Product Description
Leslie Barnes has just bought her first home, overlooking San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. It seems the perfect place for Leslie and her sister, a brilliant young musician...but as soon as they move in, a plague of dark events begins, unsettling both women. To her horror, Leslie realizes that she is living in a vortex of magickal power. She must become the guardian of that power and protect it from those who seek to use it for evil. Trained as a psychologist, Leslie is in over her head when dealing with the occult--until she meets Claire Moffatt, a charming medium, and Claire's mentor, Colin MacLaren, world-famous psychic investigator. Together they stand against evil and enable Leslie to claim her full inheritance.
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Customer Reviews (19)

Isn't it awful when you absolutely hate a book written by an author you actually love?
I discovered MZB with the Darkover novels. While in college, I went through our backsmoker library (a dorm area for smokers where people left second-hand books) and read every single Darkover book that I could get my hands on. I also admired The Mists of Avalon, even though I occasionally make nasty remarks about it. The nasty remarks are more about the book's fans and imitators than they actually are about the book itself.

Also, through a series of circumstances which I may explain sometime. I wrote Bradley one of my only fan letters ever as a very young woman. Not only did she answer, but she included her personal telephone number in case I had any other questions. I can't tell you how much that meant to me. As a result, I feel a kind of residual loyalty to her and everything that she wrote.

But, there's no getting around it. The Inheritor is bad. It is really bad. I wanted to read something from the Colin McLaren series and this is what I picked up but oh-- now I'm dreading the thought that I have another one of these books sitting in the to-be-read pile waiting for me.

To be fair, defenders of the book say that its detractors just aren't romance fans. And that is true. I am not a romance fan. Still, Simon is way past the dangerous-hero-with-a-troubled-past. He has tortured and killed for fun and profit. And somehow we're supposed to believe in a hero who love him anyhow. It is so terribly far past anything that I could stomach or admire that Leslie becomes entirely unsympathetic. It isn't awful to have an unsympathetic main character. However, the book is written so that you can pretty clearly tell that she was supposed to be sympathetic. It troubled me.

In general, I didn't like the characters very much.

The plot also felt stiff and awkward. This is unusual for Bradley, and makes me sad. It had its lovely moments. There were some little twists and turns around the way that the ghost story plays out that struck me as very nice. It kept me reading despite my overall problems with the novel. In the hands of a lesser writer, I would have put this down very quickly.

In short, not something that I would recommend unless you already like Bradley so much that your opinion cannot be too negatively influenced.

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT
I was really bored by this book; so bored, that I stopped reading it half way through.Being a former opera singer, married to a pianist/conductor, I found the music references interesting but it took so long to get to some action in the tale, that I gave up.Overall, the book didn't offer any new plot twists; in fact, ghost stories of this type are so common that I felt that I had already "seen the film."Loved "Mists of Avalon" but was bored by the sequels.Too bad she stopped writing scifi.

Disappointing
I have been a long time admirer of the Mists of Avalon, so when I came across this novel in a used bookstore, I was anxious to give it a try.What a HUGE disappointment!!The characters were so unbelievable and the dialog cringe-worthy.What teenager do you know sounds like Scarlet O'Hara? "Why, there's an herb garden in the backyard! Why, it's lovely!" **rolls eyes**.Like other reviewers I found the characters unlikeable as well.Too bad, I really wanted to like this one!

Mysterious..
Although at times, the story diluted in a overly descriptive prose,Zimmer Bradley excel in keeping the reader intersted in the story ,keeping the mystery alive throughout the pages of the book .The quality of the author's writing is certainly estabilished through her previous works ,she wont disappoint you with this one.Gripping,mysterious this novel is a real page turner.

the devil is in the details
I love this book and can't believe the bad reviews it has received here.This is a modern gothic/dark romance, and perhaps not for everyone. If you like Barbara Michaels modern gothics, or Mary Stewart's Thornyhold, you'll like this.MZB builds on her knowledge of San Francisco, and puts a wealth of detail into the book, that makes you see and hear and feel the setting with the characters. I could totally relate to the main character, on her own, buying a house with a questionable history, and struggling to deal with a supernatural world thrust upon her unwanted.This is a book to curl up and relax with, and feel a little chilled at reading.MZB also considered this book at least equal to anything she'd written. It is also part of a series that begins, I believe, with Dark Satanic, and has several novels after it, but this stands well on its own. ... Read more

Product Description
WOMEN OF POWER AND ENCHANTMENT . . .

For over two decades, the late Marion Zimmer Bradley, best-selling and beloved author, discovered and nurtured a grand generation of popular and acclaimed writers including Mercedes Lackey (who returns to grace our pages this year), Jennifer Roberson, and a host of others. Authors who have appeared within the pages of Sword and Sorceress represent the full spectrum of some of the brightest talent working today -- from C.J. Cherryh, Charles de Lint, and Emma Bull . . . to Deborah J. Ross, Diana L. Paxson, and Laurell K. Hamilton.

We are proud to continue the classic and vibrant feminist tradition with this twenty-third volume of new magical adventures edited by Elisabeth Waters, secretary and co-editor to Mrs. Bradley.

Here are nineteen original stories of powerful women, swashbuckling and magic, spells and duels, arcane sorcery and heroic sacrifice, written by familiar spell-casters of wonder and bright newcomers who are sure to become favorites.

Enter a wondrous universe . . .

Story contributors in this volume:
Dave Smeds, Michael Spence, Elisabeth Waters, Gerri Leen, Tom Inister, Patricia B. Cirone, Pauline J. Alama, Marian Allen, Melissa Mead, K.D. Wentworth, Catherine Mintz, Jonathan Moeller, Kristin Noone, Leah Cypess, Linda L. Donahue, Resa Nelson, Deborah J. Ross, Michael H. Payne, Catherine Soto, and Mercedes Lackey. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Sword and Sorceress never disappoints
Love the stories, even love the author's bios. The entire series is great. I guess I've had my head in the sand, because in the bios I learned Deborah Ross was chosen to continue the Darkover series, so I'll be ordering more books from Amazon today!

New Editor getting better
This is a good anthology, worthy of the MZB name.I liked it better than XXII (which I consider the weakest of the series).I was particularly pleased with a new story of one of my favorite alternate worlds and the adventures of the friends and family and long-suffering wife of Stephen, the perpetual student at a magical university.There were some funny stories too including another about Cluny the squirrel-mage and her hapless human familiar Crocker.I'm always game for a funny story, and this anthology delivers Marion's trademark preference for a funny short-short story at the end.

I don't rank the anthology as a 5-star because I hate the larger book size that the new publisher uses.I probably should not hate it because it allows for larger type-face and my eyes aren't as young as they used to be.However, the book proper is an awkward size for handling and reading, it doesn't fit on a normal paperback shelf, and it costs significantly more to purchase.

