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Swords Against Darkness
Flashing swords and fearsome magicks . . . high adventure and wondrous wizardry . . . dread monsters and vast rewards . . .
Tales of swashbuckling sword and sorcery at their best offer keen wit, ingenious perception, freewheeling imagination, and canny invention. From its swashbuckling beginnings of good versus evil battles to clashes of more nuanced principles set in complex settings to havoc shaped by grittier perspectives, ambiguous morality, deep history and expansive worldbuilding--readers continue to be thrilled by the exploits of great warriors and mighty mages.
Swords Against Darkness: an epic anthology of short stories and novellas from classic to modern, each tale a memorable vision from masters of mistresses of heroic fantasy past and present!
Tales of swashbuckling sword and sorcery at their best offer keen wit, ingenious perception, freewheeling imagination, and canny invention. From its swashbuckling beginnings of good versus evil battles to clashes of more nuanced principles set in complex settings to havoc shaped by grittier perspectives, ambiguous morality, deep history and expansive worldbuilding--readers continue to be thrilled by the exploits of great warriors and mighty mages.
Swords Against Darkness: an epic anthology of short stories and novellas from classic to modern, each tale a memorable vision from masters of mistresses of heroic fantasy past and present!
576 pages, Paperback
First published June 15, 2017
About the author
Paula Guran
100 books199 followersPaula Guran is senior editor for Prime Books. She edited the Juno fantasy imprint from its small press inception through its incarnation as an imprint of Pocket Books. She is also senior editor of Prime's soon-to-launch digital imprint Masque Books. Guran edits the annual Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror series as well as a growing number of other anthologies. In an earlier life she produced weekly email newsletter DarkEcho (winning two Stokers, an IHG award, and a World Fantasy Award nomination), edited Horror Garage (earning another IHG and a second World Fantasy nomination), and has contributed reviews, interviews, and articles to numerous professional publications.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 4, 2017
A nice, hefty, meaty collection of sword & sorcery stories with not a clinker in the bunch.
The stories span the full range from Robert E. Howard ("The Tower of the Elephant", one of the earlier Conan stories) and C.L. Moore ("Hellsgarde", featuring Jirel of Joiry) to Saladin Ahmed ("Where Virtue Lives", a prequel to his novel Throne of the Crescent Moon) and Scott Lynch ("The Effigy Engine: A Tale of the Red Hats", which almost has a bit of a Vancean feel to it) and all points in between.
I'd read probably 60% of the stories before, but that's because I've read a lot of sword & sorcery in my day. Other highlights included Clark Ashton Smith's "The Dark Eidolon" (probably my favorite story of his), Leigh Brackett's "Black Amazon of Mars" (mental note: READ MORE BRACKETT!!!), C.J. Cherryh's "A Thief in Korianth" (really a gem of a story) and Samuel R. Delaney's "The Tale of Dragons and Dreamers" (a Nevèrÿon story, and a reminder that I really need to read those books one of these days).
The organization is roughly chronological, split into three parts: Forging & Shaping, which has the oldest stories and could almost be taken on its own as one of those old L. Sprague de Camp anthologies, Normalizing & Annealing, which covers the 70s through the early part of the current century, and Tempering & Sharpening, which also reaches back into the 60s and continues through the current day, and has arguably the more modern or experimental stories in it. Every author gets a brief introduction, plus there's a lengthier introduction kicking off the entire thing.
All in all, if you want a solid, wide-ranging collection of stories in the genre, this is going to be the one to grab. I kind of wish it had been as big as some of the Jeff VanderMeer anthologies, but that might've been getting greedy.
And (because why not) here's the entire table of contents:
Paula Guran, Introduction: “Knowledge Takes Precedence Over Death”
Forging & Shaping
Robert E. Howard, “The Tower of the Elephant”
C. L. Moore, “Hellsgarde"
Clark Ashton Smith, “The Dark Eidolon”
Jack Vance, “Liane the Wayfarer”
Leigh Brackett, “Black Amazon of Mars”
Fritz Leiber, “Ill Met in Lankhmar”
Michael Moorcock, “While the Gods Laugh”
Normalizing & Annealing
Tanith Lee, “Hero at the Gates”
C. J. Cherryh, “A Thief in Korianth”
Karl Edward Wagner, “Undertow”
Katherine Kurtz, “Swords Against the Marluk”
Mercedes Lackey, “Out of the Deep”
Michael Shea, “Epistle from Lebanoi”
James Enge, “Payment Deferred”
John Balestra, “The Swords of Her Heart” (original)
Tempering & Sharpening
Joanna Russ, “Bluestocking”
Samuel R. Delany, “The Tale of Dragons and Dreamers”
Elizabeth Moon, “First Blood”
Saladin Ahmed, “Where Virtue Lives”
Scott Lynch, “The Effigy Engine: A Tale of the Red Hats”
Steven Erikson, “Goats of Glory”
Elizabeth Bear, “The Ghost Makers”
Kameron Hurley, “The Plague Givers”
The stories span the full range from Robert E. Howard ("The Tower of the Elephant", one of the earlier Conan stories) and C.L. Moore ("Hellsgarde", featuring Jirel of Joiry) to Saladin Ahmed ("Where Virtue Lives", a prequel to his novel Throne of the Crescent Moon) and Scott Lynch ("The Effigy Engine: A Tale of the Red Hats", which almost has a bit of a Vancean feel to it) and all points in between.
