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Swords Against Darkness #2
Swords Against Darkness II
7 • Call It What You Will • (1977) • essay by Andrew J. Offutt
13 • Sword of Unbelief • [Witch World Universe] • (1977) • novelette by Andre Norton
59 • The Changer of Names • [Ryre] • (1977) • novelette by Ramsey Campbell
85 • The Dweller in the Temple • [Kardios] • (1977) • novelette by Manly Wade Wellman
117 • The Coming of Age in Zamora • (1977) • novelette by David M. Harris
157 • The Scroll of Thoth • [Simon of Gitta] • (1977) • novelette by Richard L. Tierney
179 • Odds Against the Gods • novelette by Tanith Lee
227 • On Skellig Michael • [Bard] • (1977) • shortstory by Keith Taylor [as by Dennis More ]
247 • Last Quest • (1977) • novelette by Andrew J. Offuttt.
13 • Sword of Unbelief • [Witch World Universe] • (1977) • novelette by Andre Norton
59 • The Changer of Names • [Ryre] • (1977) • novelette by Ramsey Campbell
85 • The Dweller in the Temple • [Kardios] • (1977) • novelette by Manly Wade Wellman
117 • The Coming of Age in Zamora • (1977) • novelette by David M. Harris
157 • The Scroll of Thoth • [Simon of Gitta] • (1977) • novelette by Richard L. Tierney
179 • Odds Against the Gods • novelette by Tanith Lee
227 • On Skellig Michael • [Bard] • (1977) • shortstory by Keith Taylor [as by Dennis More ]
247 • Last Quest • (1977) • novelette by Andrew J. Offuttt.
284 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
1 person is currently reading
149 people want to read
About the author
Andrew J. Offutt
209 books72 followersAndrew Jefferson Offutt was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He wrote as Andrew J. Offutt, A.J. Offutt, and Andy Offut. His normal byline, andrew j. offutt, had his name in all lower-case letters. His son is the author Chris Offutt.
Offutt began publishing in 1954 with the story And Gone Tomorrow in If. Despite this early sale, he didn't consider his professional life to have begun until he sold the story Blacksword to Galaxy in 1959. His first novel was Evil Is Live Spelled Backwards in 1970.
Offutt published numerous novels and short stories, including many in the Thieves World series edited by Robert Lynn Asprin and Lynn Abbey, which featured his best known character, the thief Hanse, also known as Shadowspawn (and, later, Chance). His Iron Lords series likewise was popular. He also wrote two series of books based on characters by Robert E. Howard, one on Howard's best known character, Conan, and one on a lesser known character, Cormac mac Art.
As an editor Offutt produced a series of five anthologies entitled Swords Against Darkness, which included the first professional sale by Charles de Lint.
Offutt also wrote a large number of pornographic works under twelve different pseudonyms, not all of them identified. Those known include John Cleve, J.X. Williams, and Jeff Douglas. His main works in this area are the science fiction Spaceways series, most of whose volumes were written in collaboration, and the historical Crusader series.
Offutt began publishing in 1954 with the story And Gone Tomorrow in If. Despite this early sale, he didn't consider his professional life to have begun until he sold the story Blacksword to Galaxy in 1959. His first novel was Evil Is Live Spelled Backwards in 1970.
Offutt published numerous novels and short stories, including many in the Thieves World series edited by Robert Lynn Asprin and Lynn Abbey, which featured his best known character, the thief Hanse, also known as Shadowspawn (and, later, Chance). His Iron Lords series likewise was popular. He also wrote two series of books based on characters by Robert E. Howard, one on Howard's best known character, Conan, and one on a lesser known character, Cormac mac Art.
As an editor Offutt produced a series of five anthologies entitled Swords Against Darkness, which included the first professional sale by Charles de Lint.
Offutt also wrote a large number of pornographic works under twelve different pseudonyms, not all of them identified. Those known include John Cleve, J.X. Williams, and Jeff Douglas. His main works in this area are the science fiction Spaceways series, most of whose volumes were written in collaboration, and the historical Crusader series.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 26, 2019
Of the stories...