Great anthology
This is a great anthology/series.I definitely recommend it for women who are tired of seeing buff, hunky he-men having all the fun when it comes to having adventures, killing the monster in question, and defeating the villain of the plot.

Superb!! Wonder Filled Stories of Women Heroes
Well done tales of wielders of swords and magics. Marion Zimmer Bradley must be smiling down on all of us, writers and readers alike. Suspect MZB is laughing aloud as each of us discover another suspense solved with a unique twist. Her top quality anthologies continue in #23 to be well worth our time and complete attention. Thank You, Elisabeth Waters for a great job well done! I can barely wait for #24 in paperback and large print options too. Think I'll hunt up more of #1 through 22 for rereads while I am forced to impatiently wait for #24's release. ... Read more

Product Description
A further fantasy novel from the author of THE MISTS OF AVALON, CITY OF SORCERY, THE SPELL SWORD, STORMQUEEN and THE WORLD WRECKERS. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great Book
I got this book in perfect shape.It was the one I'd been looking for since I read it in high school.Thank you.

Psychological thriller!
Very reminiscent of Daphne DuMaurier's House On The Strand. But still quite good. I liked the psychology in this book and the conflict any good psychologist goes through while struggling with what is reality vs. fiction.

Wonderful blend of fantasy and reality
An imaginitive story, this tale questions reality as we know it.As Fenton uses an experimental drug for a psychology study, he finds himself leaving his body to enter another world.But is it real, or is this drug causing him to lose his mind?Detailed arguments about the nature of reality are expressed in this book.The author has certainly done her research in the field of parapsychology, and combines this modern study with her extensive knowledge of celtic mythology.The plot is captivating and the details are rich, but characters can sometimes be shallow and predictable.Overall, a worthy read for any fantasy lover.

A creative combining of 'worlds'
This was the first Marion Zimmer Bradley book that I read. I was fascinated with the way she blended the different 'worlds'. It is a very well written book and kept me captivated to the end. I am not a fantasygame player but even though this was part of the story, it didn't put meoff. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and went on to read The Mist of Avalonseries. ... Read more

Product Description
This long unavailable novel by Bradley, the bestselling author of The Mists of Avalon, and her brother, a well-known science fiction author in his own right, tells the story of the Hunters--fierce killers and shapechangers who promise fabulous wealth to any opponents who can survive being hunted by them for the time between two eclipses of the Red Moon. Reissue. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

The book on which the Predators movie is based
It looks like someone finally got around to making a movie based on this fantastic book.I remember reading it for the first time and how it effected me emotionally.It had that kind of effect.

The new movie Predators obviously and transparently rips off the book.I wonder if Marion Zimmer Bradleys estate is aware of it since it was one of her lesser known works, that and the sequel.While the movie does not include all the bipedal species, Simians, Reptilians, Felines featured in the book, there are enough other things to make it a slam dunk in court I would imagine.The abducted warriors, the hunting preserve planet, the samurai sword weilding fighter.Come to think of it, the second movie when Danny Glover is handed the flintlock by the senior surviving Alien, smacked of just such an event featured in this book.

If you haven't read this book, do so. It pulls you in and you really start to care about the characters.The sequel, The Survivors is good too.

A life changing book
Thi book is known to change- not much but a bit - a person's life. A very importan bit. My younger son JF read this book at a very young age I believe he had 9 or 10). He fell in love with the book and read it so many times the pages are lose. His favourite character is the big lizzard Aratak. It's still his internet nick, used and reused many times(he's 19 years old know). The fact that his favourite character is a cool philosopher and poet (and a terror with a bat in his hands) says much about my son's personality. I recomend his book for space travelers of all ages.

An excellent story
The previous post gives a lot of the plot and I don't want to spoil it so I'll steer clear of the plotline, and perhaps offer some of the conceptuals of the novel.

While this novel takes what is now a cliche concept - take a random group of diverse "people", throw them together in a dire situation and let them make the best of a bad situation, I'd like to think that this one is different enough that you could go look for it yourself.

Keeping in mind that this book was written 30 years ago, it is still not outdated. Space travel is still somewhere in the future, and some of the ideas Marion had back then are still likely to happen.

I thoroughly enjoyed her naming conventions for similar races (protosimians are humanlike species, protofelines are cat like races, protosaurians are based on reptillian species, etc) and the concept of the hunt is still a terrific idea.

The race known (and barely so) for hunting is the mystery that keeps you intrigued, but not necessarily the key point of entertainment itself. As noted, the hunt only endures the final third of the novel. The first two thirds of the novel are purely character interaction, and the depth of these characters in who they are, how they live and what they want of their lot in life is very clear.

Dane is an adventurer. Unfortunately everything worth doing on Earth has been done. But he does what's already been done because he loves the adventure. At one point he asks himself if perhaps he's merely an adrenaline junkie - but it is clear that he is! Still, he's a reasonable man, and has a strong sense of right and wrong.

Dallith, however, is an empath and for good reason, empaths from Spica IV rarely leave their planet. Marion has put a lot of thought into how an empath would react to various situations. The despair of her cellmates is the first reaction we see her emulate, through to the strong will of Dane, through to the anger of the Mekkhars (cat-men) - and this is merely on the ship! In training we see more of her character than in the cell, because she begins voicing her own opinion. And then of course, everything climaxes in the hunt. So does Dallith's emotion.

Rhianna is a strong willed woman that Marion loves to use as a stereotype, from what I have read. She is headstrong, yet supple. She is a warrior, fierce yet kind. Typical of an Amazon stereotype, she perfers the spear and close combat self defence.

Aratak is definitely one of my favourite characters - he is a ten foot tall protosaurian with glowing gills and philosophy to learn from. There are as many proverbs thrown in for amusement as combats, and the wise egg has something to say about every known situation - if you listen to Aratak long enough. Aratak is a peaceful creature by nature, but is devastating when desperation takes its course.

Even Cliff-Climber becomes a loved character once he is bested in close combat by Rhianna - merely a protosimian, and a female at that! But Cliff Climber has a strong sense of honour, not unlike the samurai that Dane ends up envying through the honour of using a sword.

The hunt itself is the culmination of the characters - the primitive still hidden within the civilised people. We see how our loved characters come out of their shell when it comes to the crunch. How the nerves and wit of five sacred prey manage to have anyone come out alive after 11 solid days of never knowing what is going on. Always being hunted, and never knowing who is the hunter, or who is actually a sacred prey like themself.

Marion throws in a lot of hidden philosophy on the standards of mankind which I could still relate to 30 years down the trail. She is truly a genious, and when she partners with her brother - a combat specialist, there is no stopping a good story, and no putting it down til you finish. And if you have read any of Paul's novels you'll know that this could not possibly end without a combat of epic proportions.

