Today is a good day to visit your local bookstore!
Last night I picked up the new short story anthology, Swords & Dark Magic, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders.
First, let me say "Holy Crap!" (I'll get back to that in a moment)
Second, I have to admit I've been avoiding fantasy anthologies over the last few years (though there have been a couple of good sci-fi ones), mainly because most of them seem to focus on one of two themes: Girl Falls in Love with Dragon, and Girl Falls in Love with Vampire. So its refreshing to a collection for a typically, these days at least, neglected genre: Sword & Sorcery.
And now, for the "Holy Crap!" part, allow me to blow your mind with the authors of Swords & Dark Magic:
Glen F'n Cook! With an all new tale of the Black Company,
Steven F'n Erikson!
Tanith F'n Lee!
Michael Moorcock, with an all new tale of Elric,
Robert Silverberg with some new Majipoor,
Gene F'n Wolfe!
Bill Willingham (yeah, that Bill Willingham!)
Along with Greg Keyes, CJ Cherryh, Joe Abercrombie, James Enge, Caitlin Kiernan, Tim Lebbon, Garth Nix, KJ Parker, and Michael Shea (penning a new tale of Dying Earth's Cugel).
The book's forward gives a nice concise history of the Sword & Sorcery genre (did you know the term was coined by Fritz Leiber in 1961?), and the book is appropriately dedicated to Leiber, Howard, and Moorcock.
In other BtBG Reader news, I have finally acquired a copy of Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions, so I'm looking forward to that.
Any anthology that contains a short by Joe Abercrombie (The Fool Jobs) must be worth checking out.
ReplyDeleteIt's been on my Amazon wish list. Your recommendation makes be want to bump the priority a bit.
ReplyDeleteGlen F'n Cook? I am hitting the book F'n store when it opens in 2 and a half F'n hours. Thank you for the heads up!
ReplyDeleteI've been looking for some contemporary S&S fantasy fiction. I'll have to check this one out.
ReplyDelete"Holy Crap!" indeed.
ReplyDeleteDrat, they didn't have the book in.
ReplyDeleteHowever, they did have a collector's edition of the Seven Samurai for $30.
Plus 100 Yokai Monsters (a crazy Japanese monster movie) for $5.
The cover is a little bit disappointing.
ReplyDeleteLooks very cool. I'll check it.
ReplyDelete"([D]id you know the term was coined by Fritz Leiber in 1961?)
I knew that my favorite fantasy author, "Leiber" coined it, but I didn't know 1961. It's been a while' --Jimm