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We Are All Legends
Starblaze paperback, 1981. Fantasy, sword and sorcery and horror stories. Introduction by L. Sprague de Camp, and these The Hag (1978); The Lady of the Fountain (1977); Island of Faces; The Veiled Pool of Mistorak (1976); The One Who Spoke with the Owls (1976); The Castle of Kites and Crows (1979); The Riddle of the Horn (1979); Divers Hands (1979); The Unknown God Cried Out; Into the Dark Land (1979); A Fabulous, Formless Darkness (1978); Midnight, Moonlight, and the Secret of the Sea; L'envoi .
193 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1981
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About the author
Darrell Schweitzer
469 books106 followersDarrell Schweitzer is an American writer, editor, and essayist in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror, although he does also work in science fiction and fantasy.
Schweitzer is also a prolific writer of literary criticism and editor of collections of essays on various writers within his preferred genres.
Schweitzer is also a prolific writer of literary criticism and editor of collections of essays on various writers within his preferred genres.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 4, 2012
We Are All Legends is a must-read for fans of doomed protagonists (Karl Wagner’s Kane, Michael Moorcock’s Elric, David Gemmell’s Druss, etc.). It is Sword and Sorcery for the adult crowd. Darrell Schweitzer tapped into his extensive weird fiction expertise to craft this great string of tales. It is gritty, poetic, and intellectually rewarding. We Are All Legends mixes the horrific atmosphere of H.P. Lovecraft, with the story telling action of R. E. Howard, with the emotive style of C.A. Smith.
A quote best communicates the motivations of Julian, a warrior jaded by the crusades who is cursed by evil forces. An apostate, shunning the god who shunned him. Julian is a selfish man, as the character reveals in the story Divers Hands: “I had many times longed for death. But then the familiar terror came… After death—damnation, the eternal torments I could escape only for a brief time while I lived. Like all men, I am ultimately selfish. I would sacrifice the whole world to escape Hell even for a short while. I could kill myself only on a sudden, saving impulse swifter than thought. If I reasoned what was right, just, and the moral thing to do, I would forget all about rightness, justice, and morality, and be paralyzed.”
What kind of atmosphere will readers experience? Just read this dose from The Riddle of the Horn: “The trees of earth, those which were solid and not phantasms of the snow, thinned out as I left the forest and moved into open country once again. It was foolish for me to do so, but as soon as they were out of sight—and they were almost at once—all directions looked the same and the only real thing was the agony of cold and of further motion. The wind stung my face with renewed fury, sweeping long and far over rolling hills and fields, no longer broken or held back by ancient trunks. I was without destination, like a corpse bobbing on an endless sea.”
And what horrors will the reader face? Not your typical demons, but indescribable evil. From the story The Unknown God Cried Out: “When the man came within the circle of the firelight, I could see that he had no face, and thus no mouth, and that was why he did not speak. In the place of a face there was a black oval, not a mask, not a burnt sore, but an absolute, limitless void sinking into his head in all defiance of perspective and dimensions. I feared if I looked at it too long I would be drawn into it, out of the universe altogether…”
In summary, We Are All Legends is a gateway to Hell and beyond. As I read it I felt that rewarding anxiety of "really" experiencing the unknown, running through meticulously constructed dioramas that only a sorcerer like Schweitzer could conjure. Great fun.
A quote best communicates the motivations of Julian, a warrior jaded by the crusades who is cursed by evil forces. An apostate, shunning the god who shunned him. Julian is a selfish man, as the character reveals in the story Divers Hands: “I had many times longed for death. But then the familiar terror came… After death—damnation, the eternal torments I could escape only for a brief time while I lived. Like all men, I am ultimately selfish. I would sacrifice the whole world to escape Hell even for a short while. I could kill myself only on a sudden, saving impulse swifter than thought. If I reasoned what was right, just, and the moral thing to do, I would forget all about rightness, justice, and morality, and be paralyzed.”
What kind of atmosphere will readers experience? Just read this dose from The Riddle of the Horn: “The trees of earth, those which were solid and not phantasms of the snow, thinned out as I left the forest and moved into open country once again. It was foolish for me to do so, but as soon as they were out of sight—and they were almost at once—all directions looked the same and the only real thing was the agony of cold and of further motion. The wind stung my face with renewed fury, sweeping long and far over rolling hills and fields, no longer broken or held back by ancient trunks. I was without destination, like a corpse bobbing on an endless sea.”
