An English-Language Selection: 1946-87

1998, Peter Bedrick Books, NY, 278 pages

This is one of my favorite reference books. One cannot have enough of these types of books laying around, particularly if one is hoping to have your own novel laying around like so in the next century. David Pringle does more than offer 100 capsule reviews, mostly 2-page entries. His introduction deals with the evolution of the fantasy novel, and is a must read for any aspiring novelist.

If any of my readers have a copy of a 19h Century ‘penny dreadful’ I would dearly like the opportunity to read it, or a scanned copy. While everyone’s top-100 will have a different order, and Mister Pringle favors Brits over Americans [of course they did concoct the greatest fantasy of them all…] Modern Fantasy puts a hundred works of excellence at your fingertips, and puts them in context as well.