Book Review: The Sword and Sorcery Anthology - Tachyon Publications

 Dragons roar, quaking trolls, flashing swords and then heads roll....

Welcome to the world of sword and sorcery fiction, a sub-genre in fantasy fiction. The origin of Sword and Sorcery can be traced back to the writings of Lord Dunsnay, in the early 1900s. However, it was only until 1930s, when the stories of Robert E. Howard's famous barbarian warrior, Conan the Cimmerian, took the world of fantasy fiction by storm. With Conan, the genre blossomed and solidified into the genre of sword and sorcery as we know today.  Sword and Sorcery fiction is often inspired by Nordic sagas and mythologies, and is a union of horror fiction and heroic fantasy, sword swashbuckling adventures.

 The differences between Sword and Sorcery fiction and high fantasy fiction (such as Tolkien's Middle Earth stories), is that Sword and Sorcery yarns are often darker, with elements of realism. In sword and sorcery stories, the protagonists are often anti-heroes/barbarians, instead of being all-round nice guys, such as heroes from The Lord of the Rings. The poster child of Sword and Sorcery today, is George R.R Martin and his series, "A song of Ice and Fire", made popular by the HBO TV series, A Game of Thrones.

Personally, Sword and Sorcery is my favorite genre. Only 15-20% of my reading consists of non-fictions, because I don't like to read about facts. I love reading fictions, I enjoy suspending my disbelief/skepticism, and let the author tell me a good story, and use my imagination to reconstruct a fantastic world in my mind, with bigger than life heroes and adventures in wonderful ways! I read a lot of Sword and Sorcery stories, because I think anti-heroes are more interesting than the all round good guys such as Aragorn. I also prefer the style of storytelling in sword and sorcery, because often the morality of the stories are neither black nor white, but with shades of grey, it is a world much like our own (with the exceptions of fire breathing dragons, roaring trolls and evil necromancers). My journey of fandom into the world of sword and sorcery, started years ago; when I chanced upon a complete collection of Robert E. Howard's Conan chronicles. I became a fan instantly, this passion would eventually drove me to to read ancient literature/saga/epic poems, such as Beowulf, the Nordic sagas, Arthurian legends and the ancient Sumerian epics. In many ways, I think reading Conan the Cimmerian is what got me into reading at the first place. Over the years, I have horded a collection of ancient epics, sagas, fantasy novels, and sword and sorcery writings by various authors (including some out of print and rare books).

I was delighted when I found out, that Tachyon Publications published an anthology of Sword and Sorcery. The cover art of this book certainly captured the essence of Sword and Sorcery fiction, full of blood and thunder! This book contains 19 stories, written by different authors in the genre, each with different styles, settings and background. The chosen authors in this anthology represent 75 years of the history in this genre, and the list consists of an all-star cast: Robert E. Howard, George R.R Martin, David Drake, C. L Moore, Karl Edward Wagner, Poul Anderson, Fritz Leiber, Gene Wolfe, Michael Moorcock, Glen Cook etc..  At 480 pages, this hefty anthology is quite a collection. I did not like all stories collected in this book, but I loved at least half of them. Instead of reviewing all 19 stories, I will only briefly mention the stories I liked:

Tower of the Elephant - Robert E. Howard:
The anthology started appropriately with a classical Conan yarn from Robert E. Howard. Titled "The Tower of the Elephant". In this tale, young Conan broke into the Elephant Tower to steal a jewel from the hands of an evil sorcerer. The story has a dramatic twist at the end. The Tower of the Elephant has long been one of my favorite Conan stories.

Black God's Kiss - C. L. Moore:
The next interesting story, is C.L. Moore's "Black God's Kiss". The main protagonist in this story, is a French fighting woman in medieval France know as Jirel of Joiry. Moore wrote the stories of Jirel back in the 1930s. It was unusual for its time, because the protagonist is a strong woman. Many critics has often claimed that C.L Moore's Jirel stories are ahead of its time. While this story is interesting, but I do not find it as intriguing as Robert E. Howard's writings. Still, it was a fun read.

The Unholy Grail - Fritz Leiber:
Fritz Leiber, is famous for his stories of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. A pair of very humane heroes traversing a land full of dangers and adventures. A story featuring Gray Mouser's origin was collected in this book, titled "The Unholy Grail". There is not much actions in this story, the plot was interesting enough, but I was hoping for a tale that would showcase both Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, instead of a story entailing Gray Mouser's origin.

