Renunciates of Darkover

Darkover (Publication Order) #26

by Marion Zimmer Bradley (Editor / Contributor), Margaret L. Carter (Contributor), Joan Marie Verba (Contributor)

From Guild House to lord's court, the Free Amazons ply their trade, serving as mercenaries wherever there is need, banding together in comradeship, setting themselves apart from the everyday rules of Darkovan society, earning their freedom with blade and deed, and freely giving shelter and assistance to any woman in search of a safe haven.

From a fledgling matrix circle formed by Renunciates to a Free Amazon hired to protect Comyn Lord Varzil from an assassin's deadly threat to Marion's own recounting of a seemingly insurmountable conflict between Camilla and Rafaella--well-remembered characters from her magnificent novel, The Shattered Chain--here are twenty-two brand new tales about those dauntless Darkovan heroines beloved by the countless readers who are always eager to return for new adventures on the world of the Bloody Sun.

Introduction (Renunciates of Darkover) • essay by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Strife • short story by Chel Avery
Amazon Fragment (Excerpt) • short fiction by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Broken Vows • short story by Annette Rodriguez
If Only Banshees Could See • novelette by Janet R. Rhodes
A Midsummer Night's Gift • short story by Deborah J. Ross [as by Deborah Wheeler ]
The Honor of the Guild • short story by Joan Marie Verba
A Butterfly Season • short story by Diana L. Paxson
Misjudged Situations • short story by Kelly B. Jaggers
Awakening • novelette by Mary Fenoglio
Carlina's Calling • short story by Patricia Duffy Novak
A Beginning • short fiction by Judith Kobylecky
Set a Thief • short story by Mercedes Lackey
Shut-in • short story by Jean Lamb
Danila's Song • short story by Vera Nazarian
A Proper Escort • short story by Elisabeth Waters
The Lesson in the Foothills • short story by Lynne Armstrong-Jones
Summer Fair • short story by Emily Alward
Varzil's Avengers • short story by Diann S. Partridge
To Touch a Comyn • novelette by Andrew Rey
About Time • short story by Patricia B. Cirone
Family Visit • short story by Margaret L. Carter
Dalereuth Guild House • short story by Priscilla W. Armstrong

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy, Anthologies, Fiction

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 5, 1991

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

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alas, my ten-year-old self was wrong: this book is not so so amazing. However, I give my ten-year-old self lots of credit for being quite so gung-ho about lesbians and non-nail-polish-related female empowerment.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an anthology of short stories about the Renunciates, sometimes called the Free Amazons, who have broken away from the subservient role forced upon women in Darkovan society, to join with others in a Guild that enjoys certain rights and obligations. (For anyone who doesn’t know, Bradley wrote numerous novels and short stories about Darkover, a planet where a Terran spaceship was stranded, then developed a feudal culture and was rediscovered by the Terran Empire thousands of years later.)

The first story, ‘Strife’, by Chel Avery concerns a small group of women who are given permission to set up a Guild House in a remote village as they all have laran, the Darkovan name for psychic abilities, and need a quiet place to bond as a group. One of them has some experience and is training the rest, but their work is disturbed when they accept the request of their landlord’s mother to take on the training of her grandson, who is developing laran, but whose father refuses to believe in it and is beating him for having nightmares etc. A satisfactory read, but I didn’t find it gripping.

The second story is an extract which Bradley excised from Thendara House and subsequently published in a Darkovan fan magazine. It concerns a major falling out between two of the Renunciate characters who feature in the main trilogy. It is a bit disconcerting because it must be a flashback, since Kindra is still alive and the two characters are referred to as ‘girls’ whereas Camilla for one is middle aged in The Shattered Chain, first in the trilogy. I didn’t feel this extract added anything to our understanding of the characters and for me it served to make Rafaella more annoying than she is in the novels.

‘Broken Vows’ by Annette Rodriguez concerns a young woman who fell in love with a man and ran away to marry him, but changes her mind and returns to throw herself on the mercy of the Guild House, I found it puzzling as she is Kindra’s daughter, yet in a story written by Bradley in The Other Side of the Mirror, another Darkover anthology, Kindra tells Rohana that she had to leave her children behind when she escaped to become a Renuciate and they are now grown up, and her daughters married. She doesn’t mention another daughter born during her time at the Guild, which this girl supposedly was. I also didn’t find the decision the Renunciates come to about the prodigal’s fate particularly convincing.