A species devoted to hunting the most dangerous game
Paul Edwin Zimmer, Bradley's brother, was initially an uncredited co-author. The lack of recognition wasn't Bradley's idea, and Zimmer was credited from the first on their sequel, THE SURVIVORS. The protagonist, Dane Marsh, is a lone wolf heroic type Zimmer wrote very well, along the lines of his character Roger Hogg in "The Hand of Tyr" (see GREYHAVEN). Marsh is a romantic born between romantic ages; he wants adventures, but in the late twentieth century, the world's fresh out. Every place has been explored, and somebody else has already been first to do anything worth doing. He saves his envy for whoever'll be first to hike around the Moon on foot, though, and gets on with his life - sailing around the world alone, even though it's been done.

At that point, a flying saucer kidnaps him right off his boat, and he learns that there may be a few more adventures left, after all. :)

The proto-feline Mekhar are notorious for their slave-raids, having refused Unity membership several times rather than repudiate the practice. Slaves being luxury goods, it pays to avoid damaging the merchandise, and even to install translator disks in their captives - although the Mekhar leave Dane's fellow prisoners to explain the situation. (Interestingly enough, proto-simians - humanlike beings - far from being lords of creation, are looked down upon, being perpetually "in season" and thus slaves of their sexual appetites. Superiority lies elsewhere: the proto-felines invented interstellar travel, and the proto-saurians generally look down on *everybody*. Aratak, the follower of the Divine Egg who befriends Dane, is an exception to this last.)

Dane's the only prisoner from Earth; the others figure somebody's being chewed out for grabbing a boat carrying less than a dozen people. Rianna's archeological team, for example, lost their gamble that the Mekhar wouldn't hit the otherwise deserted satellite they were working on.

Until Dane's arrival, nobody tried to escape more than once; not only are all the odds on the guards' side, but severe injuries may be a death sentence. Most of the prisoners have a fatalistic attitude that Dane violently disagrees with; he alone, for instance, interferes with the decision of the only captive from Spica IV, the empath Dallith, to refuse food and let herself die. (Oddly enough, while Aratak, the giant proto-saurian philosopher, remains silent, the vibrant Rianna protests Dane's interference, for reasons he comes to understand only much later.) Dane is the one who, spotting a security hole, masterminds an escape attempt - only to learn that it was just what the Mekhar were waiting for.

The final part of the Mekhar's standard operating procedure is to skim off the ringleaders in their escape-attempt test on each raid, and to sell them to the species known as the Hunters of the Red Moon for the role of Sacred Prey. The Hunters' only interest in life is to hunt the Most Dangerous Game: intelligent quarry, who can give them a challenge. Every batch of Sacred Prey is given some weeks to prepare on the Hunters' World before being taken to the Red Moon, and must survive there only until the next eclipse. They're even given a choice of weapons, short of firearms, but even that's disquieting; the Armory doubles as a huge trophy collection of the weapons of particularly excellent Prey. (In a really *cool* scene, Dane recognizes one weapon as the most perfect Mataguchi he's ever seen - something a samurai would *never* have left behind.)

The story revolves around Dane, as protagonist, and his fellow survivors Rianna, Dallith, and Aratak, with one startling addition: Cliff-Climber, a Mekhar guard who screwed up badly during the escape attempt, and took this option as an honorable alternative to suicide. While he knows more about the Hunters than any of the others, his proto-feline people take the proverb "curiosity killed the cat" very much to heart, and even though - he *says* - one of his own kinsmen survived a Hunt, he knows little about their destination. Dane and his companions have little more than the Hunters' word that successful quarry will be rewarded and allowed to leave. They don't even know what the Hunters look like; until the Hunt itself, the Sacred Prey only interact with robot caretakers, leading to a *lot* of theories among the Prey.

This is a mystery as well as an adventure story; only the last third covers the Hunt proper, the rest being split evenly between the slaveship and the Prey's prep time. Dane and the others must try to figure out the Hunters, knowing that the odds are against them. At the feast celebrating the end of the previous Hunt and the beginning of theirs, they learn that 47 Hunters faced 74 Prey. Nineteen Hunters perished.

*One* Sacred Prey survived.

Very entertaining sci-fi
I read this perhaps 17 years ago. I remember that my copy became quite ragged through rereading before I gave it to a friend who equally enjoyed it. I'd like to think it's still being circulated amongst friends.

Othershave summarized the plot. I'll just reiterate that this book is a great wayto spend a few hours if you're a sci-fi or fantasy fan. ... Read more

Product Description
Heartlight is the story of Bradley’s greatest champion of good, Colin MacLaren, as he carries the banner of Light through the second half of the twentieth century. Ghostbuster, exorcist, student and teacher of the mystic arts, Colin meets Claire Moffat, who becomes his dearest friend, when he rescues her from a cult bent on human sacrifice.

The leader of that cult, Toller Hasloch, becomes one of Colin’s greatest enemies. Working behind the scenes for the nextthirty years, Hasloch subtly manipulates politics and the economy to turn America away from the Light. Colin, busy saving lives and teaching the next generation of psychic warriors, realizes almost too late how Hasloch has warped America’s promise.

Now, Colin MacLaren is the only one who can face Hasloch and the hellhounds the younger man has unleashed. He must fight on, while the fate of America, and perhaps all mankind, hangs in the balance.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

A wonderful wrap-up to the "Light" series
I really enjoyed this book which covered the rest of the series from the one person who was involved on the periphery of the characters in the previous "Light" books. It was interesting to follow Colin McLaren through his life. However, I highly recommed that the other "Light" books, as well as the Claire Moffatt books (Dark Satanic, The Inheritor, and Witch Hill), be read before this book.

Highly enjoyable!
This story was a pleasantly long, absorbing, and highly entertaining look into the life's work of lightworker Colin McLaren who serves his cause via the occult tools available to him. MZB has a thorough understanding of ceremonial magic and her occult background is well represented in this book.

Colin battles against evil, searches for his mystical heir and struggles against his failing strength as he becomes an old man in service of the light. As a character study, it's wonderful - depicting the orbit and work of one man and the effects that he has on all those whom he meets. Read it as a fictional occult autobiography and it won't disappoint.

quite disappointed
I bought this book because I have read and much liked other books written by MZB. This one was such a drag to read - literally- in dragged on and on. The characters are one dimensional and seem stagnant in their development. There were times when I wanted to scream at Colin McLaren, not to make the same mistakes over and over and over again.
I was actually glad when I finished with this book.

