Del Rey/Ballantine/Random House, 2004, 642pp

This is a second volume, the first having been published in 1998

This is a nice collection, offering a sampling of several authors' works as well as an overview of where Fantasy is going today.

On the latter subject, the tend toward floridly wordy fantasy that seems more like a bodice ripper is pretty easy to see in these eleven stories.

Most of the stories are supplements, interpolations or extensions of the characters from a fantasy series.

Robin Hobb adds another story to the Realm of the Elderlings. It's hard to remember whether this story fits on at the end of the saga, with Chaldeans settling the Rain Wild River for a second time, or if this is the tale of the original settlement. I suspect the latter. Mostly it's the emotional evolution of a pampered housewife becoming a community leader through hardship.

George R.R. Martin adds a nice, self-contained story to A Song of Ice and Fire, following two of his young characters through a "becoming a man" experience. I've not followed the series, and while this was a good story, I'm not much intrigued into it's complexity.

Orson Scott Card explores the relationship between Alvin and his Negro companion in an alternate-reality America. I was afraid we would have another Fabulous Riverboat here, but the brief encounters with historical characters are mostly underplayed. Still, it's a lot of pretense. This is the first of the stories to deal with magic, but it's a magic that must be more fully laid out in the novels, mostly a mental manipulation of others' perceptions, and the ability to alter metals.

Silverberg warns us that Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series is complex, with many characters, and her story "Lord John and the Succubus" certainly has a broad cast. The main character is much given to introspection, but it's a nice mystery tale.
There are some interesting equestrian citations toward the end:
Hast Thou given the horse strength?
Hast Thou clothed his neck with thunder?
He paweth the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.
He mocketh at fear, and is not afrighted; niether turneth he he back from the sword.
He saith among the trumpets Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting.
Must track that down.
There is a suggestion of the supernatural here, but it is not definite.

Silverberg's own contribution is from his Majipoor Chronicles, and follows a dilettante poet on a very brief adventure. The story is far from brief, however, due to the poet's intense introspection and examination of the process of poetry. This would be a good one to skip over if you were looking for anything but a way to consume time.

Tad Williams explores the continuing life of a virtual character in the Otherland universe, who's real world body has died. Frankly the clumsiness of the character's dealings with his real world parents feel artificial, but the light mystery is amusing.

Anne McCaffery provides a story of late Pern, where a dragonrider out to deliver vacine meets an uncertain fate. We are reminded that the conflict in these stories is rather unsophisticated. If we had the powers her characters had, we wouldn't have their problems.

Raymond Feist brings us a story of a messenger riding among the camps of armed men, cleverly evading the enemies from his Riftwar sagas. Yeah, well, he becomes a man. The Riftwar looks like an awful lot of reading if this is all there is to it. Good story, but pointless.

Elizabeth Haydon fills in a piece of her Rhapsody Trillogy with a story of the end of the island of Serendair and the people who guard it faithfully until the last. Though more tightly written, the short story is a reminder of why the novels were tedious. Loose ends fray all over the place. The island is deserted, except for the few, desperate stragglers who missed the ships. Oh, and a couple of large nations that decided not to go. Does that sound natural or human to you?

Niel Gaiman shines among this collection like great science fiction among pulp comics. A transitional sequel to his American Gods, this is an adventure Shadow (Baldur) has in England, and also turns out to be a favorite old myth. This would make me re-read American Gods if it didn't also promise a new novel, Anansi Boys due out soon.

Terry Brooks takes one of his Shannara characters, Jair Ohmsford, and plays one of those little TV tricks. The demon you slew so showily in the last episode turns out not to have quite died all the way, you must slay it again. Mmmkay.
This one deals most directly with magic - but it really doesn't. It's clear that the science and method of the magic is entirely secondary to it's use in the plot.