In Borges' prologue to The Invention of Morel he wrote about the critical scorn for "the adventure story" which could supposedly afford only "nonexistent or puerile" pleasure to readers. "This was undoubtedly the prevailing opinion in 1880, 1925, and even 1940" (Morel, 5). Michael Chabon seems convinced that the prejudice is still in full effect in 2002. Yet this Thrilling Tales volume he edited for McSweeny's was sufficiently well-received to be reissued as "A Vintage Contemporaries Original" and kept in print thus for decades.

The book contains a wide variety of stories, many of them by authors who have previously held my attention. Nick Hornby's "Otherwise Pandemonium" had something of the darkly comic vernacular feel of the "David Wong" books by Jason Pargin. "Closing Time" was one of the better Neal Gaiman short stories I've read, and it reminded me a little bit of Arthur Machen. I was entirely unfamiliar with Carol Emshwiller, but her story "The General" was a standout contribution.

Michael Moorcock's piece was a motive for me to pick up the book. It seemed like a mere Sexton Blake pastiche when I first read it, but later I saw how it fit into his Second Ether continuity developed in Fabulous Harbours. That book has its own Sexton Begg (sic) story "Crimson Eyes," set in a London of "the recent future."

The book includes two novellas, the first of which is Dave Eggers' "Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly." Like some other stories in this volume, this one showed that an adventure story could be achieved with an exotic setting, while retaining a "literary" focus on character and personal history, and without necessarily becoming plot-forward.

The longest story of the book is Rick Moody's "The Albertine Notes," a Phildickian compound of shifting realities, memory, and drug abuse, set in a near-future New York City where a dirty bomb has killed half of the population. It has a healthy dose of mise en abyme and epistemological tension to spare. I liked it very much.

Chabon's own contribution is at the end of the book. It is a steampunk tale set in an 1876 America where the 1776 revolution had failed. Framed as the first chapter of a serial, it promises its next installment in McSweeny's Second Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales. But as far as I've been able to find out, no such volume has yet appeared, nor has "The Martian Agent" been continued.

Howard Chaykin was a great pick for an illustrator. He supplied title-page graphics for all the stories except for Harlan Ellison's "Goodbye to All That," which has a full-page illustration by Kent Bash.

My first McSweeney's issue and still one of my favorites. Guest Editor Michael Chabon hit it out of the park with this collection of adventure stories by contemporary masters such as Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link, Dan Chaon, and Chabon and Eggers themselves. Definitely McSweeney's largest issue by page count at nearly 500 with a throwback cover and clever reproductions of ads and offers from mid-century pulp magazines. Chabon's goal was to show that at it's best, pulp adventure writing belongs alongside great short stories and is certainly more entertaining. I'd say this collection more than succeeds. ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2019/07/review-of-mcsweeneys-mammoth-treasury.h... ( )

A very decent selection of short stories. My favorites: "Closing Time" by Neil Gaiman, "Otherwise Pandemonium" by Nick Hornby, Laurie King's "Weaving the Dark," and Stephen King's "The Tale of Gray Dick." ( )

Good collection with lots of amazing authors! "Closing Time" by Neil Gaiman is pretty creepy, and I very much enjoyed "How Carlos Webster Changed His Name To Carl And Became A Famous Oklahoma Lawman" by Elmore Leonard, even if the title is too long! Stephen King's "The Tale of Gray Dick" was cool to read as it reappears later as part of his Dark Tower series, plus I love the throwing plates action! Nice group of stories here! ( )