The Dream weavers Book

An excellent collection of short stories from one of the greatest science fiction writers. There are 17 of them and it would take a lot of space to give brief outlines for all. I would like to give my thoughts on some.

The Keys to December. Really good with very interesting and gripping plot.

Devil Car. At the time the story was written the idea of sentient cars seemed pretty ridiculous. Now with every car equipped with a computer and emergence of self-driving cars that idea no longer look ridiculous or even impossible. One more example of science fiction predicting the future.

A Rose for Ecclesiastes. It is arguable if this is the best piece of fiction Zelazny ever written, but it is undoubtedly his best short story, period.

Collector's Fever. An experimental story told entirely in dialogs. Good enough for the "experimental" part not interfering with reading.

This Mortal Mountain. Another really good one.

The Great Slow Kings. Humorous/satirical piece with very original plot. Really funny.

A Museum Piece. The movie "A Night in the Museum" shamelessly stole the plot from this story. Needless to say, this one is miles ahead in terms of writing.

Divine Madness. Again one of the first times this idea (later used and reused everywhere) appeared. Very powerful ending.

Love is an Imaginary Number. A short story that gave birth to Nine Princes in Amber. If you have no idea about the latter, shame on you!


The Man Who Loved the Faioli. If somebody other than Zelazny can write equally good tale about love between a vampire and a cyborg I have not heard about such person.

The Graveyard Heart. The main and only reason I rated this book with 4 instead of 5 stars. It is quite long and it was the only time I got bored reading.

Sometimes you read a book and cannot help thinking, "Darn, I can write this good!" In some extreme cases you think, "I can actually write better!" and begin looking for a pen only to realize there are already more than enough mediocre books around, without your contribution. I read this book and my only evaluation about its writing quality was: there is no way in Hell I can write half as good as this. This is all I want to say about the collection in general.

Mind you, not all the stories are equally good and some might not work for everybody, but if you call yourself a fan of science fiction this book is a must read. For now let us just weep for untimely passing of a Master (with a capital M) of science fiction.