The Sword And Sorcery Anthology: A Review
Tuesday, May 29, 2012 at 8:34AM The two or three of you out there who are regular followers of this blog know that I’m a fan of Swords And Sorcery Fantasy (in addition to many other types of Fantasy, of course). I’ve written about what I think S&S is a couple of times in my Defining Fantasy article and a blog post about analyzing the subgenre using the radial categories concept.
So several months ago when I learned that a new anthology of Swords And Sorcery stories edited by David Hartwell (and Jacob Weisman) was due out later this year, I was really excited. This collection, imaginatively titled The Sword & Sorcery Anthology, is now out. While I don’t normally use this blog to write reviews, I think this is a worthy subject for discussion.
The main reason I was so intrigued by the thought of a Hartwell S&S anthology is that Hartwell was one of the editors (along with Kathryn Cramer) of the single best subgenre anthology I’ve ever read: The Ascent Of Wonder: The Evolution Of Hard SF. This is the anthology covering the subgenre of Hard Science Fiction. It has a number of features that really set it apart.
First, it’s long and comprehensive. My copy is a hardcover edition with 990 9.25” x 6” pages. It includes at least one story from just about every major name in Science Fiction — Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, LeGuin, Blish, Niven, Dick — and plenty of others by authors you may never have heard of. It even delves back to authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Poe to show the true roots of the subgenre. The stories range from classics of the subgenre (like Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations”) to plenty of gems you may never have read before but that definitely deserve a place in the collection.
Second, and I think more importantly, The Ascent Of Wonder goes to some pains to explain its purpose. It opens with introductory essays by Gregory Benford and both editors explaining what they think Hard Science Fiction is as a subgenre, what its characteristics are, and what they’re attempting to do with the anthology. Then, each story includes a brief opening essay explaining who the author is, what the story’s about, and why it deserves a place in the anthology. Not one single time while reading the book did I ever question why a particular story was included, nor ever say to myself, “Wait a minute — that’s not a Hard SF story.”
The end result of all this is that The Ascent Of Wonder provides superb coverage of the subgenre of Hard Science Fiction. It knows what it’s looking for, it knows why each story is chosen, and therefore it’s able to teach the reader something in addition to just entertaining him. It’s a book any Science Fiction fan owes it to himself to have on his bookshelf.
When I heard about The Sword & Sorcery Anthology, I was thrilled because I thought at last one of my favorite subgenres of Fantasy, S&S, was going to get the same sort of treatment. There’d be a discussion of what S&S is and what characteristics it displays; each story would be llovingly introduced and its place in the subgenre explained; and so on. I was hoping the book would become a touchstone for future study of the subject going forward.
Unfortunately what I got was a deeply disappointing product that’s nothing of the sort. Far from being the ne plus ultra of Swords & Sorcery collections, this is an anthology that even die-hard fans of the subgenre don’t necessarily need to own.
The flaws in the book generally fall into two categories: lack of genre analysis; and poor story selection.
Lack Of Analysis And Explanation
Unlike The Ascent Of Wonder, The Sword & Sorcery Anthology contains no subgenre analysis whatsoever. None. There’s an introductory “essay” by David Drake, but it’s mostly personal reminscences. He briefly discusses a few of the stories with some dribbles of historical information, but most aren’t mentioned at all. Neither editor has anything to say about the subgenre, and nowhere does the book discuss or try to explain what Swords And Sorcery is as a subgenre. Thus we have no real context for what qualifies a story to be in this book — and given the contents, I’m not sure the editors really do either.
Nor are there any introductory paragraphs for the individual stories. They’re just lumped in there like in most anthologies with no information about the the author, when the story was written, why this story is considered S&S, or the like. Compared to The Ascent Of Wonder, the whole thing feels slapdash and intellectually barren — almost as if a couple of guys were sitting around in a bar thinking, “Hey, we could do an S&S anthology,” then quickly listing the stories they thought should be in the book on a cocktail napkin.
Furthermore, The Sword & Sorcery Anthology is only half the length of The Ascent Of Wonder. I suppose one could argue that S&S isn’t as large, well-developed, or diverse a subject as Hard Science Fiction, and I probably wouldn’t argue back. But I still think there are plenty of great S&S authors/stories out there that deserved a place in this book... particularly given the rather loose definition of “Swords And Sorcery” the editors seem to use. (See “Missing Authors,” below, for more on this.)
