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Dark Muse News: Blue Fire: A Jirel of Joiry Novella

Dark Muse News: Blue Fire: A Jirel of Joiry Novella

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Blue Fire, a Jirel of Jory tale by Molly Tanzer (Brackenbury Books, 2026). Cover art by Saša Đurđević

In February 2025, Black Gate covered Molly Tanzer’s release of “Jirel Meets Death” (published with permission from Moore’s estate); and in March 2026 Black Gate’s Dark Muse News covered Tanzer’s next story, “Jirel in the Forest of Night.” These were brought to us by Brackenbury Books, the same outfit that champions New Edge Sword & Sorcery magazine.

And now, Dark Muse News (your biweekly Black Gate blog) has coverage of Brackenbury Books’ current campaign, bringing the first-ever Jirel of Joiry book-length adventure to life (crowdfunding launched June 11th, and is still ongoing).

Blue Fire begins with Jirel fighting a foe her sword cannot smite: a terrible illness nobody can explain, let alone heal. Her search for a cure takes her many miles across many worlds, encountering friends and foes familiar and frightening!

Like Alice in Wonderland with a big f***ing sword, Jirel has compelling adventures in bizarre dream-logic realms, balancing a rich emotional life with terrifying struggles against dark forces!  — boasts Brackenbury Books

Here ye, here ye. Read on to see:

  • A tour guide of the Jirel of Jory writings
  • Excerpts from Blue Fire
  • Special Perspectives from author Molly Tanzer, artist Saša Đurđević, and editor Oliver Brackenbury
  • Status updates on the campaign

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The Heroes of Fantasy Quiz

The Heroes of Fantasy Quiz

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Art for Carson of Venus by Frank Frazetta

They slice. They dice. They bash their way through hordes of foes. They are the heroes of fantasy and just below is a list of some of the greatest. Can you pick out the hero on the right who goes with the author on the left?

Twelve to fifteen correct means you know your bloodthirsty authors like Conan knows ale. Eight to eleven correct is pretty good but you’re not as bloodthirsty as you might like others to believe. Four to seven correct definitely means you’re squeamish at the sight of crimson gore. Below four correct? I’m afraid you’re just not an “army of one.”

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A Heaven of Action: Mistress of Mistresses by E.R. Eddison

A Heaven of Action: Mistress of Mistresses by E.R. Eddison

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Mistress of Mistresses (Ballantine Books, August 1967). Cover by Barbara Remington

I heard her say, faint as the breath of nightflowers under the stars,

“The fabled land of Zimiamvia. Is it true, will you think, which poets tell us of that fortunate land: that no mortal foot may tread it, but the blessed souls do inhabit it of the dead that be departed: of them that were great upon earth and did great deeds while they were living, that scorned not earth and the delights and the glories of earth, and yet did justly and were not dastards nor yet oppressors?”

 Very shortly after the paperback publication of The Lord of the Rings made it a best seller, Ballantine Books began treating publishing other paperback fantasy novels, turning fantasy into a genre. Some of these were by contemporary authors, such as Joy Chant, Katherine Kurtz, or Evangeline Walton; but many more were older works being brought back into print. Among these older works was E.R. Eddison’s Mistress of Mistresses, first published in 1935.

Eddison had begun writing fantasy in 1922 with The Worm Ourobouros, which Ballantine also republished, a little earlier. In fact they treated them as two volumes of a series. There is indeed a minor linkage between them: The Worm Ourobouros begins by introducing a viewpoint character named Lessingham, who has a dream in which his consciousness is transported to Mercury and witnesses the events of the novel proper, though he doesn’t take part in them and soon enough is no longer mentioned even as a witness.

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The Epic Science Fiction & Fantasy of Poul Anderson, Part Two: Flandry of Terra and 7 Conquests

The Epic Science Fiction & Fantasy of Poul Anderson, Part Two: Flandry of Terra and 7 Conquests

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The Ace Flandry editions by Poul Anderson: Ensign Flandry, Agent of the Terran Empire, and
Flandry of Terra (Ace Books, February 1979, January 1980, July 1979). Covers by Michael Whelan

Read Part One of this article here.

I’ve never read a Poul Anderson book or story I didn’t like, although certainly I have my favorites. The first book I remember reading by him was 7 Conquests (cover art by Emanuel Schongut; see below), a collection of 7 short stories. I was about 14 and in awe of his language, and there’s still a scene in one story that titillates my daydreams even now.

Next, I started reading Anderson’s Flandry of Terra series, about an intelligence officer for the Terran Empire named Dominic Flandry. Flandry is very much a James Bond kind of character, with a fair amount of anti-hero in his makeup, but I loved these tales, which I’d primarily categorize as Space Opera.

