In the September issue of
Locus magazine, Gardner Dozois has a favorable review of
The Sword & Sorcery Anthology.
He recommends it as a good starting point for an introduction to S&S (which it is). However, he does add that the older material is stronger than the newer, which he feels strays into slipstream. He says, "I would have liked to see more stories here from Joe Abercrombie, KJ Parker, Scott Lynch, Steven Erikson, Garth Nix or James Enge, the heirs of the form." Interestingly, all six of these authors are in
Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery,
which I co-edited with Jonathan Strahan.
Here's an idea: Perhaps they should be read together as unofficial companion volumes.
However, while we're talking about the contemporary heirs of the sword & sorcery mantle, we must give shout outs to Saladin Ahmed, Howard Andrew Jones, Violette Malan, Ari Marmell, Jon Sprunk, Michael J. Sullivan, and Sam Sykes. Likewise, R. A. Salvatore looms large in the field, and I've been very impressed. I've also been mightily impressed with the
Pathfinder Tales
line of tie-in novels, and much of the short fiction appearing on the e-zine
Beneath Ceaseless Skies. We are in something of a renaissance for sword and sorcery. Long may it continue.
Reviews are starting to come in for George Mann's anthology, Further Encounters of Sherlock Holmes.
One has just shown up on The Geek Girl Project that I am particularly pleased by. If I may quote the relevant bits:"The Sleep of Reason by Lou Anders is perhaps my favorite story gathered by George Mann. Set in the Pulp Novel realm of Mars, complete with Martian Princess and a dandy detective, Anders manages to give an American experience wrapped in a Holmes story with a Martian bow."
