"Alan Dean FOSTER - Smart Dragons, Foolish Elves" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

"Djinn, No Chaser" by Harlan Ellison, copyright (c) 1982 by The Kilimanjaro Corporation. Reprinted with permission of, and by arrangement with, the Author and the Author's agent, Richard Curtis Associates, Inc., New York. All rights reserved.

"Up the Wall" by Esther Friesner, copyright (c) 1990 by Davis Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Trouble With Water" by Horace L. Gold, copyright 1939 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc.; renewed (c) 1967. Reprinted by arrangement with Forrest J. Ackerman, 2495 Glendower Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90027.

"Savage Breasts" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, copyright (c) 1988 by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Or the Grasses Grow" by Avram Davidson, copyright (c) 1958 by Mercury Press, Inc.; renewed copyright (c) 1986 by Avram Davidson. Reprinted by permission of the author and his agent, Richard D. Grant. First appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

"Snulbug" by Anthony Boucher, copyright 1941 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc.; renewed (c) 1969. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.

Introduction and Afterword by Alan Dean Foster, copyright (c) 1991 by Alan Dean Foster. Used by arrangement with the author.

Contents

INTRODUCTION, Alan Dean Foster
As Is, Robert Silverberg
The Same to You Doubled, Robert Sheckley
The Egg of the Glak, Harvey Jacobs
Beibermann's Soul, Mike Resnick
Thimgs, Theodore R. Cqgswell
Ms. Lipshutz and the Goblin, Marvin Kaye
Unferno, George Alee Effinger
Unicorn Variations, Roger Zeiazny
Yes Sir That's My, Daniel P. Dem
Please Stand By, Ron Goulart
Bottle Party, John Collier
My Mother Was a Witch, William Tenn
Djinn, No Chaser, Harlan Ellison
Up the Wall, Esther M. Friesner
Trouble With Water, Horace L. Gold
Savage Breasts, Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Or the Grasses Grow, Avram Davidson
Snulbug, Anthony Boucher
AFTERWORD, Alan Dean Foster



Introduction

HUMOR AND FANTASY have had a long and happy marriage. Every society has felt the need now and then to leaven heavy doses of religion and mythology with laughter, lest the populace feel too oppressed by the gods. Not only did healthy injections of humor help to lighten the life loads of otherwise impoverished peoples, it served to humanize the vast unknowables of existence. Believing that Zeus, or Odin, or Shiva could find themselves on the cosmic whoopee cushion every now and then just like Uncle Cheng probably made the night seem a little less dark, the vastness of space and time a smidgen less overbearing.

So the people told funny stories; sometimes respectfully, sometimes not. Clearly the gods had a sense of humor, because including them in amusing tales did not result in imminent destruction and devastation. No matter how serious the religion or mythology, some irreverent soul always found room for a good laugh.

Today only the parameters have changed. The universe is better understood and therefore less threatening, but we still find space in religion for humor. The mythologies are different, though. The old gods repose comfortably in the Valhalla Retirement Home, having been replaced by computers, satellite communications, and psychoanalysis. Science, not mythology, rules the day.

Yet much of the old hangs around, having slipped comfortably into new clothes. Human concerns are still universal. Many of the stories in this collection would make sense to readers of a hundred or even a thousand years ago. It would do our ancestors good to know that their offspring can still laugh and smile at themselves.

Fantasy can be much more than escapism. Like the Arabian Nights, the imaginative tales in this collection often have points to make about the human condition: about love and truth, greed and lust, children and reality, what is really important in life and what is peripheral or overrated. The best stories are the ones that can make us think as well as smile. That's as true of fantasy fiction as it is of stand-up humor.