My first read of 2024, though it's taken me about six months to work my way through it. This amazing compendium of work from one of the unfortunately under-read masters of the field is not something to be devoured in one gulp. As Ray Bradbury says, in one of the story introductions that add so much to this volume, "Collections of short stories, like vitamins, should be taken one or two a night, just before sleep. It will be a temptation, but don't gorge yourself."

Davidson's impeccable ear for dialogue, his sly humor, and even his occasionally dark cynicism, imbues every one of these pieces. The introductions, inside stories, and insights provided in the introduction to each one, penned by luminaries in the field, make this an absolute must-have for any fan of the genre.

Not every story will ring the bell with every readers. Davidson's range of interest was so wide and his ability to move from Chandleresque hard luck story to wildly improbably fantasy so fluid that it would be well-nigh impossible for each one to meet the precise needs of every reader. Sobeit. There will still be something ... some line, some scene, some notion ... that will stay in the reader's mind long after the book is closed (assuming it stays closed; most hard-core fans will end up revisiting this volume often).

My personal favorite here is And Don't Forget the One Red Rose. Your mileage may vary, but if you're an sf-fantasy reader, you're bound to enjoy the ride. ( )

I didn't finish it, but I'd like to go back and pick out a few more stories. Some of them were delightful in their creepy whimsy, but some I just couldn't get rolling with. I'm sure there's more to this author, but it's back to the library for him for now. ( )

An excellent collection of short stories, of which even the ones which aren't very compelling are always well-written. Davidson has a great range, and can go from Wodehousian parodies to respectable sci-fi seemingly effortlessly. Each story is preceded by a brief note from a staggering range of influential authors (Silverberg, Gibson, LeGuin, Bradbury, Ellison...); he was admired by what seems like half the world. While a bunch of the encomia don't offer much insight, a fair number help provide context for the genre-hopping stories within. I don't think all were successful, but Davidson was a heck of a writer and even the merely okay ones will still typically have some good dialog or characterization. ( )

This is a collection of nearly 40 short stories that span Davidson’s career from the 50s to the 90s. He wrote widely across the pulp markets, but most of this collection come from either the SFF or the mystery markets. Even so, his erudition can make categorising his fiction difficult - there’s an element of the fantastic in what seems to be a straight-forward hard-boiled mystery, and his science fiction and fantasy often use mystery tropes. I hesitate to use the term ‘magical realism’ because more often than not the magic lies in Davidson’s writing talent and eye for details of language and setting.

This is a collection best sipped in small quantities; I started reading it on the commute and finished while laid up with flu. Some of the stories are collected elsewhere; but there were many that were new to me, especially ones from the mystery markets. There was only one I didn’t like - Selectra Six-Ten, mostly because I didn’t like the style. Others: well what can I say but buy this, read it, and enjoy it?

I can’t recommend Davidson enough as a writer; this collection is a well-deserved tribute to an unacknowledged grandmaster.

This collection was put together by Davidson's former wife and his colleague Robert Silverburg after Davidson's death in miserable poverty. Some of the stories are light to the point of trifling, some are powerfully grim (notably "The Necessity of His Condition"), some are mysteries (or at least crime stories) , some are fantasies and some are practically indescribable ( )