Sword and Sorceress 27 Paperback – June 12, 2014

Solid stories. Waters does a wonderful job of finding new authors while bringing back favorites grim previous years. The end.

As always, the stories in this volume are interesting, entertaining, and thought-provoking. As always, the proofreading is sloppy. That's one tradition of MZB that I wish Elisabeth waters had NOT continued. (Page 27, "she discover...". Page 29, "...with whom she had been having a mild flirtation with...". Page 34, used the word "though" when what was meant was "thought". Page 46, used "he'd" when what was meant was "she'd". Page 51, "...the bishop would never go the barrow himself." (missing the word "to"). Page 53, extraneous close quotation at the end of a sentence that was not a quote.Page 57, "...the bishop was a dry husk dressed in silken in robes." Page 75, "shown" when what was meant was "shone". Page 76, extraneous "breath." at the end of a sentence that ended with that word and period.Page 110, "of" when what was meant was "over" -- "Siri gazed at her visitor of the lip of the bowl."Page 132, "nomad's" for a plural.Page 133, "then" when what was meant was "them".Page 134, missing the word "to" -- "...were the ones to reach out the nomad khans..." Page 155, "...pushed herself into her knees..." Page 202, the word "that" when what was meant was "than".Page 237, missing the word "wonder" -- "...had begun to whether anything would be left...". Page 259, extraneous word "the" -- "Now the half the roof had fallen in..." Page 262, the word "at" when what was meant was "as". Page 264, the word "happened" when what was meant was "happen". Page 266, the word "burn" when what was meant was "burned".) I probably missed a few, but you get the idea. A couple of these in a book would be forgivable. This many is a detriment to the quality of the stories.

I have read and still own all twenty-seven volumes of this series. I can't praise the Sword and Sorceress anthology series enough. I wish I didn't have to wait a year for the next volume. There is something about the fantasy stories chosen for these anthologies that always satisfy. There is always a twist at the end that surprises. Many of the authors in this volume have written stories for previous volumes, so I enjoyed reading about the continuing adventures of their characters. I think my favorite story this time is "The Raw and the Cooked" by Michael H. Payne about Cluny, the student mage who happens to be a squirrel with a human familiar. They have been having adventures since Vol. 19. Read them all. I read a lot of fantasy. Sword and Sorceress and anything by Patricia McKillip are at the top of my list. I recommend highly this volume and all the previous 26 volumes.

I have been a fan of the Sword and Sorceress series ever since I found the first one in a bookstore. I bought it, and every subsequent volume since and have never regretted it. Every volume has had interesting stories and this latest version does not disappoint. This volume includes stories that involve unusual used of power or "sorcery" if you prfer, and some twists on old themes e.g. selkies. Any lover of fantastic fiction, especially fiction with strong female protagonists, will enjoy this latest installment to the S&S series. I thoroughly recommend it. I am so glad the series was kept going after the death of Marion Zimmer Bradley and I hope they continue to do so. The S&S books feature high on my "List of Books I Absolutely Must Have."

Editor Elisabeth Waters follows in Marion Zimmer Bradley's footsteps very well, in my opinion.She puts in her anthologies stories she would like to read, and her and my taste coincide quite well.I don't like tragedies and horror. While horrific things happen in some of the stories, they don't trip off my uck filter.Some of the stories contain characters seen in prior anthologies, and are even more enjoyable for that.Very good in my opinion.

As always, there are several outstanding stories. Several of the authors are people that I look forward to reading in this series each time a new one comes out. There are not so great stories once in a while but sometimes they are just not my personal preference, and others will like them. Hope they keep coming.

Elisabeth Waters has continued what Marion Zimmer Bradley began in this series and the stories get better and better with each one!

Love the continuation of some familiar characters and love being introduced to some new ones. The way I like to describe the series to people who have yet to read them, is to say, "If you like strong, competent women who occasionally kick A, you will love these stories!"

Die von Marion Zimmer Bradley gestartete Reihe (zu Zeiten als solche Fantasy echt noch selten im Buchregal zu finden war) hat auch unter geänderter Leitung nichts an Qualität verloren. Die Geschichten geben einen bunten Schnitt durch Fantasy, die Frauen als Protagonisten bevorzugt. Das ist aber fern von Red Sonja, die sich nur über die Muskeln definiert, oder von emanzipierten Rotkäppchen. Die Storys sind spannend, lustig oder nachdenklich. Und immer eine Fundgrube von neuen Autoren, die oft wunderbare Bücher schreiben, die man sonst nicht entdecken würde.

Ich bin seit etlichen Jahren ein großer Fan von "Sword and Sorceress", und auch dieses Buch wird den Erwartungenvoll und ganz gerecht.