ALIEN PLOT

Only the second story collection (Anthonology, 1986) from prolific novelist Anthony: a mixed bag of 18 pieces, 1970-91, ranging from vignettes and quasi-essays to fiction novellas, and including seven works previously unpublished for one reason or another. In the long title piece, an alternate world where magic works confronts the military might of our world. Also above average: an entertaining fantasy about a young investigator who must solve a puzzle to win a nymph; and a feminist piece featuring a supposedly helpless young woman who defeats some alien invaders in best Schwarzenegger style. Plus: a couple of satires on editors, alternate pasts, a new wrinkle on May-December couples, sex role reversals, humor, babies, reality changes, emotions, dinosaurs, and a story written for the ElfQuest collaborative series. Extremely diverse and politico-sexually impeccable, but slight and all but weightless. The author's introductions are like having your big brother hanging over your shoulder while you read. And most annoying of all is Anthony's blithe assumption that everything he writes is both essential and salable; he's wrong on both counts.