And what horrors will the reader face? Not your typical demons, but indescribable evil. From the story The Unknown God Cried Out: “When the man came within the circle of the firelight, I could see that he had no face, and thus no mouth, and that was why he did not speak. In the place of a face there was a black oval, not a mask, not a burnt sore, but an absolute, limitless void sinking into his head in all defiance of perspective and dimensions. I feared if I looked at it too long I would be drawn into it, out of the universe altogether…”
In summary, We Are All Legends is a gateway to Hell and beyond. As I read it I felt that rewarding anxiety of "really" experiencing the unknown, running through meticulously constructed dioramas that only a sorcerer like Schweitzer could conjure. Great fun.
August 26, 2022
It's an accomplishment to merge the wandering-black-knight Medieval fantasy with an uniformly dour outlook and such phantasmagoria. Julian wanders through mysterious events and endures repeated failure and loss. The events themselves don't seem to have any internal meaning or logic but Julian's actions repeat the themes and make the journey intensely personal.
I'm not convinced that Schweitzer quite wrangles the material. The tone is so uniform that the stories blend together, each presented as more of a series of images than a narrative, and the only progression is Julian's sense of his own damnation and failure. He is a guy who stumbles upon things and events happen to him.
I'm not convinced that Schweitzer quite wrangles the material. The tone is so uniform that the stories blend together, each presented as more of a series of images than a narrative, and the only progression is Julian's sense of his own damnation and failure. He is a guy who stumbles upon things and events happen to him.
April 30, 2025
Interconnected short stories about a cursed knight traveling to the end of the Earth through a surreal, doomed land and fleeing the powers of both heaven and hell. Along the way he tangles with witches, gods, sorcerers, ghosts, monsters, and things out of Lovecraft's worst nightmares.
This is dark fantasy done right, and makes a lot of the modern dark fantasy media that I have seen look like Saturday morning cartoons. The fact that this isn't a well known classic is shocking to me.
This is dark fantasy done right, and makes a lot of the modern dark fantasy media that I have seen look like Saturday morning cartoons. The fact that this isn't a well known classic is shocking to me.
October 22, 2024
Some amazing stuff. Schweitzer crafts an "anti-hero" whose "anti" aspect is better explained and far more tragic than Moorcock's depressed addict of ennui.
Each story here is thrilling and harsh while expertly working the levers of frustration with the human animal that has progressed so little in the last 600 years.
Each story here is thrilling and harsh while expertly working the levers of frustration with the human animal that has progressed so little in the last 600 years.
November 13, 2015
This is a solid collection of weird sword and sorcery tales. I wish I could give it a 3.5--I'm not quite sure it warrants a 4, but it's definitely not as low as a 3.
It gets an A+ for the dark, vivid atmosphere that envelopes each tale and a C- for characterization. You never get to truly know Julian the apostate knight -- or any of the secondary characters for that matter -- but the lands through which Julian travels are fully realized...and spectacularly creepy.
I've seen comparisons of Julian to other ill-fated protagonists like Wagner's Kane and Moorcock's Elric, but I see a major difference. In my somewhat limited exposure to Kane and Elric, I never came away with the sense that they possessed any conscience, so I could never really root for them. In fact, I just didn't like them. Elric especially came across as narcissistic and lugubrious. Julian, however, clearly has a sense of morality, but the vast majority of the time it just seems to kick in too little or too late to rise above his obsession with escaping from his past sins to a place of peace that is neither Heaven nor Hell. As a result, I think readers can feel for him a bit more than they can for a couple of devious, immortal killers.
It gets an A+ for the dark, vivid atmosphere that envelopes each tale and a C- for characterization. You never get to truly know Julian the apostate knight -- or any of the secondary characters for that matter -- but the lands through which Julian travels are fully realized...and spectacularly creepy.
I've seen comparisons of Julian to other ill-fated protagonists like Wagner's Kane and Moorcock's Elric, but I see a major difference. In my somewhat limited exposure to Kane and Elric, I never came away with the sense that they possessed any conscience, so I could never really root for them. In fact, I just didn't like them. Elric especially came across as narcissistic and lugubrious. Julian, however, clearly has a sense of morality, but the vast majority of the time it just seems to kick in too little or too late to rise above his obsession with escaping from his past sins to a place of peace that is neither Heaven nor Hell. As a result, I think readers can feel for him a bit more than they can for a couple of devious, immortal killers.