I'd read probably 60% of the stories before, but that's because I've read a lot of sword & sorcery in my day. Other highlights included Clark Ashton Smith's "The Dark Eidolon" (probably my favorite story of his), Leigh Brackett's "Black Amazon of Mars" (mental note: READ MORE BRACKETT!!!), C.J. Cherryh's "A Thief in Korianth" (really a gem of a story) and Samuel R. Delaney's "The Tale of Dragons and Dreamers" (a Nevèrÿon story, and a reminder that I really need to read those books one of these days).
The organization is roughly chronological, split into three parts: Forging & Shaping, which has the oldest stories and could almost be taken on its own as one of those old L. Sprague de Camp anthologies, Normalizing & Annealing, which covers the 70s through the early part of the current century, and Tempering & Sharpening, which also reaches back into the 60s and continues through the current day, and has arguably the more modern or experimental stories in it. Every author gets a brief introduction, plus there's a lengthier introduction kicking off the entire thing.
All in all, if you want a solid, wide-ranging collection of stories in the genre, this is going to be the one to grab. I kind of wish it had been as big as some of the Jeff VanderMeer anthologies, but that might've been getting greedy.
And (because why not) here's the entire table of contents:
Paula Guran, Introduction: “Knowledge Takes Precedence Over Death”
Forging & Shaping
Robert E. Howard, “The Tower of the Elephant”
C. L. Moore, “Hellsgarde"
Clark Ashton Smith, “The Dark Eidolon”
Jack Vance, “Liane the Wayfarer”
Leigh Brackett, “Black Amazon of Mars”
Fritz Leiber, “Ill Met in Lankhmar”
Michael Moorcock, “While the Gods Laugh”
Normalizing & Annealing
Tanith Lee, “Hero at the Gates”
C. J. Cherryh, “A Thief in Korianth”
Karl Edward Wagner, “Undertow”
Katherine Kurtz, “Swords Against the Marluk”
Mercedes Lackey, “Out of the Deep”
Michael Shea, “Epistle from Lebanoi”
James Enge, “Payment Deferred”
John Balestra, “The Swords of Her Heart” (original)
Tempering & Sharpening
Joanna Russ, “Bluestocking”
Samuel R. Delany, “The Tale of Dragons and Dreamers”
Elizabeth Moon, “First Blood”
Saladin Ahmed, “Where Virtue Lives”
Scott Lynch, “The Effigy Engine: A Tale of the Red Hats”
Steven Erikson, “Goats of Glory”
Elizabeth Bear, “The Ghost Makers”
Kameron Hurley, “The Plague Givers”
May 3, 2017
The math averages to 3.52. I'm rounding up to 4 stars.
This compilation worked a little better for me than the last one I read, but there are some issues. Almost none of these stories would qualify as short. 50 pages or more most of them. Be prepared for huge novellas. Not a quick read and some of the stories are BOOORING. They could have done with some pruning of pages and descriptions.
The best of the best:
1) The Conan one, "The Tower of the Elephant", by Robert E. Howard. I gave it 4 stars, but am reconsidering to 4.5. Classic, the father of S&S and it's very well written.
2) Hellsgarde" by C. L. Moore. Jirel of Joiry, like Conan, only female. Kick behind, creepy and 4.5 stars.
3) Tanith Lee and Mercedes Lackey, both 5 stars, of course. "Hero at the Gates" and "Out of the Deep" respectively.
4) Elizabeth Moon, "First Blood", 5 stars.
5) "Where Virtue Lives" by Saladin Ahmed, 5 stars.
6) Scott Lynch, I ALWAYS love his short stories, hate his books. "The Effigy Engine", 4.5 stars.
7) "Goats of Glory" by Steven Erikson, 10 stars. This was awesome and I need more. Kk thanx.
Only one that got one star was "Bluestocking" by Joanna Russ. DNF and absolutely hated the writing style, the MCs, everything.
So all in all, not a bad offering. I do recommend it to those who enjoy S&S and who would like to meet some new Sword and Sorcery authors. 4 stars.
This compilation worked a little better for me than the last one I read, but there are some issues. Almost none of these stories would qualify as short. 50 pages or more most of them. Be prepared for huge novellas. Not a quick read and some of the stories are BOOORING. They could have done with some pruning of pages and descriptions.
The best of the best:
1) The Conan one, "The Tower of the Elephant", by Robert E. Howard. I gave it 4 stars, but am reconsidering to 4.5. Classic, the father of S&S and it's very well written.
2) Hellsgarde" by C. L. Moore. Jirel of Joiry, like Conan, only female. Kick behind, creepy and 4.5 stars.
3) Tanith Lee and Mercedes Lackey, both 5 stars, of course. "Hero at the Gates" and "Out of the Deep" respectively.
4) Elizabeth Moon, "First Blood", 5 stars.
5) "Where Virtue Lives" by Saladin Ahmed, 5 stars.
6) Scott Lynch, I ALWAYS love his short stories, hate his books. "The Effigy Engine", 4.5 stars.
7) "Goats of Glory" by Steven Erikson, 10 stars. This was awesome and I need more. Kk thanx.
Only one that got one star was "Bluestocking" by Joanna Russ. DNF and absolutely hated the writing style, the MCs, everything.
So all in all, not a bad offering. I do recommend it to those who enjoy S&S and who would like to meet some new Sword and Sorcery authors. 4 stars.
July 6, 2018
Sword & Sorcery is a sub-genre which mixes fantasy, action, adventure, horror, and several other threads, if done correctly. In lesser hands, it becomes routine, boring, and avoidable.
Tireless editor Paula Guran has, in this massive anthology, compiled a lot of stories. Luckily for us, most of those stories are rather enjoyable, with several of them gleefully breaking all the conventions that had been set by the past masters. Those unconventional stories are special, and they ought to induce you into procuring this book.
Now, about the stories.
After a crisp & fresh introduction, we have the stories segmented under three broad categories.
A. FORGING & SHAPING
1) “The Tower if the Elephant” by Robert E. Howard: One of the finest S & S stories to have been ever written, this story marked a promising beginning.
2) “Hellsgarde” by C.L. Moore: a Jirel of Joiry story that was more horror and less S & S, but the character of Jirel stood out like a beacon amidst contemporary fantasy. The story is a treasure.
3) “The Dark Eidolon” by Clark Ashton Smith: I am not much of an admirer of Smith’s florid style, and this one left me underwhelmed.
4) “Liane the Wayfarer” by Jack Vance: Nah! Pretty formulaic stuff, going nowhere particularly.
5) “Black Amazon of Mars” by Leigh Brackett: The last Eric John Stark adventure, this is a jewel in all sense. Haffner Press is about to unleash all the Stark works in a volume soon. This is the ideal sampler of those riches, yet to come.
6) “Ill Met in Lankhmar” by Fritz Leiber: Although iconic, since it hosted the meeting of the Barbarian Fafhrd and Thief/Assasin Mouser, this story is overlong, wordy, and tragic. Couldn’t the editor choose another story with the subtle underplay of humour & horror that we associate with this duo?
7) “While the Gods Laugh” by Michael Moorcock: A haunting, achingly beautiful, and grim-yet-adventurous story, this one again compelled to look for Elric’s heroics.
B. NORMALIZING & ANNEALING
8) “A Hero at the Gates” by Tanith Lee: A Cyrion saga, this is one of the most polished tales ever written by Lee. Would someone reprint the Cyrion stories please?
9) “A Thief in Korianth” by C.J. Cherryh: A grim story of political intrigue and skulduggery, with sorcery being only tangentially present.
10) “Undertow” by Karl Edward Wagner: A stunner! The subverting nature of Kane stories have got beautifully captured in this sensuous, haunting, and tragic piece.
11) “Swords Against the Marluk” by Katherine Kurtz: A very linear and straightforward story, falls rather short in comparison with its diverse & divergent companions.
12) “Out of the Deep” by Mercedes Lackey: Nah! This one was also less about adventure and more about existential angst of the hero(es?).
13) “Epistle from Lebanoi” by Michael Shea: While I didn’t find the story appealing, the wry sense of humour was a big boon.
14) “Payment Deferred” by James Enge: Brilliant! This is how we want our fantasy to be. Taut, suspenseful, and with a crisp conclusion making us expectant about things to come.
15) “The Swords of Her Heart” by John Balestra: Superb again! Where can I find more adventures of Brimm & Snoori?
C. TEMPERING & SHARPENING
16) “Bluestocking” by Joanna Russ: The story was extremely Leiber-esque, and yet original. My only gripe, rather than getting into ‘character development’ of the teenager girl, had the author kept the wry observations and dry humour of our protagonist going, it would have been a lot more fun.
17) “The Tale of Dragons and Dreamers” by Samuel R. Delany: Boring.
18) “First Blood” by Elizabeth Moon: Awesome! Nothing sorcerous here, only courage, intelligence, and belief in show amidst adversity & treachery. I repeat, awesome!
19) “Where Virtue Lives” by Saladin Ahmed: This one story can justify the entire book. Period. Yes, it’s that good. And now I HAVE TO read the author’s Crescent Moon Kingdom stories.
20) “The Effigy Engine: A Tale of the Red Hats” by Scott Lynch: Brilliant story again, which makes us root for a hapless band of sorcerers who are fighting for the weak, against a literal juggernaut.
21) “Ghosts of Glory” by Steven Erikson: A twisted, vicious, grim, and no-holds-barred story. Pulse-pounding stuff!
22) “The Ghost Makers” by Elizabeth Bear: Ah! Now this, THIS is a real post-modern kick-ass S & S. Loved it absolutely.
23) “The Plague Givers” by Kameron Hurley: The sacred S & S tradition of male heroes saving damsels & the damned gets totally inverted in this action-packed, hardboiled, noirish story. Liked it very much.
And there, constant reader, I have summarised my thoughts & feelings about the stories in this massive anthology. They were mostly good, with lots of shiny jewels amidst very good gold, and a few crappy ingots.
Highly Recommended.
Tireless editor Paula Guran has, in this massive anthology, compiled a lot of stories. Luckily for us, most of those stories are rather enjoyable, with several of them gleefully breaking all the conventions that had been set by the past masters. Those unconventional stories are special, and they ought to induce you into procuring this book.
Now, about the stories.
After a crisp & fresh introduction, we have the stories segmented under three broad categories.
A. FORGING & SHAPING
1) “The Tower if the Elephant” by Robert E. Howard: One of the finest S & S stories to have been ever written, this story marked a promising beginning.
2) “Hellsgarde” by C.L. Moore: a Jirel of Joiry story that was more horror and less S & S, but the character of Jirel stood out like a beacon amidst contemporary fantasy. The story is a treasure.
3) “The Dark Eidolon” by Clark Ashton Smith: I am not much of an admirer of Smith’s florid style, and this one left me underwhelmed.
4) “Liane the Wayfarer” by Jack Vance: Nah! Pretty formulaic stuff, going nowhere particularly.
5) “Black Amazon of Mars” by Leigh Brackett: The last Eric John Stark adventure, this is a jewel in all sense. Haffner Press is about to unleash all the Stark works in a volume soon. This is the ideal sampler of those riches, yet to come.
6) “Ill Met in Lankhmar” by Fritz Leiber: Although iconic, since it hosted the meeting of the Barbarian Fafhrd and Thief/Assasin Mouser, this story is overlong, wordy, and tragic. Couldn’t the editor choose another story with the subtle underplay of humour & horror that we associate with this duo?
7) “While the Gods Laugh” by Michael Moorcock: A haunting, achingly beautiful, and grim-yet-adventurous story, this one again compelled to look for Elric’s heroics.
B. NORMALIZING & ANNEALING
8) “A Hero at the Gates” by Tanith Lee: A Cyrion saga, this is one of the most polished tales ever written by Lee. Would someone reprint the Cyrion stories please?
9) “A Thief in Korianth” by C.J. Cherryh: A grim story of political intrigue and skulduggery, with sorcery being only tangentially present.
10) “Undertow” by Karl Edward Wagner: A stunner! The subverting nature of Kane stories have got beautifully captured in this sensuous, haunting, and tragic piece.
11) “Swords Against the Marluk” by Katherine Kurtz: A very linear and straightforward story, falls rather short in comparison with its diverse & divergent companions.
12) “Out of the Deep” by Mercedes Lackey: Nah! This one was also less about adventure and more about existential angst of the hero(es?).
13) “Epistle from Lebanoi” by Michael Shea: While I didn’t find the story appealing, the wry sense of humour was a big boon.
14) “Payment Deferred” by James Enge: Brilliant! This is how we want our fantasy to be. Taut, suspenseful, and with a crisp conclusion making us expectant about things to come.
15) “The Swords of Her Heart” by John Balestra: Superb again! Where can I find more adventures of Brimm & Snoori?
C. TEMPERING & SHARPENING
16) “Bluestocking” by Joanna Russ: The story was extremely Leiber-esque, and yet original. My only gripe, rather than getting into ‘character development’ of the teenager girl, had the author kept the wry observations and dry humour of our protagonist going, it would have been a lot more fun.
17) “The Tale of Dragons and Dreamers” by Samuel R. Delany: Boring.
18) “First Blood” by Elizabeth Moon: Awesome! Nothing sorcerous here, only courage, intelligence, and belief in show amidst adversity & treachery. I repeat, awesome!
19) “Where Virtue Lives” by Saladin Ahmed: This one story can justify the entire book. Period. Yes, it’s that good. And now I HAVE TO read the author’s Crescent Moon Kingdom stories.
20) “The Effigy Engine: A Tale of the Red Hats” by Scott Lynch: Brilliant story again, which makes us root for a hapless band of sorcerers who are fighting for the weak, against a literal juggernaut.
21) “Ghosts of Glory” by Steven Erikson: A twisted, vicious, grim, and no-holds-barred story. Pulse-pounding stuff!
22) “The Ghost Makers” by Elizabeth Bear: Ah! Now this, THIS is a real post-modern kick-ass S & S. Loved it absolutely.
23) “The Plague Givers” by Kameron Hurley: The sacred S & S tradition of male heroes saving damsels & the damned gets totally inverted in this action-packed, hardboiled, noirish story. Liked it very much.
And there, constant reader, I have summarised my thoughts & feelings about the stories in this massive anthology. They were mostly good, with lots of shiny jewels amidst very good gold, and a few crappy ingots.
Highly Recommended.
July 4, 2017
This is a combination of short stories by various authors, it is well written and the stories have very strong storylines which you can follow and immerse yourselves in. These stories have their individual style and characters that are mesmerizing, each is independent and each spin their own craft. At one time you would find yourself in the epic era and the next time you were in mars, so you get visit different realms and worlds, a most enjoyable read.
January 17, 2018
Solid anthology with an admirable goal of charting, however broadly, the arc of the sword & sorcery subgenre.
The only knock against it isn't the quality of the contents, but the rather disappointing decision to include a few fun stories that, by the editor's own admission, aren't really sword & sorcery.
For instance, there's a quite enjoyable little read from Mercedes Lackey and one of her main series. However, in an anthology ostensibly about the origins, evolution, and current state of sword & sorcery, I feel that spot, instead of going to a YA series that's really more beginner's epic high fantasy, could have been devoted to something more in line with the original intent, and still showcased the broad range and growing inclusivity of fiction's greatest subgenre.
I personally would have included something from Charles Saunders, especially since his own recent anthology of harder to find Imaro-adjacent stories, Nyumbani Tales, came out only a few months prior.
At the end of the day, though, this was a fun read and (mostly) a solid recommendation to someone new to the subgenre. But my main go-to recommendation as a complete exhibition of what all sword & sorcery is capable of is still "The Sword & Sorcery Anthology."
The only knock against it isn't the quality of the contents, but the rather disappointing decision to include a few fun stories that, by the editor's own admission, aren't really sword & sorcery.
For instance, there's a quite enjoyable little read from Mercedes Lackey and one of her main series. However, in an anthology ostensibly about the origins, evolution, and current state of sword & sorcery, I feel that spot, instead of going to a YA series that's really more beginner's epic high fantasy, could have been devoted to something more in line with the original intent, and still showcased the broad range and growing inclusivity of fiction's greatest subgenre.
I personally would have included something from Charles Saunders, especially since his own recent anthology of harder to find Imaro-adjacent stories, Nyumbani Tales, came out only a few months prior.
At the end of the day, though, this was a fun read and (mostly) a solid recommendation to someone new to the subgenre. But my main go-to recommendation as a complete exhibition of what all sword & sorcery is capable of is still "The Sword & Sorcery Anthology."
June 12, 2017
This compilation of sword and sorcery stories was different than I expected. It is designed to provide examples of significant authors' works from the early days of the genre up to today. These are stories that have already been published, some in the early 20th century. Many are on the long end of short stories, with most being over 30 pages and several over 50. The first section is a selection of early stories, so the style if very different than we are used to today. That is reflected in the editor's narrative about the section and the stories. The second section brings in more social commentary and character development. The third section provides a variety of contemporary stories that explore different aspects of the genre.
I found the selection to be thoughtful, and appreciated the inclusion of early works, despite the fact that the style varies dramatically from what today's readers expect. That being said, it will probably be appreciated most by those who have experience reading earlier works, those who love the genre, and those who are interested in the more intellectual take on it.
A digital copy of the book was provided to me by the publisher. The review is my own.
I found the selection to be thoughtful, and appreciated the inclusion of early works, despite the fact that the style varies dramatically from what today's readers expect. That being said, it will probably be appreciated most by those who have experience reading earlier works, those who love the genre, and those who are interested in the more intellectual take on it.
A digital copy of the book was provided to me by the publisher. The review is my own.
May 12, 2019
Excellent, all-encompassing “Sword & Sorcery” anthology that spans the history of the sub-genre from 1933 to present. While some of the stories veer a little too far off-template (sword and sorcery being a very restrictive sub-genre to begin with), overall I was pleased with the quality of the stories presented and found many new authors to consider.
As a long time fan of the genre, the earliest tales were still my favorite: Robert E. Howard, C.L. Moore, Fritz Leiber, and especially Leigh Brackett deliver the goods. Somehow I’ve managed to never read Clark Ashton Smith, that’s about to be remedied!
As the genre splintered and waned in the post-WWII era, the quality dips overall with many stories barely satisfying the criteria; it’s Elric who saves the day leading the 70’s sword and sorcery revival/craze that made the genre’s modern reputation on the back of the excellent Conan movie. Since then, many authors have taken to de-constructing the genre or “writing back” to it. This part of the anthology was most satisfying with excellent stories from Saladin Ahmed, Elizabeth Bear, Steven Erickson, and Scott Lynch. Notable omissions for me here were Charles Saunders and Glen Cook.
If you’ve never read any of the foundational texts of S&S, this anthology is for you. If you have read them but have mostly given up on the genre, there are many pleasant modern tales within.
As a long time fan of the genre, the earliest tales were still my favorite: Robert E. Howard, C.L. Moore, Fritz Leiber, and especially Leigh Brackett deliver the goods. Somehow I’ve managed to never read Clark Ashton Smith, that’s about to be remedied!
As the genre splintered and waned in the post-WWII era, the quality dips overall with many stories barely satisfying the criteria; it’s Elric who saves the day leading the 70’s sword and sorcery revival/craze that made the genre’s modern reputation on the back of the excellent Conan movie. Since then, many authors have taken to de-constructing the genre or “writing back” to it. This part of the anthology was most satisfying with excellent stories from Saladin Ahmed, Elizabeth Bear, Steven Erickson, and Scott Lynch. Notable omissions for me here were Charles Saunders and Glen Cook.
If you’ve never read any of the foundational texts of S&S, this anthology is for you. If you have read them but have mostly given up on the genre, there are many pleasant modern tales within.
April 1, 2023
Перед нами не просто сборник, перед нами настоящая энциклопедия, отражающая эволюцию жанра heroic fantasy за без малого сто лет, от первых рассказов Говарда и вплоть до Скотта Линча.
Подборка составлена с большой любовью к жанру и со знанием дела. Прочитав первую, классическую, часть сборника, я, честно говоря, начал опасаться, что дальше начнется засилье произведений про сильных цветных лесбиянок, побеждающих белых угнетателей. Но нет, качество рассказов в последних, современных, частях ничуть не ниже. Вся подборка очень ровная, книгу можно с удовольствием читать от корки до корки.
Попадаются, конечно, отдельные казусы типа Дилэни или Кэмерон Херли, но от Дилэни ничего другого и не ожидалось, поэтому и ругать его нет смысла :)
А в целом очень приятно было убедиться, что современные авторы «меча и магии» (Эриксон, Бир, Ахмед) абсолютно не уступают классике золотого периода. Думаю, самому Конану было бы не стыдно за таких наследников.
Смело рекомендую всем ценителям жанра. 8/10
Подборка составлена с большой любовью к жанру и со знанием дела. Прочитав первую, классическую, часть сборника, я, честно говоря, начал опасаться, что дальше начнется засилье произведений про сильных цветных лесбиянок, побеждающих белых угнетателей. Но нет, качество рассказов в последних, современных, частях ничуть не ниже. Вся подборка очень ровная, книгу можно с удовольствием читать от корки до корки.
Попадаются, конечно, отдельные казусы типа Дилэни или Кэмерон Херли, но от Дилэни ничего другого и не ожидалось, поэтому и ругать его нет смысла :)
А в целом очень приятно было убедиться, что современные авторы «меча и магии» (Эриксон, Бир, Ахмед) абсолютно не уступают классике золотого периода. Думаю, самому Конану было бы не стыдно за таких наследников.
Смело рекомендую всем ценителям жанра. 8/10
May 16, 2017
Looking for a primer on Sword & Sorcery stories, tropes, and authors? Well, laying your hands on Swords Against Darkness is a good place to start. Paula Guran has gathered a collection of stories under a title appropriated from one of the S & S masters that provide a broad sweep of early middle, and current tales/authors. Is it a perfect collection? No, but there is enough variety that most readers will enjoy at least 70% of the book. So what are you waiting for? Dive into the book and find your favorite tale!
June 27, 2017
Verdict: This is a collection of short stories themed towards like what the title implies: swords and sorcery. Like most anthologies, some stories were better than others. Luckily, this anthology has a main draw, Mercedes Lackey, and is definitely worth reading.
*Thank you Edelweiss and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
*Thank you Edelweiss and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
October 28, 2019
Good anthology of Heroic Fantasy, spanning the classics from Conan and Lankhmar to more modern variants. As is to be expected in this kind of historical anthology it has it's ups and downs. Even the greatest fan of HF will find some of the stories to stink, and even an HF-hater like me will find stories to enjoy. IMHO, based on this anthology, women write much better HF than men ;-)
March 21, 2024
An excellent collection of sword and sorcery stories edited by Paula Guran that opens with an old favorite, The Tower of the Elephant by Robert E. Howard. The anthology contains a number of quite entertaining tales and a several really outstanding stories I hadn't read previously; notably from Bear, Moon, Shea, Moore, Vance and Kurtz.
March 10, 2019
This is a pretty fun collection of fantasy stories, though I sort of have to quibble with some of the organization and also Guran calling a lot of these sword and sorcery. To me, sword and sorcery is a rather specific subgenre and so I expected rather a lot of things directly in the vein of Howard, Lieber, and Moorcock, though hopefully with plenty of more diverse protagonists. I did get that and plenty of female authors (even some from the early days, which was great), but there's also a lot of stories here I'd consider low fantasy but not specifically sword and sorcery. Which isn't terrible, of course, and I still like them over all. It just means my expectations were a bit different. In fact, probably the strangest outlier is there's even a Barsoom-esque sword and planet novella, which was fun but not really what I was expecting between the covers of this volume. Also, I found the organization of the stories to be odd since it seemed like it was meant to be chronological but in practice it wasn't quite, with the one original story in the second rather than third section.
