Swordplay

by Denise Little (Editor), Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Mike Moscoe

Seventeen rapier-sharp stories of swordplay, magic, and adventure...

From a samurai's sword to an assassin's blade, from Custer's cavalry sword to D'Artagnan's deadly weapon, from the sword of Damocles to the legendary Excalibur, these all-new spellbinding tales get straight to the point. Whether it's a sword bespelled to crave blood, cold steel that magicks its wielder into a video game, or a dwarf-crafted blade meant to slay a dragon, these weapons each come sheathed in their own fascinating story that cuts right to the heart of fantasy adventure.


The Japanese Sword - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

A Sharp Twist to Destiny - Mike Moscoe

Last Man Standing - Allan Rousselle

A Wolf in Holy Places - Nina Kiriki Hoffman

The Sword of Merit - Phaedra M. Weldon

Canticle of Abraham and Isaac - Peter Orullian

Back to the Garden - David H. Hendrickson

The Devil’s Blade - Gail Selinger

Never His Sword - Terry Hayman

Amir Arsalan and the Sword of Solomon - Dan C. Duval

The Spear of Destiny - Laura Resnick

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One - Loren L. Coleman

Black Blade Blues - John Alvin Pitts

A Disappearance in Basra - Janna Silverstein

The Warrior Women of Apartment 3C - Annie Reed

Cold Winter’s Knight - J. Steven York

In the Fold - Jean Rabe

Genres: Anthologies, Fantasy

311 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 2, 2009

About the author

Denise Little is an editor for Tekno Books.

Reviews

[Wealhtheow]

This is a terrible collection. The stories chosen are each so incredibly awful--so casually offensive, clunkily written, and devoid of imagination--that I cannot believe a single one of them was published, let alone all of them. There is one good story in this entire collection--Nina Kiriki Hoffman's piece. I've always enjoyed her work, but generally find it a little too bouyantly surreal. But this story, an emotionally powerful take on Wagner's Ring, is possibly the best she's ever written. For her story alone, this collection is worth checking out of the library. But don't waste a cent on it.

[Jeremy]

I was given this collection of short stories a couple of months ago, and after sitting on my shelf for a while, finally decided to give it a read. The quality of stories ranged from unimpressive but readable to fairly enjoyable. Not one that I'm going to be passing around to friends as a must-read by any stretch, but it made a reasonably entertaining way to pass a few hours on an airplane.

[Craig]

This was a collection of short stories about swords. A few of them were pretty good, most were just ordinary. A couple weren't even about swords, so bad editing there.

[H]

The story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch wasn't bad.
The rest were rubbish.

Go buy a book by Rusch instead.

[Liviu]

Just very uninteresting; expected something different, swords used so to speak, while the book is about swords as objects

[Palmer Pellham]

Average collection. I expected actual swordplay not just stories about swords.