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Book Details

The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 3

71.4% complete
Copyright ©, 1977, by DAW Books, Inc.
1977
Anthology; Collected Stories; Fantasy
Unknown
Never (or unknown...)
See 13
The Year in Fantasy: An Introduction
Eudoric's Unicorn: L Sprague de Camp
Shadow of a Demon: Gardner F. Fox
Ring of Black Stone: Pat McIntosh
The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr: George R. R. Martin
Two Suns Setting: Karl Edward Wagner
The Stairs in the Crypt: Clark Ashton Smith
The Goblin Blade: Raul Garcia Capella
The Dark King: C. J. Cherryh
Black Moonlight: Lin Carter
The Snout in the Alcove: Gary Myers
The Pool of the Moon: Charles R. Saunders
The Year's Best Fantasy Books: An Appendix
Book Cover
Has a genre Has comments Has an extract In my library In a series 
25077
 The Year's Best Fantasy Stories*
#3 of 6
The Year's Best Fantasy Stories*     See series as if on a bookshelf
A series released by DAW of fantasy short stories edited by Lin Carter at first and then by Arthur W Saha later.

3) The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 3
4) The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 4
5) The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 5
6) The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 6
In the memory of
Mary Gnaedinger
Thomas Burnett Swann
and
Ruth Plumly Thompson
When Sir Eudoric Damberton's stagecoach line was running smoothly, Eudoric thought of expansion.
May contain spoilers
Laughing lustily, Imaro spurred their horse into the narrow mountain pass.
Comments may contain spoilers
"Eudoric's Unicorn" by L. Sprague de Camp, "The Dark King" by C. J. Cherryh, "The Snout in the Alcove" by Gary Myers, "The Goblin Blade" by Raul Garcia Capella, appear for the first time in this edition.

"Ring of Black Stone" by Pat McIntosh, from Anduril #6, August 1976, © 1976 by John Martin.

"Two Suns Setting" by Karl Edward Wagner, from Fantastic, May 1976. © 1976 by Ultimate Publishing Co., Inc.

"The Stairs in the Crypt" by Clark Ashton Smith and Lin Carter, from Fantastic, August 1976.  © 1976 by Ultimate Publishing Co., Inc.

"Black Moonlight" by Lin Carter, from Fantastic, November 1976.  © 1976 by Ultimate Publishing Co., Inc.

"The Pool of the Moon" by Charles R. Saunders, from Dark Fantasy #8.  © 1976 by Charles R. Saunders.

"The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr" by George R. R. Martin, from Fantastic, May 1976.  © 1976 by Ultimate Publishing Co., Inc.

"Shadow of a Demon" by Gardner F. Fox, from The Dragon, Aug. 1976.  © 1976 by Gardner F. Fox.
Extract (may contain spoilers)
I came upon them by the last of the daylight, an old woman and a bare legged child filling in a grave before a cold and lonely smithy.  Neither moon nor sun being in the sky, I guessed they were burying a married couple, sun-child and moon-daughter; it seemed the proper thing to do, to tether my horse and help.

Once the Passing Words were said, the child and I helped the old woman to her feet.  She looked me up and down and glanced, briefly, over my shoulder.

"Bid you thanks for your courtesy," she said "Will you shelter the night, daughter?"

"A blessing on the roof-tree," I answered formally, "that shelters the stranger."

She smiled crookedly, and turned away towards the house.  The child said,

"Are you a girl?"

"She is a war-maid, Melagra," said the old woman, turning back briefly.  "She serves the Goddess."

"My name's Thula," I added.

"Does your horse dislike donkeys?" Melagra demanded.  I must have looked blank, for she turned on her heel, marched up to Dester and unhitched his reins.  "Come and meet the donkey," she said to him.  He blew suspiciously at her, but did not offer to bite.  I followed her round the house to the stable, and asked as she lit the lantern,

"What happened?  Was it a raid from the Eyries?"

"It was the soldiers.  They came for Melvia.  I hid when I heard the shouting, and they killed Mam and Dad and left Gran for dead and took Melvia away."  She thrust a full hay-net at me.  "Here.  Pulley's there."

"Soldiers don't do things like that," I objected, hauling the net up.

"It was soldiers," she said, her voice rising.  Dester tossed his head and snorted, and in the other stall the donkey stirred nervously.

"Was your Gran hurt?" I asked.

"Hit on the head.  I'm glad you've come," she said confidingly.  "Maybe she won't talk so odd in front of strangers.  She's been seeing things for me."

"What sort of things?"

"A man with no face, looking over my shoulder.  That sort of thing."  She dumped a brimming measure of oats in the manger.  Dester thrust his nose in, shouldering me aside.  "Gran's a witch," she added.

 

Added: 02-Feb-2026
Last Updated: 15-Mar-2026

Publications

 01-Nov-1977
DAW Books
Mass Market Paperback
In my libraryOrder from amazon.comHas a cover imageBook Edition Cover
Date Issued:
Cir 01-Nov-1977
Format:
Mass Market Paperback
Cover Price:
$1.50
Pages*:
237
Catalog ID:
UW1338
Pub Series #:
267
Internal ID:
144154
Publisher:
ISBN:
0-879-97338-2
ISBN-13:
978-0-879-97338-4
Printing:
1
Country:
United States
Language:
English
Credits:
Josh Kirby  - Cover Artist

Back Cover Text:
LIN CARTER
THE YEARS BEST FANTASY
STORIES: 3


Of last year's book, reviewers said:

"Enjoyable reading for all lovers of fantasy and heroic adventure stories!"  (Kliatt Paperback Review)

"It will surely give you some new and promising names to look out for."  (Science Fiction Review)

"More than worth reading... Even if you don't usually dig fantasy, don't miss this one!"  (The Mirror, Florida)

And the same holds true for this new selection, hand-picked by Lin Carter, the leading master of fantasy!  Here are stories guaranteed to take you out of this world in all the infinite directions the imagination can take.  Here are great stories by L. Sprague de Camp, Karl Edward Wagner, C. J. Cherryh, Clark Ashton Smith, Charles R. Saunders, and many others....

THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY is always an eagerly awaited event!

-A DAW BOOKS ORIGINAL -
NEVER BEFORE IN PAPERBACK

FROM DAW
THE 1977 ANNUAL WORLD'S BEST SF
UE1297 - $1.75
THE YEAR'S BEST HORROR STORIES: V
UW1311 - $1.50
THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY STORIES: 2
UY1248 - $1.25
Cover(s):
Book CoverBook Back CoverBook Spine
Notes and Comments:
First Printing, November 1977
First printing based on the number line

Other book covers for this series run

Image File
01-Nov-1977
DAW Books
Mass Market Paperback

Related

Author(s)

Awards

No awards found
*
  • I try to maintain page numbers for audiobooks even though obviously there aren't any. I do this to keep track of pages read and I try to use the Kindle version page numbers for this.
  • Synopses marked with an asterisk (*) were generated by an AI. There aren't a lot since this is an iffy way to do it - AI seems to make stuff up.
  • When specific publication dates are unknown (ie prefixed with a "Cir"), I try to get the publication date that is closest to the specific printing that I can.
  • When listing chapters, I only list chapters relevant to the story. I will usually leave off Author Notes, Indices, Acknowledgements, etc unless they are relevant to the story or the book is non-fiction.
  • Page numbers on this site are for the end of the main story. I normally do not include appendices, extra material, and other miscellaneous stuff at the end of the book in the page count.






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