FFB: Magical Beginnings -- Steven H. Silver and Martin H. Greenberg, editors

This is the third and final anthology in the series edited by Steven H. Silver and Martin H. Greenberg.  I've already commented on Wondrous Beginnings and Horrible Beginnings, and as with the other two, I bought this one for the introductions.  It presents the first publications by a group of fantasy writers, along with their introductions to each story, and I think we can all agree that this title works a lot better than the one for the horror anthology.

In this volume, all the introductions were written by the authors themselves.  There's an interesting sense of "if we'd known then what we know now" in reading them.  For example, Charles de Lint's effusive praise of Andrew Offut shows that de Lint knew a much different person from the one described by Offut's son in his recent memoir.  And several writers here owe their starts to Marion Zimmer Bradley, who also comes in for much praise.  Bradley is another who's been the subject of a bit of non-literary criticism lately.

Lisanne Norman wins the prize for longest intro here, and it's also the one with the most detail about the genesis of the story.  But all the intros are interesting.  Who doesn't like to know how writers got their start and the struggles they had with getting that first publication?  I'd read only a couple of the stories in this volume, but now I want to read them all.

Magical Beginnings 
ToC from Wikipedia:
"Introduction" (Steven H Silver)
"Introduction to 'People of the Crater'" (Andre Norton)
"The People of the Crater" (1947) (Andre Norton)
"Introduction to 'My Daughter's Name Is Sarah'" (Peter S. Beagle)
"My Daughter's Name Is Sarah" (1959) (Peter S. Beagle)
"Introduction to 'April in Paris'" (Ursula K. Le Guin)
"April in Paris" (1962) (Ursula K. Le Guin)
"To Light a Fire" (Susan Shwartz)
"The Fires of Her Vengeance" (1980) (Susan M. Shwartz)
"Introduction to 'The Fane of the Grey Rose'" (Charles de Lint)
"The Fane of the Grey Rose" (1979) (Charles de Lint)
"Introduction to 'Bones for Dulath'" (Megan Lindholm)
"Bones for Dulath" (1979) (Megan Lindholm)
"Introduction to 'The Unicorn Masque'" (Ellen Kushner)
"The Unicorn Masque" (1981) (Ellen Kushner)
"Introduction to 'The Stuff of Heroes'" (Esther Friesner)
"The Stuff of Heroes" (1982) (Esther Friesner)
"Introduction to 'The Ulfjarl's Stone'" (Mickey Zucker Reichert)
"The Ulfjarl's Stone" (1989) (Mickey Zucker Reichert)
"Introduction to 'Rending Dark'" (Emma Bull)
"The Rending Dark" (1984) (Emma Bull)
"Introduction to 'A Different Kind of Courage'" (Mercedes R. Lackey)
"A Different Kind of Courage" (1985) (Mercedes Lackey)
"Introduction to 'Third Time Lucky'" (Tanya Huff)
"Third Time Lucky" (1986) (Tanya Huff)
"On "Sing'" (Kristine Kathryn Rusch)
"Sing" (1987) (Kristine Kathryn Rusch)
"Introduction to 'Birthnight'" (Michelle West)
"Birthnight" (1992) (Michelle West)
"Introduction to 'The Jewel and the Demon'" (Lisanne Norman)
"The Jewel and the Demon" (1998) (Lisanne Norman)
"Introduction to 'The Raven's Quest'" (Fiona Patton)
"The Raven's Quest" (1998) (Fiona Patton)
"About the Authors"