Sword and Sorceress IV

Sword and Sorceress #4

by Marion Zimmer Bradley (Editor), Mercedes Lackey (Contributor), Robin Wayne Bailey (Contributor)

The exploits of warrior women and the spellbinding enchantments of the great mistresses of the magical arts are chronicled in a collection of fantasy tales by Diana Paxson, Richard Corwin, Jennifer Roberson and others

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Science Fiction Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Fiction, High Fantasy

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley was an American author of fantasy novels such as The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series, often with a feminist outlook.

Bradley's first published novel-length work was Falcons of Narabedla, first published in the May 1957 issue of Other Worlds. When she was a child, Bradley stated that she enjoyed reading adventure fantasy authors such as Henry Kuttner, Edmond Hamilton, and Leigh Brackett, especially when they wrote about "the glint of strange suns on worlds that never were and never would be." Her first novel and much of her subsequent work show their influence strongly.

Early in her career, writing as Morgan Ives, Miriam Gardner, John Dexter, and Lee Chapman, Marion Zimmer Bradley produced several works outside the speculative fiction genre, including some gay and lesbian pulp fiction novels. For example, I Am a Lesbian was published in 1962. Though relatively tame by today's standards, they were considered pornographic when published, and for a long time she refused to disclose the titles she wrote under these pseudonyms.

Her 1958 story The Planet Savers introduced the planet of Darkover, which became the setting of a popular series by Bradley and other authors. The Darkover milieu may be considered as either fantasy with science fiction overtones or as science fiction with fantasy overtones, as Darkover is a lost earth colony where psi powers developed to an unusual degree. Bradley wrote many Darkover novels by herself, but in her later years collaborated with other authors for publication; her literary collaborators have continued the series since her death.

Bradley took an active role in science-fiction and fantasy fandom, promoting interaction with professional authors and publishers and making several important contributions to the subculture.

For many years, Bradley actively encouraged Darkover fan fiction and reprinted some of it in commercial Darkover anthologies, continuing to encourage submissions from unpublished authors, but this ended after a dispute with a fan over an unpublished Darkover novel of Bradley's that had similarities to some of the fan's stories. As a result, the novel remained unpublished, and Bradley demanded the cessation of all Darkover fan fiction.

Bradley was also the editor of the long-running Sword and Sorceress anthology series, which encouraged submissions of fantasy stories featuring original and non-traditional heroines from young and upcoming authors. Although she particularly encouraged young female authors, she was not averse to including male authors in her anthologies. Mercedes Lackey was just one of many authors who first appeared in the anthologies. She also maintained a large family of writers at her home in Berkeley. Ms Bradley was editing the final Sword and Sorceress manuscript up until the week of her death in September of 1999.

Probably her most famous single novel is The Mists of Avalon. A retelling of the Camelot legend from the point of view of Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar, it grew into a series of books; like the Darkover series, the later novels are written with or by other authors and have continued to appear after Bradley's death.

Her reputation has been posthumously marred by multiple accusations of child sexual abuse by her daughter Moira Greyland, and for allegedly assisting her second husband, convicted child abuser Walter Breen, in sexually abusing multiple unrelated children.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Ingrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Viele Geschichten die alle auf ihre Art gefallen haben, Qualität von MZB

[Eliška · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this one. I am reminded of a line from The Pirates of Penzance - "How lovely! How surpassingly lovely is the plainest of them!" Every single story was at least good; most were excellent, and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

I'll make notes of my super favourites some other time; I'll just note that this has a Cynthia story (Dorothy Heydt), a Shanna story (Diana Paxson), a Tarma & Kethry story (Mercedes Lackey), and another damn good story by Dave Smeds (in all the S&S I've read, I haven't found a dud by Smeds yet).

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book years ago probably in the late 1980's. I enjoyed it very much otherwise I would not still have it in my possession. I donate to the library books that I don't like very much instead of keeping them in my collection. Alas I recently learned that a large part of my collection sustained water damage and had to be thrown out.

