The Sword & Sorcery Anthology

Not sure why so few reviews are here, so I'll add one for an solid anthology that includes a good sampling of authors over the past 100 years. As with all collections, not every story worked for me, but enough did for me to recommend it. A few highlights: Starts off appropriately with a Robert E. Howard story, "The Tower of the Elephant". "The Cave of Forgotten Dreams" by Michael Moorcock was an excellent adventure. My favorite story by far was Charles R. Saunders' "Gimmile's Song", probably because it is anti-cliche: a heroine instead of a hero; a faithful war-bull instead of a horse; and a African background instead of the traditional European perspective. This is my first exposure to this author despite that he has been around for quite awhile, and I was definitely impressed. "Soldier of an Empire Unacquainted with Defeat" by Glen Cook was a delightful read of almost novella length. "Become a Warrior" by Jane Yolen is a disturbing tale of the cold calculations a women bent on revenge is capable of. I found "The Sea Troll's Daughter" by Caitlin R. Kiernan to be more sexually restrained than some other stories I've read by this author, and I thought it made her story-telling better and more enjoyable. Finally, "The Path of the Dragon" by George R.R. Martin was suprisingly good. I know he is all the rage now, but I tried to read one of his books years ago and was unimpressed. I assumed he had been included to help sell the book, but was delighted to find that I actually enjoyed his prose.

This would be a good book for people who are first starting to read fantasy. It is full of good stories, and the authors are top rate.

Highly recommended

I'm a big fan of Hartwell's THE ASCENT OF WONDER, which in my opinion is just about perfect when it comes to presenting/analyzing a fiction subgenre (in that case, Hard SF) in anthology form. Besides being a comprehensive collection of Hard SF stories, it includes introductory essays explaining what Hard SF is, what its characteristics are, and so forth. Additionally, each story includes an introductory note explaining the author, the story, and why the story deserves to be in the anthology. THE SWORD AND SORCERY ANTHOLOGY, unfortunately, falls far, far short of this stellar treatment. First, there's no introductory essay(s) explaining what the editors believe Swords And Sorcery is, what its characteristics are, or what makes one story S&S and another not. Nor are there any notes introducing the individual stories. The result is a total lack of context, and this seems to infect the editors. Many of the stories chosen aren't Swords And Sorcery stories at all, in my opinion -- they're High Fantasy, Low Fantasy, or something else. As a whole the collection feels slapdash and not well thought out. Even the stories that are undeniably S&S are often poorly chosen. For example, "The Unholy Grail" is an awful choice for a Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story, in my opinion. They should have chosen one that showcases both heroes in their prime, and hopefully the city of Lankhmar as well, such as "The Cloud Of Hate" or "The Two Best Thieves In Lankhmar." Furthermore, a lot of S&S authors are left out entirely. There's nothing in the anthology by Clark Ashton Smith, Gardner Fox, Lin Carter, Richard Tierney, and many others I think ought to have had a story in it. Thus, in the end, what could have and should have been a comprehensive and scholarly review of the Swords And Sorcery subgenre of Fantasy is a half-hearted effort based on no solid definition of what S&S is. I was hoping for a book that would form a basis for discussing and even teaching about the subgenre going forward, but what I got was something I don't even consider a crucial purchase for subgenre fans.

Although the table of contents is shown in the "Look Inside" extract above, its reproduced here: "Introduction: Storytellers: A Guided Ramble into Sword and Sorcery Fiction" by David Drake "The Tower of the Elephant" by Robert E. Howard "Black God's Kiss" by C. L. Moore "The Unholy Grail" by Fritz Leiber "The Tale of Hauk" by Poul Anderson "The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams" by Michael Moorcock "The Adventuress" by Joanna Russ "Gimmile's Song" by Charles R. Saunders "Undertow" by Karl Edward Wagner "The Stages of the God" by Ramsey Campbell (writing as Montgomery Comfort) "The Barrow Troll" by David Drake "Soldier of an Empire Unacquainted with Defeat" by Glen Cook "Epistle from Lebanoi" by Michael Shea * "Become a Warrior" by Jane Yolen "The Red Guild" by Rachel Pollack "Six from Atlantis" by Gene Wolfe "The Sea Troll's Daughter" by Caitlín R. Kiernan "The Coral Heart" by Jeffrey Ford "Path of the Dragon" by George R. R. Martin "The Year of the Three Monarchs" by Michael Swanwick * The starred stories are new in this anthology: unlike 2010's Swords and Dark Magic, this is largely a reprint anthology, with much of it being (effectively) extracts from books (Howard, Leiber, Moorcock, C. L. Moore, GRRM) and some of it published elsewhere comparatively recently (the Glen Cook and Kiernan stuff). It turns out I had read a lot of this before, and some of it recently. On the other hand, I did enjoy re-reading Leiber and Moorcock, so I'm not complaining. Really, its an all-star cast of 75 years of sword and sorcery: I can honestly say I enjoyed every story. I wont give a mini-review of 19 stories: it would be faster to just read the book. Wagner's "Undertow" really surprised me, for all I could see the ending coming: it was really powerful, with that bitter edge so often found in S&S. I'd call this an excellent primer for someone starting out in sword & sorcery "low fantasy": there are true classics here, and the stories are fun. Not a lot of deep philosophy, or "cosmic horror", just good, not-so-clean fun. For those interested, there is some representation by women and minorities: all I care about is that they can write a good story. You could argue that Saunders' "Gimmile's Song" is one of the best in the book, and it is certainly not your standard quasi-European setting and hero (African, and heroine, respectively). The only quibble I have with the book is the lack of an introductory page on each contributor: this is kind of standard in anthologies, and while you can use Wikipedia, you should not have to. Yes, that's gravy the book is missing, not meat and potatoes, but it is a lack. But even with no gravy, it's a good meal.

Whats there to say. The best writers of the genre in one book

sorcery at its best. a great read

I picked this book up on a whim because I was able to buy it as a used book. I don't read a lot of anthologies because I like the stories to be longer so you can feel like you are a part of the story. I have to say that I did enjoy the vast majority of the stories in this anthology and it gave me the opportunity to view some authors that I had not previously read. It will give you a good variety of writing styles to help you find the style of writing that you like the most. Kudos to the group of editors for putting together a well rounded selection of authors that makes this anthology have a smooth flow from story to story.

A pleasant and entertaining diversion for lovers of fantasy and adventure fiction. Also useful as a gift for the right person.

An excellent selection each story leaves one wanting more, even known chapters and short stories make one want to revisit their original books. The stories flow well into each other with no jarring of sub genres. I bought this on a whim and thoroughly enjoyed it.

This book is a very good value in that it introduces a wide range of authors' works. As a collection of stories, it doesn't really make sense to review the book as a whole. Instead, I will list the stories with a score out of five for each story. Most of the stories are reprints, so they may be familiar to readers of fantasy and S&S in particular. Even so, they are generally good enough that rereading them isn't a bad thing. "Introduction: Storytellers: A Guided Ramble into Sword and Sorcery Fiction" by David Drake - this is adequate, nothing too special, and focuses largely on the first stories in the compilation rather than later ones "The Tower of the Elephant" by Robert E. Howard - 6/5 THIS is what sword and sorcery should be! "Black God's Kiss" by C. L. Moore - 5/5 fantastic, very reminiscent of HP Lovecraft "The Unholy Grail" by Fritz Leiber - 5/5 great Grey Mouser story of revenge "The Tale of Hauk" by Poul Anderson - 4/5 good story, just not top-notch "The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams" by Michael Moorcock - 4/5 fun story, ending is a little forced "The Adventuress" by Joanna Russ - 2/5 sort of interesting, but hardly any swords or almost zero sorcery "Gimmile's Song" by Charles R. Saunders - 3.5/5 fun story, just a little short "Undertow" by Karl Edward Wagner - 4.5/5 solid Kane story, tarts slow, but builds as the story progresses "The Stages of the God" by Ramsey Campbell (writing as Montgomery Comfort) - 3/5 second half poorly written "The Barrow Troll" by David Drake - 4/5 a touch predictable, but good grim S&S "Soldier of an Empire Unacquainted with Defeat" by Glen Cook - 5/5 solid S&S story "Epistle from Lebanoi" by Michael Shea - 3/5, almost science fiction, I felt the story jumped around and was too convenient "Become a Warrior" by Jane Yolen - 4/5 short but grimly fun "The Red Guild" by Rachel Pollack - 4/5 strong story, although leaves a lot up in the air "Six from Atlantis" by Gene Wolfe - 3/5 this story stars and ends out of nowhere, feeling incomplete "The Sea Troll's Daughter" by Caitlín R. Kiernan - 3/5 would be 4/5, but feels like the ending wasn't written "The Coral Heart" by Jeffrey Ford - 4.5/5, very good story, just not quite as riveting as 5/5 would be "Path of the Dragon" by George R. R. Martin - 4/5 good story, but rambles on too much "The Year of the Three Monarchs" by Michael Swanwick - 3/5 too short, and I don't like time travel in S&S So overall, it's very good collection. I will definitely be following up on some of the individual authors, like C. L. Moore. At 470+ pages, it makes for plenty of reading. So if you are a fan of swords and sorcery and aren't familiar with the stories above, this is well worth purchasing. Not all the stories are likely to appeal to everyone, and you might enjoy one's I didn't (and vice versa), but I think this is a strong introduction that is sure to offer some very fun reading, which is what Sword and Sorcery reading should be all about!

howards writing is great, as for the rest,so much rubbish