I love anthologies. They’re a great way to find a number of different authors, to find new authors, new loves and authors you don’t agree with all in the space of one book. With 22 short stories written by people who were all born at least five years before Tolkien Anderson gives us some idea of the authors Tolkien might have been reading and, therefore, who might possibly have been of some influence to his writing.

There are some authors from my childhood such as Andrew Lang, who put together a number of books about fairy tales. They had different coloured covers and we had The Blue Fairy Tale Book, I read it many, many times. Or H. Rider Haggard who I’ve read many times, you’ve probably heard of King Solomon’s Mines or even She – fabulous writing. Other favourites are L. Frank Baum famous for writing the original Wizard of Oz from which they made an even more famous movie…follow the yellow brick road, follow the yellow brick road, follow follow follow follow follow the yellow brick road (just be grateful you can’t hear me doing that). And my last old favourite for today is Edith Nesbit, she of The Railway Children fame.

The rest are all really good authors and I thoroughly enjoyed most of them. Only one I didn’t enjoy and that’s because it’s poetry. Written by David Lindsay and printed for the very first time with permission from his daughters, it’s probably the only short story he’s ever written.

At times it’s very possible to see the influence as Tolkien has written fairly similar scenes in his books but at other times the influence is rather more subtle.

I really do recommend this book, not because if you buy I get affiliate fees but because it’s a really good book. Each story is really powerful and to have 22 powerful stories all in one reasonably sized paperback is just beyond good. This is one book that’s staying on my shelf and not being offered elsewhere.