[Rebekkah P · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by how well this held up, compared to the other fantasy from the 80s and 90s I’ve revisited. There are definitely some characters and situations that I recall feeling groundbreaking, like huge advances in representation, that I now see as awkward baby steps or eyeroll-inducing new stereotypes. But most of the stories were decently written, some quite well, and there were a lot of interesting ideas. “Fate and the Dreamer” was probably my favourite, but I liked “The Tree-Wife of Arketh” and “Blood Dancer” as well. I was a bit sad that neither the Tarma & Kethry story (“A Tale of Heroes) nor the Tiger & Del one (“Rite of Passage”) held up to my memories, both of them taking a pretty good story and then undermining it in weird ways. But judging them against the writing of the time they were still pretty good.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read the first anthology in this series, and this 4th one is for sure an improvement in terms of 1) average story quality and 2) reduced, uh... "80s female fantasy character" yerkiness. Also an interesting time capsule of SFF culture, though for MZB reasons I did not dwell on MZB's editor notes.

Most enjoyed:
"The Woodland of Zarad-Thra" - Robin M. Bailey
"The Weeping Oak" - Charles de Lint
"Fate and the Dreamer" - Millea Kenin (!! fave)
"The Tree-Wife of Arketh" - Syn Ferguson (led to a fascinating fandom wiki trip about her influential Spock/Kirk zine epic)
"Bloodstones" - Deborah M. Vogel

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

An improvement over S+S III: Bradley starts with stronger material and feels more action-oriented, with less romantic fantasy stylings. I still can't say that I have connected with the series as a whole but this volume comes the closest.

And again I find that the most intriguing stories turn out to be series pieces that are otherwise uncollected.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I was not very impressed with this collection. Perhaps the stories have not aged as well as the editor thought they might (pub. date 1987). Unsurprisingly, my favorite was a Tarma and Kethry story by Mercedes Lackey.

[Cheri Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was ok.

[danica · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Tale of Heroes by Mercedes Lackey — ★★☆☆☆
Blood Dancer by Diana L. Paxson — ★★☆☆☆
Kayli's Fire by Paula Helm Murray — ★★☆☆☆
The Ring of Lifari by Josepha Sherman — ★★☆☆☆
The Tree-Wife of Arketh by Syn Ferguson — ★★★☆☆
Storm God by Deborah Wheeler — ★☆☆☆☆
Die Like a Man by L.D. Woeltjen — ★★☆☆☆
Bloodstones by Deborah M. Vogel — ★★★★☆

[Susan]

first read 1/5 - 2/19 1994
♥ A Tale of Heroes • [Vows and Honor] • novelette by Mercedes Lackey
The Woodland of Zarad-Thra • novelette by Robin Wayne Bailey [as by Robin W. Bailey ]
♥"The Weeping Oak" by Charles de Lint re-read 6/24/2015
Gullrider • shortstory by Dave Smeds
Blood Dancer • [Shanna of Sharteyn] • shortstory by Diana L. Paxson
Kayli's Fire • shortstory by Paula Helm Murray
The Ring of Lifari • shortstory by Josepha Sherman
Rite of Passage • [Tiger and Del] • novelette by Jennifer Roberson
The Eyes of the Gods • shortstory by Richard Corwin
Fate and the Dreamer • shortstory by Millea Kenin
The Noonday Witch • [Cynthia, Daughter of Euelpides] • novelette by Dorothy J. Heydt
Redeemer's Riddle • novelette by Stephen L. Burns
The Tree-Wife of Arketh • shortstory by Syn Ferguson
Spell of Binding • shortstory by Richard Cornell
Storm God • shortstory by Deborah J. Ross [as by Deborah Wheeler ]
Die Like a Man • shortstory by L. D. Woeltjen
Death and the Ugly Woman • shortstory by Bruce D. Arthurs
Bloodstones • shortstory by Deborah M. Vogel

[M— · Rating 2 out of 5]

/review to come
Notable stories include:

"Kayli's Fire" by Paul Helm Murray | The tiny dragons make a cool tale; the cliche romance squashes it.

"Rite of Passage" by Jennifer Roberson | Featuring the Del and Sandtiger characters from her ongoing series.

Death and the Ugly Woman by Bruce D. Arthurs

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Getting better. Sequel stories to stories I liked in previous books help make this book a better read.