Horrible!
I bought this book despite the seriously cheesy cover (my paperback edition had romance novel type cover art with a blond woman being bent over backwards by a studly man - although here of course the man had evil in mind) because I had read The Inheritor a long time ago and recalled enjoying it.But unfortunately, this book was nothing like The Inheritor.Many of the same events are rehashed from a different point of view, but this book really overdid the "telling, not showing" problem authors can sometimes have.Usually, MZB doesn't have that problem, so I'm not sure what happened here.I haven't read any of the other "Light" books, so don't know if they suffer from the same problem.Basically, there is absolutely no suspense built up at any point, and you never feel at all invested in anything that's happening, because everything is seen from a distance and matter of factly described.The characters are absolutely cardboard in this book (again, don't know if these same characters were better-written in others of her books), dialogue is flat, the random historical happenings thrown in to mark Colin passing through the 20th century seem forced in sometimes, the villains are 2-dimensional and never seem threatening...very disappointing book, I forced myself to finish it but was sad I had wasted money buying it.Won't buy any others in this series (e.g., Gravelight, etc.).Will go back to rereading all the Darkovan novels...and maybe The Inheritor.

Skip this one.
I'm an avid fan of MZB, but this book just didn't make the cut.It's attempts to link book events to real life and other books are just tedious.And it follows a relatively stable character across decades in which he just doesn't change.Pick up a different MZB book -- you'll be happier. ... Read more

Product Description
WOMEN OF MAGIC AND VALOR...

For over two decades, the late Marion Zimmer Bradley, best-selling and beloved author, discovered and nurtured a grand generation of popular and acclaimed authors including Mercedes Lackey, Jennifer Roberson, and a host of others.Authors who have appeared within the pages of Sword and Sorceress represent the full spectrum of some of the brightest talent working today -- from C.J. Cherryh, Charles de Lint, and Emma Bull... to Laurell K. Hamilton, Diana L. Paxson, and. Deborah J. Ross.

We are proud to continue the classic and vibrant feminist tradition with this new volume, edited by Elisabeth Waters, secretary and co-editor to Mrs. Bradley.

Here are sixteen original stories of powerful women, swashbuckling and magic, spells and duels, arcane sorcery and heroic sacrifice, written by familiar spell-weavers of adventure and bright newcomers who are sure to become favorites.

Enter a wondrous universe...

Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

MZB made it look so easy
Oh dear, dear, dear.I've been such a fan of S&S for so many years, I hate saying this, but this is dreadful!The stories are juvenile pablum, feels like high school quality.Good thing it's an oversized book with fewer pages than a proper paperback.

Sword and Sorceress XXII
A very nice collection of short stories where the protagonists are female.I rather enjoy the unique way the various authors have of presenting their characters and the challenges they face.

Great anthology
Great part of an anthology series.Wonderful, masterful writing on the part of the authors.

Not compelling
I wasn't impressed with this volume at all. After poking around the Web, I think this is partially because the particular formula of these stories isn't as appealing to me as it maybe once was. The S&S submission guidelines point to an old MZB article on what makes a short story: she summarizes it as "A LIKABLE CHARACTER overcomes ALMOST INSUPERABLE ODDS and BY HIS OR HER OWN EFFORTS achieves a WORTHWHILE GOAL". If that sounds completely appealing to you, you will probably like this anthology. If it sounds a bit constraining or possibly trite, you almost definitely won't.

Most of the short stories in this volume do follow this formula. The heroines are typically likable (and mostly somewhat interchangeable, in my opinion). The stories are typically extremely task-oriented, which often makes them feel like a chapter in someone's novel rather than the kind of short story that takes your breath away as it stands on its own. The endings are almost all essentially happy-- everything wraps up with a nice, pat finish (the kind where the heroine secretly smiles to herself and sets off for her next adventure). The stories do not especially challenge, disturb, or intrigue the reader, and some are hopelessly predictable if you have read enough of this kind of fiction.

I did think very highly of two of the stories-- Fairy Debt (by T. Borregaard) was creative and fun, and Bearing Shadows (by Dave Smeds) was excellent. However, if you are looking for short fiction that will do more than play out the same kind of story over and over again, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.

Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress XXII
I have collected these wonderful compilations of high adventure of the feminine kind since the very first volume!I am so glad that they are still on going despite Ms. Bradley's passing.Every story is as always a gem!Very worthwile addition to anyone's collection! ... Read more

Product Description
The Fall of Neskaya, Book One of the Clingfire Trilogy, marks the legendary author's final return to Darkover before her death. Set in the tumultuous era of The Hundred Kingdoms, a terrible time of strife and war, this unique fantasy world is divided into a mutlitude of small belligerent domains vying for power and land. One ambitious and corrupt tyrant will stop at nothing to control Darkover-even wield the terrifying weapons of the matrix.

"Darkover is the essence, the quintessence, my most personal and best-loved work." (Marion Zimmer Bradley) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (26)

Going back in history
For most of her career, Marion Zimmer Bradley focused on the often strained relationships between the people of the lost colony of Darkover, with their mysterious psychic powers called laran, and their cousins of Terra who unexpectedly rediscovered them after several thousand years.But toward the end of her life, having chronicled the Terran-Darkovan relationship from rediscovery through the departure (Traitor's Sun (Darkover)) of the Federation 100-odd years later, she turned to chronicling the Ages of Chaos and the era of the Hundred Kingdoms.As her health failed, she recruited Deborah J. Ross, who had begun by writing Darkover stories for her anthologies, to help her.This book is the first volume of the Clingfire Trilogy (intended to chronicle "the Hastur Rebellion and the fall of Neskaya, the enduring friendship between Varzil the Good and Carolin Hastur...the fire-bombing of Hali and the signing of the Compact") that resulted.

Darkover in Kingdoms times is very different from the world the Terrans will know, though still very traditional.The Free Amazons don't yet exist, though there is a Sisterhood of the Sword which will eventually prove one of their predecessors.Tower personnel use aircars, piloted by telepathy, to deliver substances ranging from fire-suppression chemicals to clingfire--akin to the Greek fire of ancient Earth, but worse, because it burns even stone--and sicknesses like lungrot spore (which can blind or kill) and bonewater dust (which is similar to cancer).Laran-charged "glows" light castle halls.Men serve as Keepers (indeed, women are thought incapable of the work).The Aldarans, even this early, are mistrusted: it's said they seek "human sacrifices" for their "evil rites" and used to brew weather-magic, and the "Aldaran assassin" is a byword.The Kingdoms themselves--each noble family heads one of its own, usually named after it--are continually torn by feud and war, and King Damian Deslucido of Ambervale and Linn dreams of "remaking the face of Darkover," making it "united and harmonious" and bringing a "golden era of peace"--by forcibly uniting the planet under his rulership.What he doesn't know is that his illegitimate brother and trusted advisor Rumail, a laranzu, has an agenda of his own--to unite the planet under its "true rulers," the bearers of laran.

