Conceptually, I'm interested in Swords of Sorrow, but I don't know much about any of the characters. Is this a title that I can read with little to no knowledge of the characters or are there other books I should pick up before hand?

I try to make all my stories so that people can pick them up without having a degree in continuity, and to be honest, I was not overly familiar with several of these characters myself.

HOWEVER. Even with NO knowledge, it should be pretty easy to follow. The key characters are easy, Red Sonja is THE great swords and sorcery character, from the same world as Conan. Vampirella is a vampire hunter from the planet Drakulon, Dejah Thoris is the princess of Mars, from the John Carter of Mars series.

Most of the rest are easy to understand quickly…some are pulp crimefighters, some are monsters. It’s very easy to jump aboard!