Dragon Path: Collected Tales of Kenneth Morris

Though he wrote in obscurity, Morris (who died in 1937) was one of the formative influences on modern fantasy: in his novels, The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed (1914) and Book of Three Dragons (1930), he essentially invented the Celtic fantasy subgenre. This volume gathers all of Morris's shorter fiction, much of which was published pseudonymously in such out-of-the-way places as The Theosophical Path. Thus Anderson's collection offers students of fantasy a rare opportunity to rediscover one of the category's founding fathers. Unfortunately, the tales are unlikely to interest the majority of fantasy readers--Morris's prose is dense and antiquated, and his stories often slowed by repetitious description. Taken one or two at a time, the antique tone and languid pacing provide an intriguing change from today's action-packed fantasy, but together they grow rather tedious. Still, if only for the stories' historical and academic importance, this is an illuminating collection from an early master. (Mar.)