Sword and sorcery (S&S) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tales, though dramatic, focus on personal battles rather than world-endangering matters. Sword and sorcery commonly overlaps with heroic fantasy.
Karl Edward Wagner was an American writer, poet, editor, and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. He wrote numerous dark fantasy and horror stories. As an editor, he created a three-volume set of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian fiction restored to its original form as written, and edited the long-running and genre-defining The Year's Best Horror Stories series for DAW Books. His Carcosa publishing company issued four volumes of the best stories by some of the major authors of the so-called Golden Age pulp magazines. He is possibly best known for his creation of a series of stories featuring the character Kane, the Mystic Swordsman.
The Collected Short Fiction of C. J. Cherryh is a collection of science fiction and fantasy short stories, novelettes and novella written by American author C. J. Cherryh between 1977 and 2004. It was first published by DAW Books in 2004. This collection includes the contents of two previous Cherryh collections, Sunfall (1981) and Visible Light (1986), all of the stories from Glass and Amber (1987), stories originally published in other collections and magazines, and one story written specifically for this collection ("MasKs"). Cherryh's 1978 Hugo Award winning story, "Cassandra" is also included.
Harold Warner Munn was an American writer of fantasy, horror and poetry, best remembered for his early stories in Weird Tales. He was an early friend and associate of authors H. P. Lovecraft and Seabury Quinn. He has been described by fellow author Jessica Amanda Salmonson, who interviewed him during 1978, as "the ultimate gentleman" and "a gentle, calm, warm, and good friend." He was known for his intricate plotting and the careful research that he did for his stories, a habit he traced back to two mistakes made when he wrote his early story "The City of Spiders".
Charles Robert Saunders was an African-American author and journalist, a pioneer of the "sword and soul" literary genre with his Imaro novels. During his long career, he wrote novels, non-fiction, screenplays and radio plays.
Sheree Renée Thomas is an American writer, book editor, publisher, and contributor to many notable publications. In 2020, Thomas was named editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
Janrae Frank was an American journalist, writer and editor known primarily for her work in science fiction and fantasy. She wrote extensively on the subject of women and feminism in speculative fiction.
The Ealdwood Stories, also known as the Arafel Stories, are a collection of fantasy works by American writer C. J. Cherryh. The books are works of high fantasy based in part on Celtic mythology. Arafel, a main character, is a Daoine Sidhe, the highest of the Sidhe faery-folk. She dwells in the magical small forest of Ealdwood, from which the tales take their name.
"Ealdwood" is a fantasy novella by American writer C. J. Cherryh. One of Cherryh's Ealdwood Stories, it was first published in 1981 by Donald M. Grant in a limited edition of 1,050 copies. The edition was illustrated by the author's brother, David A. Cherry. The novella draws on Celtic mythology and is about Ealdwood, a forest at the edge of Faery, and Arafel, a Daoine Sidhe.
Janus was a feminist science fiction fanzine edited by Janice Bogstad and Jeanne Gomoll in Madison, Wisconsin, and closely associated with that city's science fiction convention, WisCon. It was repeatedly nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine ; this led to accusations that if Janus had not been feminist, it wouldn't have been nominated. Eighteen issues were published under this name from 1975 to 1980; it was succeeded by Aurora SF.
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders is a collection of short stories and poetry by English author Neil Gaiman. It was published in the US and UK in 2006 by HarperCollins and Headline Review.
Jessica Amanda Salmonson is an American author and editor of fantasy and horror fiction and poetry. She lives on Puget Sound with her partner, artist and editor Rhonda Boothe.
Bruce Coville's Shapeshifters is a work of juvenile fiction. It is an anthology of short stories compiled and edited by Bruce Coville for Avon Camelot Books. It was first printed October 1999. Steve Roman is credited in the book as assisting in its creation. Bruce Coville's Alien Visitors and Bruce Coville's Strange Worlds are in the same series. These books are similar to Coville's anthologies for Scholastic Publishing, starting with Bruce Coville's Book of Monsters. Both series include stories by award-winning fantasy and science-fiction authors such as Jane Yolen and Ray Bradbury, as well as other supernatural and extraterrestrial stories from a broad range of other writers.
Lore of the Witch World is a collection of science fantasy short stories by American writer Andre Norton, forming part of her Witch World series. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in September 1980, and has been reprinted numerous times since. Early printings had cover art by Michael Whelan and a frontispiece by Jack Gaughan.
Amazons II is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson, with a cover by Michael Whelan. Following up her earlier anthology Amazons!, it consists, like its predecessor volume, of works featuring female protagonists by (mostly) female authors. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in June 1982.
Heroic Visions is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson. It was first published in paperback by Ace Books in March 1983.
Heroic Visions is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson. It was first published in paperback by Ace Books in July 1986.
Wizards' Worlds is a collection of science fantasy short stories by American writer Andre Norton. It was first published in hardcover by Tor Books in September 1989, with a limited edition, also in hardcover, following in December of the same year from Easton Press as part of its "Signed First Editions of Science Fiction" series. The book was reprinted in paperback by Tor in July 1990.
The Architecture of Fear is an anthology of horror stories edited by Peter D. Pautz and Kathryn Cramer. It was published by Arbor House in October 1987. The anthology contains, among several other stories, the Gene Wolfe short story "In the House of Gingerbread", which was original to the anthology and was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story. The anthology itself won the 1988 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology.
Jules Remedios Faye is an American author, editor, letterpress printmaker, bookbinder, teacher, and creator of artists’ books. With husband Christopher Stern she established Stern & Faye Printers, a letterpress print shop & hand bookbindery located in Mt Vernon, WA. Faye teaches, curates and participates in bookarts exhibits and events throughout the Skagit Valley and Puget Sound area.
