I like my anthologies and author collections to have some sort of unifying theme. I am not a fan of anthologies just thrown together. If an author has written across several genre or several types of stories, I like the parts to fit together. There is one exception to that, the introductory collection if an author wrote across many genres. The Book of Robert E. Howard and The Collected Stories of Max Brand are two examples.
I recently wrote about DMR Books publishing the Poul Anderson collection Swordsmen from the Stars. For years, I used to play around on hypothetical Poul Anderson collections. There are some stories by Anderson from the 1950s never reprinted in a collection. Some are in Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction and Galaxy anthologies.
There are some Poul Anderson anthologies that just make no sense. Homeward and Beyond comes to mind. It is a great little collection but all over the place in terms of content, mostly stories from the 1970s. Alight in the Void (Tor Books, 1991) was edited by Bob Weinberg. It consists of stories from Popular Publications pulps, mainly Super Science Stories. That is a great collection of golden age space opera.
Here is a list of Poul Anderson stories that are sword-and-science, heroic fantasy, and historical:
Witch of the Demon Seas Planet Stories January 1951
The Virgin of Valkarion Planet Stories July 1951
Swordsman of Lost Terra Planet Stories November 1951
Goodbye, Atlantis! Fantastic Stories August 1961
Son of the Sword Adventure January 1952
The Trader and the Vikings Jack London’s Adventure Magazine October 1958
The Valor of Cappen Varra Fantastic Universe January 1957
The Gate of the Flying Knives Thieves World 1979
Lady of the Winds F&SF Oct. 2001
The Peat Bog Homeward & Beyond 1975
The Tale of Hauk Swords Against Darkness 1977
The Bog Sword The First Heroes 2004
Anderson contributed stories set in other author’s words:
Strength Magic May Return 1981
The Newcomers The Enchanter Completed 2005
Then there are some fantasy pieces on the obscure side. I have not read these but have the feeling they are in the mode of Unknown:
Ashtaru the Terrible Fantasy Magazine March 1953
Rachaella Fantasy Magazine June 1953
Three Wishes Fantastic Stories March-April 1953
Mr. Tiglath Tales of the Frightened August 1957
I will leave it at here for today and pick up next week on how I would organize these.
A few years ago I’ve spent some time with Internet Speculative Fiction Database and archive.org looking for some obscure Poul Anderson stories. But I’ve discovered that some pulps scans were mutilated at the request of Poul Anderson trust – they removed pages containing his stories. Still, they didn’t get everything. I’ve found The Virgin of Valkarion and The Witch of the Demon Seas this way.
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Both of those stories, plus “Swordsman of Lost Terra”, were recently reprinted by DMR Books:
https://dmrbooks.com/swordsmen-from-the-stars
Another great post on Poul Anderson! Personally, I consider him the best writer of SF ever. Yeah, better than Heinlein. Better, even, than NK Jemisin.
I love that SUPER SCIENCE cover. “OK, here are some guys shooting guided missiles at some spaceships. HEY! Let’s have a random blonde in a bikini come running through from Stage Right!”
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I can’t think of anyone who I would say is better than Poul Anderson and very few who might equal him. I don’t think Heinlein is one of them. I can’t speak for NK Jemisin’s work as I’ve never been able to finish anything she’s written.
That SUPER SCIENCE cover is great! It got my attention and that’s what covers are supposed to do…hmmm. I wonder if I should put a blonde in a bikini on the cover of my next book? Something to think about.
Morgan, thanks for renewing your spotlight on one of the great SF & F authors and also for that list of stories. There are a number I’ve never heard of before!