The Tale of Hauk - Poul Anderson:
Poul Anderson is one of my favorite authors. I enjoy his writings immensely. Collected in this anthology is a short story by Poul Anderson, titled "The Tale of Hauk". This is a story crafted after the fashion of Beowulf and Nordic sagas. The story telling, and the language used in this tale, give the story a feel similar to an epic saga, and is one of the better stories in this book. If you haven't read Poul Anderson's books, but enjoy reading Nordic sagas, or fantasy stories fashioned in similar styles as Tolkien's books. Then I recommend three of Poul Anderson's novels: Hrolf Kraki's Saga, The Broken Sword, and Three hearts and Three lions.

The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams - Michael Moorcock:
Elric of Melnibone is one of the most interesting characters/anti-heroes in fantasy fiction. He is the most well known character invented by author Michael Moorcock. Elric is a sickly albino prince from an empire already faded. Elric has a sword, StormBringer, a cursed rune blade that steals the souls of the lives it has taken. In his sickly status, Elric needed this sword to give him the life force that he naturally lacks. However, the sword also caused Elric much grief and sadness as it steals the souls of the ones he loved, a truly tragic character. In this anthology, one of the Elric stories is collected, titled "The Caravan of  Forgotten Dreams". This is a fine story, one of the better ones in this collection. Featuring Elric and a rare occasion when he is motivated by a noble purpose rather than his usual, self-serving manner.

Undertow - Karl Edward Wagner:
Karl Edward Wager, is one of the most overlooked fantasy/horror author of the 20th century. This man is talented, and his most well known literary character Kane, happens to share the same origin as the Biblical Cain, mankind's first murderer. The Kane stories became really popular in the 1970-80s, when three of Wagner's Kane novels were published, with cover arts done by Frank Frazetta. Kane is definitely one of the most memorable characters in fantasy literature. The stories of Kane are interesting, because more than often, Kane is actually a villain rather than a hero (he is not even an anti-hero). I suspect that Wagner's Kane stories is probably not everyone's cup of tea, because in the stories, the protagonist is often the villain, and the stories are, very, very dark. However, in this book is a short story about Kane, titled Undertow. In my opinion, this is probably the best story in this anthology. The story started off as a traditional sword and sorcery yarn, then it branched off and contains such a twist at the end that is completely unexpected. If you are interested in Wagner's Kane stories, you can get the two volume set, the first book is called "gods in darkness", the second volume is called "The midnight sun - the complete stories of Kane".

The Barrow Troll - David Drake:
Another good story in this book, is called The Barrow Troll. Written by David Drake. I have never read any of Drake's writings. But this short story is very well crafted. The Barrow Troll is a short story fashioned after, and inspired by Nordic mythologies. It is somewhat creepy, and has lots of actions. I quite liked this short story.

Solider of an Empire Unacquainted - Glen Cook:
Although I have heard of Glen Cook, but I have never read any writings by him. In this book, is a short story (the longest in this book) called, Solider of an Empire Unacquainted. A very strange title for a story perhaps, but I think this is the third best story in this anthology. I look forward to reading more writings by Glen Cook.

Path of the Dragon - George R.R. Martin:
Another story I enjoyed tremendously in this anthology, is George R. R Martin's "Path of the Dragon". This is a short story as a part of the series "A Song of Ice and Fire". This is actually the first time I am reading Martin's writings, and I have to say I am impressed. Perhaps one day, I will sit down and read A song of Ice and Fire series.

My major complain about this book, is that for an anthology. This book lacks the appropriate introduction and background for each authors, and the stories showcased. The only editorial voice consists of a 3 page introduction by David Drake, and this essay does not mention anything about the background, development and the history of Sword and Sorcery fiction. I also think some of the important authors in the field have been left out. For example, regrettably, Clark Ashton Smith and Lord Dunsnay's writings are not included in this anthology, yet these two authors are some of the best authors in this genre alongside Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber and Karl Edward Wagner. Out of the 19 stories collected in this anthology, the 9 stories above, in my opinion, are the better ones and definitely worth a read. The other 10 stories varied in quality, some of them are average, some of them are not very good. Overall, I think the 9 stories I mentioned, make this anthology a good collection. In addition, this anthology should be a good introduction to anyone who might be interested in taking a sneak peek into the world of sword and sorcery.

Happy reading, open the pages, brace yourself and be transported to a whole new world!