‘If Only Banshees Could See’ is set ten years after the events in the third volume in the Renunciate trilogy and concerns Magda/Margali and Camilla. It contains a major spoiler for anyone who hasn’t read that volume, which I won’t disclose here, but I didn’t find it convincing as a portrayal of either character. It also fits in with the Forbidden Tower sequence of stories as a couple of characters from that have cameo roles.

‘A Midsummer Night’s Gift’ by Deborah Wheeler is the story of a Renunciate midwife who is attracted to men and finds herself strongly fancying the husband of a woman in labour. Rather conveniently, this happens on Midsummer’s Night when a certain amount of licence is allowed in Darkovan society. The midwife has to decide whether there is truly a conflict between her vows and what the man’s wife asks of her. To say more would give away the whole twist of the story. In some respects I found this a little saccharine, though not the grislier aspects of the difficult birth.

Story number six is ‘The Honor of the Guild’ by Joan Marie Verba, a more interesting tale of what happens when a Renunciate is mentally ill and starts murdering men who ‘deserve it’ for their ill-treatment of non Renunciate women.

‘A Butterfly Season’ by Diana L Paxson is the tale of an encounter when a Renunciate is hired as guide for a non-human race. Quite an interesting story.

I found ‘Misjudged Situations’ by Kelly B Jaggers a little unsatisfying; in real life, injustices are left unpunished, but in fiction it doesn’t really work, and the revenge that the character does manage to inflict doesn’t undo the unfairness of her compatriots’ verdict.

‘Awakening’ by Mary Fenoglio is an interesting tale of a young wife who finds the relationship with her husband deeply unsatisfying. A Renunciate’s arrival seems to point to an obvious way out, but the story is not so predictable in its resolution, and lessons must be learned for the character to grow.

‘Carlina’s Calling’ deals with the original setting up of the Renunciates from the point of view of one of the priestesses of Avarra who helped to form the new order. Similarly, the very short ‘A Beginning’ points to the origin of the Sisterhood of the Sword, the other all-women organisation which later merged with the priestesses of Avarra.

‘Set a Thief’ by Mercedes Lackey is set after the Compact, the oath that all Darkovans took to renounce the distance weapons which were destroying them. The Guild of Renunicates has just been formed and one member, a trained assassin, receives an assignment to protect Varzil the Good, author of the Compact, from an unknown threat. One of the more original stories in the book with an engaging character.

‘Shut In’ by Jean Lamb deals with the abuse some parents were prepared to inflict in order to force the awakening of psychic abilities (laran) against the background of the wars that the Compact ended.

In ‘Danilla’s Song’ by Vera Nazarian, a man has to be escorted to a Tower for psychic healing so his sister engages Renunciates. There’s a mystery about the identity of one of them which the sister uncovers except it is not revealed to the reader. It is probably thought too ‘obvious’ for the readership to not know it, but if you haven’t read all the books or at least not read most of them for years, that’s not the case, so I found this story irritating.

‘A Proper Escort’ by Elizabeth Walters is a fairly light hearted story of how a Renunciate must escort 10-year-old Dyan Ardais home in time to bid farewell to his dying grandmother, Lady Rohana. Apparently Dyan has quite a fan following, but I only know him from cameos in the short stories read either here or in ‘The Other Side of the Mirror’. All I can say is that for someone who apparently grows into a ‘love to hate’ villain, he is a very well behaved and courteous child, nothing like his unpleasant father.

‘Lesson in the Foothills’ by Lynne Armstrong-Jones is a light hearted story of how a Renunciate who usually keeps the account books must try to find a girl lost in the mountains because all the rough tough Amazon guides are out on call.

In ‘Summer Fair’ by Emily Alward, a trader is having a hard time during a recession and having little luck at a fair where she takes a booth until an unusual woman turns up to help; not a customer but something else indeed. I won’t say anything more to ‘spoil’ this story which was more unusual than some of the others in the anthology.

‘Varzil’s Avengers’ by Diann S Partridge deals with the aftermath of the wars ended by the Compact, when some of the combatants are dead and others are elderly and bear the scars of the terrible laran distance weapons. It transpires that deadly energies trapped since that war are now about to get loose unless a group of heroes reunites for one last time.

