The Wizards of Odd
# The Wizards of Odd

The Wizards of Odd is a 1996 English compilation book of humorous short stories by many great writers in the science-fiction/fantasy genre. The stories were compiled by Peter Haining. The book is separated into three sections: Wizards and Wotsits: Stories of Cosmic Absurdity, Swords and Sorcery: Tales of Heroic Fantasy, and Astronauts and Aliens: Space Opera Yarns.

## Stories

### Wizards and Wotsits

* "Theatre of Cruelty" by Terry Pratchett
* "How Nuth Would Have Practised his Art Upon the Gnoles" by Lord Dunsany
* "Hell Hath No Fury" by John Collier
* "The Twonky" by Henry Kuttner
* "A Great Deal of Power" by Eric Frank Russell
* "Doodad" by Ray Bradbury
* "Not By Its Cover" by Philip K. Dick
* "The Rule of Names" by Ursula K. Le Guin

### Swords and Sorcery

* "Mythical Beast" by Stephen R. Donaldson
* "The Adventure of the Snowing Globe" by F. Anstey
* "Affairs in Poictesme" by James Branch Cabell
* "The Ring of Hans Carvel" by Fredric Brown
* "The Brat" by Fritz Leiber
* "A Good Knight's Work" by Robert Bloch
* "Poor Little Warrior" by Brian W. Aldiss
* "The Odd Odd Bird" by Avram Davidson

### Astronauts and Aliens

* "Young Zaphod Plays it Safe" by Douglas Adams
* "The Wild Asses of the Devil" by H. G. Wells
* "Ministering Angels" by C. S. Lewis
* "The Gnurrs Come from the Voodvork Out" by Reginald Bretnor
* "Captain Wyxtpthll's Flying Saucer" by Arthur C. Clarke
* "Playboy and the Slime God" by Isaac Asimov
* "There's a Wolf in my Time Machine" by Larry Niven
* "2BR02B" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

## Reception

Gideon Kibblewhite reviewed The Wizards of Odd for Arcane magazine, rating it a 9 out of 10 overall. Kibblewhite comments that "It's difficult to award any anthology a perfect ten because some stories are inevitably better than others; The Wizards of Odd, though, comes close: a great nine."

## Reviews

* Review by Steven H Silver (1997) in SF Site, Mid-December 1997, (1997)
* Review by Don D'Ammassa (1998) in Science Fiction Chronicle, #195 February 1998
