Tempting the Gods: The Selected Stories of Tanith Lee, Volume One

Tempting the Gods collects some of Tanith Lee's fiction from the late 80s to the present, from a variety of venues (Asimovs', Weird Tales, and Realms of Fantasy). They range in tone from the dark ("Cain") and Arthurian Legend ("The Kingdoms of the Air"), to Arabian Nights adventure ("These Beasts") and the just plain weird ("Tiger I"). All stories feature Lee's carefully crafted language, tight plotting, vivid imagination, and matchless evocation of atmosphere. Not all tales are dark -- there's even some humor, such as the new to this collection "God and the Pig." Like Bradbury and Vance, Lee is a unique stylist. This collection -- the first part of a two part series -- is a perfect introduction to her work, some of the best writing in the weird fiction category.