Operation: Anthology

I've decided that I want to do an Anthology April series on my blog, talking about my personal favorite source for short story reading - the anthology.  And I want to hear from you ... all of you!

I'm looking for book reviews and recommendations:  what are your favorite anthologies?  Why?  What are the highlights?  Please note, I'm not talking about plugging anthologies you have stories in ... but!  There's room for that, too.  I just want to distinguish between book suggestions and advertisements (though I want both).

On the other hand, also please write about your personal experience with anthologies - did a topic inspire a story that you might not have otherwise written?  If you ended up with a specialty story and it didn't sell, what was its fate?  If you've edited or otherwise helped put together an anthology, what was the experience like?  How did you balance theme adherence and overall (subjective, of course!) story quality?

I'm looking for full posts here, say at least 150 words, however long as the mood takes you after that.  Links gleefully encouraged.

On the other hand, if you have specific ideas for concepts that you would love to see as an anthology, send them to me, too.  I'd love to compile a long list (credited, of course) for folks to enjoy.  For instance, as I'm sure I've mentioned before, I've always wanted to see an anthology of humorous secondary world stories involving the afterlife entitled, Things To Do In Fantasyland When You're Dead.

Got an idea?  Email me at LindseyDuncan@earthlink.net and I'll (almost certainly) give you the thumbs-up, a sanity deadline, and maybe a request or two.  :-)  Hope folks are willing to give this a shot!