Those Friends anthologies

I was checking on the side books today instead of the main run. I always forget the Friends of the Horseclans books are not just regular numbered novels.

The list I found says there were two anthologies, Friends of the Horseclans in 1987 and Friends of the Horseclans II in 1989, with stories in the Horseclans setting by Robert Adams and other writers. ISFDB also lists them as anthologies and credits Pamela Crippen Adams with him.

I have not spent as much time with those as the main books, so maybe I should dig them back out. Do folks count the anthology stories as must-read Horseclans stuff, or more like extras if you already like the world?

On Aug 10, 2026 10:56 AM, Mark D sensed a disturbance and said:

I think of them as just what they really are. Side adventures.

On Aug 10, 2026 10:56 AM, Mark D wrote:

I'm really not a fan of most of the stories in the anthologies I'm afraid.

I guess I'm a bit of a purist, but most of the stories feel like such a wasted opportunity (and almost all of them get the naming and so on wrong, which I find a niggle).

I do think as well there's plenty of room in the setting for stories written in different styles and with different themes than Adams ever did humself. These just mostly aren't that good imho, which is a real shame.

I get the impression personally, that Adams threw out the offer to author friends, some of whom perhaps maybe hadn't really read the series deeply... then they just kinda crammed their own stuff in. Could be wrong.

I haven't read them in ages tbf, I mean to do so after my present reread of the series.