"The Best of L Sprague de Camp" (collection): Annotated table of contents & review

Book collects short stories, poems, & some non-fiction of de Camp. This post is only about short stories; I've dropped poems & non-fiction from ToC below.

I've'nt yet read a lot of stories; will be updating this page as I read through the book.

Table of contents (only fiction, best first, unread last).

Link on title goes to my post on the story, if there is one. Where I'm aware of an online copy, I provide a separate download link. Links on publisher, editor or year fetch more matching fiction. My rating for individual stories is in brackets.

1. [novelette] "A Gun for Dinosaur" (A); download; Galaxy, March 1956: Description of flora & fauna of Cretaceous period.
2.  [ss] "Hyperpilocity" (A); Astounding, April 1938; humor: What if humans started growing hairy pelts?
3. [ss] "The Command" (B); Astounding, October 1938: An aspiring world dictator is infecting the world with his free will killing mold spores. It's now up to the intelligent laboratory bear to locate the antidote & give it to someone in his lab so the world can be saved...
4. [novelette] "The Gnarly Man" (B); Unknown, June 1939: A very long lived pre-human (Neanderthal?) has survived to our times & is living among us!
5. [ss] "The Merman"; Astounding, December 1938: Not read.
6. [novelette] "Employment"; Astounding, May 1939: Not read.
7. [novelette] "Nothing in the Rules"; Unknown, July 1939: Not read.
8. [novelette] "The Hardwood Pile"; Unknown, September 1940: Not read.
9. [ss] "The Reluctant Shaman"; Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1947: Not read.
10. [ss] "The Inspector's Teeth"; Astounding, April 1950: Not read.
11. [novelette] "The Guided Man"; Startling Stories, October 1952: Not read.
12. [ss] "Judgement Day"; Astounding, August 1955: Not read.
13. [novelette] "The Emperor's Fan"; Harry Harrison (ed)'s "Astounding: John W Campbell Memorial Anthology" (1973): Not read.
14. [novelette] "Two Yards of Dragon"; Lin Carter (ed)'s "Flashing Swords! #3:Warriors & Wizards" (1976): Not read.

Fact sheet.

First published: 1978.
Related: Stories of L Sprague de Camp.