Flashing Swords! #1

Flashing Swords! #1

by Lin Carter, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance

Through the past darkly to the black iron-clad worlds of valour, death and dreams. Here four masters wreak their powerful fantasies...

Let's see, thought Death with a vast coolness hat yet had a tiny seething in it, one hundred sixty peasants, two beggars, a whore, a merchant, a priest, an aristocrat, a craftsman, a king, and two heroes. That would keep the record straight!
THE SADNESS OF THE EXECUTIONER Fritz Leiber

As his hand swept the air, it left a trail of sparks. "Magic derives from personal force! My passion alone will defeat the archveults! I glory in the forthcoming confrontation. Ah, but will they regret their deeds!"
MORREION Jack Vance

The house of Liri rocked as in a quake. The crystal dome shattered and rained down in a thousand bright shards. The stones trembled and began to slide from each other. That crumbling of what had stood here since the Great Ice melted sent its shuddering through Tauno's flesh.
THE MERMAN'S CHILDREN Poul Anderson

Three goblins were entangled in the webs. They kicked and struggled furiously, spitting like cats, but only managed to become more tightly enmeshed in the sticky green stuff. The six other goblins came flying, howling at him
THE HIGHER HERESIES OF OOLIMAR Lin Carter

Cover Illustration: Bruce Pennington

Genres: Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Short Stories, Anthologies, Pulp, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons

160 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1973

About the author

Lin Carter was an American author, editor, and critic best known for his influential role in fantasy literature during the mid-20th century. Born in St. Petersburg, Florida, he developed an early passion for myth, adventure stories, and imaginative fiction, drawing inspiration from authors such as Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft, and J. R. R. Tolkien. After serving in the U.S. Army, Carter attended Columbia University, where he honed his literary skills and deepened his knowledge of classical and medieval literature, myth, and folklore — elements that would become central to his work.
Carter authored numerous novels, short stories, and critical studies, often working within the sword-and-sorcery and high fantasy traditions. His own creations, such as the “Thongor of Lemuria” series, paid homage to pulp-era adventure fiction while adding his distinctive voice and world-building style. His nonfiction book Tolkien: A Look Behind The Lord of the Rings was one of the first major studies of Tolkien’s work and its mythological roots, and it helped establish Carter as a knowledgeable commentator on fantasy literature.
Beyond his own writing, Carter was a central figure in bringing classic and forgotten works of fantasy back into print. As editor of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series from 1969 to 1974, he curated and introduced dozens of volumes, reintroducing readers to authors such as William Morris, Lord Dunsany, E. R. Eddison, and James Branch Cabell. His introductions not only contextualized these works historically and literarily but also encouraged a new generation to explore the breadth of the fantasy tradition.
Carter was also active in the shared literary universe of the “Cthulhu Mythos,” expanding upon the creations of H. P. Lovecraft and other members of the “Lovecraft Circle.” His collaborations and solo contributions in this genre further cemented his reputation as both a creative writer and a literary preservationist.
In addition to fiction and criticism, Carter was an active member of several science fiction and fantasy organizations, including the Science Fiction Writers of America. He frequently appeared at conventions, where he was known for his enthusiasm, deep knowledge of the genre, and willingness to mentor aspiring writers.
Though sometimes critiqued for the derivative nature of some of his work, Carter’s influence on the fantasy revival of the late 20th century remains significant. His combination of creative output, editorial vision, and scholarly enthusiasm helped bridge the gap between the pulp traditions of the early 1900s and the expansive fantasy publishing boom that followed.
Lin Carter’s legacy endures through his own imaginative tales, his critical studies, and the many classic works he rescued from obscurity, ensuring their place in the canon of fantasy literature for generations to come.

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice collection of stories by masters of the Fantasy field. Good read. recommended

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

So what we have here is three excellent stories by masters of the genre, each reprinted and readily available. If you've never read them, you should. You'd only want this version if you don't want to commit to full collections, or in the case of "The Merman's Children", the full novelization. But you will want to commit to the full versions.

Leiber's witty Fahfrd and Gray Mouser story sees the heroes somewhat from outside and is playful without going overboard.

Vance's Dying Earth story is a perfect display of perfectly amoral wizards, with a beautiful and perfectly cynical ending.

Anderson's story weaves Christian belief with mythology--expanding from legend, I think--and deeply realizes both aspects.

And then there's Lin Carter's contribution, which dangles off like a scab held on by a few hairs, and is the only one never reprinted elsewhere. Let's talk about that one.

I was surprised to see that it is an early Kylix story, a fragment of some future Almaric novel that never quite happened, set on the planet Thoorana Zephrondus in a system containing other planets that Carter would use for other stories. The adventures are same-old-same-old, but I found myself drawn to the setting and concept.

The Eternal Gods are defeated and withdraw from commerce with men, but have recruited Almaric and made him near-immortal / half-god / periodically-recharged to do their bidding toward some cryptic goal. The language they use suggests that they may be technological entities and not divine ones. This is reminiscent of his Gondwane series crossed with a line of writing--cosmic fantasy--that he plucked at for years without producing anything novel-sized or particularly lasting.

It is undercut early on by its random-weird-word-generator naming and Significant Word Capitalization, and soon falls into an overplayed farcical tone that includes the same annoying habit that plagued The Wizard of Zao: the narrator dips into first person to address the reader directly.

Throughout all of this, I kept thinking of what he had written in the introduction to his own story, regarding his sword and sorcery output: "This sort of thing is very easy to write, and fun to write, too, and [...] I am content to continue adding a new volume to the [Thongor] Saga yearly, at least for the foreseeable future." I imagine one of the other writers choking on his coffee upon reading that.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sort of a proto-nerd I suppose. When I was young (back in the dark ages of the 1950s and 1960s) fantasy lit. could be hard to find. If you were lucky maybe your dad stopped at the news-stand you passed on the way up to your grand-parents on the weekend and you can grab a few comics and maybe Weird Tales of Fantasy and Science Fiction mag.

As time went on (the late '60s and then the '70s) fantasy lit began to show up and then finally there was a flood. Lin Carter,Sprague de Camp, Moorcock and others wrote and edited novels and short story collections. Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, C. L. Moore. Howard Phillips Lovecraft and so many others who had written back before the "mainstream" found fantasy saw the light of day again as their novels were republished and their short stories showed up in collections.

This is one, worth reading...if you can find it.

Recommended.

[Leothefox · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, so Lin Carter and his science-fantasy pals in the early 70s liked to hang out and give each other titles and generally congregate and pat each other on the back... which is fine (I guess). So, it must have been somewhat inevitable that “Flashing Swords!” happened.

So, this is supposed to all be about the Sword & Sorcery genre and is even dedicated to the memory of Robert E. Howard. Being a huge Howard fan, this led to a big disappointment.

Alright, so let's start with the high points: Fritz Leiber's “Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser” story, “Sadness of the Executioner” is a good little quickie that has our heroes contending with none other than Death (a death, not necessarily the Death). It's super quick, but it has some honest-to-goodness sword and sorcery stuff.

Also very good was Jack Vance's “Dying Earth” story “Morreion”. Far future sorcerers take turns trying to screw each other over for “IOUN stones” over the course of a galactic odyssey. There isn't really much in the way of swordplay, it's all sorcery but it consistently delivers. This is the first I've read of the series (I can never seem to track down an affordable copy of the first book), but it has got me hungry for more.

Then comes Poul Anderson... “The Merman's Children”, which is supposed to be adaptation of a folktale or something. It does involve some fighting and a giant kraken guarding a treasure. What the story is mostly about is mer-people not having souls and about mer-people having sex a lot. For some reason a good portion of this story is dedicated to how naked the mer-people usually are (they don't have fish-tails, but they do have visible junk) and how much sex they have with humans. It felt like some kinda fantasy, not exactly a “sword and sorcery” fantasy, though.

For some reason this particular vaudeville show closes out on Lin Carter's “The Higher Heresies of Oolimar", a story of Amalric the “Mangod”. Carter claims this represents a departure from his other work and that it owes less to Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs (which begs the question of why it's in this collection at all). The story clocks in at just 63 pages, so why are we made to sit through the long droned exposition of the gods instructing Amalric like an “M” substitute in a half-assed James Bond clone? Why are two entire pages wasted on describing the giant insect our hero and his wizard sidekick are about to ride on? Why does our barbarous he-man muscle hero sit passive while things are endlessly described?

Let me scream about this a little bit: why, when Fafhrd and Mouser can thwart death in a spare 14 pages, and wizards can plot and scheme on 3 planet over 70 pages, and those damned mer-folk make all that time with time left for a treasure-quest (over like 80 pages), can't Lin Carter make anything of note happen in 63 damned pages? This book is supposed to be a tribute to Sword & Sorcery and it's creator, yet Carter's example falls farthest from the mark.

Carter edited and wrote Conan books, you know the dude read all those stories... why can't a he write one to save his life? He says in his introduction how “easy” it is to write that stuff, but I suspect it may take more effort than he's willing to expend (maybe if he spent more time writing than he did plugging his various series). Fantasy writing needs to be energetic, it needs to excite an emotion (other than boredom and frustration), and things need to happen! Carter always does the same thing: he creates an overpowered hero, dumps them in a “rich fantasy realm”, puts them through a couple of minor perils or diversions, then either tosses off a solution the satisfies nobody or leaves everything open for the next “exciting adventure”.

Good job Fritz Leiber and Jack Vance!

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first volume of a series of five original swords & sorcery fantasy anthologies that Carter edited. He was ambitious and enthusiastic, but overall the series isn't as good as the similar Swords Against Darkness edited by andrew j. offutt. This initial volume has a Dying Earth story by Jack Vance that is quite good but didn't strike me as fitting within the boundaries of the genre too well, a Viking story by Poul Anderson that I didn't much care for, and a pulpy story by Carter himself featuring his Amalric the Mangod character. My favorite was The Sadness of the Executioner, an excellent Fafhrd & Grey Mouser story by Fritz Leiber.

[Murphy C · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story was the best, in my humble opinion 😆 For what that's worth 😉🙃

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

First in this 5 book series of heroic fantasy anthologies. I enjoyed this whole series and this was one of the stronger entries. It's got a Poul Anderson story, and Carter's story here is one of the better ones he wrote.

[James T · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 tales from classic sword and sorcery authors. Lieber’s is a later Fafhrd and Gray Mouser story. It’s funny but about when the series starts to really go downhill. Jack Vance’s Morrieon takes a bit to get going but once it does is wondrously imaginative. Poul Anderson’s the Merman’s Children is honestly a forgotten masterpiece. It’s just an incredible dark fairy tale albeit thick with 70s sleaze. But it’s really a must read and lost gem. Lin Carter’s tale is very funny, imaginative and honestly enjoyable. However it suffers from the writing being all over the place. It starts out grand and Dunsany-esque and then becomes very causal. If he had stuck to one style I think the story would have gone better. But I still dig it and I think his stuff is just plain fun and under-appreciated.

[Skallagrimsen]

A gnarly relic of yore, graced like many another such with a cover painting by the great Frank Frazetta too good for the contents of the book. Not that the stories are terrible or anything--Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, and Jack Vance were talented and imaginative writers. Lin Carter, though, the contributing editor of this series...wasn't. He was, in fact, a pompous and pretentious hack. He'd be a mid-list fan fictioneer if he was alive and writing today, and not the grand old man of fantasy he ridiculously fancied himself to be. I say this as one who can't help but remember the man with some fondness.

[The Poor Person's Book Reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Lin carters introduction along with the author bios, give you real insight to what was going on with sword and sorcery in the early 70s. All 4 short stories are worth a read but I suggest looking up Poul Anderson’s “The Merman’s Children”

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy these for the enthusiasm Lin Carter has for Sword & Sorcery. His writing of was not strong, take his entry in this volume for example, but he was a great promoter of S&S and classic fantasy in general (here I refer to him as editor of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series). On a drunken lark, he founded SAGA (Sword and Sorcery Guild of America). It was to thumb his nose at those who scoffed at S&S and included drinking games and outrageous titles.

The Flashing Swords anthologies collect S&S tales from members of SAGA.

• “The Sadness of the Executioner”, Fritz Leiber’s Fahfrd and Gray Mouser story is slight and not a strong example of the series.

• “Morrein”, Jack Vance is a Dying Earth tale and showcases the greed and depravity of wizards in that realm.

• “The Merman’s Children” by Poul Anderson is my favorite in the collection. A mix of pagan myth and Christian values.

• “The Higher Heresies of Oolinar” by Lin Carter is a weak story, but serves as an example of a common Carter Self-Promotion. He would promise stories meant to change everything and would then fail to actually publish said stories. His Amalric The Mangod was his promise to publish a series unlike any other in S&S. Unfortunately, this reads like a bad S&S movie from the early 80’s

[Frank McGirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice bed-time book. The Fritz Leiber story I had read before, but it was a goody...as with his best stuff he has just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek in his fantasy. This is only the second Jack Vance story I have read, but I'm a convert: very compelling, thoughtful, and surprising fiction. Poul Anderson's story is definitely a bed-time story...longer than it needs to be and lulls you to sleep while being interesting enough to pick up the next night. Lin Carter...well, he's kind of the "Little Drummer Boy" claymation special of the fantasy world...if there's nothing else available, you might choose it, but you won't be very satisfied. Seemed like more of an excercise in creating goofy names than anything.

[Abraham Thunderwolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to write like these stories. My least favorite story is The Merman's Children by Poul Anderson, it's good, not my cup of tea, but I heart all the other ones. Of course I loved Fritz Leiber's story, which was like a doom metal song. The stories by Lin Carter and Jack Vance were great reads too. Great for any occasion.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sparkling collection of classic sword & sorcery fantasy. I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favorite between the four stories.

[Douglas Milewski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Flashing Swords! #1 is an anthology of sword and sorcery edited by Lin Carter, standing astride decades. The stories mostly read like the adventure narratives of the 50's and 60's, as featured in magazines. They are sex filled, irreverent, humorous, and often joyously pointless. If anything, this work demonstrates just how fun-focused these early adventure works were before the grimmer and more angsty future kicked in. This is popcorn literature, about equivalent to movie popcorn. It's okay to munch on, but is otherwise unremarkable in most ways.

The connections to D&D is hugs as you'll see many classic D&D elements in the work, because these works by these authors are the stuff that D&D was pillaged from. Myself, I was surprised to see tanglefoot bags show up so early.

I found the Fritz Leiber story rather dull, and not at all representative of a Fafhr and Grey Mouser story. It did have its humor, and ranks up there in politically incorrect. Jack Vance's "Morreion" deals with the origin of ioun stones, and the cabal of banal and argumentative wizards who go in search of them. Paul Anderson's "The Mermaid's Children" almost doesn't fit, missing the tongue in cheek narrative of the other tales, instead opting for a sincere adventure story with 10x the emotional depth of all the other stories combined. The book closes with a tale by Lin Carter in the sort of tale that you'd make up for your kids before they go to bed, featuring a solution that'll have the kids saying, "Tell me another one," and refusing to go to bed.

All told, it's an easy read and an effective sampler.

The work is monumental in one respect: it did it's job of evangelizing sword and sorcery literature. If you look at the boom of D&D in the years to come, following in its wake, and the evolution of adventure novels thereafter, you'll see that this little bugbear grew into quite the towering juggernaut.

All told, most of the stories are hack jobs and have a myriad of problems, but they do entertain, so I'm giving it two stars. If you'd like a bit of fun, you'll enjoy yourself, but you'll notice all the issue along the way.

[Andrew Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first reading of Anderson, Carter, Leiber, and Vance, though I have read Robert E. Howard stories that Carter and de Camp had some hand in either reprinting or adding to an unfinished tale. I have always found an appeal in stars having a sentient existence, like in C. S. Lewis' The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, where a star retires to a tranquil eternity among the lands of Narnia. In Vance's tale, more sci-fi and sorcery and less sword, the dying environment is an age of chaos and romance between cosmic sentience and mysterious magics, only tarnished by the emotions of the races still trekking the starscape, marvelling at the fire-folk of times past who live within a star and still hold immortality through their IOUN brain stones. Leiber's world is brutal and savage, sword and sorcery about, surely with the expected rules of societal hierarchies but with a dark humor towards death and an acceptance of pain and sadistic inhibitions. Anderson, with a small bit of sword and only scant mentionings of sorcery, weaves mythical fae beliefs into a believable coexistence with Christian theology, at least some degree of it, where merman seem as much a race of heathenous pagans as any viking colony on the shore. More fantasy than just sword-and-sorcery. Carter goes all-in for sword-and-sorcery. The land is ancient with forgotten gods, goblin-infested hills, and abnormal beasts in place of horses. An odd couple make for a buddy-cop adventure through these godless lands of imaginary deities. It's kinda like God sending Samson and Moses to the tower of Babel to set things straight. But I wouldn't dare lower Jehovah to the characterisation of multiple Eternal Gods of Thoorana.

The Sadness of the Executioner by Fritz Leiber
Death, not THE Death but minor Death, of the World of Nehwon, enthroned in the Shadowland, must tick off souls for, and to, the Lords of Necessity. Targets are hit with many avenues of Death's artistry, and neither king nor warrior nor craftsman nor celibate hero evade the doings of Death. Each have either hindered Death's work, or served Death with their savagery, and even a select few just coast by until Death comes knocking: The Overlord of Lankhmar poisoned by a Kleshian snake's venom placed on his beloved cat's playful claws. The Mad Duke of Ool Hrusp, Lithquil, battle-exed between the eyes by a gladiatorial ghoul. Horborixen craftsman, Gorex, saddened and demoralized by the King of King's scouts stealing his great-granddaughter, Eesafem, for his harem, passes painlessly by Death's melancholy touch. As a matter of fact, also in Horborixen, a specific duo, a Northern barbarian and a wry thief, are now in the crosshairs of Death's ghoulish artistry. Not much is seen from Fafhrd and Mouser outside of the barbarian's dispatching of a ghoul and Mouser's ravenous taming of an assassin, enslaved by the King. This is a quick tale of Death's death games for the souls of Nehwon and his plans being foiled by the famous duo. 4/5

Morreion by Jack Vance
Aeons ago, Morreion and the wizards beat back the archveults, alien wizards from Jangk. Xexamades, a blue-scaled ex-wizard Jangkian, banned by Ildefonse from Earth, returns to Earth as an immigrant only to be captured by Earth wizards and returned to Ildefonse's castle above the River Scaum. A sure death sentence for Xexamedes, the wizards are tasked with finding Xexamades' IOUN stones at his cottage in the Were Wood. The source of the IOUN stones are as sought after as the stones themselves, bringing to question what ever happened to sorcerer Morreion who learned the source from Xexamedes. But upon escaping, Xexamedes savagely destroys Rhialto the Marvellous' aviary of bird-women and killing his loyal servant, old Funk. To find Morreion, and maybe a side excursion for getting stoned (IOUNs), the ever-quarreling and privileged wizards take a cosmic journey among dying stars to Nothing, upon Vermoulian the Dream-walker's flying castle, always waxing philosophical and arguing each other's points with flowery language and over-intellectualized rhetoric. Vance's environment is actually pretty stimulating and enthralling, with the expired race of Sahars' haunting planet, and the fire-folks who live within a star, their brains becoming magical stones that attach to beings, etc. 5/5

The Merman's Children by Poul Anderson
Agnete Einarsdatter, a fair maiden of the poor hamlet, Als, found a fantastical opportunity to be whisked away under the ocean by a merman King, of Liri. Agnete bears four children (Tauno, Eyjan, Kennin, and Yria) with this merman, a King who resembles humans in just about all aspects, but slight aesthetic differences, is immortal for the most part, and seemingly has no soul attached to the merman race. They swim the line between animal and human. Agnete eventually yearns for her people, for her church, and for her God, something the mermans seem to despise. 20+ years later, Agnete's children face the loss of their oceanic town due to a highly zealous new archdeacon, Magnus Gregerson, and face the perils of ocean predators, as well as straddling the line between mermans and humans. To save their youngest sibling from the life of a Christian woman, these soulless immortals seek out the lost city of Averorn at the risk of angering its kraken god, to garner the forgotten gold horde of long dead kraken worshippers. 3/5

The Higher Heresies of Oolimar by Lin Carter
Man has lost his faith in the Eternal Gods of the world of Thoorana. In the land of Ablamarion. the Eternal Gods can still have communication from their godly realm of Segastirion through Speaking Stones atop several hundred mountains that the Gods reserve for themselves. Only one man dares the danger of Mount Telasterion: Amalric, the 30,000-year-old barbarian half-god who alone holds the last shred of faith for the Eternal Gods. Imagined gods now rule the hearts of man and it is tasked upon Amalric to journey south of the Fire-River to march against Prince Thun of Yuthontis and his city of god-forsaken immortals. Amalric is destined to journey alongside 230 year-old Ubonidus, a magician of the Oromazpus (a god) Fraternity; a magician that thinks his new friend is a psychopath that believes he is Amalric the Eternal. What adventures lie ahead for a man that just wanted to make a pilgrimage in honor of Oromazpus and ends up face-to-face with goblins and maniacs that think they are half god? Carter uses this tale to speak on those who denounce the gods that couldn't protect them from war, and end up making up their own gods to the point of being overzealous worshippers of tradition in a cultic fashion, or becoming their own gods through prolonging their lives. Mainly, false gods are used cryptically to separate races as superior from others, with traditions, histories, and standards that others could not possibly maintain, like an elitist tribalistic cult. 4/5

[Brannigan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Previously published at TheQwillery.com

One day, while browsing my local used bookstore, I found a bundle of four books entitled Flashing Swords! #1-4. The first two covers were by Frank Frazetta, and I was familiar with about half the authors and liked their work and style, so I decided to give it a try. I like discovering old authors from my chosen genre's past. Out of the four authors in volume #1, I was familiar with Fritz Leiber and Jack Vance, but had only actually read Fritz Leiber before. I read several stories in the Songs of the Dying Earth edited by George R.R. Martin, which is a tribute to Jack Vance's world. I had no exposure to Lin Carter or Poul Anderson.

Lin Carter's introductory essay “Of Swordsmen and Sorcerers” was a fascinating read for the historical background he gave in the sub-genre and the roles each of the authors played in it. I knew that the sub-genre was born out of Robert E. Howard's work, but I did not know that the term 'Sword & Sorcery' was coined by Fritz Leiber. Below, in my quote section, you will find Carter's definition of the sub-genre.

Fritz Leiber's “The Sadness of the Executioner” is a Fafhrd and the Mouser tale, but the duo are not the starts of the tale. Death takes the center stage as he seeks to fulfill his quota for the current quarter. Running out of time and needing two heroes to fulfill that particular quota he decides to send a couple enraged people to kill the pair. Unfortunately, the pair of anti-heroes are not so easy to kill, leaving Death with no choice but to quickly kill two other heroes to fulfill his quota. I've always enjoyed reading Leiber's stories and I enjoyed this story. It was my favorite of the collection. I only wish it had been longer (it's the shortest story in the book). If you've never read a Fafhrd and the Mouser tale, I would not start with this one, as I've mentioned they play a minor part in the story. I would however recommend you try Leiber for a fun, easy quick read.

Jack Vance's “Morreion” takes place in his famous The Dying Earth world. As the sun is ready to die, and with it Earth, magic has once again returned. The landscape has changed and is nothing like the Earth we know and love. Vance is an unique writer. His writing style is, in my opinion, very modern. He's like the grandfather of our modern 'weird' sub-genre. He makes up races, places, and creatures that are unlike your regular fantasy troupes and gives them names that don't lend themselves to description and does minimal physical descriptions and little to no background information. This can leave the reader a little lost or confused. That said, he's a very lyrical writer and he makes you want to read his story in hopes you'll come to understand it how he intended. This story involves wizards and trying to steal IOUN stones from Morreion. They end up taking the stones from Morreion, but then begin to fight over who gets to keep the stones. I look at Vance as the type of author you read and study if you want to get a Ph.D. in fantasy reading, or you're bored with low-brow fantasy authors, which I find a little ironic, as most people have a certain prejudice of Sword & Sorcery fantasy as low-brow writing.

Poul Anderson's “The Merman's Children” is based on a medieval ballad of Agnete and Her Lover. The story is about a human female who falls in love with a Merman and ends up living underwater and giving birth to several children who are able to live above or below the surface. Then, one day the mother decides she misses her life above ground and by resurfacing unknowingly sets a course of destruction and trials for the Merfolk and her children below. The story itself was entertaining, and I liked the originality of it, but it was a slow read. It didn't inspire me to seek after more of Anderson's books, which is the point of an anthology.

Lin Carter's “The Higher Heresies of Oolimar” is a little too much like a ode to Conan or Hercules. When a non-fantasy reader thinks of Sword & Sorcery this is the type of hero they would imagine. It stars Amalric, an immortal super human with side kick wizard named Ubonidus. Amalric is given a quest by a sphere, that I assume is a communication device between him and the higher gods, to go and destroy a man named Thun and his evil city of death-conquerors. However, along the way to this quest, Amalric and Ubonidus have a detour in the city of Oolimar. This was obviously set up to be a introduction to a novel or the beginning of a series of short stories, as the main quest never takes place. It's an easy story to read, but I didn't really enjoy it or find anything in the characters or world that made me want to see if Amalric ever defeats Thun.

Now that I've read all of the stories, how do they hold up today, 41 years later? The first volume is weak. Even the authors I like, I didn't like these particular stories enough to suggest any of you go hunt this book down. I found it enlightening to learn more about the sub-genre itself and would recommend the introduction to anyone who would like to learn more about Sword & Sorcery. I'd highly recommend any fan of fantasy to check out or borrow a Fritz Leiber or Jack Vance book. I find them very entertaining. For Anderson and Carter, I wouldn't bother reading their work unless you're a fan and a completest. There is violence and sexual situations in the stories, but nothing graphic, so I would recommend the book for older teenagers and adults.

Favorite Quote

“We call a story Sword & Sorcery when it is an action tale, derived from the traditions of the pulp magazine adventure story, set in a land, age or world of the author's invention-a milieu in which magic actually works and the gods are real-a story, moreover, which pits a stalwart warrior in direct conflict with the forces of supernatural evil.” - Lin Carter in Flashing Swords! #1

[Konstantine · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty much bogged down by the fact that lin carter is one of the biggest hacks to put pen to paper in the fantasy world-

leibers story is great, this was my first jack vance story and while it didnt particularly move me i will say the setting and his descriptive talents are enough to make me want to check out more from him, anderson writes a pretty standard viking/mermaid story which isnt bad at all but isnt his best either

carter sort of just farts out a bunch of weird sounding fantasy names and combined with the arrogance in which he describes himself makes me hope robert e howard kicks his ass in the afterlife

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong collection of fantasy novellas, until you get to the Carter entry, which as usual for Lin Carter was pretty "meh." He brags in his introduction that writing fantasy is very easy...fortunately the other writers cared enough to write well. My favorite is Anderson's, a draft of what would become the full novel The Merman's Children. Lieber has an unusual Nehwon tale, where Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser play relatively small roles. Vance's Dying Earth story is also banging.

[Esse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic fantasy

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good anthology to read some of the classic sword-and-sorcery authors. My favorite was the Lin Carter story. I’m learning that I don’t like Fritz Leiber that much.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four short sword and sorcery stories. Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderdon, Jack Vance and Lin Carter.

[Jeff Pfeiffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light hearted fun overall, Poul Anderson's tale is the centerpiece of this volume and is quite good. Definitely worth your time.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

In 1969, there were only a literal handful of authors who wrote in the sword and sorcery genre. Their hero was Robert E. Howard and his stories of Conan the Barbarian. That year, this little group had occasion to gather together to lift a glass, tell lies to each other and discuss the future of their fledging industry. One of them (Lin Carter) suggested that they create an anthology series to which each one would contribute some short stories and thereby increase their readership by whetting the reading public's appetite for their brand of fantasy literature.

The book which I have just read, "Flashing Swords #1," (published in 1973 and edited by Mr. Carter) is the fruit of that labor. Contributions were made by Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, Poul Anderson and Mr. Carter himself. This is truly one of the worst books I've ever read. I can only imagine that few, if any, read the thing when if was first published or how would the genre survived this long. The only "good" tale is the first one ("The Sadness of the Executioner") and that because it is flavored with a good bit of humor. The rest are best forgotten, if read at all.

There are five books altogether in the anthology and unfortunately I was stupid enough to have purchased all five at ebay a few weeks ago. As I am too cheap to discard the remaining unread volumes, I shall try to put myself on a strict diet of only one volume per year as punishment for my foolishness. Don't make the same mistake! Avoid these books like the plague.

[K. Axel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this fantasy anthology a long time ago, at a time when I really hadn't read all that much Sword and Sorcery fiction. None of the stories really captivated me, but looking at it again, I realise that it has a Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser story as well as a Dying Earth tale. I really like those two, so maybe I should give it another read and see if it isn't better than I remember.

[Ed Wyrd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this when I was a teen. Only remember the Fafrd and Gray Mouser story, which was less about them and more about the character, Death. The Poul Anderson story was good. The Jack Vance story was a little odd and probably explains why I never read much of his work. And the Lin Carter story? If he hadn't been the editor, I wonder if this story would have ever been published.

[Scott Gillespie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite story was "The Higher Heresies of Oolimar" by Lin Carter. As I read I kept thinking, "This is so dreadful it's funny. Wait, is this supposed to be funny? Oh, yeah, it is! Right?" If you read it, and you should, add a layer of oily gloss by imagining it being acted out like an '80s cheesy fantasy movie.

The Jack Vance story is also great fun and the Leiber is good too.

[Joseph Panno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four S&S stories from four of the more sardonic and "out there" S&S writers. Well, except for Poul Anderson. The Lieber and Vance stories I had read before but were fun to revisit. I enjoyed the Anderson one most. The Carter story at the end of the book seemed more like it was poking fun at Robert Howard rather that paying homage to him. I'm going to track down the second one.

[Lesley Arrowsmith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the book that introduced me to Poul Anderson's work (and shortly afterwards I came across Queen of Air and Darkness, which is extremely good). I already knew the Victorian poem The Forsaken Merman, which is desperately sad.

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing special here. Four swashbuckling stories, a couple of them read previously. A time-waster.