Poul Anderson was one of the seminal figures of twentieth-centuryscience fiction. Named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of Americain 1997, he produced an enormous body of standalone novels and series fiction andwas equally at home in the fields of heroic fantasy and hard SF. He was ameticulous craftsman and a gifted storyteller, and the impact of his finestwork continues, undiminished, to this day.Multiverse: ExploringPoul Anderson's Worlds is a rousing, all-original anthology that standsboth as a significant achievement in its own right and as a heartfelt tributeto a remarkable writer-and equally remarkable man. A nicely balanced mixture offiction and reminiscence, Multiversecontains more than a dozen stories and novellas by some of today's finest writers, alongwith moving reflections by, among others, Anderson's wife, Karen; his daughter,Astrid Anderson Bear; and his son-in-law, novelist and coeditor Greg Bear. Bear'sintroduction, My Friend Poul, is particularly illuminating and insightful.The fictional contributions comprise a kaleidoscopic arrayof imaginative responses to Anderson's many and varied fictional worlds. A fewof the highlights include Nancy Kress' Outmoded Things and Terry Brooks' TheFey of Cloudmoor, stories inspired by the Hugo Award-winning The Queen of Airand Darkness; a pair of truly wonderful Time Patrol stories, A Slip in Timeby S. M. Stirling and Christmas in Gondwanaland by Robert Silverberg; RaymondE. Feist's Dominic Flandry adventure, A Candle; and a pair of very differenthomages to the classic fantasy novel, ThreeHearts and Three Lions: The Man Who Came Late by Harry Turtledove and ThreeLilies and Three Leopards (And a Participation Ribbon in Science) by TadWilliams. These stories, together with singular contributions by suchsignificant figures as Larry Niven, Gregory Benford, and Eric Flint, add up toa memorable, highly personal anthology that lives up to the standards set bythe late-and indisputably great-Poul Anderson.
