Мартин Гринберг - My Favorite Fantasy Story

"I recall," said the unicorn.

"I passed them along to a friend of mine in Washington who used to be a member of my old chess club. I told him that the work was not entirely my own."

"I should hope so."

"He has since suggested that I turn whatever group was involved into a think tank. He will then see about paying something for its efforts."

"I didn't come here to save the world," Tlingel said.

"No, but you've been very helpful. And Grend tells me that the griffins, even if their vocabulary is a bit limited, know almost all that there is to know about ecology."

"That is probably true."

"Since they have inherited a part of the Earth, it would be to their benefit as well to help preserve the place. Inasmuch as this many of us are already here, I can save myself some travel and suggest right now that we find a meeting place— say here, once a month— and that you let me have your unique viewpoints. You must know more about how species become extinct than anyone else in the business."

"Of course," said Grend, waving his mug, "but we really should ask the yeti, also. I'll do it, if you'd like. Is that stuff coming out of the big box music?"

"Yes."

"I like it. If we do this think tank thing, you'll make enough to keep this place going?"

"I'll buy the whole town."

Grend conversed in quick gutturals with the griffins, who shrieked back at him.

"You've got a think tank," he said, "and they want more beer."

Martin turned toward Tlingel.

"They were your observations. What do you think?"

"It may be amusing," said the unicorn, "to stop by occasionally." Then, "So much for saving the world. Did you say you wanted another game?"

"I've nothing to lose."

Grend took over the tending of the bar while Tlingel and Martin returned to the table.

He beat the unicorn in thirty-one moves and touched the extended horn.

The piano keys went up and down. Tiny sphinxes buzzed about the bar, drinking the spillage.

Charles de Lint is a full-time writer and musician who presently makes his home in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with his wife Mary Ann Harris, an artist and musician. His most recent books are Somewhere to Be Flying and the single author collection entitled Moonlight and Vines. For more information on his work, visit his Web site at .

Jack Vance combines elements of the mystery, fantasy, and science fiction genres into a adventure-filled style that is all his own. His strengths lie in creating detailed, imaginative yet plausible societies, complete with a noticeable lack of altruism. Along the way to garnering awards such as the Edgar, Hugo, and Nebula Awards, he has examined such far-ranging topics as the power of language and the concept and price of freedom and independence. Notable novels include The Languages of Pao, The Dragon Masters, and Bildungsroman.

Terry Pratchett is best known for Discworld, his humorous fantasy series set on a world supported by four elephants on the back of a giant turtle swimming through space. Through more than twenty novels, he has lampooned just about every aspect of British society, as well as Hollywood, rock music, death, and just about everything else under the sun. A former journalist for various English cities and press officer for the Central Electricity Board Western Region, he was awarded the British Science Fiction award in 1990. He lives with his wife, Lyn Pratchett, in Wilts, England.

Mention the name Poul Anderson and instantly dozens of excellent science fiction novels and short stories spring to mind. However, like many authors, he has also tried his hand at fantasy fiction, with equally impressive results. Two of his novels that deserve mention are Three Hearts and Three Lions and The Broken Sword, the latter based on the Norse elven myths. He has also written in universes as diverse as Shakespeare's comedies and Robert E. Howard's Conan mythos. A seven-time winner of the Hugo Award, he has also been awarded three Nebulas and the Tolkien Memorial Award.

Humor and hope for the future are two hallmarks of the stories of R. A. Lafferty. Outrageous yet believable characters, transformation, and elements of the eternal war between Heaven and Hell also appear in his work. He has been writing fiction unlike anything else for more than twenty-five years, and has been rewarded with a Hugo Award and a World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990. He lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

L. Sprague de Camp has been writing since the 1930s, and has more than three dozen novels, dozens of short stories, and many nonfiction works to show for his efforts. Known early on for his space opera novels, he was first critically recognized for the novel Lest Darkness Fall, about one man's attempt to change history during the Roman Empire. In his wide-ranging career he has written everything from Conan pastiches to books on writing science fiction. He has also edited more that a dozen fantasy anthologies and manuscripts, working with authors such as Christopher Stasheff and the late Robert E. Howard.

M. R. James (1862-1936) was the most-lauded author of the nineteenth-century ghost story in the world. A scholar of classical languages and medieval and Biblical legend, he enjoyed a successful career as the director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and as Provost at King's College from 1905-1918 as well as Vice-Chancellor at Cambridge from 1913-1915. He was awarded various honorary degrees during his career and received the Order of Merit in 1930. It is his supernatural fiction, however, that he will be remembered for, stories that didn't rely on overt horror or description, but rather the gently lurking terror that crept up on the usually unsuspecting protagonist, until he came face-to-face with what he most feared.

Barbara Kingsolver has been writing evocative fiction about the plight of repressed indigenous cultures for more than a decade now. A former technical writer and freelance journalist, she turned to full-time writing with the publication of her first novel The Bean Trees, and has since published three more novels, Animal Dreams, Pigs in Heaven, and The Poisonwood Bible, as well as a nonfiction book about the role women played in the Arizona mining strike of 1983, a book of essays, and a book of poetry. She has been critically lauded for her emotionally stirring prose and poetry, and has won the PEN fiction prize and a citation of accomplishment from the United Nations National Council of Women. Along with her fiction, she has also reviewed fiction for both The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald, a husband-and-wife writing team, have written a number of fantasy and science fiction novels for young readers, including the Circle of Magic books. They have four children, including a set of twins, and live in Colebrook, New Hampshire. Mr. Macdonald was a naval officer for many years, and is now a journalist. Dr. Doyle occasionally teaches English and composition at local colleges. Other stories by them appear in Witch Fantastic, Werewolves, Vampires, and A Wizard's Dozen.

Elisabeth Waters sold her first short story to Marion Zimmer Bradley for The Keeper's Price, the first of the Darkover anthologies. She has sold short stories to a variety of anthologies, including Chicks in Chainmail and Sword of Ice and Other Tales of Valdemar. Her first novel, a fantasy called Changing Fate, was awarded the 1989 Gryphon Award, and was published by DAW in 1994. She is a member of the Science Fiction And Fantasy Writers of America and the Authors Guild. She has also worked as a supernumerary with the San Francisco Opera, where she has appeared in La Gioconda, Manon Lescaut, Madame Butterfly, Khovanschina, Das Rheingold, Werther, and Idomeneo.