Battles were fought and won based on the strength and keenness of blades as well as the ability to use them effectively. Bob Howard was not only interested in the various types of swords, he was also fascinated with the history they represented. In his poetry and his stories, he uses his knowledge of weapons, historical people, places and events to give us vivid images of those ages. In March 1933, Robert E. Howard wrote to H. P. Lovecraft about his…
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It isn’t often we see a new Sword & Sorcery anthology, especially one from a major publisher. Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword & Sorcery, edited by Jonathan Strahan & Lou Anders (Eos Books/Subterranean Press) is the first one to cross my desk in years and, with a new Elric tale by Michael Moorcock, a Black Company story by Glen Cook, a Majipoor piece from Robert Silverberg, a Cugel the Clever tale by Michael Shea, and contributions from Steven Erikson, James…
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Sword and Sorceress I Edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley (DAW, 1984) The late author and editor Marion Zimmer Bradley probably could not have dared to guess in 1984 that her anthology series, Sword and Sorceress, would turn into a yearly and best-selling institution of fantasy short stories that would extend past her death. That the first volume in the series bears a Roman numeral shows that she did believe the anthology would see at least two volumes; that it now…
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Over at SF Signal, editor John DeNardo asked ten science fiction and fantasy writers and editors to pick the best sword and sorcery stories, and explain what makes them so good. The writers include Black Gate authors James Enge and Martha Wells, as well as Steven Brust, Mercedes Lackey, Mary Robinette Kowal, Mark Chadbourn, P.C. Hodgell, Gail Z. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, and Lou Anders. Here’s what James Enge had to say, in part: There’s no doubt in my mind that Fritz…
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When I first wrote about the New Edge back in an editorial for the Flashing Swords e-zine, there were a number of bloggers who LOUDLY misinterpreted what the crafters of the manifesto and I were after. One proclaimed that we must not be in touch with modern fiction; after all, writer A had just written a novel with some sword-and-sorcery in it a few years back, so, see, the genre was alive and well! Anyone who’s been trying to get…
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Black Gate 12 is off to the printer, and when it returns, I think no further evidence need be presented that this is the truest home for sword-and-sorcery in a modern print magazine. With that in mind, I thought it high time to revisit The New Edge manifesto. When I helmed Flashing Swords I sat down with William King and John C. Hocking, and, later, Tom Floyd and C. L. Werner, and together we hashed out an outline for what…
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By Jeff Mejia Copyright © 2008 by New Epoch Press. All rights Reserved. The Sword-Edged Blonde Alex Bledsoe Nightshade Books, 232 pages, Trade Hardcover, 2007, $24.95 I never remember where I learn half of the stuff I find out about on the Internet, but I’m glad I was paying enough attention to make note of The Sword-Edged Blonde. It’s billed as a fantasy tale written in a style reminiscent of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. The story’s told by Eddie…
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By Ryan Harvey Copyright 2007 by New Epoch Press. All rights reserved. A fierce warrior, magically born from a troll mother in the shape of a man, leads a troll army against the might of the elves. He stares at the troll king and mutters to himself: “I will succeed to your throne — but what good is that? What good is anything?” Thus speaks Valgard, half of the protagonist of The Broken Sword. His words contain ambition contradicted with…
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by Joseph A. McCullough V (Originally published at SwordAndSorcery.org) The term “Sword and Sorcery” first entered into popular language with the release of the 1982 film, Conan the Barbarian. Since then, it has been sporadically and haphazardly applied to any story that happened to have both sword fighting and magic. In the last few years, sword and sorcery has even cropped up in a few reviews of The Lord of the Rings (1), but unfortunately this is one of the…
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by David Soyka So, you’ve finished your latest issue of Black Gate, and now you are wondering what other magazines feature fantasy in the short form that you might enjoy. Here are a few — hardly complete — suggestions. Interzone Editor/publisher Andy Cox’s resurrection of Interzone has made this self-proclaimed “Britain’s longest-running science-fiction magazine” a leading choice for edgy stories showcased in a striking visual design that pays tribute to the pulp tradition in a high glossy style. Given that…
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