The Secret History of Fantasy

Step right up and buy your ticket to the impossible marvels of the Barnum Museum. Take a highly caffeinated ride through the Empire of Ice Cream. If you dare, hunt feral archetypes deep within a haunted English forest. Or conquer the New World with a band of geographically-challenged Norsemen.

Tired of the same old fantasy? Here are the stories you’ve never imagined possible. Nineteen extraordinary writers offer much-needed antidotes to clichéd tales of sword and sorcery. Combining the best of the old and new, these instant classics will inspire even the most jaded of readers. Beloved author and anthologist Peter S. Beagle reveals the secret: fantasy is back and it’s better than ever.

Contents:

Introduction by Peter S. Beagle

“Ancestor Money” by Maureen F. McHugh

“Scarecrow” by Gregory Maguire

“Lady of the Skulls” by Patricia A. McKillip

“We Are Norsemen” by T. C. Boyle

“The Barnum Museum” by Steven Millhauser

“Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut” by Stephen King

“Bears Discover Fire” by Terry Bisson

“Bones” by Francesca Lia Block

“Snow, Glass, Apples” by Neil Gaiman

“Fruit and Words” by Aimee Bender

“The Empire of Ice Cream” by Jeffrey Ford

“The Edge of the World” by Michael Swanwick

“Super Goat Man” Jonathan Lethem

“John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner” by Susanna Clarke

“The Book of Martha” by Octavia E. Butler

“The Vita Æterna Mirror Company” by Yann Martel

“Sleight of Hand” by Peter S. Beagle

“Mythago Wood” by Robert Holdstock

“26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss” by Kij Johnson

“The Critics, the Monsters, and the Fantasists” by Ursula K. Le Guin

“The Making of the American Fantasy Genre” by David Hartwell