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The Epic Science Fiction & Fantasy of Poul Anderson, Part One: The Last Viking Trilogy

The Epic Science Fiction & Fantasy of Poul Anderson, Part One: The Last Viking Trilogy

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The Last Viking trilogy: The Golden Horn, The Road of the Sea Horse, and The Sign of the Raven (Zebra Books, April-June 1980). Cover artist uncredited

As a teenager reading SF and Fantasy, I had two go-to authors whose work never let me down. One was Andre Norton, who I’ve talked about a lot. The other was Poul Anderson (1926-2001), who I’ve barely mentioned so far. I’ve got a number of posts planned about him.

Anderson wrote excellent heroic fantasy and SF with equal ease, although I slightly prefer his fantasy. The series I want to talk about first is his Last Viking trilogy, consisting of The Golden Horn, The Road of the Seahorse, and The Sign of the Raven, all published in 1980 by Zebra. They blur the line between fantasy and heroic historical. The cover artist is uncredited but my best guess is Don Maitz, who did the cover for another Anderson Viking book called Hrolf Kraki’s Saga (see below). I could be wrong; if so, someone will surely tell me.

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Lin Carter’s Year’s Best Fantasy Stories

Lin Carter’s Year’s Best Fantasy Stories

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The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories, volumes 1-9, edited by Lin Carter and Arthur Saha (DAW Books, 1975-1983)

While people disagree on the quality of Lin Carter’s writing, most people agree he was a fine editor and tireless supporter of the fantasy field. Volumes edited by Carter brought quite a few new authors to my attention, as well as feeding me a steady diet of works by writers I already loved.

From 1975 to 1988, DAW books presented a yearly anthology called The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories. Lin Carter edited the first six and I own and have read all but #3, which I ordered recently but was sent the wrong book.

Arthur W. Saha took over as editor after that. I only have one of his volumes. I don’t know why the editorial switch, but Carter may have been suffering from ill health around that time. He died in 1988. I first read the three with Robert E. Howard content, but later read a couple of others. Here are my thoughts.

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High Fantasy in the Tolkien tradition: The Iron Tower Trilogy by Dennis L. McKiernan

High Fantasy in the Tolkien tradition: The Iron Tower Trilogy by Dennis L. McKiernan

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The Iron Tower Trilogy: The Dark Tide, Shadows of Doom, and The Darkest Day
(Signet, August 1985, September 1985, and October 1985). Covers by Alan Lee

I recently posted some of my thoughts about High Fantasy. I haven’t read a large amount from that field but I did read Dennis L. McKiernan’s first trilogy of books, the Iron Tower trilogy, which is definitely High Fantasy written very strongly in the Tolkien tradition.

Here’s my review of those three books, which I read in an omnibus edition.

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An Obscure 70s Fantasy: The Vanishing Tower, by Michael Moorcock

An Obscure 70s Fantasy: The Vanishing Tower, by Michael Moorcock

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The Vanishing Tower (DAW Books, June 1977). Cover by Michael Whelan

Here’s another in my series of reviews of “mostly obscure” 1970s/1980s books — the last one was of Evangeline Walton’s The Children of Llyr. That book was published in 1971, and so was the original edition of The Vanishing Tower (first titled The Sleeping Sorceress.)

And already I can hear people asking “Obscure? Obscure?! Evangeline Walton’s Mabinogion retellings were not really obscure, and Michael Moorcock’s Elric novels are not remotely obscure!”

And I apologize — because you’re right. This novel in particular is part of one of the major sword and sorcery series of all time. Yet — as with the The Children of Llyr — it’s a book I myself didn’t read until just now, over 50 years after it first appeared.

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The Cornerstones of High Fantasy: E. R. Eddison, J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen R. Donaldson, J. K. Rowling, and George R. R. Martin

The Cornerstones of High Fantasy: E. R. Eddison, J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen R. Donaldson, J. K. Rowling, and George R. R. Martin

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The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King (Ballantine paperback editions, October & November 1965). Covers by Barbara Remington

I’ve defined Heroic Fantasy (HF) as a type of fiction in which a heroic (bigger than life) figures use a combination of physical strength and edged weapons (Swords, Axes, Spears) to face bigger than life foes. The hero may be either male or female, but the focus is primarily on personal conflict between the hero and various villains.

I divide Heroic Fantasy into four categories: Sword and Sorcery, Sword and Planet, High Fantasy, and Heroic Historical. I’ve previously discussed S&S, S&P, and Heroic Historical (HH). Today let’s check out High Fantasy.

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