Coryn Leynier is the youngest son of the king of Verdanta, one of the tiny mountain realms.When a forest fire threatens it, Rumail unexpectedly appears with offers of help from his Tower, Neskaya--and the suggestion that Coryn is gifted with laran and must be tested.From the first, Coryn mistrusts Rumail, to the point where, although he is very willing to go to a Tower and be trained, he's reluctant to make Neskaya his goal.Fortunately he is sent instead to Tramontana, where he meets Aran, who will be his sworn brother, and Liane Storn, who, though she comes from a family with whom his own has feuded for generations, becomes a close friend.What he doesn't realize is that in the process of "testing" him, Rumail has set a kind of psychic trap in his mind.

Then Damian, treacherously, through the help of Rumail's powers, captures the little mountain kingdom of Acosta and kills its king, Padrik.But Padrik's widow, Taniquel, isn't as easily subdued as he had hoped.Faced with a forced marriage to Damian's son Belisar, she flees into the wilderness, already aware that she's pregnant with Padrik's heir.On her way she meets Coryn, going to Neskaya to train as an under-Keeper now that Rumail has been exiled from it, and the two fall in love.Eventually they part, Tanaquil going on to the kingdom of Hastur, where her uncle Rafael II is King, and Coryn continuing to Neskaya.Not until he visits Hastur a couple of years later, hoping to secure a promise of neutrality for his Tower in the coming war with the Deslucidos, does Coryn realize just who he helped.Certain that he can never aspire to marriage with her, he still can't help reaffirming their bond--nor can she.

Damian and Belisar appeal to the Comyn Council, asking that Taniquel be returned to them to be duly wedded, but when she contrives to show that they are capable of lying under truthspell, the council rejects the petition.Now it's war--somewhat inaccurately called "the Hastur Rebellion, as if *we* were the ones who started all the trouble"--and both Tramontana and Neskaya are inevitably drawn into it.After Belisar's first attempt on Hastur is routed, Rumail contrives to take over Tramontana, hoping to use its telepaths to inflict madness and discord upon King Rafael's fighters and so turn the tide in his brother's favor.In desperation Taniquel sends herself into the astral plane and summons Coryn, who leads Neskaya in the effort to overcome the renegade--and succeeds, but when Rumail's long-dormant psychic command is triggered, he's trapped in the overworld at what may be the cost of his life.Only Taniquel's love has the prospect of saving him before his physical body wastes away.

I've often thought that the early history of Darkover presented at least as many opportunities for good stories as the culture-clash of Federation vs. natives, and this book proves how right I was.With treachery, political maneuvering, valiant battles of both physical armies and mental powers, and a love story that could fit just as easily into Terran history, it's complex but very satisfying and reads more quickly than you might expect for something of its length.Ross's style and voice are so similar to Bradley's that if her name didn't appear on the cover you might never guess that a second person had been instrumental in the book's creation.The pace builds steadily toward the climactic duel of the Hastur and Deslucido armies and the battle between the hijacked Tramontana Circle and the Neskaya defenders, and the characters are a well-drawn crew--Coryn, who doesn't realize just how important he is; Taniquel, grimly resolved to retake Acosta for her son, who learns "on the job" how to be a queen and what it entails; Rafael, who longs for peace but knows that sometimes you have to fight for it; Damian, who seems genuinely convinced that his plan will save the world, and Belisar, who supports him but turns out to be a weak reed for a king to lean on; sinister, ambitious Rumail; the various people of the Towers, the Leyniers, and even the servants and maids of honor, each seem to be individuals with their own personalities and motivations.This may be the best of the Darkover volumes to date.

MZB
I loved this book,and can't wait to get the others. I've had most of her books,but they need replacing. This one is just as good as the others are.

Great writing kept alive!
I was happy to see this and other older stories by MZB in this form since when I first found her books, sadly, most were out of print.Thank you doing this so that others can read and enjoy her superb works!

darkover at it's best
when damain deslucio decides that he wants to expand so that he can rule most of darkover, he stops at nothing to get what he wants. he uses bonewater, clingfire, forced marriages and torture to get what he wants. for his ultimate goal puts him in a face to face battle with the hasturs themselves.

this book has very real stories of men, women and children who suffer through this tyrant's quest for power and the characters are so real that one feels that one is actually a part of the novel. the only downfall i had is that i mistakenly read zandru's forge first so some of it was no surprise. but this book is adefinite must for all darkover fans.

True to Bradley's Vision
Many of the Darkover books are set after people from Earth rediscover their long-lost colonists. The clash of cultures makes for good books, but I have personally always been more interested in the Ages of Chaos and the Hundred Kingdoms, when it is said use of laran science for nefarious purposes was widespread. This book, to my great delight, takes place in this time!

This book tells the story of Queen Tanquiel Hastur-Acosta, who escapes the depradations of the conquerer Damien Deslucido and his evil laranzu brother, Rumail. She escapes her besieged castle and makes her way across land to try and reach her kinsmen in Thendara. Along the way, she meets under-keeper Coryn Leynier, whose home has also fallen to the evil Deslucido, who is traveling to his new post at Neskaya tower. They form a deep and lasting mental bond when Coryn saves her life during a raging blizzard. With his help she is able to reach the home of her powerful uncle, King Rafael Hastur II. There she gives birth to her son, the next king of Acosta, and fights the political machinations of Deslucido and tries to regain control of her son's birthright.Finally, when it is discovered that Deslucido can lie under truthspell, King Hastur acts, and the evil marauder is finally defeated. Coryn and the other tower workers in Neskaya and Tramontana are drawn into this terrible battle which rages on the physical world and in the Overworld as well.

I thought this was a very good, engrossing read. Bradley's writing always seemed to me to be sparse on descriptions, very down-and-dirty. So, this book was a pleasant change in some ways, it seemed more complete and satisfied my curiosity. However, the long drawn-out discussions of political machinations and the long battle with Deslucido were a bit too much for me. Some prudent editing would have been nice, IMHO. I kept thinking "Isn't it over YET? I want to get to the ending!"

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Customer Reviews (8)

Reread and Not as Good as I Remember
I hadn't read this in about 20 years but decided to try it again.I really do like many of Bradley's Darkover books, especially the Renunciate books.However, The Spell Sword, one of her earlier works, has little depth to its characters and is not as well written as her later books.As another reviewer said, The Forbidden Tower, which I really like, has these same characters.The Forbidden Tower was published 3 years later and Bradley had improved her character and plot development skills most satisfactorily by then. The Spell Sword left me feeling unsatisfied and frustrated with the weak characters presented in the book.What little informationthe Spell Sword has can be found in later, much more well-written books.
Its most interesting to read the Darkover books in chronological order (as listed at various websites), but you can skip this book and go directly to The Forbidden Tower and you would not have missed anything.

