Sword and Sorceress XVII

This is the last Sword & Sorceress anthology personally signed by editor Marion Zimmer Bradley (it was published in May, 2000, some eight months after she died), and it is definitely one of the best. Its 21 original stories include contributions from authors familiar and otherwise to S & S readers, including Lisa Campos's "The Conjurer's Light" (a female conjurer is ordered by her king to find the legendary Warblade, which he hopes will ensure that his incompetent warrior son can triumph in battle), T. Borregaard's "My Sister's Song" (the story, based upon historical fact, of a threatened tribe's attempts to fend off the invading Romans), Bunnie Bessell's "The Summons" (the female bodyguard of a young prince faces a crisis of conscience), Deborah Wheeler's "Nor Iron Bars a Cage," Laura J. Underwood's "Shadow Soul," Dave Smeds's "Memories Traced in Snow," and Diana L. Paxson's "Lady of Flame" (another adventure of her Irish/Scandinavian seer Bera). With pieces ranging from tales of battle to stories of magic and enchantment, this volume is a fitting swan song for a respected editor.

The "Sword And Sorceress" series is a series of collections of short stories set in the "Sword And Sorcery" genre, except that in this series, all the protagonists are female. The is because, as Marion Zimmer Bradley has always explained in her introductions, historically in the "Sword And Sorcery" genre, the only female characters were "Bad conduct prizes" for the heros.The series as a whole is very good, although some volumes were stronger than others. I would rate this one as the best of the series, and with MZB's death, it may be the last. Not a certainty; it is possible, I suppose, that the publishers may choose to continue the series with a new editor, possibly MZB's assistant of the last few years. But I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.There are only three stories in this collection that are continuations of the adventures of characters met in previous anthologies: "An Exchange Of Favors", by Dorothy Heydt (the adventures of Cynthia, The Witch of Syracuse); "Shadow Soul", by Laura J. Underwood (Ginny, celtic wisewoman); and "Lady Of Flame", by Diana Paxson (Bera, Norse Voelva). But there are many fine one-shot stories here, and no bad ones. If this is the end of the line for the series, it is going out in fine style. Hopefully, there will be more to come.

Once again, Marion Zimmer Bradley has collected an amazing selection of short stories of the engrossing world of warriors and sorceresses. As the title implies, all of these stories revolve around women.Many talented writers were first published in previous volumes of S & S, and I look with great anticipation to future works by these talented veterans and newcomers. I give this series my highest recommendation for lovers of fantasy! Thank you, MZB for looking through all of those piles of slush to find these gems!

One of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress books, I think the second one, was the first fantasy book I ever read. Since then I've collected most of them; I love the intelligent stories and the emphasis on the originality and, as MZB puts it, the "sense of wonder" that is sometimes hard to come by in this genre. This newest one is no different.