Sages & Swords: Heroic Fantasy Anthology [Paperback]

This is the second anthology compiled by Daniel E. Blackston of Pitch-Black Books, following the enjoyable Lords of Swords. While some of the same authors are in this book, we meet none of their previous characters. It's an all-new cast swinging swords, facing demons, conversing with gods, and stealing fabulous gems. There is much to entertain here, provided by a wide range of writing skills. You'll find established classics and first-time works. I found five of the stories to be spectacular, containing characters that I'm eager to interact with again. There were only two offerings that I found lacking. Of added interest are two articles on fantasy writing, one regarding realism in fantasy writing and one to help aspiring fantasy authors become acquainted with their market. In addition, there is a great interview with R. A. Salvatore. I've seen some complaints on a few forums about these articles stealing space from more short stories that could have been included, but I found the articles to be good reads and beneficial to me as a novice writer. My advice to those not interested in writing fantasy - don't read the articles. Just enjoy the fantastical stories. I found Sages & Swords to be a great delight and would recommend it to my friends.

The 5 stories that moved me most were:

Ed Knight's "The Morgwa", a terrific tale of a warrior's sacrifice to do what is right, what he must, without knowing if it will even be enough. This is the code of honor and sense of duty no matter what common to all warriors. I can envision Etu's life, the spirit-warrior constantly on guard, always protecting his people - all without their knowledge; in fact, in their ignorance, with their scorn.

Rob Santa's "Game of the Krillihitchkin" is a very intelligently well-written story. I found myself rooting first for one character, then the other, then both, then finally for the ultimate winner of the game. I liked that I could picture myself there in the cave with your characters, a quiet observer.

"The Sultan's Well" by Sean Stiennon is an engaging, well-paced story, smoothly written. A straight-forward action tale with a practical and capable protagonist, it is a good read that I envision as part of a larger work.

Vera Nazarian and "Demonkiller" are wonderful! This is a very intersting tale that introduces Agnias, the best character in Sages & Swords! I thought the first half of the story to be great, with a good beginning, set-up, and character description. The second half did seem to taper off a bit, but never lost me for an instant. I definitely want to follow the story of Agnias' life.

"The Ugly Truth", by Michael Boatman, is a fun read! I liked this story a lot, although it took a little work to get into, as the presentation of information at the beginning was somewhat confusing. Once I understood things, however, the story built up quite well and ended strongly. And I got to meet Molo, the character who gives Agnias a run for her money as the best character in the anthology! What could be better than an unpretentious, unperfect, even unknowing, hero?

I read every word in the book and applaud each of the contributing authors for their works. Congratulations to the outstanding duos of publisher and editor David and Daniel, and artists Storn and Loren for their efforts.

Daniel E. Blackstone's Sages & Swords: Razor-edged Arcanum is packed full of the sort of fast-paced, action-filled, fun fantasy that you just don't hardly see anymore. After reading this book you will wonder why. Fourteen Sword and Sorcery thrillers from writers as well known as Tanith Lee and Harold Lamb to newer ones you've probably never heard of, but should have. Tucked behind these are a few articles of interest mostly to the novice writer but the meat of this volume is in the stories.
Starting with Joeseph A. McCullogh V's "The Gates of Katawael" and running right through to the reprint of Harold Lamb's 1933 novella "The Golden Horde" with nary a mistep in between this book is a treasure for lovers of fantasy and for readers who used to love fantasy but don't really seem to enjoy it anymore. Sage's will bring fantasy back into your world.
The best stories in the book, for me, were Robert J Santa's "Game of the Krillhitchkin"- a nicely done tale about a dragon and a wizard, Barbra Tarbox's "Detour At Abbinford" and Howard Andrew Jones's "The Thief of Hearts" but truly there's hardly a weak tale here. Some fantasy fans may be a bit put off at the Lamb novella, at fifty-five pages easily the longest peice in the book, and historical adventure with no real magic in evidence in it, but once you start that one you will forget all that as you discover one of the great masters of the adventure tale at the height of his prowess. There is plenty of sorcery in the other tales to make up for Lamb's lack and no one writes a better adventure.
Sages is more than a long evening's read, the stories here will have you coming back again and again. A worthy follow-up to Pitch-Blacks earlier Lords of Swords anthology, this one will have you seeking out that earlier, excellent work. I can not reccommend it highly enough.

Sages and Swords (edited by Daniel E. Blackston) was the second pleasant reading surprise for me in a week. I was about to go to the field and needed something to read in my off time. Since I didn't have anything new in my usual series, and wasn't in the mood to reread anything, I thought about taking a crack at the Pitch Black anthologies. Flashing Swords was pretty good the few times I'd made time to check it (that's not a reflection on my interest or the quality of that e-zine, it's because I'm just not one of those reader that enjoys to read on a computer screen)...I figured it was worth the risk. If it seems like I was predisposed to be less than impressed, well, I was. Neither this nor Lords of Swords were published by "big name" houses, I only recognized a couple of the names in the Table of Contents, they were trade paperback sized...I'm sure I'm not the only one so reticent. However, I'm happy to say that my hesitations were completely unfounded and that I enjoyed the hell out of both of them. All of the stories in this one were good, but I particularly enjoyed those of Stiennon, Felts, Tarbox, Nazarian and Jones. Not to make this sound like a CD you buy for just one song, you can enjoy this anthology in its entirety. Don't take my word for it though: order one of them. You'll probably wind up getting the other.

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