Summary
The Flashing Swords! series provides a cross-section of the heroic fantasy of the 1970s-early 1980s. The initial two volumes included stories by the eight founding members of SAGA, with the third and fourth also including pieces by newer members as membership was extended to other fantasy authors; the fifth volume devoted entirely to newer members. Carter and SAGA also sponsored The Gandalf Award from 1974-1981. With the collapse of Carter’s health in the 1980s the anthology series, the Gandalf award, and SAGA itself all went into abeyance.
In the 2020s a revival of the series edited by Carter's literary executor Robert M. Price was projected, to feature contemporary fantasy writers; some older pieces by Carter were also included. The first volume, Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! #6 published (briefly) by Pulp Hero Press in July, 2020. Due to an introduction found objectionable by some of the authors whose works were included, the publisher delisted the book a few days after publication. [2] A second edition of the volume, retaining just three of its twelve stories and adding seven more, was eventually issued by Timaios Press in January, 2021. [3] Subsequent volumes of the revived series were issued by different publishers.
Contents
In all, twenty-three stories by fifteen authors were published in the original five-volume series, all of them for the first time. These included two "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser" stories by Fritz Leiber (in #1 and #3), two "Dying Earth" stories by Jack Vance (in #1 and #4), the first two parts of the novel The Merman's Children by Poul Anderson (also in #1 and #4), two "Amalric the Mangod" stories by Lin Carter (in #1 and #3), a "Pusad" tale and the first part of the novel The Incorporated Knight by L. Sprague de Camp (in #2 and #3, respectively), two "Elric of Melniboné" stories by Michael Moorcock (in #2 and #4), two "Witch World" stories by Andre Norton (in #2 and #3), two "Brak the Barbarian" stories by John Jakes (in #2 and #4), one story by Avram Davidson (in #3), a "Deryni" story by Katherine Kurtz (in #4), a "Dilvish" story by Roger Zelazny (in #5), a story by C. J. Cherryh (in #5), a story by Diane Duane (in #5), an "Ebenezum" story by Craig Shaw Gardner (in #5), and a story by Tanith Lee (in #5).
In Price's volumes 6-8 (including both versions of v. 6) forty-one stories by twenty-one authors were published, including three by Glynn Owen Barrass, one by Cliff Biggers, three by Lin Carter, one by Adrian Cole, three by Pierre V. Comtois, one by Jason Ross Cummings, one by Santiago del Dardano Turann, two by Steve Dilks, one by Charles Garofalo, three by Clayton L. Hinkle, one by Mike Jansen, four by Wayne Judge, one by Steve Lines, one by Paul F. McNamee, seven by Robert M. Price, one by D. M. Ritzlin, one by Charles R. Rutledge, one by Frank Schildiner, one by Richard Toogood, one by Michael A. Turton, and five by Glen M. Usher. The pieces by Hinkle are graphic novellas.
Relation to other works
A precursor of the series was Swords Against Tomorrow , edited by Robert Hoskins (Signet Books, 1970), an anthology which included pieces by four of the eight SAGA members of that time. [4]
Before producing the two versions of Flashing Swords! #6 Robert M. Price edited a similar Sword and Sorcery anthology, The Mighty Warriors (Ulthar Press, 2018), showcasing some of the same authors whose works appeared in his Flashing Swords! volumes. [5]
Of the stories slated for the original version of Flashing Swords! #6 that were not carried over into the revised version, D. M. Ritzlin's "A Twisted Branch of Yggdrasil was subsequently published in his collection Necromancy in Nilztiria (DMR Books, 2020), while Adrian Cole's "The Tower in the Crimson Mist" and Steve Dilks's "Tale of the Uncrowned Kings" were subsequently published in the anthology Savage Scrolls, Volume One (Pulp Hero Press, 2020).
Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin. He is best known for his work in the 1970s as editor of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, which introduced readers to many overlooked classics of the fantasy genre.
The Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America or SAGA was an informal group of American fantasy authors active from the 1960s through the 1980s, noted for their contributions to the "Sword and Sorcery" kind of heroic fantasy, itself a subgenre of fantasy. When it developed a serious purpose that was to promote the popularity and respectability of Sword and Sorcery fiction.
