Book Review: Fantasy Gone Wrong

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Fantasy Gone Wrong     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Martin H. Greenberg , Brittiany A. Koren
Class/Genre:   Fantasy   [Short Stories]
DAW, Sep 2006, $7.99

This sixteen tale fantasy anthology is filled with humorous satires that ironically lampoon the genre. Fans will laugh at the slapstick musings of authors like Alan Dean Foster, Brian Stableford, and Fiona Patton, etc. who all sixteen take amusing barbs at their own work. Everything is a target as heroes are psychoanalyzed, goblins sing lullabies, and food talks back to their diner with contempt even as the different morsels fight amongst themselves for gastronomical supremacy. Perhaps it is because it reminds this reviewer of the works of Jasper Fforde; my personal favorite is the nursery rhyme police procedural "The Murder of Mr. Wolf" by Josepha Sherman. The delightful jocular Shrek legacy lives in characters like Thimble Jack the Pixie or the media frenzy over items like “Local Pauper to wed Princess Penelope” as this witty fantasy goes right.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner