Sails & Sorcery: Tales of Nautical Fantasy [Paperback]

Elaine Cunningham (Author), James M. Ward (Author), Heidi Ruby Miller (Author), Chun Lee (Author), J.M. Martin (Author), Paul S. Kemp (Author), Jordan Lapp (Author), W. H. Horner (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2007

Mermaids. Pirates. Flying ships. Creatures from the deep. Magic beyond your wildest dreams. The sea is a dangerous and wonderful realm. It calls to many, promising riches, adventure, or freedom. But just as there are beautiful and remarkable treasures to be found upon and below the waves, do not underestimate the dangers hidden within its depths. So polish your cutlass and prepare your spells for what awaits. Embark upon a journey across leagues of unimaginable adventure. Ride the waves to mystery and magic. Featuring 28 stories and 42 illustrations, including tales by New York Times best-seller Elaine Cunningham, Paul S. Kemp, Patrick Thomas, and James M. Ward with an all-new story featuring Halcyon Blithe.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This modest but readable anthology contains 28 short stories with maritime settings during the long, great age of sail. Classical mythology meets the classical era in Leslie Brown's "Dryad in the Mast" and "The Medusa" by Chris Stout. In James M. Ward's "The Duel," his Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe (see Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe, 2006) wins a major victory by working around the prohibition of dueling, while in "The Drum of the Sea," Gerri Leen compounds Sir Francis Drake and British folklore. Robert E. Vardeman's "The Pirate and the Peach" depicts piracy flourishing in Asian waters, and there is enough other kinds and places of piracy to please fans of marine robbery on all seven seas. In fact, there is so much piracy on hand that perhaps the collection's target audience is envisioned as consisting more of Pirates of the Caribbean fans than of enthusiastic readers of, say, William Hope Hodgson's Boats of the Glen Carrig or Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders saga. Green, Roland

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Fantasist Enterprises (August 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971360898
• ISBN-13: 978-0971360891
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,116,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice small-press anthology, March 24, 2008

By 

John J. Meszaros "senorctenaphore" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sails & Sorcery: Tales of Nautical Fantasy (Paperback)

Short-story anthologies are pretty hit-and-miss in terms of quality. Sails and Sorcery, thankfully, has far more hits than misses. There are a few genuinely intriguing settings (Stillworld-- about a planet that has stopped rotating on its axis) and some neat historical fantasy as well. Even the blatant "Call of Cthulhu" pastiche (Sea of Madness) does a good job of depicting the terror of being lost at sea and finding a strange, otherworldly island (better, in some ways, than Lovecraft's original, since this story isn't bogged down with ludicrous amounts of purple prose). There are some authors here that I'd definitely like to see more from in the future.
Like any anthology, there are a couple stories you'll probably gloss over-- one or two generic Middle-Earth-on-the-high-seas. But they are, thankfully, few.
Some of the best things about Sails and Sorcery are the black-and-white illustrations that accompany every story. They're professional quality and fit each piece of fiction quite well (it's obvious the artist has carefully read and mulled over each one).
Sails and Sorcery is a nice volume to own. Particularly since there isn't nearly enough aquatic fantasy fiction out there.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sails and Sorcery, September 20, 2007

By 

Blue Butterfly (Southampton, PA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Sails & Sorcery: Tales of Nautical Fantasy (Paperback)

This book of short stories is a delightful read for those who like tales of pirates and adventure on the high seas. It is full of adventure and romance, with witches and wenches, chaos and camaraderie, horrors and heroes, magic and mayhem at every turn of the pages. My favorite story was "Rum Runners", with very colorful characters and just the right mix of suspense and humor, peppered with enough romance to be compared to Pirates of the Caribbean. You will enjoy the various stories, all touched by the supernatural.