Quite a few famous fantasy and science fiction authors appear in this collection of the year's best fantasy short stories and novelettes of 1981, as selected by editor Terry Carr. Of the eleven selected stories I probably read one or two in the early 80's, but the distance of time erased them from my memory if they were ever there. I read very little "fantasy" at the time these stories were published so this proved to be a good collection for me to have a go at.

These are described as "tales of the fantastic." The opening story is almost a novella and it is a contemporary (well, 1981) ghost story. The second story by George R.R. Martin, "Remembering Melody" is another ghost story I did not remember reading, but I remembered seeing it as one of the earliest very memorable episodes of "The Hitchhiker" HBO TV series in the early 80's. Susan Blakely was Melody in the TV version. The book version is done pretty well. "The Haunted Tower" by C. J. Cherryh seems to be set in a dystopian future and a woman taken to the infamous Tower of London. The ghosts of past executions such as Anne Boleyn visit the young woman. It wasn't a WOW story but I found it to be interesting enough.

For me the most interesting and very best story was by James Tiptree Jr, "Lirios: A Tale of the Quintana Roo" which is also titled "What Came Ashore at Lirios". This story was nominated for a Nebula in 1981. It is one of several stories written by Tiptree set on the shore of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. It is not quite a ghost story - part of the fun of the story is trying to figure out exactly what it was. Let's call it magical realism. This story made the book for me.

Most of these stories first appeared in "Rod Serling's Twilight Zone magazine" and "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction." Generally speaking I found these to be OK-good but not great stories. Disliked some too. The editor gives each story a brief intro, something I like as a warm-up teaser to the tale. There's also a one page recommended reading list of additional stories from 1981 included at the end (think of them as Honorable Mentions.) There was also a summary of happenings in the year of fantasy that served as a nice time capsule. Overall I enjoyed this well enough but I expect better stories in a "Best of the year" type collection.

viii • Introduction (Fantasy Annual V) • essay by Terry Carr
2 • The Fire When It Comes • (1981) • novelette by Parke Godwin
50 • Remembering Melody • (1981) • shortstory by George R. R. Martin
70 • The Grown-Up • (1981) • shortstory by Thomas M. Disch
82 • The Haunted Tower • (1981) • novelette by C. J. Cherryh
122 • And I Only Am Escaped to Tell Thee • (1981) • shortstory by Roger Zelazny
128 • Dinosaurs on Broadway • (1981) • shortstory by Tony Sarowitz
146 • Werewind • (1981) • novelette by J. Michael Reaves
172 • The Regulars • (1981) • shortstory by Robert Silverberg
184 • Lirios: A Tale of the Quintana Roo • (1981) • novelette by James Tiptree, Jr.
214 • Lincoy's Journey • (1981) • shortstory by Jessica Amanda Salmonson
228 • The Quickening • (1981) • novelette by Michael Bishop
257 • The Year in Fantasy (Fantasy Annual V) • essay by Jeff Frane
264 • Recommended Reading - 1981 (Fantasy Annual V) • essay by Terry Carr

This was published under the "Timescape" line of Pocket Books (Simon and Schuster), which only existed from 1981-1985. Timescape published many of the first Star Trek novels. I really enjoyed some of the Timescape books but they didn't seem to be able to establish themselves as a "go to" book line. ( )

F/SF