"Sword of Unbelief" is another of Norton's Witch World stories, from the High Hallack sequence, and like "The Toads of Grimmerdale" deals with the aftermath of Alizon invasion, and the chaos and banditry in an exhausted land. And like "Grimmerdale" is of a woman of limited resources and bottomless determination against cosmic forces. It's very internal, as her stories tend, and details a minuteness of action that slows it all down. But it also reinforces that I need to explore the High Hallack novels which surround this.
"The Changer of Names", by Campbell, is excellent, especially how Ryre is drawn into conflict by a cultural/spiritual belief that has no real modern parallel other than "pride" or "self-esteem". The fascinating idea laces through the story and is part of its inception and resolution.
"Odds Against The Gods", by Tanith Lee, is in the Vancian mode and done successfully, which not all authors can nail so well, from the roguish characters to the outre cultures to the sparring, witty dialog.
"On Skellig Michael" is actually by Keith Taylor, part of his Bard series, and I will have to investigate further.
And then the others.
"Last Quest" by Offutt takes place in a very busy invented world with eccentricities, and feels like part of a series but isn't: the protagonists have backstories and relationships that we're forced to hear all about--well, actually, some of them I'd like to read in preference to this story--and it all turns unexpectedly grim as characters start expiring. But, the world-idea of wizards hybridizing human and animals (for...reasons?) intrigues, especially when dealing with the aftermath of such activity.
"The Coming of Age in Zamora" is the work of a relative amateur, and the story's craftsmanship makes that obvious. The interesting concept at play is the later years of some Conanesque adventurer who succeeds in taking control of a duchy and in his later years has to deal with the fact that he's no longer the young buck and is laden with tasks that would repel his younger self.
It plays a certain trope of the genre--the rampant womanizing--for laughs. Duke Gargan fixates on a young woman in order to prove to himself that he "still has it", and makes it his mission to get her into his bed against her personal preferences. There are ways to play this, and Harris takes the tack of her being much more than he expects (nudge nudge) but there's this entire sequence where Gargan seriously considers rape and the rape he committed in the past, and this fell like a lead brick into what had been styled as a light-hearted story. Not that his invocation of droit du seigneur is more thematically pleasant, but at that point the script flips, and her practical viewpoint sees him as pathetic but useful. It's not a _good_ story, but its late turn averts it from being actually awful.
"Sword of Unbelief" is another of Norton's Witch World stories, from the High Hallack sequence, and like "The Toads of Grimmerdale" deals with the aftermath of Alizon invasion, and the chaos and banditry in an exhausted land. And like "Grimmerdale" is of a woman of limited resources and bottomless determination against cosmic forces. It's very internal, as her stories tend, and details a minuteness of action that slows it all down. But it also reinforces that I need to explore the High Hallack novels which surround this.
"The Changer of Names", by Campbell, is excellent, especially how Ryre is drawn into conflict by a cultural/spiritual belief that has no real modern parallel other than "pride" or "self-esteem". The fascinating idea laces through the story and is part of its inception and resolution.
"Odds Against The Gods", by Tanith Lee, is in the Vancian mode and done successfully, which not all authors can nail so well, from the roguish characters to the outre cultures to the sparring, witty dialog.
"On Skellig Michael" is actually by Keith Taylor, part of his Bard series, and I will have to investigate further.
And then the others.
"Last Quest" by Offutt takes place in a very busy invented world with eccentricities, and feels like part of a series but isn't: the protagonists have backstories and relationships that we're forced to hear all about--well, actually, some of them I'd like to read in preference to this story--and it all turns unexpectedly grim as characters start expiring. But, the world-idea of wizards hybridizing human and animals (for...reasons?) intrigues, especially when dealing with the aftermath of such activity.
"The Coming of Age in Zamora" is the work of a relative amateur, and the story's craftsmanship makes that obvious. The interesting concept at play is the later years of some Conanesque adventurer who succeeds in taking control of a duchy and in his later years has to deal with the fact that he's no longer the young buck and is laden with tasks that would repel his younger self.
It plays a certain trope of the genre--the rampant womanizing--for laughs. Duke Gargan fixates on a young woman in order to prove to himself that he "still has it", and makes it his mission to get her into his bed against her personal preferences. There are ways to play this, and Harris takes the tack of her being much more than he expects (nudge nudge) but there's this entire sequence where Gargan seriously considers rape and the rape he committed in the past, and this fell like a lead brick into what had been styled as a light-hearted story. Not that his invocation of droit du seigneur is more thematically pleasant, but at that point the script flips, and her practical viewpoint sees him as pathetic but useful. It's not a _good_ story, but its late turn averts it from being actually awful.
February 3, 2025
The first volume was closer to the Conan structure of monster/villain of the day. This one has more interesting variations of sword-and-sorcery tropes, including one with an aged and declining barbarian king. I enjoyed the Manly Wade Wellman story as well as the first thing I've read from Tanith Lee, a very Vancian escapade of knaves.
April 16, 2020
This second of five volumes of sword & sorcery stories edited by andrew j. offutt contains another good selection of stories. There's a Witch World story from Andre Norton, a good Kardios story by Manly Wade Wellman, a good Ramsey Campbell, as well as enjoyable ones from Tanith Lee and offutt himself. (The only really bad story is one called The Coming of Age in Zamora that's supposed to be funny but I found it offensive.) There are entertaining introductions to each piece by offutt, too. This anthology comes from the days when sword & sorcery was a distinct and separate subgenre of fantasy, before game-based or inspired series of novels swallowed it.
S.A.D. was a good series to buckle your swashes with.
S.A.D. was a good series to buckle your swashes with.
July 24, 2008
Another Ramsay Cambpell heroic fantasy story that is worth the price of admission by itself. This collection is weaker than the first one but still very fine.
February 10, 2023
Having enjoyed the first anthology a fair bit, I got hold of this follow up and enjoyed the majority of the stories, although I skipped the Tierney effort after buying SWORDS AGAINST CAESAR separately (I loved his story in the first anthology that much!). Andre Norton's SWORD OF UNBELIEF, about a witch hunting her lost love, has very well described landscapes and creatures almost Cthulhoid in description. I enjoyed it a fair bit and Ramsey Campbell's THE CHANGER OF NAMES even more so; it sees his returning hero Ryre fighting against another wizard who makes a living from stealing men's names. A bit of everything in this engrossing tale.
Manly Wade Wellman's THE DWELLER IN THE TEMPLE is another strong offering from one of my pulp favourites; no twists or surprises here, just a good template of action and monster-fighting. A shame about the Harris story, because THE COMING OF AGE IN ZAMORA plays out as a rape fantasy, and is completely distasteful...I was waiting for some satisfying twist at the climax but it never appeared.
Along with the Campbell story, Tanith Lee's ODDS AGAINST THE GODS is the best of this bunch, an exquisite, episodic story about an orphaned girl using her brains to battle sinister gods and humans in an evocative world. Dennis More's ON SKELLIG MICHAEL is more basic, about a bard washed up with some inhospitable monks; interesting points about religion, but only so-so in execution. The last of the stories is by the editor himself, and LAST QUEST a typical Conan pastiche lifted by a memorably dark climax.
Manly Wade Wellman's THE DWELLER IN THE TEMPLE is another strong offering from one of my pulp favourites; no twists or surprises here, just a good template of action and monster-fighting. A shame about the Harris story, because THE COMING OF AGE IN ZAMORA plays out as a rape fantasy, and is completely distasteful...I was waiting for some satisfying twist at the climax but it never appeared.
Along with the Campbell story, Tanith Lee's ODDS AGAINST THE GODS is the best of this bunch, an exquisite, episodic story about an orphaned girl using her brains to battle sinister gods and humans in an evocative world. Dennis More's ON SKELLIG MICHAEL is more basic, about a bard washed up with some inhospitable monks; interesting points about religion, but only so-so in execution. The last of the stories is by the editor himself, and LAST QUEST a typical Conan pastiche lifted by a memorably dark climax.