A fun read, but not substantial enough
As I go through the Darkover books in the order in which they were written, the quality of MZB's writing continues to improve, but the stories seem repetitive. A person from Earth comes to Darkover, is drawn unexpectedly into adventure, and subsequently decides that Darkover is his true home. The Spell Sword is no exception to this pattern.
I did enjoy this book, partly because (as I implied) it is better written than most of what came before it. Here, we meet Damon Ridenow, a bookish Darkovan who is caught off guard when he and his traveling companions are ambushed by mysterious, invisible attackers. Meanwhile, a Terran named Andrew has crash landed in the nearby mountains, and visions of a woman lead him to safety -- and to Damon Ridenow. Together, they do battle with the powerful, invisible foes who attacked Damon and who are besieging and terrorizing Darkovan towns, holding hostage the woman of Andrew's visions.
These foes are certainly the weak point of the book: we know they are "cat people" and that they've discovered a matrix crystal that gives them great and dangerous power, including that of invisibility. But a mysterious enemy should only be mysterious to a point, if you want them to be interesting. Their motives and their physical characteristics (they aren't always invisible) are left so ill-defined that I found myself imagining a bunch of Felix The Cats with evil grins attacking our protagonists. The cat people never become scary nor interesting.
The Spell Sword is another readable, but somehow lacking, Darkover book.

Classic Darkover
Andrew Carr is part of the Mapping and Exploration team which is charting the planet of Darkover for the newly-arrived Terran Empire. Like all Earthmen, Andrew is cynical about psi powers, so he shrugs off a meeting with an old fortuneteller in the Spaceport's trade city who shows him a beautiful red-headed girl in her crystal ball.

What Andrew doesn't know is that this dim, cold world is filled with people with vast psychic powers they call "laran" or "donas", and Andrew himself has been suppressing his potential in the noisy, crowded empire. After his plane crashes in the icy mountains, Andrew receives visions of the lovely Callista, who has been kidnapped by nonhumans. The Earthman must overcome his prejudices and inner mental blocks to aid her kinsman in her rescue, then ultimately find his place between the two worlds.

Classic Bradley. I take out my well-worn paperbacks and re-read them every couple of years.

jacket review
from the back cover of the September 1974 Daw paperback edition

Although Darkover was a world inhabited by humans as well as semi-humans, it was primarily forbidden ground to the Terran traders.Most of the planet's wild terrain was unexplored...and many of its peoples seclusive and secretive.
But for Andrew Garr there was an attraction he could not evade.Darkover drew him, Darkover haunted him-and when his mapping plane crashed in unknown heights, Darkover prepared to destroy him.
Until the planet's magic asserted itself-and his destiny began to unfold along lines predicted only by phantoms and wonder workers of the kind Terran science could never acknowledge.

a good Darkover novel
"The Spell Sword" is another Darkover novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley.This one is set sometime after the Terran Empire rediscovered Darkover.Now there are both the Darkovan natives, as well as men from Terra living on Darkover.This novel begins in a way that we have seen several times before: with a crash of a Terran vehicle on Darkover.This time it is from a team based at the Terran outpost at Thendara.Andrew Carr is a member of the Mapping and Explorations team that is slowly gathering information about Darkover.In a winter storm, the plane crashed and it was only through what Andrew thought was a hallucination that he was able to survive for very long in the storm.Andrew had visions of a woman named Callista guiding him away from the plane and to safety, but he had difficulty believing that these visions might be true.Eventually, Carr does come to accept that the vision is more than a hallucination, but someone communicating with him.

Damon Ridenow has been called to help find Callista, who has gone missing without a trace.Before Damon arrives at Callista's home he has to travel through someplace called "the darkened land" where the land is in shadows, uninhabitable and attacks can come from invisible assailants.Not a place you would want to spend much time.After passing through "the darkened land", Damon learns more about Callista's abduction and also meets Andrew Carr who was led there somehow by the vision of Callista.When Andrew and Damon discuss what has happened, they see the connection and that the only way to save Callista is by working together.Damon is surprised to discover that Andrew, a Terran, also has the potential to be a telepath, which Damon believed was a skill native to Darkover.

Throughout the Darkover series we hear that there are non-human races on the planet: the chieri and the cat-people.While we see the chieri once or twice, we have never seen the cat-people before and this was an area that I was interested in.For the most part, they are not developed as a race or as characters, except that we now know that some can be telepaths like humans (and chieri).We also know that they are mainly enemies of humans (though they have worked with the less reputable humans from the Dry Towns), though Damon does allow that their motives and culture are so far removed from human that it would be difficult to truly comprehend it.

This is a short novel, coming in less than 200 pages, but I found it to be fairly entertaining and I suspect that it sets the stage for the much longer "The Forbidden Tower" which features many of the same characters."The Spell Sword" serves as introduction to Andrew Carr, Damon Ridenow, and Callista.It is fairly good for a fantasy novel, though it does not feature the depth of some.This is a straight forward story with some action. ... Read more

Product Description
Asked to investigate a Closed World, Dane, Rianne, and Aratak begin their mission but are interrupted when the uneasy peace between coexisting sentient races is threatened by ghosts and dragons. Reissue. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

reconnecting to the mist
wonderful to have this copy of Mists of Avalonin better shape than mine was in

A totally AWESOME story that could have happened!
Even if you're not crazy about King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table, chances are that you'll love the story - told a new way, from a female perspective - in Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. The characters come to life, the story is utterly believable, in short, you won't want it to end! ... Read more

Product Description
Lythande, a centuries-old magician, is summoned to the wedding of an old friend. But from the moment she arrives, deadly court intrigue ensues, soundinga warning of danger deep in her soul.And with the future of the kingdom at stake, she finds she must rely on a very different kind of magic than her own, one born of a friendship and faith stronger than any sorcery.... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Enjoyable little fantasy world
I picked this up on a clearance table at B&N a few years ago, and I've pulled it off the shelf at least once every year since then to read it again.I haven't read any of the author's other works, and indeed I find Tolkien closer to my worldview than this brief tast of Ms Bradley's sub-creation.However, I greatly enjoy this little field trip into a well-detailed fantasy world.She explains just enough for someone who doesn't know all the background of her work to follow along, and makes it all seem so natural.(And the plot's pretty good, too!)If you find it at a yard sale or thrift shop, pick it up to enjoy on a rainy Saturday morning. 4.5/5

A bit of a disappointment
This should have been published with another story or two (there are some uncollected Lythande stories, maybe the administrators of her estate should look into a complete Lythande collection, including the Thieve's World stories).It's just a novelette - really a long short story.
As a story of Lythande, it is thin and lacks the complexity of the other stories.It was good to see Beeauty and Tashgan again.I'm glad to add it to my collection of MZB.

A nice little treat of Marion Zimmer Bradley!
Being a huge MZB fan and a lover of her "Mists of Avalon" series, I bought this lovely little book simply because it was Marion Zimmer Bradley.

If you are looking for a complex, substantial novel, this book may not be for you. It is after all, a short story, revisiting Lythande the sorcerer/magician, and not a huge novel in and of itself.