The Stories
The other major problem with the book is the stories themselves. Many of them are, in my opinion, at best poor choices for representing the Swords And Sorcery subgenre. In fact I question whether many of them even qualify as S&S at all.
The first story, naturally, is one of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories. Howard pretty much founded the subgenre with his wonderful Conan tales, so it’s only right and proper that the anthology lead off with one. The one the editors chose is “The Tower Of The Elephant,” the very first Conan story if they’re read chronologically as Conan ages (but not the first one published). There’s nothing wrong with this choice, really — it’s a great story — but somehow I wonder if a story of a more “typical” period in Conan’s career wouldn’t have been more appropriate. At the very least I’d have liked to see an introductory essay where the editors explain why they chose this story and not, say, “Thieves In The House” or “Queen Of The Black Coast.”
Next up is “Black God’s Kiss,” by C. L. Moore. The inclusion of a Moore story was just as inevitable as a Howard story; sometimes you can hardly bring up the topic of S&S without someone mentioning that she was the first woman known to write in the subgenre. Leaving aside the potential political correctness angle, my problem with that is this: even if we consider Moore’s stories about swordswoman Jirel of Joiry to be S&S (and I definitely think there’s some argument that they’re not, or at least that they’re at best secondary examples of the subgenre), they’re not good stories. They’re slow-moving and dull, almost completely lacking in many of the features that, in my opinion, make a story S&S. In this particular story Jirel, seeking a weapon of vengeance against a man who’s conquered her lands, uses a portal to Hell (conveniently located in the dungeon of her castle) to go there and find one. After traversing a bizarre and elaborately-described unearthly landscape, she gets her weapon and returns... only to find out, in the end, that she really wanted something else. I don’t consider it a particularly entertaining story, and the fact that it takes place almost entirely in some weird mystical dimension makes it at the very least perilously close to being High Fantasy and not S&S.
(I pause now briefly so all the Jirel fans out there can get their tar and feathers ready for me. ;) )
The third story is “The Unholy Grail,” one of Fritz Leiber’s stories of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. After Conan, these two heroes are probably the characters most closely associated with Swords And Sorcery, so an anthology covering the subgenre absolutely has to include one of these stories in my opinion. Unfortunately this tale — the Gray Mouser’s “origin story,” sort of — is an awful choice. There’s no Fafhrd in it and it doesn’t showcase the city of Lankhmar (for which Leiber’s tales are well-known) or the world of Newhon well at all. There are so many great Fafhrd/Mouser stories to choose from — “The Cloud Of Hate,” “The Two Best Thieves In Lankhmar,” “Jewels In The Forest,” or “The Seven Black Priests” to name four off the top of my head — that for the life of my I can’t understand why the editors chose “The Unholy Grail.” Once again an introductory essay explaining Leiber’s place in S&S and why they selected this story to represent his contribution to the subgenre would’ve been mighty useful.
The fourth story is “The Tale Of Hauk,” by Poul Anderson. I don’t recall ever reading this story before. It’s one of Anderson’s stories written in the style of Norse sagas, and since I love me some Norse myth and legend I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t consider it a “core” S&S story, but it fits my definition of the subgenre well enough that I think it’s appropriate for the anthology.
After Howard and Leiber, the next author most fans would list as a member of the Swords And Sorcery pantheon would probably be Michael Moorcock. This is mostly on the strength of his marvelous stories about Elric of Melniboné. The more I read and think about these stories, the less convinced I am that they’re actually Swords And Sorcery — there’s so much magic, dimensional travel, and divine interaction with mortals that I think they’re better classified as High Fantasy. Nevertheless most people think of them as S&S, so it’s right and proper for one of them to be in this anthology. The one the editors chose is “The Caravan Of Forgotten Dreams,” which appears in some other collections (including The Bane Of The Black Sword) under the title “The Flame Bringers.” It’s a perfectly good choice to represent the Elric canon as far as I’m concerned.
The sixth story is “The Adventuress,” by Joanna Russ, a tale of a noblewoman and a thief running away from their home city that I’d never read before. I didn’t dislike it — and in fact rather enjoyed some of the Kipling-esque touches in the language — but I question why it was included in a Swords And Sorcery anthology. There’s no Sorcery in it at all (aside from a “sea monster” that may have been a natural creature), and the Swords are just one character teaching the other a bit of swordplay and then the two of them using their skills, briefly, against some pirates. The fact that it was included at all makes me wonder how the editors define “Swords And Sorcery”... but unfortunately they don’t bother to tell me or justify putting this story in the book.
The next story is “Gimmile’s Songs” by Charles R. Saunders. I’d never read this one before, but I was familiar with Saunder’s “Imaro” novels, which I consider to be superb Swords And Sorcery fare, and was glad to see his work included in the anthology. The story depicts an encounter between the warrior-woman Doussoye and the “song-teller” Gimmile. I definitely enjoyed it; it makes me want to go back and re-read Imaro sometime. I wish Saunders’s collection of stories about Dossouye was more readily available., but $20 for a paperback via Lulu is a bit rich for my blood.
Following “Gimmile’s Song” is Karl Edward Wagner’s “Undertow,” one of his stories of the mystic swordsman character Kane. Wagner is considered one of the later masters of Swords And Sorcery and definitely deserves a place in this anthology. “Undertow” is a superb story and an excellent choice for an S&S anthology. It reminds me how much I enjoy Wagner’s work; I need to re-read more of his Kane stories sometime soon.
The ninth entry in the anthology is “Stages Of The God,” by Ramsey Campbell. I haven’t read it before; it’s a bizarre story about a deposed king with some sort of wizardly powers fleeing the mercenaries hired to kill him. I wouldn’t consider it Swords And Sorcery at all; to my way of thinking it belongs to the subgenre of “weird stories people claim to like because they think “weirdness” equals “meaningful depth,” and thus that liking ’em makes them seem intelligent.” On the other hand, it could belong to the subgenre of “stories too deep and meaningful for Steve to understand” — hard to tell, really, though my opinion inclines to the former. ;)
Introductory essayist David Drake’s other contribution to the anthology is “The Barrow Troll,” a story of a berserker kidnapping a Christian priest to help him slay a troll and claim its treasure. I remember reading this story decades ago, I think in a magazine but possibly in an anthology I checked out of the library or something. I’m glad to find it again, for it’s an excellent story with a very memorable antagonist. There really isn’t any Sorcery in it to speak of, but it’s moody, eerie, and grim enough that I have no problem seeing it in an S&S anthology.
The longest story in the anthology is Glen Cook’s “Soldier Of An Empire Unacquainted With Defeat.” It’s a complex tale of a quasi-Japanese warrior leaving his empire behind and coming into a quasi-European frontier land, where he makes friends with a family and gets involved in the local situation. My previous efforts at reading Cook, primarily his “Black Company” books, were not enjoyable, but I liked this story. It’s not the sort of thing I’d re-read again and again, but it’s definitely worth reading once.
The anthology’s twelfth offering is “Epistle From Lebanoi,” one of Michael Shea’s stories about Nifft the Lean. (I don’t believe it’s included in that hero’s eponymous book, but I can’t say for sure because it’s been at least 20 years since I read it and I no longer have a copy to consult.) In this tale Nifft goes to a lumber-town to pick some special herbs in a nearby swamp, only to get caught up in a sorcerous conflict pitting undead soldiers against undead demons. It’s enjoyable enough — I particularly liked the scene where the demons are raised from the swamp — but not the sort of story I’m likely to read again. Nor am I clear what, if anything, it says about the S&S subgenre to merit inclusion in the collection. In fact there’s enough magic being hurled around, weird though it may be, that I don’t really think “Epistle From Lebanoi” can fairly be classified as S&S.
The next story is “Become A Warrior,” by Jane Yolen. It’s a story of a princess growing up in the wilderness and then finding a way to take revenge on her father’s slayer. It’s well-written, evocative, and enjoyable; I’m glad to have read it. But I wouldn’t really consider it a Swords And Sorcery story — it’s Low Fantasy, as I define such things, given its total lack of magic. I can think of many anthologies it belongs in, but I don’t believe this is one of them.
This is followed by another story by a female author, Rachel Pollack’s “The Red Guild,” which tells of a young assassin hired by a merchant to kill a dragon. I’m a sucker for a good assassin story, and this one more or less fits the bill. It has some nice mystic touches along with the usual assassin stuff (maybe too many, really) and some twists that kept it interesting.
Gene Wolfe, an author whose “Book of the New Sun” novels I both enjoy and admire, is the next contributor with “Six From Atlantis.” In this story a survivor of drowned Atlantis finds adventure fighting an ape-king in a lushly-described setting. It’s a great story that definitely shows its inspiration and roots in the Swords And Sorcery stories of the Pulp Era but has its own modern touches. Of all the stories in this anthology new to me, I think this one is my favorite and the one that’s likely to last longest in my memory.