‘To Touch a Comyn’ is written by Andrew Rey, the only male contributor, and is very different to anything else in the book, but I enjoyed it perhaps because of that. It concerns Rakk, a woman from a high gravity planet who is built like a brick outhouse and has down to earth ways to match, and the fallout when she befriends one of the planetary rulers and is then forbidden to see him again. Nicely original.

‘About Time’ by Patricia B Cirone deals with the frustrations and mutual antagonisms between a group of Renunciates. An interesting story that looks into how people get along or not with realism.
In ‘Family Visit’ by Margaret L Carter, a Renunciate must face the heartache of visiting a pregnant daughter at the family’s request, only to face rejection and hostility despite her badly needed midwifery skills.

‘Dalereuth Guild House’ by Priscilla W Armstrong answers an interesting ‘what-if’. During the wars when laran weapons were used, these were manufactured at Dalereuth. With the peace and the banning of all such wares, the town has fallen on hard times. Two Renunicates from Thendara, sent to see if they can reopen their Guild House, find the townsfolk friendly, but also wary of letting them move back and create competition, now the economy has slumped. A good twist ending and a good note on which to finish the book.

In summary, this collection is a mixture; some of the stories are original whereas others come across as a bit too alike, and the very short ones are over before you can engage with the characters. So despite the gems, I can award only 3 stars.

[Jimyanni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the collections of stories written by "Friends of Darkover" and edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley, the creator of the world of Darkover. For quite a while, she was publishing one of these collections just about every year, and the stories in them were generally quite well-written, some of them by authors who either already were, or would later become, quite well-known in their own right (Diana Paxson, Mecedes Lackey, Elisabeth Waters, among others.) This is one of the best of the lot.

[Erik the Red · Rating 1 out of 5]

Marion Zimmer Bradley, and her literary work, must be viewed through two, often competing, lenses.

First, she was writing stories with strong, relatable female protagonists battling male oppression at a time when very few other authors were prepared to do so. Many modern readers cannot conceive of a time when women were not allowed to have a credit card in their own name, which was but one of the policies Bradley was dealing with in her time. She was a feminist long before it became fashionable. She was one of a very few voices that spoke powerfully to young women about their own worth. Much of her writing, read today, can be seen as trite, obvious, or overbearing, but it must be remembered that it was none of those things at the time it was written. This was a woman who co-founded, and named, the Society for Creative Anachronism, who championed pagan rights when the mainstream saw them as satanic, and who encouraged and published unknown female authors like Mercedes Lackey. Viewed through this lens, Bradley was a progressive woman to be lauded, as she was, posthumously, when she received the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement in 2000.

Second, and hideously, Bradley was a pedophile, who molested her own children. She also procured and groomed children for her husband, Walter Breen, to assault. She admitted to knowing what he was doing to these children, but refused to stop helping him, much less report him or interfere with his desires. Her own daughter was her accuser, so we can be assured this is not a "he said, she said" situation. Viewed through this lens, then, her life and work become irredeemably tainted.

We are, perhaps, used to evaluating art for art's sake, commenting on Ender's Game, or Harry Potter, as though their authors' views, hateful as they are, should not condemn the output of their minds and hands. Perhaps we are right to do so; after all, these views are only beliefs and words, no matter how widespread a bully pulpit their famous speakers are able to command. However, when beliefs and words turn into actions, we must draw the line. Since 2014, when definitive proof finally came to light, I have found myself unable to recommend anything written by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I remain so appalled by her actions that I can never give more than one star to anything she has written, no matter how groundbreaking, how heartfelt, how astounding it may be. I urge everyone reading this to join me in boycotting her work forever.

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* (extremely rare) There is something very wrong with this book &/or this author; never again.
** (seldom) Has flaws, or I just couldn’t get into it; no thanks.
*** (usual) Not great, not bad; no need to return to it.
**** (often) Better than average; I’d read it again.
***** (rare) A superb example of the genre, &/or an incredible piece of art; I re-read it often.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these anthologies. I get to discover new authors while revisiting a familiar place. I enjoyed this collection very much. Well worth the read.