This novel is a really fun read, because it gives the reader a glimpse of Marion Zimmer Bradley's world, but does so with a bit of humor."Gratitude of Kings" is full of symbolism, and I feel that the book's message is very clear.

This is simply a delightful, "not too deep" novel, and for those unaccustomed to MZB's work, a quick look at her ability to make fantasy completely believable, and another of her fine offerings which focus around the power of women, whatever form that power may take!

Lythande in a children's book
...is my impression of this fairy tale like story. The female magician is conjuring her way in the usual charming wit and manners through one of her many old friend's (in no way surprising after a few centuries of lifetime)wedding ceremony in a medieval setting. With a cheerful smile on my face, Ifinished reading the little book with the pretty cover (hardcover,therefore its price). Just too short. I'd recomend it as a gift to casualreaders or as a children's book for second grade. Isn't there someoneyou've always wanted to turn onto MZB?

A Little Bit of Fluff
While the story about Lythande was fairly interesting, I found myself asking at the end, "So, what was the point?" The book reads more like a short story. While somewhat entertaining, it just didn't seem to have enough plot to it to warrant making a whole book from it. I can understand printing it as a selection in an anthology, but not in this format. I have thoroughly enjoyed Bradley's wonderful Darkover series but this just falls short of the quality I expect of her. I believe this book is simply a way to make money off Bradley's name. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Her stories came from her soul
I began reading Ms. Bradley's work probably around the time this book was published, but I never saw this in a store until 1998.I was very familiar with her writing style and had grown attached to all the Darkover, Avalon and Atlantis characters but I never knew of her short stories.Some of these are from her writing "beginnings" and I must say, they are the best I've ever read.Each is complete.That is not to say they all leave you satisfied.Some I don't believe are meant to do that, but instead seem to have an urgency in the telling that doesn't go away when you finish the last paragraph. I can still feel the family in "Jamie" and I can still feel my revulsion for the stress relieving mechanism is another of the stories.This is a wonderful collection with a depth that I don't think was always able to be realized in Ms. Bradley's popular novels. It's well worth the ordering wait. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not bad, but not as good as the later Darkover novels.
I am quite fond of Msrion Zimmer Bradley's world of Darkover, and have read almost all of the books set in it, even including the "Friends of Darkover" fan fiction anthologies edited by Ms. Bradley. It is, however, noticeable that the quality of the writing improved markedly as the series progressed (in real time; the stories were not written chronologically, so many of the earlier-written stories were set later in the history of Darkover). Ms. Bradley learned a great deal about the craft of writing as she matured, and as she wrote. This book is not one of her earliest books, but it isn't one of her latest, either, and so, not surprisingly, the quality of the writing is middling by her standards, which is fairly good by general standards.

One thing that bothered me about the story (which was, in general, a fairly gripping mystery story) was that the love interest, which was central to the plot, was a typical Harlequin-style love interest -- two people, who have absolutely NO reason for falling in love: nothing in common, have barely spoken a civil word to one another, and have very strong taboos AGAINST falling in love, suddenly fall madly in love. Why? Just because. After all, love is irrational, and needs no justification.

Frankly, that is hooey, no matter how popular the notion is, and I find it jarring when as intelligent a woman as Ms. Bradley was falls back on it. I'll chalk it up to immaturity; she generally treats the subject somewhat better in later books, although I have the definite impression that by the time she wrote this book, she OUGHT to have been old enough to know better.

This one's a page turner!
This is my second Darkover novel, and it's very different from the firstone I read ('The Shattered Chain'), but much more gripping--I had to forcemyself to put it down and go to sleep at 2am (I recommend waiting to startthis til the weekend!).

This is the mysterious story of an orphaned boy,raised in a Terran orphanage on Darkover, and shipped off to his Terrangrandparents when he's 13.Yet, he can't forget Darkover, and makes hisway back to what he feels is his home planet--though he doesn't really feelthat he fits in anywhere.

He wears a mysterious jewel, that he secretlyhope will unlock his hazy past, reveal his heritage--and maybe evenestablish him as the long lost heir to a kingdom.Turns out he isn't farfrom the truth, and as the adventure unfolds the mysteries becomeincreasingly complex.

This novel focuses on the Comyn, the noble castewith psi powers, and their fascinating world.Darkover's rich heritage andhidden powers are revealed in a gripping tale of intrigue, politics, andbetrayals.

I am now completely hooked on Darkover and its tales! ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics ebook contains the sci-fi thriller THE PLANET SAVERS by noted Science Fiction/Fantasy author Marion Zimmer Bradley.Bradley (1930-1999) was well known as the creator of the DARKOVER and MISTS OF AVALON series.Her works often have a feminist outlook.

In THE PLANET SAVERS, Bradley introduces the world of Darkover, where a person with two personalities seeks help from an alien race to save the planet.
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Product Description
In this warm and fanciful story of a Connecticut farmer, Marion Zimmer Bradley has caught some of the glory that is man's love for man—no matter who he is nor whence he's from. By heck, you'll like little Matt. ... Read more

Product Description
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress series has always featured the best in contemporary women's fantasy, and this outstanding new volume carries on the tradition! These original stories of brave, talented, and heroic women will take readers through enchanted realms of the imagination into danger both physical and mystical, where the only way to survive is through the power of sword and spell. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Sword and Scorceress XV
I bought this book for the story "Cecropia". Loved this story. Lots of other good stories too.

A very good collection, possibly the best of a fine series.
The Sword And Sorceress series is a series of collections of short stories, of traditional "sword and sorcery" style, but with women as main protagonists. Marion Zimmer Bradley always explains in herintroductions that she began the series because in traditional sword andsorcery, what female characters are to be found are invariably "badconduct prizes" for the (male) main characters.

It's a fine series,and this volume may just be the best; there was not a bad story in the lot,although I wasn't really taken with "Shimmering Scythe", by VeraNazarian, and had serious doubts about the ending of "A Matter OfNames", by Cynthia Ward. But I WAS very taken by "Oaths", byLynn Morgan Rosser, perhaps the best of a very good lot, and there werealso a number of stories that continued the exploits of characters found inprevious volumes, all of which were a pleasure, a renewal of oldfriendships: "The Sick Rose", by Dorothy Heydt, continues theadventures of Cynthia, the witch of Syracuse; "Skin Deep" byHeather Rose Jones, continues the stories of Laaki, Asholi, and Eysla theskin-changers; "Spring Snow", by Diana Paxson, the adventures ofBera, apprentice Norse wisewoman; and "The Dragon's Horde", byElisabeth Waters and Raul S. Reyes, the adventures of Princess Rowena andthe dragon. If you've enjoyed any of the other collections in this series,you are more than very likely to enjoy this one; if you're not familiarwith the series, this is as good an introduction as any.

A Very Great Book--A Classic Series
Reading this book, I found it difficult toput down. I really enjoy a good short story, and I rarely find a book in which I like ALL the short stories. An Excellent read!