The sixteenth story, Caitlin Kiernan’s “The Sea Troll’s Daughter,” is a sort of a re-telling of Beowulf, but with some serious twists. A female warrior from the south comes to a northern village and slays the sea troll terrorizing it. While there’s some concern that the troll’s daughter may pose a threat now, it turns out the real danger is the troll’s decomposing body. A clever story in its own way, and a worthwhile read.
“The Coral Heart,” by Jeffrey Ford, is the seventeenth story. It tells of a warrior with a powerful enchanted blade and a tulpa servant who encounters love and foes stranger still. It’s a moody sort of tale, and enjoyable.
The penultimate member of the collection is “Path Of The Dragon,” by George R. R. Martin. It’s an excerpt from one of his Song Of Ice And Fire books, though I can’t say which one because I’ve only read two of them and that ten years ago. (Once I saw how ridiculously long they were, and how slowly they tend to come out, I decided I’d wait until the series is done before reading it through.) Given Martin’s success with these books it’s not surprising that an anthologist would want to include a piece from him, but the Song isn’t an appropriate choice at all in my opinion. Unless something radically changes in the books I haven’t read, the series barely has any Sorcery at all. It’s a definitive Low Fantasy story and should certainly have a place of prominence in any collection devoted to that subgenre, but it shouldn’t be in a Swords And Sorcery anthology.
The last story in the book, a short one, is Michael Swanwick’s “The Year Of The Three Monarchs.” It’s a wonderful tale, but it’s absolutely not a Swords And Sorcery story. S&S stories don’t feature armies of dragons and hellhounds and golem horses, floating cities, griffin steeds, magic cloaks, and wish-granting rings. This is High Fantasy, pure and simple, regardless of the presence of a character who’s a barbarian, so it should be saved for an anthology devoted to that subgenre.
The Missing Authors
For an anthology devoted to Swords And Sorcery, this book also has some serious omissions, ranging from the damning to the merely puzzling. The most important of these is Clark Ashton Smith, many of whose stories fit firmly into the genre alongside Howard’s and Leiber’s in my opinion. Others who spring to mind include Gardner F. Fox, Lin Carter, Richard Tierney, and David Smith, but I’m sure any devotee of the subgenre could think of others.
Conclusion
In the end, I have to say that The Sword And Sorcery Anthology does a poor job of presenting its subject matter. Its chief sin is that it fails to discuss what the subgenre of S&S is and how it differs from other forms of Fantasy (such as Low, High, and Epic, to name but three). That in turn would of course lead to explaining the criteria by which stories were selected or excluded from the anthology. Given the contents of the anthology, it seems to me that the editors have a definition of Swords And Sorcery that’s far different from mine — and so broad as to be effectively meaningless. As a result an anthology that could have been important to ongoing discussion and analysis of the Swords And Sorcery subgenre is, I fear, fated to pass into obscurity without having contributed anything truly meaningful.
Reader Comments (3)
I have my hardbound copy of The Ascent of Wonder on my bookshelf. I think I'll have to put it on my list to read again when I finish my current set of books. Thanks for the reminder about this great collection.
And thanks also for the detailed review of the new S&S book. It sounds like I can definitely take a pass on this one.
I read THE ASCENT OF WONDER all the way through last year before writing STAR HERO, and found lots of good quotes in it. I was first alerted to its existence by Eric Raymond's excellent essay "The Political History of SF," and am glad I took the trouble to track it down. ;)
I have often suspected that most folks believe "fantasy" and "swords and sorcery" to be synonymous. In fact, my entire sense of the differences between the sub-genres is due, in large part, to your commentary on the subject.
Honestly, I'm not a fan of anthologies that just reprint stories. I suppose they can be worthwhile if garnished with enough explanation of their place in history. Still, I tend to believe that, given enough interest in the genre, well, those stories have likely passed your desk before, or would have eventually made it into your library. I much prefer collections of short stories by newer authors; men and women who might have something compelling to offer.
That being said, the bookshelves seem to be crammed with reprinted pieces, and I'm hard pressed to point to newer authors. The days of young writers getting their start in short fiction, getting published in magazines, really polishing their craft for public consumption, you know, it all seems to be gone. Which may just mean that I'm ignorant of all the fresh blood -- if so, point me in the right direction.