This wonderfully eclectic and literate collection assembles most of the late author's short SF and fantasy not already reprinted in The Avram Davidson Treasury
(1998), edited by Robert Silverberg and Grania Davis. The only well-known piece here is "What Strange Stars and Skies," a reworking of the Lady Bountiful legend with a slight Yiddish accent. The rest is still a virtual cross-section of the work of one of the field's most undeservedly obscure geniuses. "Great Is Diana" brings to life (in several ways) the distinctly un-virginal Diana of the Ephesians. "The Singular Incident of the Dog on the Beach," a brief and delicious Sherlock Holmes pastiche, mentions neither the great detective nor his medical sidekick by name. The Samuel of "One Morning with Samuel, Dorothy, and William" is none other than Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the romantic poet, and we see what really happened when that unexpected visitor from Porlock interrupted the composition of "Kubla Khan." Even when he addresses himself to what we would now call alternate history, as in "O Brave Old World!," the author's historical scholarship and command of the English language rapidly turn it into something rich and strange. One would hesitate to call this book essential for anyone except Davidson's faithful devotees, but for them it is absolutely essential. (Jan. 9)
FYI:Davidson died in 1993.
