Peter Haining was one of the top-tier anthologists of the late 20^th Century. He would cover a theme including contents that were deep and wide. If you bought a book he edited, you would come out knowing much more than when you started.

One of my favorites is Great Irish Tales of Fantasy and Myth. The book was first entitled Great Irish Tales of the Unimaginable from Souvenir Press in 1994. My copy is the Barnes & Noble reprint from 1996 that I think I picked up in 1997. 309 pages for $6.98 at the time. Barnes & Noble was great back then for what you found in their remaindered section.

Contents:

This is a great book to sample various Irish writers of myth and folklore: P. W. Joyce, Lady Gregory, W. B. Yeats, James Stephens.

Some fiction writers including Lord Dunsany, Joseph O’ Neill, Maurice Walsh, and T. H. White give added depth. Ernest Hemingway supposedly considered Maurice Walsh the greatest adventure writer.

I do admit a reason I picked the book up was the Peter Tremayne story. Peter Berresford Ellis as “Tremayne” had written some Celtic themed heroic fantasy novels that I enjoyed. He has by my count around five heroic fantasy short stories. Maybe those should be collected into one book. Pick up Tremayne’s Aisling and Other Irish Tales of Terror should you come across it.

On St. Patrick’s Day, I will be dipping into Great Tales of Fantasy and Myth after my traditional meal of corned beef & cabbage and soda bread accompanied by a bottle of Smithwick’s Ale.