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marion Zimmer Bradley is famous for her Avalon books, but what I'm a fan of are her Darkover stories, set in an original world and a blend of science fiction and fantasy. This is one of a series of anthologies that basically are collection of "fan fiction" by other authors based on MZB's Darkover. I was impressed on reread of the first such book, The Keeper's Price. Enough I ranked it just below five stars, and was tempted to give it full marks. Not that I would argue it's deathless literature, but as a Darkover fan I loved it, and was surprised how memorable the various stories were even decades after I first read it--there were some I remembered just from the title, and no story I didn't completely enjoy. The sixth anthology, The Other Side of the Mirror, was also a standout, unusual in being a collection of novellas, not short stories, including one almost a novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

The other anthologies though, of which this is marked the ninth on LibraryThing (and eighth on Goodreads). Well, I can't say any one story is a standout. And as with the other anthology devoted to the Renunciates, Free Amazons of Darkover, some of the sexual politics seem a bit fusty. At the time I read the Darkover books as a teen, the inclusion of lesbian characters was near ground-breaking, while now I read this and feel the book suffers from everyone-is-gay syndrome I see so much in amateur fan fiction. But yes, this was one of the more enjoyable anthologies in this anthology series. It was as interesting to see a story from MZB's protege Mercedes Lackey as her soon-to-be-nemesis Jean Lamb. I particularly liked Chel Avery's "Strife," MZB's own "Amazon Excerpt" featuring Camilla and Rafaela, Diana Paxson's "A Butterfly Season" with its unusual aliens and the fairy-tale-like "Summer Fair" by Emily Alward. I don't know that this would be of much interest to those who don't already know and love Darkover--this certainly isn't a good introduction. But for a fan it should provide hours of pleasure.

[Patricia West · Rating 5 out of 5]

A different culture

Darkover is a wintry world orbiting a red Sun. Descendents of a colony ship that crashed there they have developed a unique way of life. Q

Among the classes in Darkover are the ruling elite called the comyn. They have psi gifts including telepathy and empathy.

Darkover has few choices for women. Some women renounce the protection of men and bind together with other women of the same ilk. They call themselves, Renunciates (also called Free Amazon's by those who don't know better). These are fascinating tales of this subculture within the greater society of Darkover. I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology and would definitely recommend this book, especially to fans that already love the world of the bloody sun.

[Dawn Livingston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading books in the Darkover series many years ago and may have read them all. I remember really liking them so I decided to start reading them again. I decided it might be best to start with an anthology so I started with this one.

I was really disappointed. I think that maybe the series just doesn't appeal to me as much anymore. Which is sad because I still really like the Valdemar series of books by Mercedes Lackey that I was reading around the same times I was reading Bradley.

I still like the concept though and of the Bradley/Darkover books this is one of the few of the series that I kept.

[Miki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una raccolta di racconti di varie autrici ambientati su Darkover e incentrati sulle Rinunciatarie in epoche diverse e situazioni diverse. Molti racconti esplorano situazioni non affrontate nei romanzi, soprattutto sul rapporto tra rinunciatarie e il laran, o vanno proprio a colmare storie lasciate in ombra o in sospeso da alcuni romanzi o risalgono alle primissime vicende che potrebbero avere dato origine alla Sorellanza della spada, alle Libere Amazzoni e successivamente alle Gilde delle Rinunciatarie. Imperdibile per amanti di Darkover.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong as these collections go. Liked the focus on the renunciates, which she'd been leery about including for several anthologies running (despite the obvious fan interest). Also thought it was funny that so many included renunciates with laran, which was a concept she had largely dismissed as a possibility, but so many stories included it, she decided to indulge the whims of her audience. I, myself, fail to see the same conflict there that she did. Ah, well, such is life.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bradley’s “Amazon Excerpt” is a nice story about Rafella, even if it is a little touchy feely. “Broken Vows” by Annette Rodriguez is a good story because it raises questions to get the reader to think. There is an ending to City of Sorcery in “If Only the Banshees Could see”. Deborah Wheeler’s tale reverses the idea of restraint.

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

SET A THIEF:
This short story tells how the Renunciate Tayksa became Lord Varzil’s personal bodyguard when she questions the Compact that he is responsible for, and rightly earned the well deserved name of Varzil the Good.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some new and very interesting characters like Rakk a woman from a heavy planet who loves to fight. I ordered three more of the anthologies..a good indication that I am enjoying reading this MZB world written by others.

[DeAnna · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are short stories mostly written by people other than MZB. It's always interesting to see what other people do with an author's world.

[Vader · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish