying over it. The ancient Romans regarded it as the entrance to hell (as did the real Vergil), and Davidson's city could very well perform that function. It is a noxious city of forges and dye vats, built above a huge, meandering reservoir of natural gas that slowly poisons all who try to live in Averno.However it is known as 'the very rich city' and commerce at least, thrives.Much of this novel graphically details the suffering of the workers in the forges, tanneries, dye-vats, and abattoirs of Averno.Poison gases churn in their lungs.Their limbs are crippled in the ceaseless production of cheaply dyed cloth and coarsely forged iron.Everyone dies young, even the wealthy.

Vergil is lured to Averno by a half-dream.He meets up with a blind jeweler and a mad king, among others, and finally contracts with a group of rich merchants to investigate the recent faltering of the city's source of natural gas--the underpinning of its immense wealth.

This novel defies all of the stereotypes of the fantasy genre.There is very little magic as we fantasy-readers know it. Averno is a dark, hellish city constructed of greed and poison. Vergil functions more as a civil engineer than a mage, and is constantly plagued by visions of what-might-have-been or what-might-be.The Sibyl's prophecies are impenetrable until after the fact, and the mannered, erudite narrative is at times as impenetrable as the Sibyl's prophecies.

"Vergil in Averno" is hard slogging, but a determined reader is rewarded with the minutely-detailed depiction of a Roman Empire that could have been but never was. Davidson sometimes swamps his narrative with idiosyncratic, archaic-sounding language---he reportedly performed massive amounts of research over a period of more than 20 years for his alternate histories--and the world he evokes seems totally authentic, for all that it never existed.

If you have the patience to work your way through the phantasmagoric thicket of Vergil's digressions, visions, memories, 'might-be's, and 'could have been's, his story might solidify into a structure of peculiar, intricate beauty found nowhere else, except perhaps in the novels of Gabriel García Marquez and other magical realists.

Vergil's early career as magician
This is a prequel to The Phoenix and the Mirror. Davidson the author imagines Vergil as a renaissance scholar may have imagined him(based upon renaissance era paintings of him showing him wearing dress more appropriateto the renaissance than to his actual era). Thus, Vergil is shown as analchemist and sourcerer. This story shows Vergil's early years, describinghis first major client, the City of Averno. Vergil's task is to help thecity manage its wealth of natural gas deposits. The author's characters aregripping, and his narrative (which lets the reader slowly discover thebackground to the action) is unique. I love Davidson's writing, and am onlysorry he did not write more about Vergil. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The man knew his history
If you liked, or think you would like Eco's Baudolino, I recommend this little book as well. Very funny but insiteful portrait of the dying roman empire. Just delightful.

Wordy? Yes, gloriously so!A delight!
Avram Davidson was one of the SF field's true greats, a strikingly original writer of heady and eccentric prose. His virtues were most apparent at shorter lengths: his novels sometimes fall apart structurally, and sometimes show signs of having been written rapidly to rather pulpish models, though even in the weakest novels enough of his odd vision is present to make them worth reading.

One of his most accessible novels is Peregrine Primus, originally published in 1971. It's the first part of a projected trilogy, and the second book, Peregrine Secundus, appeared in 1981, but the third book was never written. Lack of closure is not a problem: the joys of these books are not to be found in the working out of the plot, but in the individual, very funny incidents, and in luxurious sentence after intoxicating sentence. Davidson's voice is addictive, and in these books it is developed to the utmost.

The story is set in an alternate history. Peregrine is the younger son of "the last pagan King in lower Europe". When he reaches his majority, his father reluctantly exiles him, in order to prevent trouble with the Crown Prince. So begin Peregrine's, er, peregrinations. Accompanied by a faithful page and an aging sorcerer, he roams about "lower Europe", encountering the remnants of an eccentric Roman Empire, a wide variety of mutually heretical Christians, and many other wonders. A glorious book - and most any other Davidson you can find will reward the purchase as well.

Don't bother
Wordy and totally devoidof a plot; somehow I got through 3/4 of it, and decided it was not worth it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Through the Looking Glass
This is one of those rare small volumes, which, over time, have become cult classics.Avram Davidson never enjoyed the great popularity of some of his peers, but it should be noted that he enjoys much popularity among his peers.In other words, he is very much a writer's writer.By which I mean that his writing creates even more possibilities than it fulfills.

This book develops the medieval myth that Vergil was not simply a great poet, but a master mage living in the time of Augustus Caesar.Davidson's Vergil has the kind of inquisitive mind that has a knack for leading him into trouble.So, it is no surprise that, when he is rescued from being hunted by manticores, his rescuer, Cornelia of Carsus, promptly traps him into agreeing to create a speculum majorum - a mirror made entirely of the purest materials that, on its first use, will reveal whatever the user wishes it to see.Unfortunately, such mirrors are almost impossible to make, requiring raw materials that will send Vergil on a magical quest through the Roman Empire.Eventually the task will lead the mage to Phoenixes, Cyclops, things horrible and beautiful, and finally, to love.

What makes this small novel more than just a quaint, entertaining story is the depth of understanding Davidson has of this imaginary world.Not the world of the Roman Empire itself, but the world of the Roman Empire as it was imagined by medieval Europeans.Odd but useful creatures, distant lands with strange names, alchemists and astrologers all abound between these covers.There is no page upon which something arcane and unique is not revealed.In addition, the description of the making of the mirror is precise and accurate for the imaginary world of Hermes Trismegistis and the great works of alchemy.

The book is as much a resource for anyone interested in setting a fantasy in this world of the imaginary empire, as it is a jewel-like entertainment in which knowledge is an important part of the action.It is sad to see it always wobbling on the edges of being gone forever as publishers try more and more to substitute adrenalin for writing skills.Hopefully, you will find a copy and love it, and then be led to investigate Davidson's other works.Of such are pleasant hours made.

Vergil and his adventures
In the middle ages a legend sprouted that Vergil (yes, the ld roman) was a great magician. Davidson wrote this novel within this old fantasy setting. Minotaurs and witches abound, but so does a frightfully accurate knowlege of the ancient world. Quite a good read for those who like their historical fiction to be both well grounded and full of fanciful flights.

Excellent: Puts the Magic Back In Fantasy
A mage (in a Rennaissance Earth quite similar to ours) is hired to make a magical item. The plot is OK, but the richness of detail in his many labors to construct the item is absolutely mesmerizing. Highly recommended, especially for fantasy role-players ... Read more

Product Description
The complete collection of the Jewish tales of this master-of -science fiction, including two never-before published stories.Provides an extensive biography of the author, who died in 1993, and symposium of the leading science fiction authors who discuss the author’s genius and talent. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Essential reading for Davidson fans
Seven years after his death yet another collection from Avram Davidson, compiled through the agencies of the indefatigueable Grania Davis.And like the last collection "The Investigations of Avram Davidson" this is a collection that expands our understanding of who Avram Davidson was and what he could accomplish as a writer.

The first section of the book is pieces that Davidson contributed to Jewish journals like "Jewish Life" and "Commentary" in the early and mid-50s before he began publishing in "F&SF" and "Ellery Queen". What they reveal is an Avram Davidson little shown in the fiction. Davidson had fought in World War II and then had spent the early 50s living in the newly formed state of Israel. Davidson's contributions to "Jewish Life" and "Commentary" are probably more directly autobiographical than any of his other writings. In general, they are not stories but detailed vignettes of his experiences in a New York where Judaism was in conflict with assimilationist impulses and of his time in Israel and the Mediterranean, which reveal not only that Davidson was always a skilful writer with an attentive eye but also the extent of his commitment to his faith. In an afterword/bibliography Eileen Gunn says that Davidson abandoned a novel based on his experiences - judging from these short pieces Davidson could probably have written the Israeli equivalent of John Hershey's "Hiroshima".The writing is clear and the emphasis is on the diversity of people who make up life in this emergent world, creating a sense of hope, strangeness, and of present that is already flowing into the past.

The middle section is a forum of Avram' s friends (Peter Beagle, Barry Malzberg) writing about their sense of him as a religious person.

The third section consists of Davidson's writings from later in his career that feature a strongly expressed Jewish or religious theme. Aside from a story from "The Adventures of Doctor Esterhazy" most of these are uncollected and many of them are previously unpublished, including two sections from an unfinished novel and one from an unpublished story-cycle. These are as good as one expects from Davidson, with his eye for detail, his erudition, hisunique and peculiar narrative structures and always that that singular voice of his. Alongside his early pieces the reader can appreciate the developments in Davidson's sensibility and how he developed as a writer;from the external experiences of the man to the self-supporting full richness of his mind. ... Read more

Product Description
Like Bernard Malamud and Shirley Jackson, Avram Davidson brought a unique brand of charm, wit, and intrigue to the short-story form.His widow, author Grania Davis, and his longtime friend and admirer, noted mystery author Richard A. Lupoff, have compiled and introduced this loving tribute.

