Lord of the Fantastic: Stories in Honor of Roger Zelazny

This worthy festschrift in honor of the late, great SF writer Roger Zelazny (1937-1995) contains 25 pieces of short fiction, some of them pastiches of Zelazny's work and others of them applications of the various authors' visions to prominent Zelazny themes. The most common of these themes is how closely the world of myth and legend is allied to our own (considered in such Zelazny classics such as Lord of Light, Eye of Cat and his Amber series), so the anthology is dominated by fantasy with a mythic or folkloric background. The authors include a number of big guns, among them Robert Silverberg, Andre Norton, Neil Gaiman, John Varley and Gregory Benford. Nobody performs less than well, and all have contributed personal notes on their experience with Zelazny, who possessed both an admirably lucid prose style and, apparently, an equally admirable freedom from personal crotchets. Aficionados of his work, as well as those curious about the man himself, will find this volume richly rewarding. (Sept.)