Swords Against Darkness: Volume 2

Edited by Andrew Offutt

The first volume delivered good sword-and-sorcery action in a variety of flavors. The follow-up continues along the same lines, but does not stride so boldly toward its goal. And it wanders further away from the Howard tradition than did the first volume.

Several authors reprise characters from the first volume. Manly Wade Wellman is back with a tale of Kardios of sunken Atlantis; Ramsey Campbell brings us another adventure of Ryre, lone-wolf swordsman; Richard Tierney’s S-and-S secret agent Simon of Gitta returns as well. Their presence is welcome, and their stories deliver a solid connection to the first book without being repetitive.

Kardios is a Conan-esque character with a poet’s soul and a more humorous sense of adventure. In The Dweller In The Temple he seems more a driving force in the story than he did in “SAD: I,” and the tale has a palace setting that sets it apart from the previous Straggler from Atlantis. It’s basic sword-and-sorcery, and a fun read.

Campbell’s Ryre returns in Changer of Names, a story much less horrific in tone than was The Sustenance of Hoak in “SAD: I.” Ryre confronts a more personal affront this time, and the story flows along more classic sword-and-sorcery channels. Campbell’s strong prose elevates it above much in the genre.

The Scroll of Thoth adheres more closely to the mould Tierney established for his hero, Simon, in The Ring of Set from “SAD: I.” But it’s a fine mould indeed, as Simon relies more on knowledge, subterfuge and an array of skills to battle the forces of evil than does the typical brawny hero. And this story involves the mad emperor Caligula, and some deep dark magic that should be left alone. It’s a very entertaining read, and an object lesson for authors seeking to create more inventive heroes.

“SAD II” offers tales from writers who were not involved in the first volume; thus further illustrating the wide variety of storytelling possible in a genre often berated for formula. Unfortunately, not all of these stories stand up to the promise of the first volume.

Andre Norton’s The Sword of Unbelief leads off “SAD: II.” It’s a Witch World tale, and fans of that highly popular series may take delight in that. I think, though, Norton’s highly choreographed and detailed setting sometimes hinders her short fiction -- too often. Details from High Hallack and lineages of characters and explanations of geography, etc., take up big chunks of words that detract from the plot. That’s less of a problem here than in other Witch World shorts, and it still was enough to try my patience.

The story itself has a strong simple plot, in which the heroine travels to save her beloved from captors. But it drags; the protagonist Elys has no traveling companion, so there is no dialogue until she gets where she is going. It takes a long time to get there. Norton describes the journey beautifully at times, vividly describing the harsh elements. But when all is said and done, it’s just wind and sand. The battles are magical and metaphysical in nature, and even at the climax it’s mostly a lot of thinking and calculating and philosophizing on the part of Elys. Nary a sword is bloodied, and the whole thing just seems too slow.

The Coming of Age in Zamora, by David M. Harris, is not quite a heroic fantasy, but it’s a close cousin and an entertaining read. It involves a barbarian who made good and his not-so-easy adjustments to the pampered noble life. The tale is told with humor and heart, and is appealing because of its universal theme -- growing older and yearning for lost youth. This story could have been about a gunslinger, a Mafia boss or a planetary biologist -- it is simply our good fortune that Harris chose to make his hero a barbaric swordsman. The grit and savagery of sword-and-sorcery is missing in this tale, but I think Conan fans will relate to the protagonist, Gargur, and wish him well.

Another story that missed with me was Tanith Lee’s Odds Against The Gods, an oddity that seemed to never really go anywhere. I’m generally a fan of Lee’s, but this one didn’t impress. There is magic, and monsters, and a trek, and a pursuit, and an interesting setting -- even a little lesbianism. It’s all told smoothly, and as always Lee delivers some just plain beautiful sentences. But it all seems somehow disjointed, and ends with an implausible romantic union that, I guess, must have been the point of all the chasing and such that preceded it. If you’re a Lee fan, give it a try. If you dislike her other work, I don’t think this one is going to win you over.

On Skellig Michael by Dennis More is a fine tale, although far more gentle than one might expect from “SAD: II’s” cover painting of a Conan-esque figure battling some sort of gigantic monstrous beetle. The hero is Felimid mac Fal mac Fergus of fair Erin, a bard with mysterious powers, a geas that limits him and connections to gods not much worshipped anymore. Here he is trapped on an isle with monks who mistrust him and selchies whom the monks are at odds with. It’s an interesting story, short on action but filled with believable characters who follow their simple but human motivations in believable ways. It isn’t sword-and-sorcery, but it’s nicely done.

“SAD: II” wraps with Last Quest, by the anthologist himself, Andrew J. Offutt. The story is filled with imaginative monsters -- spiders who speak and hurl spells, vicious sand-dragons -- and a damsel in distress and some bizarre magic. There is a dangerous trek, frought with battles. But it all comes apart in the telling -- the invented background seems to be vaguely Babylonian or some blending of ancient realms, but the dialogue often seems better suited to a Sabatini parody. You can almost hear Erroll Flynn’s “Captain Blood” speaking some of the lines, and it seems so at odds with the ancient-styled buildings and clothing and names that it kicked me out of the story almost every time a character spoke. It’s a vivid story, told with gusto -- perhaps too much -- and may bring a smile, particularly to readers with heavy role-playing game backgrounds. But you’ll have to be able to leap over that dialogue first, and I’m not much of a jumper.

I will say this, though: Although his story did not work for me, Offutt did another good job as an anthologist. The percentage of winners in this volume was not as high for me as it was in the debut volume, but there still is enough good stuff here to make me feel I got my money’s worth at the used-book store. And the variety of storytelling demonstrates that sword-and-sorcery and heroic fantasy can be a vehicle for any kind of story, which seems to be part of Offutt’s goal.

About the Author

Steve Goble is a longtime sword and sorcery fan and an aspiring writer. One of his short stories, “The Hungry Bottle,” appeared in a CD-ROM anthology called “The Goblin Market” produced by Eggplant Productions. His first novel, “Sundered Souls,” is being shopped around to potential publishers.