Collected here for the first time are Davidson's remarkable mystery tales, including:

-The 1840s murder investigations of New York's chief constable, Jacob Hays
-A sinister lesson in New England drift
-A bride who disappears on her wedding day
-A slavetrader and a deal gone terribly wrong
-Treachery in a nursing home
-A greedy antiquarian repents his ways
-Expatriates who will kill for a little peace and quiet
-And much ado about an exiled earl, Albanian Trotskyites, the Mafia, New Amsterdam river pirates, and the aspiring hooligans known as the Nafia (who "control all the gumball and India nut machines south of Vesey Street")

Davidson's unparalleled crime stories will thrill you like no other.This book is your invitation to explore the imagination of a rare talent.Amazon.com Review
Avram Davidson published 15 novels under his own name plus 218 shortstories before he died at the age of 70 in 1993. And even though he wasbetter known as a prizewinning creator of fantasies and science fiction,he was equally gifted as a mystery writer--as this collection of shortpieces, lovingly compiled by Richard A. Lupoff and Davidson's widow, GraniaDavis, amply proves.

We know that writers of short stories need different sets of muscles towork their magic, which probably explains why Davidson never published afull-length mystery under his own name (although he ghosted several underthe ubiquitous Ellery Queen byline). But stories in this volume such as "Thou StillUnravished Bride" (which Hitchcock made into a TV episode) and "The Cost ofKent Castwell" are perfectly contained worlds in miniature,richer than most novels.

"With a mere handful of syllables he could transport a reader to the deckof an ancient sailing vessel as it plied the waves of the sun-dappledMediterranean, to a musty and mysterious little shop in a shadowy byway ofVictorian London," Lupoff points out in his introduction. Another writerwith similar talents was Arthur Conan Doyle, one of Davidson's heroes.Other examples of Avram's artistry available in paperback include The Avram DavidsonTreasury and the Holmes-like The Adventures of DoctorEszterhazy.--Dick Adler ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Cross between O'Henry and Ellery Queen
Avram Davidson, who is better known as the author of speculative fiction with a comedic bent, spent many years publishing short mystery stories.At one point in his career, he was a ghost writer for "Ellery Queen".

Most of these collected stories have been collected before, but this is the first time that all of them are together in one volume.What makes this such a satisfying collection of stories to read, is that most if not all have a twist at the end.The twist in each story is not just to surprise the reader. Once you finish the story, you can see where Davidson had "telegraphed" the ending somewhere prior in the story.It's just that it's almost impossible to guess the ending before you finish the story.

For those who enjoyed Davidson's SciFi, this is a great addition to his collective works with a different style.It just goes to show how good a writer he really was.

A Nice Collection
Davidson is best known for his work in the sci-fi and fantasy genres, but his 200+ published short stories included many mysteries. This volume collects thirteen of his best, most of which appeared in the pages of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine between 1956-86. As with a lot of collections, the quality of the plotting varies (some of the stories are a little to obvious or gimmicky), but the prose is very good, and Davidson does a remarkable job of setting scenes with very few words. Moods and places other writers would take pages to create are accomplished here in a mere paragraph or two. Similarly impressive is the range of material, as Davidson displays an impressive ability to translate his erudition into compelling material.

"The Necessity of His Condition" is a clever little piece about a slave broker in pre-Civil War America who ends up hoisted by his own petard. The kind of piece one might imagine as an episode of the Twilight Zone or some similar series. The next story, "Thou Still Unravished Bride", was made into an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and takes place in a modern small American city. This tale of a bride to be gone missing doesn't hold up as well to the test of time -- most readers will have it figured out from the start. However, "The Cost of Kent Castwell" holds up quite well, and still packs a nice punch of dark humor. It's the story of what happens when a nasty man from the big city moves to a small town in New England and upsets the order of things. It falls squarely into the tradition of folklore in which a disruptive outsider is firmly dealt with by seemingly placid locals.

The next story ("The Ikon of Elijah") moves the action overseas, to Cyprus, where a greedy passel of antiquarians vie for possession of a priceless icon held at a monastary. Here, the mystery is perhaps less interesting than the scene-setting, as pre-partition Nicosia is drawn in vivid detail. The ending does pack a nice little bite though, again, in a Twilight Zonesque style. "The Cobblestones of Saratoga Street" returns to Davidson's native New York, where forces of civic modernization threaten to destroy the last cobblestone street in the city. It isn't really clear why this story is in a mystery anthology until the final page, and the reveal is pretty slick and funny. Perhaps the weakest story in the book is "Captain Pasharooney", about a boy at boarding school and a rare appearance by his father. Kind of tepid and never really goes anywhere, with a pretty obvious twist at the end. "The Third Sacred Well of the Temple", although set in a small expatriate community in a bucolic Mexican village, is basically the same story as "The Cost of Kent Castwell", albeit with a travel writer as status quo upsetter.

"Murder is Murder" is a brief riff on Crime and Punishment, fun but disposable. "The Deed of the Deft-Footed Dragon" is a Chinese-set story with local color drawn from Davidson's time in China at the end of World War II. Again, his ability to get the small details right is more interesting that the actual plot. "A Quiet Room with A View" is rather like the two earlier stories in which established order is threatened. Here, however, the setting is an upscale nursing home, and the killer seeks not only to protect something, but gain something else. "Mr. Folsom Feels Fine" is a slight piece about a man seeking to live off a meager pension. It was inspired by Davidson's own battles with the Veteran's Administration, and lacks the spark and imagination of the better stories.