Excellent stories-don't worry about genders.
This is a great compilation of stories. Period. It's nice to see good writing with main characters as women, but it is the overall quality of the writing that has drawn me back to series, not the theme of it.

Wow!Another great volume edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley!
Wow!I luved #15!I love Sword and Sorceress, and this was no dissapointment!All the stories were great!Read this book! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Amazing collection of impressive women
I am so impressed by the stories collected in this first book.I love short sotries and the variety here runs the gamut from historic fantasy, cultural fantasy, horror, whimsical, romantic, adventure fantasy, and epic.I loved each story and struggle to select just one as my favorite.

The best feature about this book is the characterization of the heroines.Afterall, this is why MZB compiled the collection.I love that she found the virtues we all admire in our heroes in these characters.They are courageous, humble, witty, resourceful, vulnerable, conflicted, and admirable each in their own right.

I would love to find this volume in hardcover, alas it has not been published that way.Its a shame too, I could keep this book proudly on display.

Cool book
This is a cool book for something out of the late 80's, early 90's.I read it over and over.

A classic anthology series begins
Marion Zimmer Bradley, known by her many fans as MZB, was not only the author of the highly successful and popular Darkover sf series (and several other, shorter ones), but a noted editor of anthologies and, briefly, her own magazine.The Sword & Sorceress collections were probably her best-known ventures in this field: there were a total of 21 of them, brought out every year from 1984 (this one) to 2004 (five years after her death).Her fiercely feminist stance is such that I often wonder why her best-known created world was notable for its sexism!

Of the 15 stories here collected, I found 10 personably enjoyable enough to mark for rereading, including Phyllis Ann Karr's "The Garnet and the Glory" (a vaguely Fritz Leiber-esque tale featuring Karr's female warrior Thorn and sorceress Frostflower), Glen Cook's "Severed Heads" (in which a desert girl, assaulted by a mysterious rider, bears his son and then rides out in pursuit of him after he returns to steal the child away from her), "The Rending Dark" by Emma Bull (the first professional sale by the later author of War for the Oaks: A Novel), "Gimmile's Songs" by Charles Saunders (a Dahomean Amazon discovers romance and adventure in a very fantastical way), "The Valley of the Troll" by Charles deLint (a classic s&s tale by an author who later became best known for his "Newford" urban fantasies), "Blood of Sorcery" by Jennifer Roberson (a Cheysuli story set in the Universe of Shapechangers (Chronicles of the Cheysuli, Bk. 1) and its sequels), "With Four Lean Hounds" by Pat Murphy (a clearly fairy-tale-derived story of a young thief who discovers her roots and sets herself against her mother), Diana L. Paxson's "Sword of Yraine" (an introductory story featuring the author's best-known character, warrior-princess Shanna), Michael Ward's humorous tall tale "Daton and the Dead Things" (in which a nameless female warrior finds herself re-enacting Odysseus's encounter with the Cyclops), and Robin W. Bailey's "Child of Orcus" (based upon the historical fact that the Emperor Nero put female gladiators into the arena).Like much short fiction, these often have the weakness that space won't permit much exposition, and you may find yourself wanting to know more about the characters or their world.But they're all well done, with plenty of action and enough "strong women" to please anyone.This first in the series definitely promised well for those that followed it.

Fem Lit!
This is a great book filled with short stories showing the weakness and strengths of women.These women are not your usual women - some are soldiers, some sorceress and others just plain ole women who are thrown into an extraordinary situation and prevail, or do they?They don't all end with the typical fairy tale ending.This book is the first in a series of 21 books.My favorite story is the Thorn and Frostflower involving travel to other worlds by Phyllis Karr.

Strong Stories about Strong Women Protagonists
Women read fantasy too. Beloved author/editor Marion Zimmer Bradley created this anthology in 1984 to address just that issue.At a time when women's fantasy was just beginning to make its mark, MZB created an anthology to define the emerging female protagonist.In her introduction, MZB makes it clear that she wanted to avoid the stereotypical Amazon-type heroine who ultimately gave up her freedom to win love.She didn't simply want recreate the old cliché turned upside down-where the men are subservient to women.She wanted stories that gave women new myths to identify with, powerful stories that could be worth consideration by the men and women who read them.This collection is not your average "feminist literature", these are stories that feature warriors, magic-users, healers and thieves-the women of fantasy, the kind of women to give a new generation of fantasy readers characters to see parts of themselves in, and ultimately make readers think.

MZB must have been onto a good thing.In the nearly twenty years since the first publication, there have been 19 Sword and Sorceress anthologies to date.Having read all of these anthologies, I can honestly say that this remains one of the best.The originality of the stories, the quality, the variety; all of these elements make this particular shine out from the group.Out of the fifteen stories, four are written by men, including well-recognized authors Glen Cook and Charles de Lint.MZB prefaces each story with a short blurb about the author and a few comments of her own. These paragraphs, along with her introduction, enable readers to catch the glimpse of MZB's personality and some insight into why she chose the particular stories she's included in this anthology.It becomes clear that each story was selected with care, polished and set in place to augment this anthology.There are no "filler" stories here.

Readers skimming the contents will quickly recognize quite a few of the author names; Glen Cook, Emma Bull, Charles de Lint, Jennifer Roberson and Diana Paxson to name a few.For Emma Bull and some of the other authors listed, this is their first sale.That is an additional bit of delight in these earliest Sword and Sorceress anthologies.So many writers made their first sale, or were just beginning their careers at the time.As to the stories themselves, they are as varied as the authors.For sword and sorcery duos, "The Garnet and the Glory" by Phyllis Ann Karr and "The Rending Dark" by Emma Bull are good examples.For darker, emotionally charged reads, try "Severed Heads" by Glen Cook, or "Sword of Yraine" by Diana L. Paxson.On the lighter side there is "Taking Heart" by Stephen L. Burns, "Daton and the Dead Things" by Michael Ward, and the finale of the anthology, a short-short story by Dorothy J. Heydt, "Things Come in Threes". My particular favorite story-although I admit it is hard to choose just one, all of them have had a powerful impact-is"With Four Lean Hounds" by Pat Murphy.This is a beautiful, fairy-tale-esque story that is as powerful in its message as in its unfolding adventure.

Any reader who loves good fantasy, particularly short stories will likely enjoy this.Women readers especially-but in no way exclusively will appreciate the chance to read about women as protagonists of the epic fantasy story.When this was first published, there were much fewer female fantasy writers and stories available.This has changed dramatically over the intervening two decades.Despite that, it does not diminish the quality of this first anthology-and the stories remain as strong today as they were when published. On a side note-these are all fantasy reads-MZB as a rule does not include science fiction stories in any of her anthologies, although the right story can make her break the rule just a bit.If you can find this anthology, buy it-read it and treasure it.

Happy Reading! ... Read more