"So here is a book of fantastic creatures as old as primitive human dreams and as new as the next century's headlines, as familiar as folktales yet as strange as science fiction — and all for your pleasure."
Isaac Asimov, introduction
An Anthology by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G Waugh, first published in 1981. The eight stories herein are stories of Speculative Fiction, tales from Earth and beyond, creatures that don't exist as far as science knows, but science itself admits there are worlds it doesn't yet know.
Works collected in Fantastic Creatures:
- "The Smallest Dragonboy" by Anne McCaffrey (1974)
- "The Botticelli Horror" by Lloyd Biggle Jr (1960)
- "Kid Cardula" by Jack Ritchie (1976)
- "The Man From P.I.G." by Harry Harrison (1957)
- "Flight Over XP-637" by Craig Sayre (1980)
- "The Bees From Borneo" by Will H Gray (1931)
- "The Anglers Of Arz" by Roger Dee (1953)
- "The Game Of Rat And Dragon" by Cordwainer Smith (1955)
Examples of tropes within this anthology:
- Alucard: In "Kid Cardula", this gets Played With by having the name not be completely reversed; take "dracula", reverse the "drac", and you get "cardula".
- Anthology: The title page describes this book as an Anthology of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The introduction is more focused on the idea that all Speculative Fiction has roots in Fantasy.
- Covert Group with Mundane Front: "The Man From P.I.G.", is about a government agent who uses specially bred and mutated pigs as an elite squad of personnel to root out problems undercover.
- Determinator: In "The Smallest Dragonboy", Keevan drags himself across the hot desert-like sands of Benden Weyr, despite a broken leg and head, in order to be near the eggs while they're hatching.
- Fun with Acronyms: "The Man From P.I.G."is about a government agent from the Porcine Interstellar Guard.
- Here There Be Dragons: In "The Game Of Rat And Dragon", terrible beasts can be found in the open hollow part of space, out between the galaxies, at the edges of the stars.
- Hollywood Acid: In "The Botticelli Horror", the Night Cloaks have a digestive acid that can eat through pretty much anything in a matter of seconds, although they tend to leave leather and other things cured by tannic acid alone.
- Hydra Problem: In "The Botticelli Horror", the Night Cloaks reproduce by getting torn apart, otherwise they grow tremendously large. They can survive being torn into tiny slivers too weak to fly away.
- Interspecies Romance: In "The Game Of Rat And Dragon", the protagonist and his cat partner are very affectionate towards each other during their mental contact. At the end, he realizes they're getting a little too friendly."She is a cat," he thought. "That's all she is—a cat!"But that was not how his mind saw her—quick beyond all dreams of speed, sharp, clever, unbelievably graceful, beautiful, wordless and undemanding.Where would he ever find a woman who could compare with her?
- Missing Reflection: In "Kid Cardula", the boxer's refusal to shadowbox in the mirror implies he has no reflection to box against.
- Mysterious Stranger: In "Kid Cardula", Cardula comes in off the street one night, looking for a quick way to earn money. Despite dropping hints about being a [Our Vampires Are Different vampire]] almost the whole time, our viewpoint character seems unable to pick up on any of the clues (or perhaps just doesn't care).
- The Namesake:
- In "The Smallest Dragonboy", the titular character is Keevan, and also the youngest of the Impression Candidates.
- In "Kid Cardula", the titular Kid is a vampire trying to make some quick money as a boxer.
- "The Botticelli Horror" refers to the snail capable of mimicking anything shown to it, and often uses the shape of a woman in a shell, much like Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus.
- "The Man From P.I.G." is a pig farmer from Porcine Interstellar Guard.
- "Flight Over XP-637" refers to an accident that occurs to several reptilian aliens that are on Earth in disguise as ducks.
- "The Bees From Borneo" refers to the breed of bees created by Silas Donaghy with red tufts on their tails.
- "The Anglers Of Arz" features octopuses that use humanlike land creatures as bait to capture flying lizards for sport.
- The title of "The Game Of Rat And Dragon" refers to a battle that humanity is fighting against an unknown enemy. Humans see this enemy as dragons, fierce and dangerous, capable of tearing apart a telepathic mind. Partners (telepathic descendants of cats) see this enemy as rats, nasty monsters that they can beat and kill.
- One-Hit KO: The boxing manager narrating "Kid Cardula" has him go a round with a young boxer to test him. Cardula casually knocks the kid out in one punch. The manager is nonplussed, but warns him that he needs to put on a show and look like he's making an effort so the audience feels like they're getting their money's worth.
- Our Dragons Are Different:
- In "The Smallest Dragonboy", the dragons are telepathic, and capable of breathing fire, flying, and teleporting anywhere in the world.
- "The Anglers Of Arz" features flying lizards that the human explorers nickname dragons.
- "The Game Of Rat And Dragon" has an unknown enemy that humans have named "dragons", in reference to Here There Be Dragons on the edges of a map. This enemy is fierce and dangerous, capable of tearing apart a telepathic mind. Partners (telepathic descendants of cats) instead see this enemy as a rat, their natural prey.
- Our Vampires Are Different: In "Kid Cardula", Kid Cardula demonstrates many vampiric traits, and a few examples are capable of spreading vampirism by completely draining his victim of blood (and avoids the
Fridge Logic of too many vampires by only feeding partly from one person). He also demonstrates improbable strength and durability, has photophobia, and gets nervous when his opponent makes the sign of the cross. - Shout-Out:
- In "The Botticelli Horror":
- The title comes from a creature that inspired Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus.
- The editor's note prefacing the story mentions The Thing from Another World as a classic monster film.
- The editor's note prefacing the story mentions Them! as a classic monster film.
- The editor's note prefacing the story mentions Silent Running as an ecological film.
- The editor's note prefacing the story mentions The China Syndrome as an ecological film.
- In "Kid Cardula", the titular character is caught watching a Dracula movie.
- The editor's note prefacing "Flight Over XP-637" mentions the similarity between this story and "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema".
- In "The Botticelli Horror":
- Spell My Name With An S: Anne McCaffrey's name appears correctly on the copyright page, but elsewhere it appears as "Ann McCaffrey".
- Telepathy:
- In "The Smallest Dragonboy", the dragons are capable of communicating words and emotions to a single person chosen upon hatching.
- "The Game Of Rat And Dragon" has humans and cats who can share thoughts with others of the same species. However, they can also merge their telepathic abilities by using Electronic Telepathy, and call themselves pinlighters.
- Tomato in the Mirror: The report in "Flight Over XP-637" is framed to look like an account of leading a fighter squadron during a war and getting shot down by enemy forces. Only at the end is it revealed that the alien had actually taken the form of a migrant duck during hunting season.