August 29, 2024
One of the finest works of fantasy I’ve ever read. A disgraced knight returns from slaying pagans during the Crusades, Sir Julian is tormented by the heinous acts he committed in the name of his loving god. He turns his back on Christ, sells his soul to Satan, then wanders through a purgatory looking for a way to die unburdened by the curse of enteral life
February 19, 2016
This highly overrated book was a crushing disappointment. Yes, it contains seeds of numerous stories & images which could (should) have been developed into proper stories with a fast pace, robust narrative, occasional humour, and dollops of horror. The whole stuff read like some medieval manuscript (perhaps that was the aim, above all) which was unbelievably droll & boring. The protagonist's procrastination & lamentations went on & on, until it actually started resembling masturbation where one only f****s oneself! If only a past master like the great REH or a modern master like Adrian Cole had handled the stuff.
Not Recommended, unless you are looking for some ideas to develop a story of your own.
Not Recommended, unless you are looking for some ideas to develop a story of your own.
July 3, 2018
4.5. Schweitzer's protagonists is "Julian the Apostate" — not the Roman emperor of that name but Sir Julian, a Christian medieval knight who fails the first test of his faith and now, terrified of death or damnation, wanders the world finding it both bleaker ("If God is mad, his adversary is mad also.") and weirder than he ever imagined (it's heavily influenced by the film The Seventh Seal). This doesn't get five stars because like a lot of short story series, they don't always mesh together well. Nevertheless, this is quite awesome and very well written
September 14, 2019
The combination of horror, chivalrous imagery and certain melancholy and even hope present in the book is what makes it special for me. Loved it when I was 12, love it now when I am 30 - although nostalgia may play a big part in that.
March 10, 2025
A collection of strange short stories that as a whole feel inspired by classic Greek mythology (i.e The Odyssey) but read more like a syndicated TV show in the vain of The Twilight Zone or perhaps more appropriately a grim version of Hercules or Xena (?!) in that each story carries the basic plot of the main hero, Sir Julian, through to the next while introducing a new "big bad" to battle and characters that help move the story along. However, they never fully connect to give a complete story arc for our character often feeling like a story of the week.
Sir Julian was a Christian knight who encounters a hag one night who tricks him into losing his soul to the Devil. From that point on he is destined to explore the furthest reaches of the world until the day he dies when the Devil will come to collect his reward. This gives our hero a longing to hold onto his life even though he goes through figurative hell each story which often has him longing for death. Throughout it all he battles with his own spirituality and consequences for his actions.
The world in which the stories take place is based on our own medieval world with a healthy dose of fantasy, but it's not the (now) typical Tolkien or D&D-inspired fantasy which is refreshing. Schweitzer brings in some truly bizarre and unique enemy and situations that deal with the Christian/Pagan religions and the duality of life/death often wrapped within. It truly helps keep things interesting when things get light.
The stories are very well written. Schweitzer has a way with his prose that to me jumps between easy to read and verbose from story to story, but all are written competently and with purpose. However, it often feels this purpose is often just to move the story to its inevitable conclusion but little else even when we don't get full resolution for our main character.
All said, We Are All Legends is a good read. I love the unique adventures and characters that are introduced, and the idea of the Christian Templar exploring a grim, medieval world that treads its own ground without resorting to following traditional tropes. It makes me long for a full novel in which all these ideas can be fleshed out to truly breathe.
Sir Julian was a Christian knight who encounters a hag one night who tricks him into losing his soul to the Devil. From that point on he is destined to explore the furthest reaches of the world until the day he dies when the Devil will come to collect his reward. This gives our hero a longing to hold onto his life even though he goes through figurative hell each story which often has him longing for death. Throughout it all he battles with his own spirituality and consequences for his actions.
The world in which the stories take place is based on our own medieval world with a healthy dose of fantasy, but it's not the (now) typical Tolkien or D&D-inspired fantasy which is refreshing. Schweitzer brings in some truly bizarre and unique enemy and situations that deal with the Christian/Pagan religions and the duality of life/death often wrapped within. It truly helps keep things interesting when things get light.
The stories are very well written. Schweitzer has a way with his prose that to me jumps between easy to read and verbose from story to story, but all are written competently and with purpose. However, it often feels this purpose is often just to move the story to its inevitable conclusion but little else even when we don't get full resolution for our main character.
All said, We Are All Legends is a good read. I love the unique adventures and characters that are introduced, and the idea of the Christian Templar exploring a grim, medieval world that treads its own ground without resorting to following traditional tropes. It makes me long for a full novel in which all these ideas can be fleshed out to truly breathe.
October 4, 2024
The character we follow through the stories is Julian, a fallen knight who believes he has failed God and will be claimed by the Devil, although, for reasons unknown, the Devil wants him to wander the world a while before taking his soul. Unlike most S&S main characters, Julian is not a hero, although he is a skilled warrior and is capable of bravery. He is often afraid and frequently selfish. He strives to live even though he does not value himself. Despite these weaknesses, or perhaps because of them, I found Julian a sympathetic character who I could root for. He’s not your typical S&S character although more heroic elements came out across the course of the book.
December 26, 2024
The Sword and Sorcery and Horror stories of Julian the Apostate. He's like a male Jirel of Joiry. With less balls and less fortitude.
Excerpt from one of the early stories that sums up the collection well:
“So now the tale is done. What moral? ….. A meaning? A purpose? When others, as the ballads tell, pass into Faerie, or into the lands of the dead, it is for some lofty purpose, to learn some deep wisdom, or to rescue a loved one, or to save a kingdom. It was not like that with me. My life will make a poor amusement if it is ever told. There is no form to it, no order. No conclusion, no moral, no answers. Only more questions”
Excerpt from one of the early stories that sums up the collection well:
“So now the tale is done. What moral? ….. A meaning? A purpose? When others, as the ballads tell, pass into Faerie, or into the lands of the dead, it is for some lofty purpose, to learn some deep wisdom, or to rescue a loved one, or to save a kingdom. It was not like that with me. My life will make a poor amusement if it is ever told. There is no form to it, no order. No conclusion, no moral, no answers. Only more questions”
September 20, 2025
One of the coolest fantasy books I’ve read yet. A doomed Crusade knight who is determined to escape God, and finds himself traveling through quest after quest of grim dark wilderness. Surreal and unique
February 16, 2025
I appreciated the mythological register. It resonated with me at times.
July 15, 2025
The most Dark Souls-y fiction I ever read. A bit of a slow burner, but it fits the style.
April 7, 2014
A very quick read, this book is an anthology of short stories edited together to form a coherent narrative of the life...such as it is...of doomed knight Julian the Apostate.
While the adventures ostensibly take place in history around the time of the Crusades (as opposed to a fantasy world) there's nothing in the book to really identify any real time or real places. They are a series of wierd adventures most of which take place "off the edge of the map".
Fans of Elric or Solomon Kane will feel right at home in this world of 1970s drug induced hallucinatory wierdness. Those of us who prefer more historical leaning adventure fiction (like say Khlit the Cossack) will be less enthused.
While I did enjoy the stories, my biggest disappointment was that the protagonist was really fairly lame. He suffered and struggled and refused to die...but he was also really stupid...so stupid that he was convinced of his own damnation and so did nothing to save himself...even AFTER traveling to end the world to consult a demon who (after sacrificing his hand to it) told him the truth that his salvation was simple...he had merely to ask for it.
So instead of asking and being saved from a life of ongoing emo misery, he chose to disbelieve the demon (despite his earlier convictio that the demon had to tell him the truth if the sacrifice was made)and continued to wander in misery.
He pretty much deserves whatever fate he got.
The book does vear into fairly rascist portrayals of the unknown and exotic east, but those are so buried under fantastic allegory that it isn't immediately clear exactly who is being stereotyped beyond a general "oriental = demon worshippers" pattern.
Fun, but clearly a product of their decade and not exactly my cup of tea.
If such stories ARE your cup of tea, then this collection is probably more like 4 stars.
While the adventures ostensibly take place in history around the time of the Crusades (as opposed to a fantasy world) there's nothing in the book to really identify any real time or real places. They are a series of wierd adventures most of which take place "off the edge of the map".
Fans of Elric or Solomon Kane will feel right at home in this world of 1970s drug induced hallucinatory wierdness. Those of us who prefer more historical leaning adventure fiction (like say Khlit the Cossack) will be less enthused.
While I did enjoy the stories, my biggest disappointment was that the protagonist was really fairly lame. He suffered and struggled and refused to die...but he was also really stupid...so stupid that he was convinced of his own damnation and so did nothing to save himself...even AFTER traveling to end the world to consult a demon who (after sacrificing his hand to it) told him the truth that his salvation was simple...he had merely to ask for it.
So instead of asking and being saved from a life of ongoing emo misery, he chose to disbelieve the demon (despite his earlier convictio that the demon had to tell him the truth if the sacrifice was made)and continued to wander in misery.
He pretty much deserves whatever fate he got.
The book does vear into fairly rascist portrayals of the unknown and exotic east, but those are so buried under fantastic allegory that it isn't immediately clear exactly who is being stereotyped beyond a general "oriental = demon worshippers" pattern.
Fun, but clearly a product of their decade and not exactly my cup of tea.
If such stories ARE your cup of tea, then this collection is probably more like 4 stars.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews