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A Swordmaster's Tale
Swords come in a variety of shapes and sizes, as do those who devote themselves to learning the deadly dance of the blade. In this collection there are a variety of tales about swordmasters from around this world and the next and their weapons of choice. From the curved shotel, to the mythical katana, to the ever recognizable longsword, you will learn of these amazing swords and those that wield them with enough skill to be called masters.
388 pages, Paperback
Published August 31, 2022
3 people want to read
About the author
Tarl "Voice" Hoch
25 books82 followersTarl is primarily a writer in the horror and erotica genres, though he also dips his toes in fantasy and science fiction when the mood dictates.
Beyond writing, he is the owner of Armoured Fox Press and one of the hosts of the writing podcast Fangs and Fonts (http://www.fangsandfonts.com/) and is a member of the Furry Writer's Guild (http://furrywritersguild.com/)
When it comes to reading, he tends to read a large variety of genres, though admits a love of Lovecraftian horror, epic fantasy, and Japanese light novels. He also enjoys anthropomorphic fiction as well.
Beyond writing, he is the owner of Armoured Fox Press and one of the hosts of the writing podcast Fangs and Fonts (http://www.fangsandfonts.com/) and is a member of the Furry Writer's Guild (http://furrywritersguild.com/)
When it comes to reading, he tends to read a large variety of genres, though admits a love of Lovecraftian horror, epic fantasy, and Japanese light novels. He also enjoys anthropomorphic fiction as well.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 13, 2025
An anthology published by Armoured Fox Press, this book tells a variety of tales set around the topic of those that would call themselves masters of the blade. Containing thirteen stories written by an assortment of fandom authors, it is an entertaining look into the world of those that always have a sword in their paw.
REVIEW
Master Featherwind was the opening tale and it was definitely a good start. Based around a swordsman seeking a teacher, it was an entertaining story that did a good job of layering its twists. Although I saw the ending coming, it was more satisfaction that I was right in my guess and I definitely enjoyed it as the first short story.
Bridges to me was ill suited for the collection. Now the concept wasn’t bad, but I feel that where it suffered was the length of the story. As a novel it would have had the room to develop, but the brief scenes that appear to be connected to the main character lack the length to really establish any kind of emotional weight to the story. I was confused as to the setting since it jumped from ‘life to life’, and with the short length of the scenes there was hardly time to orient myself before it moved on to the next. Adding to my confusion was the fact that in at least one of the scenes the character is human, before certain sections introduce genetically engineered furry soldiers. While on the one hand I feel that the ‘furry’ aspect of the story was so limited as to have been unnecessary giving me the feeling this is just as easily at home as a non furry novel, the fandom element simply didn’t feel essential enough to the concept. In addition, the fact that some of the characters were human, I missed completely the first read through since they were described as men but no other descriptors. The short nature of the scene, mixed in with ‘furry’ scenes, made it easily missable, especially given that the general descriptor of man with no specific mention of human traits does not preclude the possibility they were simply using gendered terminology for their furry characters. Additionally, given that I assumed it was an entirely anthro story due to its inclusion, it was not until they talked about being a rabbit and coyote that I then realized that they were meant to be human, forcing me to go back and reread that section to be certain. This particular story was not well suited for an anthology, not due to the fault of the author, but the concept, I feel, to be done well, needed the length of a novel to expand upon the world and characters to make it work.
The Winter Born is kind of the story of two misfits that find their place in the world together during a shared adventure. I found the piece to be enjoyable, and the chemistry between the two characters worked very well. The writer does a good job of establishing the personalities of the main characters, Joren and Fargis, and I could definitely see this entry jumping off into something else. One thing I noticed was that the writer tends to repeat words in close succession, which distracted me on more than one occasion, with some instances it being the same one and others variations on a word like represent and representative. While not a deal breaker, it definitely would have benefited from a little more varied word usage. Overall definitely a recommend.
To Catch The Lightning is probably the best story so far of the lot. Written by Royce Day, of the Red Vixen Adventures, it tells the story of Becca going to a foreign nation to retrieve a foreign scientist who seeks to defect to her country with a revolutionary new technology. The only issue is that the technology doesn’t exactly travel light. While I’ve no familiarity with the world in which it’s based, the story tells a wonderfully entertaining self contained adventure requiring no special knowledge. The characters are well developed, and the adventure wastes no time on anything unnecessary, telling a great tale in a short time. It’s almost worth the book for this story alone. Absolutely loved it.
Cat In The Doghouse is a shorter story than some of the others, but in comparison to Bridges, it does a far better job of introducing a world in which the furries within it were not already preestablished. Explaining the history of how the world went from humans to sentient animals is done organically and well, making it an essential part of the tale rather than extraneous as it was in Bridges. Told from the perspective of a character only identified as ‘Old Cat’, it tells a story of a brief encounter between this feline and the world he now inhabits. Done uniquely from a point of view that appears to have less of a sense of personal identity than most of the others, it adds a unique viewpoint to the tale as we see the author’s take on an ‘awakened’ feline perspective in a world torn apart by the disaster which is only hinted at in basic terms. Nevertheless, for one of the shorter stories, it does an excellent job in telling its tale and is definitely worth reading.
Kharuk’s Keeper started out better than it ended. At first a story about a rabbit being married off for the good of the family, she meets and begins to train with someone who teaches her the way of the sword. In time she becomes skilled at it and is sent away from her home when things go horribly wrong. What I think hurt this story the most was the issue of relevance. I think you could have removed the whole marrying off element to the story and you wouldn’t have lost anything. I think what would have served this story better was forming a bond with a fairly critical character, as it would have made the twist at the end more jarring. As it was, it really fell flat because the thing about betrayal is it only works when you trust the person, and as the reader I didn’t like the other character in the first place. The relationship was portrayed as adversarial and so when the reveal comes, you don’t really feel anything about it other than, oh. Another thing was that the story was littered with about a dozen or so incorrect words, missing words, or words where the author clearly changed their mind halfway through and forgot to remove one or the other, leaving both options in the same sentence. Definitely one that needed another read through.
Sunrise For The Shotelai is the story of a lion who protects a village of refugees from mysterious creatures that threaten the people under the cover of night. A tale of found families it was an entertaining story making good use of the characters. With a compelling protagonist, the author tells a strong story with a believable series of events. The only thing I might consider a flaw is that the ending felt a bit brief, I would have preferred it be fleshed out as the rest of the story is told very well, so the somewhat abrupt ending feels like there should have been a little more payoff, but otherwise very well done.
The Night Wolf was honestly hard for me to read. Told in the first person, it really didn’t do it any favors as I found it hard to identify with the story at all. A lot of plot elements are explained retroactively with little if any foreshadowing to set them up, such as a tracking device on our protagonist or the other characters hearing something before ‘you’ do, to a rescue that really felt out of nowhere. Honestly the entire thing felt like someone making it up as they went along to me, without any real plan other than how to move the action along without the emotional weight to make any of it matter. The dialogue was at best clumsy, and didn’t really sound to me like words that sounded like fluid exchanges between two people. One of the other things I feel compelled to mention is the fact that during a training mission, the main character is sent to disable a transmitter, but the physical details of this seem counterintuitive to logic. Described as a transmitter, antenna, and comms tower, the location of the device itself is described as being between two skyscrapers inside of a city. Now while this is technically possible, almost any such device would likely be placed on top of a building, not between two skyscrapers. The placement of the antenna makes little sense and was likely done just to make both the infiltration and escape easier. On top of this fact, the guards discover them before the job is done stating they claimed no work was being done which was their excuse, but this is a hard sell from a bunch of effective NPC’s who are smart enough to figure this out now, but not during the security checkpoint when there is no indication they are intentionally letting them pass. Others may have a different opinion on this story, but to me I would have had to personally reject this one.
Fire and Ice was set up like one of those Choose Your Own Adventure Books, with branching options allowing you to choose alternatives as you progress. Written in second person, it was pretty interesting, although somewhat like some of the other entries the furry angle was not particularly integral to the plot. The story entertained and was worth a run though, but I don’t know if most will read all the different branches. Speaking as someone who didn’t, this cuts the length of the work considerably. The two things I would comment upon is that the first choice you’re given is no choice at all, where the bottom of the page simply tells you to continue to the next page since there is only one logical response from the POV character. Since you’re directed to continue to the next page anyway I didn’t see the point in this unnecessary instruction. Second, from a cursory examination of the various ends it seems like almost all of them end the same way, which encourages me even less to read the rest of it. However, I’d say it did it’s job and entertained me, but only for a single run through.
Folly was a case of first person storytelling done right. Set sometime after the Civil War, which in this case seems to be divided between carnivores and herbivores, the story follows a character seeking to leave his past behind in the rearview. Given a background with depth and a history we can relate to, the story grips you right away and catches your interest quickly. It reminded me of Hell on Wheels in a very positive way, catching the same flavor but telling its own story with a satisfying resolution. Definitely one of the better pieces in this collection.
The Black Blade was a decent enough entry, telling the story of a few characters participating in some sort of tournament with the prize being a mystical sword. While I found it entertaining enough, it was a bit tough to follow during the end with a lot of things being thrown at you at once, and the overall plot was very reminiscent of Soul Edge, an old playstation one game about a cursed sword, which may have been an influence. I think this one could have been better if there had been more of an ending, with the reveal sort of just seeming to not really be foreshadowed at all, and then just stopping. I think this one could’ve used some more length to flesh out the story.
The Lord of Strange Deaths started out really promising, with a well fleshed out story and interesting characters. There was a lot of descriptive detail filling in the world which served to enhance the story, following a lady feline in London working to aid a friend in a matter of significant import. Dealing with the world of espionage and spycraft it was well told with only two issues detracting from what was almost a perfect score from me, the first being the minor editing mistakes of missing or repeated words, and one line that looked as if it was meant to be deleted altogether as in context it did not appear to belong. The second was the fact that the ending seemed a bit abrupt for my tastes, with the final fight ending somewhat quickly and the story itself ending on a question, which I think that unless it is meant to be continued, should not have resolved with a query that may never be addressed.
The Medjay’s Son did an impressive job of telling a long story in a short time. Starting with a tragic death, it sets the main character on a path to right a wrong, which takes a long time to come to fruition. Though the story is short it accomplishes its goal with a good amount of detail, feeling like everything is addressed with enough time to allow it to flow. I might suggest that some of the other authors who had issues with completeness take a look at this one as an example for how to tell a full story in limited space. A great example of furry writing.
Wren of the Foxes was a story that I feel the author’s ambition outstripped their ability to realize it. At first a tale of a man forced to leave his son behind after a tragic event, it moves on to address his return after a long absence. The biggest issue with this one was beyond the initial scene it lacks any emotional weight. The majority of the story deals with the main character coming back to seek a son that he never knew and teach him to be a swordmaster. The problem lies in the fact that we never really see that training pay off, as when the son is unable to master the skill he is brought to see the person that trained his father, and it’s impossible to address the biggest issue of this particular piece without discussing the ending. [SPOILER] The revelation at the end that the main character annihilated the eagle race, rendering them extinct, rings hollow in the fact that to us, the audience, we never observe either their brutality or their for lack of a better term, humanity. Absent from the story except in mentions and aftereffects, we never experience them as characters. It’s hard to feel the emotional gravity of what such an event should mean when there are no clues to lay the groundwork for it. Other than their mention at the beginning and the end, there’s no foreshadowing to help the reveal land since their absence does not automatically mean their annihilation nor does the narration hint at his keeping something from his son. I just felt that the entire story needed to be tighter.
Arisen was the last story in the anthology and also the longest. At first apparently a fantasy story, it is mixed in with some scenes revealing it to be a LARP session, or live action role play if you’re not familiar with the acronym. At first I thought this was going to be a detractor but it turned out to work pretty well to add some out of character narration to the story at hand. Covering a satisfying emotional arc and managing to do so in a comparatively short space in time, it was a good story and a great wrap up for the book. There were only minor issues with this one, mostly small errors though there was one point in which in the span of a page the main character lets out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding (twice). But other than that, a fantastic entry.
REVIEW
Master Featherwind was the opening tale and it was definitely a good start. Based around a swordsman seeking a teacher, it was an entertaining story that did a good job of layering its twists. Although I saw the ending coming, it was more satisfaction that I was right in my guess and I definitely enjoyed it as the first short story.
Bridges to me was ill suited for the collection. Now the concept wasn’t bad, but I feel that where it suffered was the length of the story. As a novel it would have had the room to develop, but the brief scenes that appear to be connected to the main character lack the length to really establish any kind of emotional weight to the story. I was confused as to the setting since it jumped from ‘life to life’, and with the short length of the scenes there was hardly time to orient myself before it moved on to the next. Adding to my confusion was the fact that in at least one of the scenes the character is human, before certain sections introduce genetically engineered furry soldiers. While on the one hand I feel that the ‘furry’ aspect of the story was so limited as to have been unnecessary giving me the feeling this is just as easily at home as a non furry novel, the fandom element simply didn’t feel essential enough to the concept. In addition, the fact that some of the characters were human, I missed completely the first read through since they were described as men but no other descriptors. The short nature of the scene, mixed in with ‘furry’ scenes, made it easily missable, especially given that the general descriptor of man with no specific mention of human traits does not preclude the possibility they were simply using gendered terminology for their furry characters. Additionally, given that I assumed it was an entirely anthro story due to its inclusion, it was not until they talked about being a rabbit and coyote that I then realized that they were meant to be human, forcing me to go back and reread that section to be certain. This particular story was not well suited for an anthology, not due to the fault of the author, but the concept, I feel, to be done well, needed the length of a novel to expand upon the world and characters to make it work.
The Winter Born is kind of the story of two misfits that find their place in the world together during a shared adventure. I found the piece to be enjoyable, and the chemistry between the two characters worked very well. The writer does a good job of establishing the personalities of the main characters, Joren and Fargis, and I could definitely see this entry jumping off into something else. One thing I noticed was that the writer tends to repeat words in close succession, which distracted me on more than one occasion, with some instances it being the same one and others variations on a word like represent and representative. While not a deal breaker, it definitely would have benefited from a little more varied word usage. Overall definitely a recommend.
To Catch The Lightning is probably the best story so far of the lot. Written by Royce Day, of the Red Vixen Adventures, it tells the story of Becca going to a foreign nation to retrieve a foreign scientist who seeks to defect to her country with a revolutionary new technology. The only issue is that the technology doesn’t exactly travel light. While I’ve no familiarity with the world in which it’s based, the story tells a wonderfully entertaining self contained adventure requiring no special knowledge. The characters are well developed, and the adventure wastes no time on anything unnecessary, telling a great tale in a short time. It’s almost worth the book for this story alone. Absolutely loved it.
Cat In The Doghouse is a shorter story than some of the others, but in comparison to Bridges, it does a far better job of introducing a world in which the furries within it were not already preestablished. Explaining the history of how the world went from humans to sentient animals is done organically and well, making it an essential part of the tale rather than extraneous as it was in Bridges. Told from the perspective of a character only identified as ‘Old Cat’, it tells a story of a brief encounter between this feline and the world he now inhabits. Done uniquely from a point of view that appears to have less of a sense of personal identity than most of the others, it adds a unique viewpoint to the tale as we see the author’s take on an ‘awakened’ feline perspective in a world torn apart by the disaster which is only hinted at in basic terms. Nevertheless, for one of the shorter stories, it does an excellent job in telling its tale and is definitely worth reading.
Kharuk’s Keeper started out better than it ended. At first a story about a rabbit being married off for the good of the family, she meets and begins to train with someone who teaches her the way of the sword. In time she becomes skilled at it and is sent away from her home when things go horribly wrong. What I think hurt this story the most was the issue of relevance. I think you could have removed the whole marrying off element to the story and you wouldn’t have lost anything. I think what would have served this story better was forming a bond with a fairly critical character, as it would have made the twist at the end more jarring. As it was, it really fell flat because the thing about betrayal is it only works when you trust the person, and as the reader I didn’t like the other character in the first place. The relationship was portrayed as adversarial and so when the reveal comes, you don’t really feel anything about it other than, oh. Another thing was that the story was littered with about a dozen or so incorrect words, missing words, or words where the author clearly changed their mind halfway through and forgot to remove one or the other, leaving both options in the same sentence. Definitely one that needed another read through.
Sunrise For The Shotelai is the story of a lion who protects a village of refugees from mysterious creatures that threaten the people under the cover of night. A tale of found families it was an entertaining story making good use of the characters. With a compelling protagonist, the author tells a strong story with a believable series of events. The only thing I might consider a flaw is that the ending felt a bit brief, I would have preferred it be fleshed out as the rest of the story is told very well, so the somewhat abrupt ending feels like there should have been a little more payoff, but otherwise very well done.
The Night Wolf was honestly hard for me to read. Told in the first person, it really didn’t do it any favors as I found it hard to identify with the story at all. A lot of plot elements are explained retroactively with little if any foreshadowing to set them up, such as a tracking device on our protagonist or the other characters hearing something before ‘you’ do, to a rescue that really felt out of nowhere. Honestly the entire thing felt like someone making it up as they went along to me, without any real plan other than how to move the action along without the emotional weight to make any of it matter. The dialogue was at best clumsy, and didn’t really sound to me like words that sounded like fluid exchanges between two people. One of the other things I feel compelled to mention is the fact that during a training mission, the main character is sent to disable a transmitter, but the physical details of this seem counterintuitive to logic. Described as a transmitter, antenna, and comms tower, the location of the device itself is described as being between two skyscrapers inside of a city. Now while this is technically possible, almost any such device would likely be placed on top of a building, not between two skyscrapers. The placement of the antenna makes little sense and was likely done just to make both the infiltration and escape easier. On top of this fact, the guards discover them before the job is done stating they claimed no work was being done which was their excuse, but this is a hard sell from a bunch of effective NPC’s who are smart enough to figure this out now, but not during the security checkpoint when there is no indication they are intentionally letting them pass. Others may have a different opinion on this story, but to me I would have had to personally reject this one.
Fire and Ice was set up like one of those Choose Your Own Adventure Books, with branching options allowing you to choose alternatives as you progress. Written in second person, it was pretty interesting, although somewhat like some of the other entries the furry angle was not particularly integral to the plot. The story entertained and was worth a run though, but I don’t know if most will read all the different branches. Speaking as someone who didn’t, this cuts the length of the work considerably. The two things I would comment upon is that the first choice you’re given is no choice at all, where the bottom of the page simply tells you to continue to the next page since there is only one logical response from the POV character. Since you’re directed to continue to the next page anyway I didn’t see the point in this unnecessary instruction. Second, from a cursory examination of the various ends it seems like almost all of them end the same way, which encourages me even less to read the rest of it. However, I’d say it did it’s job and entertained me, but only for a single run through.
Folly was a case of first person storytelling done right. Set sometime after the Civil War, which in this case seems to be divided between carnivores and herbivores, the story follows a character seeking to leave his past behind in the rearview. Given a background with depth and a history we can relate to, the story grips you right away and catches your interest quickly. It reminded me of Hell on Wheels in a very positive way, catching the same flavor but telling its own story with a satisfying resolution. Definitely one of the better pieces in this collection.
The Black Blade was a decent enough entry, telling the story of a few characters participating in some sort of tournament with the prize being a mystical sword. While I found it entertaining enough, it was a bit tough to follow during the end with a lot of things being thrown at you at once, and the overall plot was very reminiscent of Soul Edge, an old playstation one game about a cursed sword, which may have been an influence. I think this one could have been better if there had been more of an ending, with the reveal sort of just seeming to not really be foreshadowed at all, and then just stopping. I think this one could’ve used some more length to flesh out the story.
The Lord of Strange Deaths started out really promising, with a well fleshed out story and interesting characters. There was a lot of descriptive detail filling in the world which served to enhance the story, following a lady feline in London working to aid a friend in a matter of significant import. Dealing with the world of espionage and spycraft it was well told with only two issues detracting from what was almost a perfect score from me, the first being the minor editing mistakes of missing or repeated words, and one line that looked as if it was meant to be deleted altogether as in context it did not appear to belong. The second was the fact that the ending seemed a bit abrupt for my tastes, with the final fight ending somewhat quickly and the story itself ending on a question, which I think that unless it is meant to be continued, should not have resolved with a query that may never be addressed.
The Medjay’s Son did an impressive job of telling a long story in a short time. Starting with a tragic death, it sets the main character on a path to right a wrong, which takes a long time to come to fruition. Though the story is short it accomplishes its goal with a good amount of detail, feeling like everything is addressed with enough time to allow it to flow. I might suggest that some of the other authors who had issues with completeness take a look at this one as an example for how to tell a full story in limited space. A great example of furry writing.
Wren of the Foxes was a story that I feel the author’s ambition outstripped their ability to realize it. At first a tale of a man forced to leave his son behind after a tragic event, it moves on to address his return after a long absence. The biggest issue with this one was beyond the initial scene it lacks any emotional weight. The majority of the story deals with the main character coming back to seek a son that he never knew and teach him to be a swordmaster. The problem lies in the fact that we never really see that training pay off, as when the son is unable to master the skill he is brought to see the person that trained his father, and it’s impossible to address the biggest issue of this particular piece without discussing the ending. [SPOILER] The revelation at the end that the main character annihilated the eagle race, rendering them extinct, rings hollow in the fact that to us, the audience, we never observe either their brutality or their for lack of a better term, humanity. Absent from the story except in mentions and aftereffects, we never experience them as characters. It’s hard to feel the emotional gravity of what such an event should mean when there are no clues to lay the groundwork for it. Other than their mention at the beginning and the end, there’s no foreshadowing to help the reveal land since their absence does not automatically mean their annihilation nor does the narration hint at his keeping something from his son. I just felt that the entire story needed to be tighter.
Arisen was the last story in the anthology and also the longest. At first apparently a fantasy story, it is mixed in with some scenes revealing it to be a LARP session, or live action role play if you’re not familiar with the acronym. At first I thought this was going to be a detractor but it turned out to work pretty well to add some out of character narration to the story at hand. Covering a satisfying emotional arc and managing to do so in a comparatively short space in time, it was a good story and a great wrap up for the book. There were only minor issues with this one, mostly small errors though there was one point in which in the span of a page the main character lets out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding (twice). But other than that, a fantastic entry.
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