Two of the stories weigh in at about 40 pages (double the length of the rest of the pieces) and their high quality definitely whets one's appetite for trying one of Davidson's novels. "The Lord of Central Park" and has a much different feel from the rest of the book. It begins with separate plotlines following an eccentric English peer in exile, a family of Dutch subterranean river pirates, a Miss Lonelyhearts, New York Mafia Dons, a bunch of small time hoods, and a sinister plot. It's a kind of breathtakingly madcap romp in which everything converges and is terrifically enjoyable. "The Importance of Trifles" is a very well done tale set in 1840s New York, with Chief Constable Jacob Hays as its hero. It's a meticulous historical procedural revolving around murder and stolen goods, and alas, the only in what was to be a series of stories starring Hays.

All in all, a nice collection for fans of short mysteries and one that will doubtless drive many to seek out more of Davidson's work. A little dated and contrived at times, but generally fufills the thirst for a good yarn before bedtime.

delicacies from a well-stocked pantry
The late Avram Davidson is well-represented by this collection edited by his former wife, Grania Davis, and Richard Lupoff.I have previously read and thought of Davidson as a science fiction writer, but this book demonstrates that he was a master of the mystery as well.In fact, these stories transcend their genre and desearve to be praised in the broader context of short story literature.The 13 stories were originally published between 1964 and 1992.

While the primary locale for the stories is his native New York City, Davidson also uses New England, Memphis, Cyprus, "La Banana" and Mexico. They range back in time as far as the 1840's. More remarkable than their diverse settings, though, is how economically Davidson creates a sense of time, place, and mood -- with a just a handful of descriptive wordstrokes. The heat in a chinese laundry becomes palpable when Davidson describes a washman wiping his hands and bare torso before he folds an ironed shirt so that his persperation won't drip on the garment.

Few of the stories' twists are predictable -- even for an old mystery hand. I finished each story smiling at the inventiveness of the plot and enriched by the esoteric pieces of information (like the origins of and differences between sea island and nanking cotton) that dot Davidson's writing like raisins in a scone. ... Read more

Product Description
From the back cover: STORIES MOST STRANGE ~ An outstanding collection by the incomparable master of science fiction and fantasy, Avram Davidson, winner of Hugo. Edgar, Howard and Queens awards. These are his wildest, most mischievous stories. They break away from the author, brush the book aside and fly into the reader's life. CONTENTS: Sacheverell; Help! I Am Dr. Morris Goldpepper; The Dragon Skin Drum; The Lord of Central Park; Or All the Seas With Oysters; What More is There yo See?; Manatee Girl Won't you Come out Tonight?; Sources of the Nile; The Certificate; The Golem; The Cobblestones of Saratoga Streel; Faed-Out ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Wonderful Collection of Short Stories
I've had the book for seven years now, and whenever I am not reading something else, I am reading this.Its 15 stories all dabble in the science fiction and fantasy, but each are so well written that even if you're not a SF and F fan, are highly enjoyable.While they each are more focused on different styles ("The Bazaar of the Bizarre" and "The Crystal Egg" are pure SF & F, "Junk Shop" and "As Is" focus more on the humor, and "Touchstone" and "The Cheese Stands Alone" are concerned with drama) they each have the same air of charm and intrigue.

And the authors featured aren't no-name writers.H.G. Wells and Ray Bradbury are the biggest names, but most of the authors were also creators and writers for hit television series.

The only problem one might find are the little intros that precede each story.While Avram Davidson is a fine writer, is in fact one of the authors featured in the book, he can tend to use words that are not only a bit big and confusing, but outdated.His humor certainly makes up for it, but is using words really such a bad thing?Besdies, you can always skip the intros.

The tone of the book is captivating and the subject is very intriguing."Magic for Sale" is a great book to have around the house when you want to delve into a rich story for an hour or two. ... Read more

Product Description
The best stories from the first ten volumes of the anthology series. Contains Nebula Award winning stories The Secret Place, by Richard McKenna; Mother to the World, by Richard Wilson; The Planners, by Kate Wilhelm; Passengers, by Robert Silverberg; and other outstanding stories by George Alec Effinger, Carol Emshwiller, James Salles, Joanna Russ, Thom Lee Wharton, Avram Davidson, Harlan Ellison, Gardner Dozois, Gene Wolfe, RA Lafferty, Ursula K Le Guin, Carol Carr, Langdon Jones, Philip José Farmer, Joanna Russ, Ted Thomas, and Ruth Allison and Jane Rice (writing as Allison Rice). ... Read more