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eBook Category: Fantasy
eBook Description: WOMEN OF POWER AND ENCHANTMENT ... For over two decades, the late Marion Zimmer Bradley, best-selling and beloved author, discovered and nurtured a grand generation of popular and acclaimed writers including Mercedes Lackey (who returns to grace our pages this year), Jennifer Roberson, and a host of others. Authors who have appeared within the pages of Sword and Sorceress represent the full spectrum of some of the brightest talent working today--from C.J. Cherryh, Charles de Lint, and Emma Bull ... to Deborah J. Ross, Diana L. Paxson, and Laurell K. Hamilton. We are proud to continue the classic and vibrant feminist tradition with this twenty-third volume of new magical adventures edited by Elisabeth Waters, secretary and co-editor to Mrs. Bradley. Here are nineteen original stories of powerful women, swashbuckling and magic, spells and duels, arcane sorcery and heroic sacrifice, written by familiar spell-casters of wonder and bright newcomers who are sure to become favorites. Enter a wondrous universe ...

eBook Publisher: Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust, Published: 2008
Fictionwise Release Date: December 2009

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Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [300 KB] , ePub (EPUB) [290 KB] , Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [271 KB] , Portable Document Format (PDF) [867 KB] , Palm Doc (PDB) [305 KB] , Microsoft Reader (LIT) [265 KB] , Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [315 KB] , hiebook (KML) [685 KB] , Sony Reader (LRF) [360 KB] , iSilo (PDB) [253 KB] , Mobipocket (PRC) [316 KB] , Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [362 KB] , OEBFF Format (IMP) [420 KB]
Words: 93301
Reading time: 266-373 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Portable Document Format (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

"For over 20 volumes, Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress anthologies have combined many established authors with newcomers under the common themes. The 23rd installment in this long-running series is edited by Elisabeth Waters, and there are some real gems in the collection." -- Elizabeth A. Allen, The Fix

Introduction by Elisabeth Waters

I was delighted to learn that SWORD & SORCERESS 22 sold well enough to justify doing SWORD & SORCERESS 23, and I hope that this will continue. Not only do I enjoy editing these anthologies, but also I am happy that we are able to continue Marion Zimmer Bradley's work of discovering and encouraging new writers. It's gratifying to watch a writer go from submitting the sort of story that used to get MZB's "willing suspension of disbelief does not mean 'hang by the neck until dead'" rejection to a story that an editor would like to buy.

It's also great fun to see the next episode in some of the series that run through SWORD & SORCERESS. Mercedes Lackey's Vows and Honor series started with a story in SWORD & SORCERESS 3, continued with seven more stories in SWORD & SORCERESS 4 through 10, and then became a book. Catherine Soto's third Temple Cats story is in this volume, as is the fifth story in the Treasures series, which Michael Spence and I have been passing back and forth between us since SWORD & SORCERESS 14. Heather Rose Jones's Skins stories began appearing in SWORD & SORCERESS 12, and her most recent one was in SWORD & SORCERESS 22. Unfortunately, she didn't send me one this year, but maybe she will next year. We also have a couple of stories that are sequels to stories from earlier volumes, but it's too soon to know whether any of them will develop into a series or not.

Editors often hear two closely-related questions: "Why did you buy that story for the anthology?" and "Why didn't you buy my story?" Sometimes I'm asked the latter in person at a convention; ideally the questioner is a professional looking for more feedback, but sometimes he or she is an amateur who is out to convince me that I was wrong to reject his or her story. The most important thing to remember about rejection, whether you are just starting out or have been selling for decades (oh yes, rejection slips can still hurt, even then) is that the editor is rejecting the story, not you as a person.

Why, then, does an editor buy - or reject - a story?

In simplest terms, editors buy stories they like; what becomes complex are the reasons the editor likes a story. I have often thought that an editor is a collection of prejudices - certainly MZB was - but as long as what the editor likes matches what the readers of the publication like, this is probably a good thing.

There are a lot of other factors, of course: the story must fit the market (which is why reading the guidelines before submitting is essential) and must be the right length. The length desired changes over time, resulting in rejections such as "I really liked this story, but it's the maximum length the guidelines allow and you submitted it the day of the deadline, so I'd have to reject three other stories I've already put in the tentative final line-up to include this one." By the end of the reading period I am more apt to be looking for something short and funny; anything long has to be truly spectacular. Sometimes the length has to be the size of the current hole in the line-up, especially if the line-up is for a magazine, which has less flexibility than an anthology.

Then, at least for SWORD & SORCERESS, there's the issue of balance: Do the stories, taken together, emphasize the "swords," or the "sorcery" - or do they evenly mix the two? Have we included enough new writers? On the other hand, do we have enough writers who are well-known and whose names will help sell the anthology? (If you would like a more detailed explanation, see MZB's "Why Did my Story Get Rejected?" at www.mzbworks.com.)

What I personally tend to look for is a story that is both original and memorable. If I hold a story overnight and can't remember the next morning what it was about, I'm apt to reject it in favor of something I do still remember the next day, the next month, and beyond.

Once I have chosen the stories, the next question is what order to put them in. I've seen an anthology where the stories were in alphabetical order by the author's last name (the editor was a librarian by training), but I really don't think that's the ideal arrangement. Not that I know what the ideal arrangement is, or even if there is one, but I try to come up with one that I hope the reader will find satisfying.

Consider, as I have been lately, the book of Psalms. (For those not familiar with that portion of the Bible, it is a collection of 150 pieces ranging in length from 2 to 176 verses.) The first one can be taken as a keynote statement for the book: it praises the righteous man and condemns the ungodly, basically saying that keeping God's law is a right and proper thing and will make life good. The last several psalms end the book on a high note, with praises to God.

Similarly, SWORD & SORCERESS traditionally begins with a strong story representing a mix of the martial and magical arts, and ends with something short and funny. We want to leave our readers smiling. (I imagine that psalms praising God would have a similar effect.) Other than that, I try to alternate between short and long stories and between stories about swords, sorcery, or both.

So here are the stories I liked - for various reasons - this year. I hope you will like them too.