The Silver Gryphon
edited by Gary Turner and Marty
Halpern
(Golden Gryphon Press, $27.95, 330 pages, hardback; 2003.)
To celebrate Golden Gryphon Press's 25th book, the editors brought
together those  who
had contributed to the previous 24 and asked them "to write a story
that best defines them as a writer". And that is the limit to "theme"
in this thoroughly enjoyable anthology. In fact, that limit may be one
of the contributing factors to the anthology's success (that, and the
high-calibre names behind the stories).
In an effort to make an anthology stand out among the rest, editors
have put together more and more themed anthologies, asking writers to
work within some narrow parameters instead of letting the writers offer
up their best stories to date. It works for sales, of course, otherwise
it wouldn't be done; however, it all tends to make for uneven anthologies.
The books become like magazines -- a few stories you like, a few you
don't, and a few where you can't get beyond paragraph one. In the long
run, the glut of themed anthologies just makes readers not enjoy anthologies
any more.
And this is where The Silver Gryphon shines. You don't know
what the next story will bring. It might be science fiction. It might
be a ghost story. All you know for sure is that it won't be another
twist on whatever the theme-of-the-month happened to be.
All the stories are good, and some are worthy of awards. But we should
expect no less from authors such as Geoffrey A. Landis, Paul Di Filippo,
Robert Reed, Lucius Shepard, and the sf short-story maestro James Patrick
Kelly, to name just a few.
Grab their attention! So the mantra goes, and the editors listen.
The opening piece, "Mother" by James Patrick Kelly, grabs with a stranglehold.
It utilizes many of short-story writing's strengths, creating a cock-eyed
view in which to experience the tale. It has an ultra-intense, personal
viewpoint and an untrustworthy protagonist -- two aspects that work
with beauty in a short story but often fall apart in a novel.
"The Haw River Trolley" by Andy Duncan represents the weird tale, with
a strange romance and the stealing of a ghost trolley. It works well
yet makes me want more information. I'm so full of questions at the
end! Still, the piece keeps you going and the ambiguity doesn't detract
one iota from the overall enjoyment.
Geoffrey A. Landis provides "The Time-Travel Heart", a fun take on
Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart" and an equally fun take on time-travel stories.
"An Innocent Presumption" by Kevin J. Anderson starts rather blandly
but rises to the anthology's quality with a tale of repeated revenge
through the wonders of time-travel and parallel universes. The work
deserves a longer treatment, though, in order to gain the emotional
depth needed for this emotionally heavy story.
There is a terrific Vietnam story, an alternate history dealing with
the Gore/Bush election, and ... I could go on and on, but there's no
need. All the stories are worth reading. In fact, budding short-story
writers of any genre ought to consider this book required reading. The
short story is one of the most difficult types of fiction to pull off,
and though not every piece in The Silver Gryphon succeeds one
hundred per cent, each one displays the touch of an experienced hand.
The only caution I think worth mentioning is simply to avoid reading
the introduction until you have completed the book. The introduction
outlines all the stories and ends up spoiling a few by giving too much
detail (something I've tried very hard not to do in this review).
All in all, Golden Gryphon Press proves it has been worth the previous
24 books. They have consistently put out quality work that deserves
readers' attention. The Silver Gryphon is no exception.
Review by Stuart Jaffe.
Elsewhere in infinity plus:
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