Still, I have yet to meet a Paula Guran anthology that doesn't have plenty of excellent stories in it, and this is no exception. Howard, Lieber, and Moorcock are all represented by excellent stories, and there was some great stuff by early women writers I hadn't encountered before. I've got plenty of new authors to look into and strong reminders that I need to read things like Elric and Paksenarrion. There was a great story by Scott Lynch involving a band of magicians going to war and improvising basically a fantasy mecha, and I look forward to seeing more in this setting from him. There was a story by Michael Shea, who did an authorized Cugel the Clever novel that I would love to track down. Sadly this is the first time I've seen something by him as an ebook, so I'll have to do more scouring.
There was a Valdemar story, which really doesn't feel like it fits in an anthology of sword and sorcery tales, but it was quite fun and reminds me I need to read more in that world. I'm not sure that I have a favorite of these tales, in part because I read the book in fits and starts, and there's nothing that blew my mind that I hadn't already read. However, none of the stories stick out as things that I particularly disliked. The Mars tale dragged a bit, but that's more because of it's length than anything about it, and it was later expanded into a novel, so it feels like perhaps it was a little long for this collection anyhow.
Over all, though, in spite of the quibbles I have with Guran over genre definitions, this provides a not bad look at the breadth of low fantasy and is nicely diverse in terms of authors, characters, and styles. I imagine the older Swords Against Darkness that I'm now working on will come closer to what I expected this volume to be, but if you're looking for a good collection of fantasy tales that will lead you to new and exciting authors, this is a good one to pick up.
Still, I have yet to meet a Paula Guran anthology that doesn't have plenty of excellent stories in it, and this is no exception. Howard, Lieber, and Moorcock are all represented by excellent stories, and there was some great stuff by early women writers I hadn't encountered before. I've got plenty of new authors to look into and strong reminders that I need to read things like Elric and Paksenarrion. There was a great story by Scott Lynch involving a band of magicians going to war and improvising basically a fantasy mecha, and I look forward to seeing more in this setting from him. There was a story by Michael Shea, who did an authorized Cugel the Clever novel that I would love to track down. Sadly this is the first time I've seen something by him as an ebook, so I'll have to do more scouring.
There was a Valdemar story, which really doesn't feel like it fits in an anthology of sword and sorcery tales, but it was quite fun and reminds me I need to read more in that world. I'm not sure that I have a favorite of these tales, in part because I read the book in fits and starts, and there's nothing that blew my mind that I hadn't already read. However, none of the stories stick out as things that I particularly disliked. The Mars tale dragged a bit, but that's more because of it's length than anything about it, and it was later expanded into a novel, so it feels like perhaps it was a little long for this collection anyhow.
Over all, though, in spite of the quibbles I have with Guran over genre definitions, this provides a not bad look at the breadth of low fantasy and is nicely diverse in terms of authors, characters, and styles. I imagine the older Swords Against Darkness that I'm now working on will come closer to what I expected this volume to be, but if you're looking for a good collection of fantasy tales that will lead you to new and exciting authors, this is a good one to pick up.
January 21, 2019
A massive and epic collection. A truly brilliant set of stories, all credit to Paula Guran for curating this book. 5⭐️ stuff.
November 12, 2017
I really did take about a month to finish this.
Partially because it's a really, really long book (it's really mostly an anthology of novellas!) and also because I've been running around Malaysia for most of October AND November.
Reading Swords Against Darkness was like having a crash course on the sword-and-sorcery genre. Paula Guran has put together a very educational collection of stories that showcases the best of sword and sorcery from its beginnings with Conan the Barbarian in 1933 to its current guise in 2017. The anthology features famous names in fantasy -- Michael Moorcock, Mercedes Lackey, Samuel R. Delany, Scott Lynch, and Kameron Hurley, to name a few. Those more firmly entrenched in this branch of fantasy would probably recognise many more of the authors featured, but I've always had a slightly more epic fantasy bent.
That said, there is much to love and hate about the stories in this book. For all that Conan is well known to me, at least in cartoon form, I've never actually read any of the original short stories, so the inclusion of The Tower of the Elephant (Robert E. Howard) was rather amusing. I liked it better than I expected. I initially wanted to be intrigued by Hellsgarde (CL Moore); after all, it was written by a woman and features a female protagonist. However, the story centred mostly around Jirel being tricked by men and used by men (and dead men/spirits) which didn't sit too well after a while (even if she bests them in the end). It was also annoying that deformity or illness was basically equated to being evil or cursed by God. I was rather distracted by the name Stark in Black Amazon of Mars , but I rather liked this one mostly because of the Eowyn-type. While the Gods Laugh (Michael Moorcock) was classic reluctant-hero, so there's nothing much to hate about it.