The Spell of Seven is an anthology of fantasy short stories in the sword and sorcery subgenre, edited by L. Sprague de Camp and illustrated by Virgil Finlay. It was first published in paperback by Pyramid Books in June 1965, and reprinted in December 1969. It was the second such anthology assembled by de Camp, following his Swords and Sorcery (1963).
Kingdoms of Sorcery: An Anthology of Adult Fantasy is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in hardcover by Doubleday in January 1976 as the first of two such anthologies continuing a series of nine assembled by Carter for the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.
Dragons, Elves, and Heroes is an American anthology of fantasy short stories, edited by American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in October 1969 as the sixth volume of its Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. It was the first such anthology assembled by Carter for the series, issued simultaneously with the second, The Young Magicians.
Flashing Swords! #1 is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by the American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in hardcover by Nelson Doubleday in April 1973 as a selection in its Science Fiction Book Club, and in paperback by Dell Books in July the same year. The first British edition was issued by Mayflower in 1974.
Flashing Swords! #2 is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in hardcover by Nelson Doubleday in 1973 as a selection in its Science Fiction Book Club and in paperback by Dell Books in February 1974. The first British edition was issued by Mayflower in February 1975.
Flashing Swords! #3: Warriors and Wizards is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Dell Books in August 1976. The first German edition was issued by Pabel in November 1978.
Flashing Swords! #4: Barbarians and Black Magicians is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by Lin Carter. It was first published in hardcover by Nelson Doubleday in May 1977 as a selection in its Science Fiction Book Club, and in paperback by Dell Books in November 1977.
Flashing Swords! #5: Demons and Daggers is an American anthology of fantasy stories, edited by American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in hardcover by Nelson Doubleday in December 1981 as a selection in its Science Fiction Book Club, and in paperback by Dell Books simultaneously.
Weird Tales was a series of paperback anthologies, a revival of the classic fantasy and horror magazine of the same title, published by Zebra Books from 1980 to 1983 under the editorship of Lin Carter. It was issued more or less annually, though the first two volumes were issued simultaneously and there was a year’s gap between the third and fourth. It was preceded and succeeded by versions of the title in standard magazine form.
Young Thongor is a collection of fantasy short stories by American writer Lin Carter, with additional material by Robert M. Price, edited and with a foreword by Adrian Cole. It was first published in trade paperback by Wildside Press in May, 2012. Most of the pieces were first published in magazines, anthologies or other books by Carter; the remaining pieces are original to the present work.
The Mighty Warriors is an anthology of fantasy short stories in the sword and sorcery subgenre, edited by Robert M. Price. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook by Ulthar Press in May 2018, and was a homage to the similar early sword and sorcery anthologies The Mighty Barbarians (1969) and The Mighty Swordsmen (1970) edited by Hans Stefan Santesson.
Bibliography of science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction writer Lin Carter:
Savage Scrolls, Volume One: Thrilling Tales of Sword-and-Sorcery is an anthology of fantasy short stories in the sword and sorcery subgenre, edited by Jason Ray Carney. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook by Pulp Hero Press in November 2020, and takes its title from Savage Scrolls, Volume One: Scholarship from the Hyborian Age (2017), an earlier volume of literary criticism by Fred Blosser from the same publisher. Each was projected to be the first in a series; no further volumes of the Blosser title were forthcoming, but a second volume of the Carney title "is already in the works," with at least four projected in all.
Renegade Swords is an anthology of fantasy short stories in the sword and sorcery subgenre, edited by D. M. Ritzlin. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook by DMR Books in March 2020.
DMR Books is a Chicago-based small publisher active since 2015. The press was founded by D. M. Ritzlin. It is primarily a paperback and ebook publisher specializing in "fantasy, horror, and adventure fiction in the traditions of Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, and other classic writers of the pulp era."
Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! #6 is an anthology of fantasy stories in the sword and sorcery subgenre, edited by Robert M. Price. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook by Pulp Hero Press in July 2020, but was delisted by the publisher shortly after publication. A second edition with substantially different content was published in hardcover and trade paperback by Timaios Press in January 2021.
Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! #7 is an anthology of fantasy stories in the sword and sorcery subgenre, edited by Robert M. Price. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook by Ramble House in June 2023.
Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! #8 is an anthology of fantasy stories in the sword and sorcery subgenre, edited by Robert M. Price. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook by Cushing Publishing in December 2023.
