Customer Reviews

Flashing Swords 2

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`Flashing Swords ! # 2' (Dell paperback, 1974, cover art by Frank Frazetta) was editor Lin Carter's effort to provide a showcase for new fantasy short fiction, in a manner akin to that of the `Orbit' SF series helmed by Damon Knight.

The first story in the collection, `The Rug and the Bull' by Sprague de Camp, is set in the `Pusad' universe, a sort of pre-Atlantean culture where magic holds sway. The protagonist seeks to use a stolen flying carpet as the gateway to riches and fame, but winds up annoying a local mage, with interesting results. The story suffers from cutesy dialogue and belabored prose; unfortunately, rather common features of de Camp's fiction.

Michael Moorcock provides `The Jade Man's Eyes', an early Elric tale that sees our moody antihero and his sidekick Moonglum accompany Duke Avan on an expedition across treacherous seas to a tropical continent not marked on any map. Somewhere within the trackless forests is a lost city rumored to be the founding place of the Melnibonean race. As is usual when Elric tags along, the expedition runs into trouble and a favorable outcome is never assured. This is an effective story, with the downbeat tenor that characterizes the best of the Elric stories.

Andre Norton's `Toads of Grimmerdale' is set in her 'Witchworld' universe. A young woman, outcast from her village, trudges across the wintry postwar landscape, seeking shelter and a living wage. Once she finds both, her goal is revenge on the mercenary who wronged her. But enlisting the demons at the Grimmerdale Shrine for this purpose should never be done lightly, for their favors come with a price...I found `Toads' to be well-written, but overly long and meandering.

`Brak the Barbarian' returns in John Jake's entry `Ghoul's Garden'. On his journey through a dense and wild wood, Brak comes upon threatened fellow travelers. Rescuing the damsel in distress in this party only serves to involve him in a desperate flight from a lust-crazed sorcerer. Jakes' Brak stories are usually entertaining and this one is no exception, working in a novel wrinkle on the `portal to hell' theme common in sword and sorcery fiction.

In summary, `Flashing Swords !' is no different from any number of mid-70s fantasy anthologies; a couple of good stories, and couple of forgettable stories. Editor Carter's preference for only enlisting contributors with established credentials meant that more than a few said contributors just dialed in their entries....

The second in the Flashing Swords series. The editor expounds more upon the Robert E. Howard tradition, remarking that not many people are influential enough to invent a tradition.

A book that is just as good as the first volume.

Flashing Swords 2 : The Rug and the Bull - L. Sprague de Camp
Flashing Swords 2 : The Jade Man's Eyes - Michael Moorcock
Flashing Swords 2 : Toads of Grimmerdale - Andre Norton
Flashing Swords 2 : Ghoul's Garden - John W. Jakes


Seeing the arena from the animal's perspective is fun, for awhile.

4 out of 5


Elric and Moonglum travel to a different city in the Young Kingdoms, and with Duke Avan discover that the Jade Man is a being with whom Elric is all too familiar.

3.5 out of 5


A woman hunts for a previous attacker, but has made a serious mistake.

4 out of 5


Brak protects an actress from a strangely stunted wizard.

3 out of 5

Lin Carter's original anthology series of sword & sorcery tales written by his writer pals continues with _Flashing Swords! #2_, featuring novellas by S&S veterans L. Sprague de Camp, Andre Norton, John Jakes, and Michael Moorcock.

Even accounting for the archaic style of 70s prose, this second volume is more of a mixed bag than the first. De Camp's tale opens with pages of awkward dialog as characters dole out backstory in long, unrealistic conversations. He skillfully tightens the point-of-view when the protagonist is magically transferred into the body of an animal, but then the tale ends abruptly with the antagonist vanquished off-screen.

Norton's piece, the longest, features a female protagonist wrestling with the aftereffects of a battlefield rape that has left her pregnant. Norton vividly captures her inner turmoil, but the plot repeatedly grinds to a halt for pages of memories and thoughts. After several encounters with godlike beings, the overdue climax occurs merely from mistaken identity.

Carter's introduction explains that Jakes's protagonist, the hulking barbarian Brak, is deliberately modeled on Robert E. Howard's Conan, yet this Brak tale includes only the crudest aspects of that style. The prose is pedantic, even by 70s or S&S standards. The villain is merely a lecher, and the female character serves only as an object of desire. Brak faces many gratuitous physical obstacles, all of which he conquers in stereotypical fashion.

Only Moorcock saves this anthology from being a total disappointment. Elric of Melnibone, his classic S&S character, is rife with conflict as the sole survivor of a deceased race, dependant on his powerful sword but also a slave to its hunger. In this tale, Elric joins an expedition to the ancient homeland of his race, where he hopes to learn of their peaceful roots before they founded his doomed dynasty. The hazards of this trek combine with Elric's rich inner conflict and his yearning for belonging to produce the most exciting and the deepest tale in this anthology.

Mostly due to the inferior selection of tales compared to the first volume, _Flashing Swords! #2_ offers few engrossing moments outside of Moorcock's Elric novella.

I've had a hard time finding these books in good condition. To the publishers out there please reprint the flashing swords anthologies! Hardcover would be preferred!