From Booklist
For more than half a century, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction has been the leading forum for the most literate sf and fantasy. Hence it may surprise many F&SF stalwarts when they discover this new and entertaining anthology culled from its pages but devoted to swords-and-sorcery fantasy--a subgenre generally confined to less noble publications. The quality of writing on view is nonetheless up to F&SF standards, and the writers include many familiar names, from Fritz Leiber, whose award-winning "Ill Met in Lankhmar" features his popular swashbuckling thieves Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, to Ursula LeGuin, who contributes one of her Earthsea tales. An engaging, early Conan the Barbarian episode by Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp opens the volume, and Jeffrey Ford's satirical jab at similar barbarian swordsmen, "The Fantasy Writer's Assistant," concludes. In between are enough dragons, wizards, and medieval skulduggery to satisfy even the most demanding swords-and-sorcery devotee and enough plain good writing to make its admirers take a peek. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
Long before Arnold attempted a pale copy, Conan the Barbarian held sway over the land, and all was swell. Neither man nor woman, beast nor spirit could rival him. Then, for many a day, he disappeared ... but lo, now he's back! Conan is featured, together with some of fantasy's favorite characters, in this compendium of swordplay and wizardry, fleet-footed thieves and flat-footed palace guards, witches and man-eating leopards, giants and giant slugs. In Lands That Never Were also Includes introductions to each story by the editor.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
The aptly titled In Lands That Never Were is an adventure-packed 12-story anthology featuring tales of swords and sorcery from some of the genre's greatest writers, including Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, Fritz Leiber, and Ursula K. Le Guin.

Notable stories include Yoon Ha Lee's "Counting the Shapes," a singularly original tale about a heroic mathemagician who uses theorems to defeat an invading demon emperor and his army, and Le Guin's "Darkrose and Diamond," an Earthsea yarn about a young man with great magical ability who ultimately rejects an invitation to a prestigious wizard's college in order to pursue his childhood sweetheart. After giving up everything that he loves -- music and magic -- he returns home to find Rose with another man. With nothing left to live for, he vows to do anything to win her back.

Editor Gordon Van Gelder says it best: "Our need for fantasy, our wish to escape into adventures in worlds that never were, is eternal." This collection, which includes some of the best adventure tales ever published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, spans almost four decades. From Golden Age classics like Howard and de Camp's Conan tale "The Hall of the Dead" and Leiber's "Ill Met in Lankhmar" to stories from modern-day masters like Jeffrey Ford and Pat Murphy, In Lands That Never Were shows why the demand for escapist literature is indeed unending. Paul Goat Allen

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Long before Arnold attempted a pale copy, Conan the Barbarian held sway over the land, and all was swell. Neither man nor woman, beast nor spirit could rival him. Then, for many a day, he disappeared . . . but lo, now he's back! Conan is featured, together with some of fantasy's favorite characters, in this compendium of swordplay and wizardry, fleet-footed thieves and flat-footed palace guards, witches and man-eating leopards, giants and giant slugs. In Lands That Never Were also Includes introductions to each story by the editor.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly