Tag Archives: sword and sorcery

Is it Time for a New “Best of” Anthology?

3 Replies

I haven’t read a “Best of” anthology in a decade. (I checked.) Back in 2016, I attempted to read and review all the Best of the Year anthologies. (Note: There is a difference between an anthology and a collection. An anthology contains stories by multiple authors. A collection has one, maybe two authors. That’s what I mean for the purposes of this post.)

I don’t think I read all of them. I’m pretty sure I didn’t read Gardner Dozois’s volume simiply becuase of the length. I do recall before I was done that I was never going to do that again. Too many of the stories that year really weren’t to my taste. And those seemed to be the ones that showed up in multiple volumes. The whole thing turned out to not be any fun by the time I quit.

I haven’t read a Best of anthology since, although I’ve dipped into a couple over the last few years and listened to one on audiobooks while driving.

I’m rethinking my practice of not reading any simply because my reading time is rather limited. I’m losing touch with what writers are doing at short lengths, especially in science fiction and fantasy.

That little voice in the back of my head is telling me to close the laptop now and go no further with this post.

As usual, I’m going to ignore that voice. But I am going to issue a disclaimer: I AM NOT VOLUNTEERING FOR ANYTHING!

A number of years ago, (and I want to say it was more than ten, but I’m not sure. We’lll go with ten) I was approached by someone asking if I would be interested in editing a Year’s Best Sword and Sorcery anthology. The catch would be getting funding. And while I said I would certainly be interested in editing such a volume, funding didn’t materialize.

Time moved on.

I’ve been reading a lot of sword and sorcery lately. It’s been great. I haven’t read much S&S in the last few years as most of my reading has been focused on mysteries, crime, and thrillers. (For reasons.) There are S&S publications that didn’t exist when this idea of a year’s best S&S anthology was floated. I’m trying to get cuaght up on them.

And the idea of a best sword and sorcery of the year anthology has been rattling around in my empty skull for the last few weeks and hasn’t fallen out of one of the holes in my head.

Crowdfunding was relatively new at the time this idea was first proposed. It’s matured since then.

(Did I mention that I’m not volunteering for anything?)

Locus magazine has taken over the publishing of Johnathan Strahan’s best science fiction and fantasy anthology. They are funding it through Kickstarter. As I write this, there are sixteen days left, and the campaign has raised more than double its funding goal.

I suspect there are enough S&S stories published these days to fill a year’s best anthology. It might not be a door-stopper like some of the current year’s best anthologies are. But there’s nothing wrong with a book that is only three hundred or so pages rather than five, six, or seven hundred pages.

So, I’m going to throw this idea out there if for no other reason than to get it out of my head. An anthology of the best sword and sorcery of the year, funded by a Kickstarter. If the capmiagn is well-thought out, and the funding goal isn’t too high, it should fund. At least, I think so.

If someone wants to take this idea and run with it, go for it.

Remembering Karl

6 Replies

It is December 12 as I write this. I’m trying to get final exams graded, but I’m taking a break to observe the birthday of Karl Edward Wagner (1945-1994). I think it’s that important ot acknowledge his achievements.

Karl Edward Wagner probably needs no introduction to anyone who reads this blog. He was one of the greatest writers of sword and sorcery and dark fantasy/horror of the Twentieth Century. We’ve not seen his like since, in my opinion.

Four fourteen years, he also edited The Year’s Best Horror Stories for DAW books. He took over the reins with volume VIII in 1980. The series ended with volume XXII with Karl’s death. Wagner didn’t limit his selections to top genre publications. He read all sorts of obscure publication to find the best horror stories each year.

If you can find copies, which is getting harder and harder to do, grab them. Not onlyl are they an excellent survey of horror in the eighteis and early nineties, but reading them is a great informal course in how to write effective horror. You’ll recognize many of the authors Wagner included, many before they became famous. Others will be new to you. Continue reading →

Neither Beg Nor Yield Up For Sale

Leave a reply

I mentioned the Kickstarter for Neither Beg Nor Yield  a while back. If you missed it, here’s your chance to own a copy of the book. It goes on sale today. This is the ebook.

In his State of RBE post earlier today, Jason M. Waltz said there have been delays at the printer, so we’re going to have to wait a while on the hardcovers. Hopefully, those books will be ready next month.

I’ve been looking forward to this anthology for a while now. Most of my reading over the last couple of years has been mysteries and thrillers. It will be good to get back to some old fashioned sword and sorcery.

If you didn’t pledge the Kickstarter, now is your chance to get some brand new S&S by some name authors, both established and up and coming.

Time is Running Out for Neither Beg Nor Yield

Leave a reply

We interrupt the attempted packing of a library (so many books, so few boxes) for a public service announcement.

The Rogue Blades Kickstarter for Neither Beg Nor Yield is about to end. It ends in just over two days as I write this. If you haven’t supported it, or if you were on the fence about it until you knew if it funded, the window to do so is closing fast.

This campaign has more than succeeded, so get your butt off that picket (or vice-versa, you know what I mean) and click the link above to support this campaign. I’m looking forward to this one. Jason M. Waltz, head headhunter at Rogue Blades, always puts out a terrific project. At this point, he’s working on stretch goals.

The Golden Age of Sword & Sorcery 1929-1949: A Guest Post by Will Oliver

7 Replies

Editor’s Note: Will sent me this a few weeks ago. It was right before my wife had knee replacement surgery (yes, I am now married to a cyborg) and at the beginning of teaching a summer class. My cyborg wife is well on her way to a full recovery, and I turned in grades today. I want to apologize to Will for taking so long to get this up. I’m sure what he has to say will generate some discussion, so take it away, Will.

The Golden Age of Sword-and-Sorcery, 1929-1949

By Will Oliver

Sometime ago, I ran across a list of the early Cthulhu Mythos stories, sort of a Golden Age of Cthulhu list. I took up the challenge of tracking down and reading all of the stories in order. It was an interesting experiment in seeing how the so-called Mythos developed during that era. As my interest lies more with Sword-and-Sorcery, however, I began wondering what a list of Golden Age S&S stories would look like. Finding none online, I decided to create one.

Starting with the well accepted premise that the genre, or sub-genre, known as Sword-and-Sorcery started with Robert E. Howard’s “The Shadow Kingdom,” I knew I had a starting point, August 1929. As a generation is approximately 20 years, that would take the end point of the list to August of 1949, or simply the end of 1949. This makes sense in that the date falls right before Gnome Press began reprinting the Conan stories in hardcover and well before the 1960s resurgence.

While I noted Brian Murphy’s detailed definition of what makes up a S&S story, I took a more liberal stance on what was included on the list. If the story emphasized one element (sword or sorcery) over the other, I still included it. Some of the stories had a slight issue with meeting the definition as they fell under other sub-genres, such as portal stories, but I included them if the majority of the story read like pure S&S.

Part of the motivation for creating the list was to see if there were any strong feelings one way or the other toward which stories were ultimately included on the list. And I wanted to see if there were any stories I might have overlooked during the timeframe in question. Finally, it is just nice to have a go-to reading list for anyone interested in reading every story from the Golden Age of Sword-and-Sorcery. Continue reading →

Having Fun in Merth

Leave a reply

Rogues of Merth
Robert Zoltan
Paperback $14.99
Ebook $6.99

I’d thank Robert Zoltan for sending me a review copy of this book.  And if you don’t recognize the name of Robert Zoltan, you need to remember it.  If he continues writing, it’s one you’re going to be hearing in the future.

The subtitle of this collection is The Adventures of Dareon and Blue, Book 1. I’m  looking forward to further collections.  These stories are lean, fast-moving, and most importantly they are a heckuva lot of fun. Continue reading →

Introducing Andrasta and Rondel

Leave a reply

Cult of SutekThe Cult of Sutek: The Epic of Andrasta and Rondel vol.1
Joshua P. Simon
ebook $2.99 (free on Smashwords as of this writing)
paper $11.99

Joshua P. Simon has proven himself to be a consistent writer of solid, character driven fantasy adventure. His Blood and Tears Trilogy (reviewed here, here, here, and here, interviewed here) was one of my favorite epic fantasy series of the last few years.

Now he’s turned his hand to a story that’s smaller in scope and more personal in nature, the sword and sorcery series he’s calling The Epic of Adnrasta and Rondel.

Andrasta is a woman from a distant country, a warrior who is out to steal a jewel in the Tower of Bashan. Rondel is a minstrel who got caught in the wrong bedroom. They meet in a dungeon when Andrasta is thrown in Rondel’s cell. Of course they escape, and shortly thereafter rescue a young woman named Dendera who turns out to be the daughter of a king. Since Rondel knew the king from his minstrel days, they return her home, hoping for a reward to finance their jewel heist.

Unfortunately, the Cult of Sutek is staging a comeback. They believe in human sacrifice and practice cannibalism. Not the sort of folks you want moving in down the block. Continue reading →

A Review of The Scroll of Years

2 Replies

ScrollofYearsThe Scroll of Years
Chris Willrich
Pyr Books
Trade paper $15.95 US $17.00 Canada
Ebook $11.99
Amazon  B&N Indie Bound

A Scroll of Years is the first novel about thief Imago Bone and poet Persimmon Gaunt. The pair have appeared in 5 short stories to date, and the first is included in this volume. Somehow this series has managed to fly under my radar. That’s something I’m going to need to fix. Looking at Willrich’s website, I may have read one or two but didn’t realize they were part of a series.

Anyway, Bone and a pregnant Gaunt are fleeing from Night’s Auditors. They are a pair of hit men who don’t merely kill their victims. In essence they steal their victims’ souls. They’re a pair of nasty dudes, and they have a dragon working for them. One of them controls a fire spirit. The other has a mirror embedded in his forehead which shows all possible things his victim might do. These guys are hard to kill, and they don’t give up easily.

Gaunt and Bone flee across the ocean to a land much like Imperial China. Gaunt has a mark forming on her belly that resembles two dragons. It’s a sign that the child she carries is someone a lot of powerful people want to get their hands on. Gaunt and Bone are going to need all the allies they can get.

The writing is rich and subtle, and Gaunt and Bone are foremost of a cast of delightfully flawed characters. Some fantasy novels are like a tankard of ale, intended to be slammed back. The Scroll of Years is of a more refined vintage, one in which you savor the writing as well as the story and characters.  The story takes place over both months and years simultaneously.  (That statement will make sense if you read the book, trust me.)

Gaunt and Bone have been compared to Fafhred and the Grey Mouser. I can see the resemblance, and I’d bet money that Fritz Leiber was one of Willrich’s influences. But that comparison runs the risk of limiting the characters or skewing a potential reader’s expectations. I see echoes of an earlier generation of writers in this book. Writers such as Ernest Bramah with perhaps a dash of Dunsany and maybe a pinch of Clark Ashton Smith. Plus a nod to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Leiber’s heroes were clearly cut from the same general cloth as Conan, inhabiting a milieu rooted in Western tradition where any portrayal of Eastern cultures were filtered to a greater or lesser degree through the West’s perceptions of the East. As Willrich notes in the Acknowledgements, this particular work is firmly planted in Chinese soil. The titular Scroll of Years is a concept I’ve not come across in much European based fantasy.  And rather that detracting, the Chinese folk tales Willrich interjects into the story give it added depth and resonance.

The Scroll of Years is not like anything I’ve seen recently. Willrich has a fresh voice, and with this novel (I can’t speak for the short stories, not being familiar with them yet) he expands the boundaries of sword and sorcery.

The events in this book grow out of the short stories, and there are one or two passing reference to previous events that seem to refer back to them. Don’t let that stop you from picking this one up. You can enjoy The Scroll of Years on its own merits. The ARC I have says today is the release date (which is why I wrote the review today), but the author’s website says the 24th.  Either way, look for a copy if this sounds like it might be your cup of tea. And if Pyr want to publish the short stories (with one or two new ones included, hint, hint), well, that would be fine with me.

I’d like to thank Lisa Michalski at Pyr Books for the review copy.