Undertow (Karl Edward Wagner) was a strange one. At first glance, it appears to be a story about a girl trying to escape from her abuser (who happens to be a renowned magician) but the ending is something else altogether. I absolutely loved Swords Against the Marluk (Katherine Kurtz) and Out of the Deep -- which basically flaunts my love for princes and royal family stories. Ha. (And also underdog stories.) The Swords of Her Heart (John Balestra) should also get a mention here for being amusing even if it only plays on bad fortune and stupidity, and poor Brimm trying to get out of all the trouble his friend Snoori gets him into.
Bluestocking (Joanna Russ) confused me a little -- probably because I was skimming by this point -- as did The Tale of Dragons and Dreamers (Samuel R. Delany), though I rather think I'd like to revisit the latter again when I have time. First Blood (Elizabeth Moon) recaptured my interest, falling neatly into that coming-of-age slot that I like. It also helps that Luden is such an earnest, innocent boy. Where Virtue Lives (Saladin Ahmed) and The Ghostmakers (Elizabeth Bear) stand out from the white, Western-centric crowd whilst Scott Lynch's The Effigy Engine: A Tale of the Red Hats reminds me that The Lies of Locke Lamora has been on my TBR forever.
There's more that I've skipped over because commenting on each story would be tedious and frankly, after reading so many over a month, I don't recall every single one of them.
Note: I received a digital review copy of this via Edelweiss.
Partially because it's a really, really long book (it's really mostly an anthology of novellas!) and also because I've been running around Malaysia for most of October AND November.
Reading Swords Against Darkness was like having a crash course on the sword-and-sorcery genre. Paula Guran has put together a very educational collection of stories that showcases the best of sword and sorcery from its beginnings with Conan the Barbarian in 1933 to its current guise in 2017. The anthology features famous names in fantasy -- Michael Moorcock, Mercedes Lackey, Samuel R. Delany, Scott Lynch, and Kameron Hurley, to name a few. Those more firmly entrenched in this branch of fantasy would probably recognise many more of the authors featured, but I've always had a slightly more epic fantasy bent.
That said, there is much to love and hate about the stories in this book. For all that Conan is well known to me, at least in cartoon form, I've never actually read any of the original short stories, so the inclusion of The Tower of the Elephant (Robert E. Howard) was rather amusing. I liked it better than I expected. I initially wanted to be intrigued by Hellsgarde (CL Moore); after all, it was written by a woman and features a female protagonist. However, the story centred mostly around Jirel being tricked by men and used by men (and dead men/spirits) which didn't sit too well after a while (even if she bests them in the end). It was also annoying that deformity or illness was basically equated to being evil or cursed by God. I was rather distracted by the name Stark in Black Amazon of Mars , but I rather liked this one mostly because of the Eowyn-type. While the Gods Laugh (Michael Moorcock) was classic reluctant-hero, so there's nothing much to hate about it.
Undertow (Karl Edward Wagner) was a strange one. At first glance, it appears to be a story about a girl trying to escape from her abuser (who happens to be a renowned magician) but the ending is something else altogether. I absolutely loved Swords Against the Marluk (Katherine Kurtz) and Out of the Deep -- which basically flaunts my love for princes and royal family stories. Ha. (And also underdog stories.) The Swords of Her Heart (John Balestra) should also get a mention here for being amusing even if it only plays on bad fortune and stupidity, and poor Brimm trying to get out of all the trouble his friend Snoori gets him into.
Bluestocking (Joanna Russ) confused me a little -- probably because I was skimming by this point -- as did The Tale of Dragons and Dreamers (Samuel R. Delany), though I rather think I'd like to revisit the latter again when I have time. First Blood (Elizabeth Moon) recaptured my interest, falling neatly into that coming-of-age slot that I like. It also helps that Luden is such an earnest, innocent boy. Where Virtue Lives (Saladin Ahmed) and The Ghostmakers (Elizabeth Bear) stand out from the white, Western-centric crowd whilst Scott Lynch's The Effigy Engine: A Tale of the Red Hats reminds me that The Lies of Locke Lamora has been on my TBR forever.
There's more that I've skipped over because commenting on each story would be tedious and frankly, after reading so many over a month, I don't recall every single one of them.
Note: I received a digital review copy of this via Edelweiss.
June 12, 2017
Book received from Edelweiss
A great collection of short stories all in the swords and sorcerers theme. Some stories were better than others. Of course, my favorite was one by my favorite author Mercedes Lackey and the main part of the reason I requested the ARC. The stories were all quick reads for me and I enjoyed almost all of them. Another great book put together by Paula Guran, I cannot wait to read more that she is involved with.
A great collection of short stories all in the swords and sorcerers theme. Some stories were better than others. Of course, my favorite was one by my favorite author Mercedes Lackey and the main part of the reason I requested the ARC. The stories were all quick reads for me and I enjoyed almost all of them. Another great book put together by Paula Guran, I cannot wait to read more that she is involved with.
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