October 17, 2022
I'm unsure of Andre Norton's heroine and her magic wand. Just as I am uncertain of the editor's flagrant aversion to the word 'heroine.' The last volume began with a Robert E. Howard story. Action-packed. Norton's yarn came off as sorta cheesy.
The next story was Ramsey Campbell and it was - predictably - pretty good.
Then this one came outta nowhere: A barbarian king forces himself on a peasant woman on her wedding night, and the kicker is - she likes it. That's the whole story. No wonder this book is OOP. At first, I was giving the editor a break and thinking of him as merely 'old fashioned' but I think he is, in actuality, a leering, mouth-breathing misogynist. Just sayin'.
Only two stars here. I have the others in the series and might check them out - vol. 1 was actually pretty good. Onto #3! (3 is really hard to find and quite expensive. I lucked out and got a nice copy pretty cheap.)
The next story was Ramsey Campbell and it was - predictably - pretty good.
Then this one came outta nowhere: A barbarian king forces himself on a peasant woman on her wedding night, and the kicker is - she likes it. That's the whole story. No wonder this book is OOP. At first, I was giving the editor a break and thinking of him as merely 'old fashioned' but I think he is, in actuality, a leering, mouth-breathing misogynist. Just sayin'.
Only two stars here. I have the others in the series and might check them out - vol. 1 was actually pretty good. Onto #3! (3 is really hard to find and quite expensive. I lucked out and got a nice copy pretty cheap.)
March 24, 2023
This is really a typical sword and sorcery anthology from the 70s, when these type of collections became very popular. The stories are what you'd expect for the most part, other than one.
The Coming of Age in Zamora by David M. Harris. When I first read this story, I wondered if it was really as offensive as it seemed, or if it was just me. Then I read some of the other reviews, and realized it wasn't just me. It was supposed to be humorous, but since the main premise of the story was rape, it wasn't funny at all, just offensive.
It's a solid collection other than that story, which really brings the whole book down.
The Coming of Age in Zamora by David M. Harris. When I first read this story, I wondered if it was really as offensive as it seemed, or if it was just me. Then I read some of the other reviews, and realized it wasn't just me. It was supposed to be humorous, but since the main premise of the story was rape, it wasn't funny at all, just offensive.
It's a solid collection other than that story, which really brings the whole book down.
November 6, 2019
It's worth having just for the Andre Norton story 'Sword of Unbelief' that opens the book...
May 9, 2014
While not quite as strong overall as the first volume, this book still contains many fine stories, and an interesting mix of authors. The first is a Witch World story by Andre Norton, that I found had a fine atmosphere, but the plot was rather weak and uninspired, though their were many elements of interest for me in the world building, and many mysteries she opens up that I hope she solves in other Witch World stories. Ramsey Campbell's Ryre story in this volume is magnificent, and I look forward to reading all the stories involving this character. Many Wade Wellman's Kardios story is fun and well written and highly enjoyable. David M. Harris' Coming of Age in Zamora is one of the weaker stories of this volume, by the end I came to enjoy it, as it is a humorous and ribald tale well told. Richard Teirney's Simon of Gitta story is well told and well written. Then we have a story by Tanith Lee, well written with many of her distinctive trademarks and a very unique voice. The story by Dennis More, a pseudonym for Keith Taylor is also well done. andy j. offutt's entry in this volume is fairly decent, not my favorite, but pretty good, some inventive bits and some nice twists. Worth the price of admission, yet again.
August 5, 2014
An excellent selection including fantasy adventures from the legendary Andre Norton, then newcomer Tanith Lee, plus Manly Wade Wellman and horror writer Ramsey Campbell. Unfortunately "Coming of Age in Zamora," while it has a great idea (King Conan becomes old, slow and fat) decides rape is just sooo funny—the protagonist grumbles that there was a time he'd have just raped this one woman but now that he's king he has to think about political repercussions so he can't rape her (he is, by the way, supposed to be lovable). Wow, LOL. Not. Everything else gets four stars, that one gets a zero
September 29, 2015
A collection of short fantasy stories by some very excellent authors. While it has a somewhat sleazy/silly cover art, the best is in between the covers.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews