Click on image to enlarge.
|
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress XXIV [MultiFormat]
eBook by Elisabeth Waters
| |
Regular |
|
 |
|
Club |
| You Pay: |
$6.99 |
|
|
|
$5.94 |
eBook Category: Fantasy
eBook Description: WOMEN OF CHIVALRY AND PROPHECY 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, 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-fourth volume of new magical adventures edited by Elisabeth Waters, secretary and co-editor to Mrs. Bradley. Here are seventeen original stories of remarkable women of power, swashbuckling and magic, spells and duels, arcane sorcery and fabled heroism, written by familiar word-weavers of excitement and adventure, and bright newcomers who are sure to become favorites. Enter a wondrous universe . . . Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress. This volume includes stories by Deborah J. Ross, Helen E. Davis, Elisabeth Waters & Michael Spence, Brenta Blevins, K.D. Wentworth, Teresa Howard, Catherine Soto, Josepha Sherman, Cate McBride, Cynthia Ward, Jonathan Moeller, Dave Smeds, Therese Arkenberg, Michael H. Payne, Annclaire Livoti, Julia H. West, and Melissa Mead.
eBook Publisher: Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust, Published: 2009
Fictionwise Release Date: October 2010
4 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
| Great |
Good |
OK |
Poor |
Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [325 KB]
, ePub (EPUB) [297 KB]
, Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [266 KB]
, Portable Document Format (PDF) [888 KB]
, Palm Doc (PDB) [301 KB]
, Microsoft Reader (LIT) [270 KB]
, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [309 KB]
, hiebook (KML) [672 KB]
, Sony Reader (LRF) [350 KB]
, iSilo (PDB) [248 KB]
, Mobipocket (PRC) [310 KB]
, Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [365 KB]
, OEBFF Format (IMP) [411 KB]
Words: 91851
Reading time: 262-367 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
 
"Waters ably continues the feminist anthology series founded by Bradley (1930--1999) to showcase short-form fantasy with a wide variety of heroic female characters. Of the 17 stories featured, standout selections include A Curious Case by Annclaire Livoti, a literary gem of a paranormal fantasy that pits a magic-practicing PI against a serial killer targeting succubae, and Julia H. West's Soul Walls, which brilliantly fuses magic, art and Native American mysticism. A disorganized wizard and his unhappy wife are at the heart of the charming Merlin's Clutter by Helen E. Davis, and a princess solves the mystery of her father's murder through a magical tapestry in Brenta Blevins's Material Witness. Though some of the selections are less than stellar, fantasy fans looking for original stories will find much to enjoy." -- Publishers Weekly
In 1983, Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote in the introduction to the first Sword and Sorceress anthology: "Valor has neither race nor color - nor does it have gender.... That I have chosen stories about both men and women, and written by both men and women, is, I hope, a sign of the times, and a hopeful outlook for the future of heroic fiction. And, since life always imitates art, it may be a heroic sign for the future of both women and men. Anyone can write male sexist fiction..."
It has now been 25 years since the first volume of SWORD & SORCERESS was published. The slush pile still demonstrates that anyone can write male sexist fiction - I rejected quite a bit of it this year. I can frequently tell the author's gender without looking at the byline simply by noting how the first female character is described. If the emphasis is on the length or shape of her legs, her long flowing hair, or the size of her breasts - or, worse yet, a totally unrealistic idea of how her breasts hold up a strapless gown (in normal gravity, they don't) - the author is probably male. There are female writers who objectify men the same way, so perhaps we've progressed from "anyone can write male sexist fiction" to "anyone can write sexist fiction." One could call this progress, but I'm not certain that I do.
As for life imitating art, progress is mixed there as well. As I write this it is June 2009. Next month confirmation hearings will begin for a Federal judge who has been nominated to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Despite Marion's saying in 1985 that she didn't want any more stories of the "you can't be a [insert profession here] because you're a girl" type, there are still talk-show hosts who are making tasteless remarks about Judge Sotomayor's gender and biology. Most people are ignoring them, but I have yet to hear anyone say that these men are totally out of line or that their comments are unacceptable. Meanwhile sex has become so pervasive on television that the only shows I've seen lately without commercials for 'male enhancement' products are on the Disney Channel.
It is quite true that valor has no gender. Female members of the armed forces are earning combat medals, despite the fact that they are not supposed to be in combat. Nuns go to places that are both politically unstable and naturally dangerous. Here's an example from a blog posted earlier this year: "After Mass we visited the cemetery within the grounds to pay our respects to the first 3 Mercy sisters who died in Kenya. As an added treat I got to see the grave of the sister who died from a hunting spider bite 18 months ago."
Heroism is not confined to men, and I suspect that it never was. We just need to remind the world of this, and I hope that this volume of SWORD & SORCERESS will do just that.
|
)
